James Books

Lazy Daisy is such a great book for kids of all ages -- mainly because every kid can relate to it. What kid isn't messy? Great story line - very imaginative. I bought one for my niece and then a week later I ended up buying 5 more for all of my friend's kids. You should also take a look at Mr. Olson's other book, The Thunderstruck Stork. I ended up buying 5 of those too.. haha

This delightful tale has a wonderful lesson for any sloppy lazy child. My grandchildren love it.

I have ADORED this book since it was first purchsed for my charge (I am a nanny) and I swore I will buy it for every child in my life. I have purchased this book for every charge of mine since and every single one has loved and adored it! I LOVE reading it...the author is amazing. This book doesn't recieve near the recongtion it deserves!

It's always a bonus when adults actually enjoy the books they read to children and Lazy Daisy is definitely one of those books that entertains both groups. The rhyming verse is very funny - David Olson is a creative writer who concocts a hilarious combination of words to tell Daisy's story, and the comical illustrations add a perfect touch to the impending catastrophe. I can't wait to read his next book!

In Lazy Daisy, a young girl considers her messy room a masterpiece with its mountains of toys and piles of clothes, and a closet to match! Daisy considers herself with some pride as being the laziest girl in the world with a marvelous mess to prove it! Then Daisy's grandmother gets lost in all the mess and soon the entire town is buried in junk. Will Daisy learn her lesson and clean up the town before it's lost forever? Will Gramma get her dentures back? Enthusiastically recommended for young picturebook readers, Lazy Daisy is an original and entertaining story by David Olson that is showcased by Jenny Campbell's light and lively drawings.

1. The leader can create a new organization with new procedures, but the formation of culture requires collective learning and repeated experiences of success or failure.

2. It is no accident when a "turn around manager" arrives, the top layers of management are usually replaced and massive reorganization occurs. These drastic measures destroy old culture and initiate a new culture building process by removing the people who carry and represent the old culture. The destruction of culture is extremely costly on human level. The new people have to start building process all over and it is not even clear whether this is possible.

3. An organization built on individual incentives cannot become a set of teams simply because the CEO announces that teamwork is now necessary and launches a team-building program. However, if the CEO understands culture dynamics, he or she will begin to reward individuals for helping others and for contributing to other projects, thereby acknowledging the deep individualism of the organization but broadening the concept of individual competence to increasingly include "working with others".

4. Leaders cannot arbitrarily change culture in the sense of eliminating dysfunctional elements. Leaders can evolve culture by building on its strength while letting its weaknesses atrophy over time. If an organization is successful over time and has evolved mental models based on these methods, they will not abandon the mental model. The leader jobs is too broaden the Mental models. Focus should include developing new standards of judgment and evaluation so that competitive behavior is viewed as more negative and cooperative behavior more positive.

5. Management development is typically very function in young organizations. For example, the organization may promote the people most likely to be entrepreneur or who are technically the most competent, rather than seek out people who have managerial talent. Founder builders often glorify the technical functions such as research and development, manufacturing, and sales and demean managerial functions such as finance, planning, marketing, and human resources. Potential successors may be blocked from taking over and gaining learning experiences. Successful leaders at this stage grow with the organization and change their own outlook or recognize their own limitations and permit other forms of leadership to emerge.

6. The leader builds culture in one of three ways: a) by hiring and keeping subordinates who think and feel the way they do; b) by indoctrinating and socialize subordinates to think and feel as they do; c) by establishing a role model that encourages subordinates to identify with them and thereby internalize their beliefs, values, and assumptions.

Additional Thoughts about building culture: 1. Culture is not arbitrarily changed. Culture is evolved by building on strengths, broadening mental models of successful methods and processes 2. Get back to understanding what the product is about and focusing on customer oriented strategies. 3. Increasing vision and comprehension communication between top management and employees 4. Pushing data to unexpected places, encouraging participation and intrepretation of the data, and getting feedback that will cause temporary formation of teams and engineering of new processes 5. Creating new procedures that transform the organization 6. Creating and environment of learning 7. Getting people to thinking and value the same things the leader does.

7. Healthy, open minded skeptics can become effective leaders and, eventually, champions at work. If they find new approaches to enhance results, they will commit time and energy to them.

8. Local line leaders focus is at a business unit level. They may not think much at learning within the larger organization.

9. Leaders can use free-market choice inside an organization to liberate the entrepreneurial spirit of their people. As organizations move toward indirect leadership, the key role of senior leaders is to increase their people choices in ways that still focus the organization on its mission. Organizations viewed as economies.

10. In the future, most employees will work in intraprises that provide services to the core businesses. The core business will be run by small groups of line managers who will buy much of the value they add from internal intraprises.

11. What is leadership? Leadership is the process of empowering subordinates to learn from their mistakes, make changes, adjust to new circumstances, and preserve. Leadership brings into play elements of planning, commitment to innovation and problem solving, and energy ensuring dynamics of the organization are fair. The group looks for leadership to unlock paralysis in the direction to move. Leadership establishs policies, identifies targets, set priorities, and allocate resources and money. Leadership job is to create a feeling of security for their employees and influence young talent to come and work for them. Leadership creates blue oceans by creating a utility proposition. Leadership is gained by competence not position. Leadership creates conditions of comfort for their employees. Leadership talks openly about a wide variety of issues, sponsors democratic forum where creative members are reward for initiative, ingenuity and bravery. Leadership leads by example. Leadership uses work exchanges to show how things are to be done, giving each job a sense of dignity and enhanced standing with the crew. Leadership values the individual. Leadership creates free market choice inside their organizations to liberate the entrepreneurial spirit of their people. Leadership gets difficult projects started and results in long-term impact.

Leaders inspire confidence, fight fear, initiate positive and productive actions, define goals, and paint brighter tomorrows. The character of society's leadership may substantially determine how that society fares in an environment of change. Leadership values must be based on standards that benefit society.

12. The ethnic, cultural, and gender characteristics of America's population and labor force is rapidly changing. The emigration of nonwhites from Asia and Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and West and East Africa, represent people in the America's melting pot rising relative to that of Americans of European descent and represent an estimated that one third of all new entrants to the labor force.

13. Leaders must be willing to accept five fundamental challenges in the work force: a. They must be willing to be more sensitive and understanding with respect to ethnic, cultural, and gender differences. B. They must have a vision for the workplace that will result in significant broadening of the corporate culture and environment. C. They must craft and implement new and different employment and communication processes to enhance and promote perceptions of fairness and equity. D. They must bring a commitment to the effective utilization of a diverse work force. E. They must establish a place where people want to work and be productive and to develop new markets and maintain existing ones.

14. Effective leaders do not earn their role by position or Herculean work efforts, instead, effective leaders nurture dignity in those around them; their area of expertise are listening, propagation of values, and assurance of dignity; they foster relationship as a source of their power.

15. When people are experiencing fear, dread, foreboding, and exhaustion, people have an emotional need for a leader. A leader combats fears, instills confidence, and moves the group forward.

16. Leaders lead because they create a passionate commitment in other people to pursue the leaders strategy and succeed.

17. Leaders are the keepers and shapers of the company culture and constantly communicate these held values.

Frances Hesselbein is currently editor-in-chief of Leader to Leader quarterly. Previously, she served as CEO of the Girls Scouts of the USA and then as chairman and founding president of the Leader to Leader Institute, formerly the Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management. Her published works include this book as well as its predecessor, The Leader of the Future, co-edited with Marshall Goldsmith and Richard Beckhard, and Be*Know*Do (an adaptation of the U.S. Army's leadership manual) to which she and General Eric K. Shinseki (USA Ret.) co-wrote the Introduction as well as Hesselbein on Leadership for which Jim Collins provided the Foreword.

Twenty-seven individual essays comprise this volume. The material is organized within five Parts:

A Vision of Leadership (Chapter 1)

Editors' Comments: "[Our] book begins where it should, with Peter Drucker's vision of leadership...[His] thoughts on creating organizations that have a spirit of performance built upon the `theory of the business,' creating a positive social impact and demonstrating consistent effectiveness, challenge the reader to both embrace change and become a change leader."

Leading in a Diverse World (Chapters 2-5)

Excerpt: "Leaders of the future will be progressively more cosmopolitan, progressive, diverse, and values oriented. They increasingly will come from countries with enormous growth potential outside of North America and Europe, such as the BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India, and China), places where leaders must also address daunting obstacles such as poverty or environmental depredation, regardless of the sector or the focus of their enterprise." Rosabeth Moss Kanter, "How Cosmopolitan Leaders Inspire Confidence"

Leading in a Time of Crisis and Complexity (Chapters 6-11)

Excerpt: "Leadership becomes necessary to business and communities when people have tough challenges to tackle, when they have to change their ways in order to thrive or survive, when continuing to operate according to current structures, procedures, and processes no longer will suffice. We call these adaptive challenges. Beyond technical problems, for which authoritative and managerial expertise will suffice, adaptive challenges demand leadership that engages people in facing challenging realities and then changing those priorities, attitudes, and behaviors necessary to thrive in a changing world. Ronald A. Heifetz, "Anchoring Leadership in the Work of Adaptive Process"

Leading Organizations of the Future (Chapters 12-19)

Excerpt: "Leaders will need to go beyond looking at the work to be done and consider the human doing the work. They will need to understand the incredible pressures that have been brought about by globalization, technology, and competition. They will need to appreciate the hard work and sacrifice needed for professional success in a much tougher world. Leaders will need to realize that as work becomes even more important, and organizations become even more important, they will become even more important - in helping to shape the quality of life and the futures of the professionals they lead." Marshall Goldsmith, "Leading New Age Professionals"

The Quality and Charter of the Leader of the Future (Chapters 20-27)
Excerpt:

"Leaders who think like anthropologists would realize several things. First, they would realize that they are leaders by virtue of their basic fit into the cultural milieu in which they grew up and in which they are now operating. It is all well and good to note that leaders "create" and "change" cultures, as I have argued in the past [i.e. in Organizational Culture and Leadership, 2004], but first they must realize that to change culture you must thoroughly understand the culture that created you and legitimized you...In other words, leaders must be culturally self-c0njscious and be aware of the cultural layers in their own personalities. Second, leaders who think like anthropologists would be conscious of the cultural variations among countries and companies, and among occupational subgroups within their companies." Edgar H. Schein, Leadership Competencies: A Provocative New Look"

Note: Schein then explains in his essay that in addition to thinking like an anthropologist, effective leaders must also have the skills of a family therapist and cultivate and trust artistic instincts.

In the city where I live, we have a number of outdoor markets at which slices of fresh fruit are offered as samples of the produce available. In that same spirit, I frequently include brief excerpts such as these from a book to help those who read my review to get at least a "taste" of the material in question. All of the material in this volume is of a very high quality. The value of each article, however, will be determined by the needs and interests of each reader.

Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check out Hesselbein's The Leader of the Future published earlier, co-edited with Marshall Goldsmith and Richard Beckhard and Be*Know*Do (an adaptation of the U.S. Army's leadership manual) to which she and General Eric K. Shinseki (USA Ret.) co-wrote the Introduction; also Hesselbein on Leadership for which Jim Collins provided the Foreword.

The Leader of the Future 2 is a labor of love and a gift to all those who enjoy the study of leadership. This is the first book published by the Leader to Leader Institute (formerly The Drucker Foundation) since the death of leadership patriarch Peter Drucker. All proceeds support the Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management. This book follows the publication of the international bestseller, The Leader of the Future.

This meditative work is the collection of 27 essay chapters that contemplate the kind of leadership needed for the future of the world. Each chapter is written by a respected leadership consultant or educator who provides their unique and challenging perspective on the kind of leader our world needs now and will need in an uncertain future. This collection of "thinkers" has varied experience in all sectors of modern society. As it states in the foreword of the book, "This book delivers a "battle cry" that will mobilize the leaders of the future to build viable, relevant organizations that will sustain us in the times ahead... Planning in the past was rigid, inflexible, and hierarchical, but planning for the future will require leaders to be fluid and flexible, and move easily across their organizations. The Leader of the Future 2 is indeed part of a blueprint for planning in a dynamic new world."

The genesis of the book was the tragic events that occurred on 9/11. Since that event a lot has changed in the world, and will continue to change in our uncertain future. The Leader of the Future 2 divides its 27 chapter into 5 interesting parts. Each part focuses on a certain aspect of leading in the future like vision, diversity, complexity, change and character. This is a book for serious thinkers and at times is not easy to read. Some of the gifted contributors would be the first to admit that writing with clarity is not their greatest personal strength. But in all fairness, they are looking back on the past with eyes toward the future and this is always an ambiguous rehearsal. The Leader of the Future 2 is brain-candy for anyone who likes to step outside of everyday thinking and ponder the "what-if" of tomorrow!

In a 1964 obscenity court case, then U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart wrote that pornography was difficult to define, but noted, "I know it when I see it." The same might be said of leadership. Since 1990, the Leader to Leader Institute (formerly the Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management) has dedicated itself to examining, defining and elevating the art of leadership through books, educational materials and its respected journal, Leader to Leader. This book is a sequel to the Institute's The Leader of the Future, an international bestseller published in 28 different languages. This follow-up volume features 27 essays on being a leader in today's complex, challenging world. We confidently recommend this leadership treatise, which presents the informed thoughts, insights and opinions of respected experts from academia, the media, business, the military, the nonprofit sector and numerous other venues. Thanks to such contributors as Stephen Covey, Howard Gardner, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner, this collection of essays clearly addresses the challenges of modern leadership.

Once again, Marshall Goldsmith and Frances Hesselbein have provided readers with an essential guide to the biggest challenges and the best thinking of thought leaders and practitioners in the field of leadership. In a world in great need of leadership, this book provides an array of outstanding contributions from those who have shaped and inspired this field. This book provides a superb addition to the libraries of all those who care deeply about leadership -- and who among us does not (or should not)?

Rachelle J. Canter, Ph.D.

This product provides a blueprint for supplychain continous improvement. Full of strategies to build a robust program for supplychain improvement...one should take their time to carefully understand the text to implement and execute the strategies

I am really pleased to read this book cos I am dealing with one inventory project. I found it is helpful.

Excellent reference for supply chain improvement

James Martin's book, "Lean Six Sigma for Supply Chain Management: The ten step solution process", is an excellent resource. It is written for supply chain professionals to explain six sigma process methodologies and how they can be applied to improving real business processes.

Mr. Martin does an excellent job of pulling together a broad set of information to explain these quality improvement methodolgies and how these can be applied to supply chain processes. He has created a great reference. This is the type of book that you want to read while your working on a process improvement project. The concepts are directly applicable.

This is most definitely a book for Supply Chain and Operations Management practitioners. If the reader is looking for a high level review of the subject matter, I would not recommend this book. This book is a serious, dense study of the material with practical applications and techniques.

Of the various industry texts that I have read, this is probably the "slowest read" mostly because there is so much content and meaning in each section. At the same time, the book design is modular so that the practitioner may skip chapters and study just their focus area. Mr. Martin definitely displays his expertise with fluff-free, accurate, and useful information. A must read for people serious about transforming their supply chains.

For me this book provided exceptional details with which to get your supply chain failures and problems under control. The section covering "Root Cause Analysis" presents the reader with detailed descriptions and examples of analytical methods useful for evaluationg the data associated with the supply chain process. The book demonstrates the myriad of elements that can run the supply chain process into a company quagmmire. This reader felt quite familiar with a number of the typical sins that cause supply chains to malfunction at the most crucial times in a company's commitment to a timely delivery process.

Just as informative about the life of the Common Soldierwho served in the Northern ranks as his book The Life of Johnny Reb is of the soldier who apposed him thoughcleary better developed by the author's experience.

Very informative. Very well written.

A must have for anyone interested in the Civil War.

Like his companion book, Life of Johnny Reb, this book looks at how soldiers were recruited and kept by the Army. The Union had the advantage of an army already in being but its expansion to meet its wartime needs changed the very nature of the Federal Army. This is a fine book and one that any real Civil War buff should have.

The late Bell Wiley had an advantage that many researchers of the Civil War did not have: FIRST HAND ACCOUNTS FROM THE VETERANS THEMSELVES. Starting his research in the 1940's, Wiley was able to interview the aging veterans of the War. You can imagine what was going through these warriors minds as they recalled their past. Wiley also spent countless hours combing through letters, diaries, official documents and other papers to get his facts. Billy Yank tells the story of the Union soldiers as few have been able to capture. It covers more than just what the soldier wore, ate, used, etc. From his reasons for fighting, opinions of Lincoln, emancipation (pro AND con) officers, the Southern people, the topics are well covered. Reenactors of the conflict would benefit from this book. This is a gold mine of information for the "first person" impression. Even Southerners will gain insight into their former foes.

Bell Irvin Wiley seems to have been the first historian/writer to realize that the Civil War was not just about Lee, Pickett, Grant or Stuart or any of the other guys with stars on their shoulders. The real truth about what happened on those battlefields had to do with the guys in the tattered uniforms and the rotted shoes, trying to fight with defective rifles.
As in his companion book, "The Life of Johnny Reb", "The Life of Billy Yank: The Common Soldier of the Union" is an unflinching look at the constant struggles of a Union soldier. This is a very sobering account, and some of the letters the soldiers wrote home are nothing short of heartbreaking. This is a truly admirable account of men who were more than common soldiers. I believe they were really common heroes.

Bell Irvin Wiley (1906-1980) enjoyed a distinguished career as a professor at the University of Mississippi and Emory University and as the author or editor of over 20 books on the Civil War. His "The Life of Billy Yank: the Common Soldier of the Union" (1952) is, together with its companion volume "The Life of Johnny Reb, the Common Soldier of the Confederacy (1943), Wiley's best-known work. It presents an outstanding history of the day-to-day life of the soldier in the Union Army.

As Wiley stated in the preface to the book, his focus was "social rather than military". The book offers little of the military history of the various Civil War campaigns and little of the political aspects of the War. Rather, Wiley discusses soldering in the Union Army in all its detail and drudgery. It is an indispensable source for those wishing to understand the Civil War. The book would be of interest as well to reenactors wishing to get inside and recapture life in a Civil War Army.

The book is well-researched and documented. It draws upon the letters and diaries of innumerable Union soldiers, both published and unpublished and on other first-hand accounts. Much of the discussion is anecdotal, but Wiley makes good use of census and statistical data as well. The book is clearly written with an obvious empathy for the life of the Civil War soldier. The book leads the reader beyond its specific subject and encourages reflection of the Civil War, its terrible human cost, and its continuing importance to our country.

Wiley begins with a discussion of the recruitment process into the Union Army following the attack on Fort Sumter. The book gives a good picture of the complex relationship between state militia units, the regular army, the volunteers and the draftees -- the various units that uneasily combined to form the Union army. Bell discusses -- in a subject that continues to fascinate historians -- the motivations of the soldiers who served in the conflict. In particular, he discusses the Emancipation Proclamation and considers the extent to which Emancipation was or became a goal for a large number of Union troops. Wiley sees the many sides of this question, and the issue remains one that is vigorously discussed.

The book describes well the rigors of training and camp life, the diseases and unhealthy living conditions which plagued the army, the boredom and enforced routines, the bad food, temptations to vice, and experience of combat. There is excellent material in the book on the organization of the Union Army. Much of the material in Wiley's study is either presupposed or otherwise not covered in other well-known studies of the military of political history of the War. The book considers the morale and fighting spirit of the men and how it varied with the fortunes of war and with the support of people at home. Again, anticipating more recent studies, Wiley discusses the ambiguous, complicated relationships that developed during the War between the Union troops and their enemies in gray. This relationship, and the instances of fraternization during the midst of a total conflict, presaged the way for reconciliation, at long last, at the conclusion of the conflict. There is a brief discussion in the book of women soldiers who enlisted in the Union army and sometimes managed to avoid detection. This subject too has received much recent attention and it is interesting to see Wiley deal with it in his early account. The book ends with reflections on the way in which the Civil War helped forged the United States into a nation.

This is a study that wears its age well. It will bring the reader face-to-face with the life of the Union soldier during our nation's greatest combat.

As I started reading Debi Silber's book I was ready for some advice to incorporate into my life. I had my light blue highlighter in hand because I quickly figured out that this book is not just to be read, it is meant to be "used".... written in, highlighted and doggie-eared. It is just as much a workbook as an instructional tool, motivational tool, myth buster and cheerleading squad to boot. The problem was that I began to realize that I was highlighting the MAJORITY of each page. She has so many nuggets of INSPIRATION and tips to SUCCEED between the covers. She has so much interesting data, real numbers, trends, scientific info in understandable terms that "highlighting my book" was truly highlighting "the book!"

If you have tried everything, tried nothing, feel hopeless or hopeful about transforming your life as a mom in an effort to include more joy, balance, as well as physical and spiritual vibrancy this book is a tool for you.

Debi really wants her readers to succeed at creating a life they love. This is obvious here. It is also evident by the EXTRA BONUS she gives readers,a free audio download and the incredible website support that is available for anyone ready to dig in and create their best life and body.

This book has a heartbeat.

Debi Silber puts together an advice book on many areas of your life. What I liked the most about this book is that she doesn't ask you to radically do anything, but make decisive changes in slow steps so you really can change your life. I like she doesn't ask you to radically change everything overnight, she knows you are busy, but you want to get your life back under control.

She writes about your life in many different fascets, we are not one sided, and neither is her approach. She gives a great deal of advice on nutrition, relationships, emotions, spirituality, stress control, and yes, fitness. Her advice is basically to take baby steps to make progress, for example trying to cut back on eating? Decide how much you will drink at a party before you leave, alternate your drinks with water, cut your drinks with spritzer. Order an appetizer instead of an entree.

So often advice books ask you to make radical changes that are difficult to stick with. I think that Debi Silber has really grasped that small changes made over time add up to lasting change. I think being a mom, having children, relationships with others, are taxing enough. Putting yourself through radical change is only going to heap more stress upon you. Stick with this book and the advice given, and you will see those changes that you desire.

The Balanced Mom: Raising Your Kids Without Losing Your Self

Debi has written a wonderful resource for moms who want a healthier life. The Lifestyle Fitness Program is an innovative, holistic approach to health that will help countless moms understand and improve their eating and fitness habits. If you follow this program, you will be pleased with the results!
-Bria Simpson, MA, Life Coach, Speaker and Author of The Balanced Mom- Raising Your Kids Without Losing Your Self. [...]

Registered Dietitian, Certified Personal Trainer, and Whole Health Coach Debi Silber (a.k.a. "The Mojo Coach") presents The Lifestyle Fitness Program: A Six Part Plan So Every Mom Can Look, Feel and Live Her Best, a guide to looking and feeling one's best written especially for mothers, yet packed cover to cover with practical information for readers of all backgrounds. The Lifestyle Fitness Program includes guidelines for getting back on track with proper nutrition, physical fitness, emotional stability, stress control, forming and maintaining healthy relationships, and a keeping positive spiritual influence in one's life. "Mindful speaking... involves a few keyings that many people find difficult to do. The first is taking responsibility. That means saying 'I' instead of 'you.' For example, instead of saying 'You made me so angry' you say 'I feel angry.' You're not blaming, you're explaining how you feel." A sensibly written, easy-to-follow guide filled with practical advice for a healthier, happier life.

Finally, a well-written, easy to read and well-organized fitness program to support a busy mom's lifestyle. The lifestyle fitness program covers: nutrition, stress control, physical fitness, emotional well being, relationship issues, and spiritual fitness. This is a workbook meant to be used, written in, shared, highlighted, noted with paperclips, and littered with post-it notes. The anecdotes, motivational tips, and inspirational insights will encourage anyone needing to transform their life.

Sibler is an expert in nutrition, a certified personal trainer and skilled whole health coach. She has worked with busy mothers for nearly thirty years and she has combined all of her years of training both textbook and on-the-job in this total resource manual. Sibler takes the many facets of being a mother and uncovers them one issue at a time. There are several caught my attention:
* recognize and fulfill the crave
* learn the words (baked, broiled, roasted, creamy, sautéed, ) that help you know if the dish is fatty or not
* control the lapse - find out why you made a relapse, deal with it, control it and make a decision to regain control
* categorize your stress, manage the issue, delegate and let go
* modify your idea of weight loss success - its not all in the poundage
* pay it forward by sharing your successes with others

THE LIFESTYLE FITNESS PROGRAM is a unique workbook that will provide eye opening advice for the dedicated mom. This is not a guide to guilt you into making changes but a motivational tool that encourages you to make incremental modifications that you can easily incorporate into your everyday life. Oh, did I mention the free audio download and emailed emotional support...more than a book it's a personal trainer/wellness coach that you can carry with you.

Deltareviewer
Reviewing for Real Page Turners

Foo bar, baz!

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The Lion in Winter (Penguin Plays)


Tell us what you think. Write a review of this item and share your opinions with others. PleAmazon.com cares about children's privacy on the Internet. But we also care about freedom of expression and the exchange of ideas in a safe environment. That's why we've created this separate form for those under the age of 13. When children under 13 submit reviews for their favorite items, we won't ask for names or e-mail addresses, but we'll still enable them to share their opinions.
The Lion in Winter (Penguin Plays)


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This play about the famously disfunctional family of England's Henry II is perhaps the most devestating family drama this side of "Long Day's Journey into Night".

For those who want a real epic, it can - but doesn't have to - be read as a sequel to Jean Anoilh's "Becket". Personally I found that this adds to the tragedy.

It opens during a fictional family Christmas get together that is combined with a historical meeting between Henry and France's young King Phillip. Henry's persistent humiliation of his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, through his string of mistresses has prompted her to hurt him in the only way available to her - by systematically destroying his relationships with their sons. Now Henry - although not old yet - is no longer a young man. The fact that a potentially dangerous Phillip - who has a legitimate axe to grind with Henry - is no longer a child forces them to realize that their familial intrigues have set their boys up for both internal and external disaster upon Henry's death. They make a real effort to save both their shattered marriage and their shattered children, but it may already be too late ...

The main tragedy, of course, is what Henry and Eleanor have done to their children. Richard is admirably brave but has had much of his compassion beaten out of him and replaced with brutality. Geoffrey's great sense of humor has been blasted in the bud, and his fustrated capability of love makes a weapon of an intelligence that would have been an asset to anyone who would have shown him the slightest affection in return (it's worth noting for those who don't know the family's subsequent history that given the condensed time of the play, Geoffrey would presumably have died in a fatal tournament accident soon after the action of the play - making him even more poignant). John, the youngest son of Robin Hood fame, is somewhat mishandled - his failure had much to do with Richard's prior mismanagement and lousy historical timing rather than his own faults, and the ruthless streak that doomed Geoffrey's son Arthur (who isn't in the play) as well as his general competence in many instances (he would later rescue Eleanor from a siege in a manner that would have done Richard proud) doesn't really come across - but in an otherwise excellent play Goldman can be forgiven for bowing to popular opinion in one case.

An accurate depiction of the dynamics of the Plantagenet family, "The Lion in Winter" is also a timeless study of what constitutes a healthy family.

I recently completed a production of this fine play where I played Geoffrey, Duke of Aquataine. I have done a lot of play and this without a doubt is the most well written. Goldman does not waste a single word in the play.

I just bought a new copy of this play and I am so very, very happy that I did. I dashed through it and then reread my favorite parts. I hadn't read it in many years, but my respect has really grown for the playwright's wit and imagination. What an absolutely wonderful play. Of course, I love the film, but it was great fun to see how the play moves rapidly and the dialog is so biting and bitter at times. I agree with all the reviewers. Buy this play because it is a classic play with ripping dialog.

I have to say Iam in love with this book. I know every line by heart. I saw the movie frist. Also a A+++++ movie. I don't know, something about it.It somehow just gets under your skin. Anyone who loves history. Or just just great works of writing should have this little book.

Comer tells the story of his family by focusing on the remarkable life of his mother, Maggie Comer, whose determination helped her survive poverty and segregation in the South and discrimination in the North to raise of family of successful children. The first half of the book is told in Maggie's own words. The second half is in Comer's. An excellent example of the broader social migration of black families from the South to the North following Reconstruction.

I read this book for a college class this past semester and was truely amazed at how well this book was written. This book is basically broken down into three parts, all equally intersesting. The first part is based in Maggies story, her life, struggles and amazing accomplishments. The second part is all about the author, James, who is also Maggies son. The story of "Maggie's American Dream" is an excellent representation of a family that went through tough times and prevailed through a combination of church, education as well as being "taught and strongly encouraged to develop the needed social skills and personal controls." Maggie raises her family during a time when it was difficult to be a black person in America. Maggie was ridiculed and pushed away from any opportunities simply because of the color of her skin. Maggie became a wonderful mother, which I feel is the most important part of this story. Her son James tells the stories of how he was raised. These are stories of a mother that attended all sporting events, assisting her children in becoming talented at several different activities ranging from playing the piano to playing sports. Maggie was always there for her family. She taught them right from wrong as well as a strong sense of that "never give up" attitude. These children continue to strive to do their best in anything they did, even during a time when they were held back from doing just that. This is an example of how a family can make it through most adversities as long as they all stick together and work towards their goals and dreams.

Wonderful book Mr. Comer and thank you for opening my eyes to a great story.

I did a research study on American Dream in America during the 20s-30s decade. I've read a lot of books concerning the subject; literary works, forming the main portion of my resources. These ranged from Fitzgerald's 'Great Gatzby' to Steinbeck's 'Grapes of Wrath', from Dreiser's 'An American Tragedy' to Lewis's 'Main Street'. In addition to these quite old literary works, I collected statistical, analytical information about the particular decades, to verify what I've acquired from the novels. It was a hard study, but I managed to write a reasonably concise thesis, with the help of not the sources I listed, but with this book, 'Maggie's American Dream' instead. Why?

Almost all of the books I've read were productions of imagination. Even Dreiser, who was inspired from a real account, did not stick to facts in his book, but altered them to create a fiction. However, 'Maggie's American Dream' is a true story. It is told from James Comer's point of view, in a very poetical fashion. The second part of the book is his mother's story, which is again expressed by James. The book also contains a nice section of pictures of the Comer family, which are quite interesting after reading about the family.

James P. Comer had a very hard childhood, as it could be expected during the years of never-ending racism issues. Comer beautifully expresses how they managed to stand tall, and get their share in the competition of living. Mr. Comer is now working as a psychiatrist in New Haven, after having completed his doctoral work in Yale University. It is a dream that is realised, indeed.

This book will provide you with a lot of insights about the lives of black families, American societal norms, family relations during the 20s and 30s, which you cannot find easily in any other source this clearly and truely.

What a wonderful book. Very easy to read with lots of short chapters so that even the busiest of us can get through it quickly. And of course Maggie and her family are so real that you find you can't put the book down...you just have to find out what happens to them all next.
It's a great story, and worth reading from that angle alone. But all the way through this book also gives you plenty to ponder - whether you are someone with an interest in education (and doesn't that include all parents?), someone who wishes that all people had an equal opportunity to realise their potential, or someone who really wants to know what life is like for others from different backgrounds and countries. The author also inspires us to think about how we can make a difference, in some small way, wherever and whoever we are.

This book I have read is the best book I have ever read. It has inspired me by not being mad ever time someone gets in my face and be racis toward me. I really like this aurthor he is a very insperational writter. I would tell everbody who is going through something very hard, reconmemd this book to any and every one

I've always felt this book had an unfortunate title and may have done much better without the "Screenwriter" addendum. The fact is that the advice and exercises that Seger gives is germane to all writers - the novelist, short story writer, as well as the screenwriter.

The "Creativity Workbook" aspect is a true title, however. This is a wonderful book for those of you who feel you're suffering from writer's block. The only solution, of course, is to just write. Even if you're writing "I don't know what to write...this is awful...I have no idea what to write..." still do it. Eventually you'll have a break through. Seger hides this simple fact into her ingenious exercises, giving you situation after to situation to write about, all the while developing characters and plot ideas.

Her focus is to truly help you develop as a writer, not merely beef up your script with cheap, dime-a-dozen plot methods. In that aspect, this book is rather unique and very successful. One of the better writing books available.

Linda Seger offers a number of ways to re-start the creative process; if only one of them works for you, the book is worth it.

Just reading through the exercises in this book was enough to get me through a serious case of writer's block. She includes an entire chapter on tapping into your religious/spiritual side to flesh out characters and deepen plot, but don't worry: If that won't work for you, she suggests skipping ahead -- there are plenty more idea-provoking suggestions to come.

It's a resource to turn to again and again, whenever a dead end looms.

This book combines craft and creativity and provides writers with the knowledge necessary to write at the highest artistic level. The exercises within can be reused time and again and push a writer to think outside the box.

Not a paint-by-numbers approach, instead this author guides you into unlocking and strengthening your own, original voice.

What are you waiting for? This is a great resource!

I've found so much inspiration in Making a Good Writer Great. Seger's words have helped me break through that brick wall. She is truly a light to see by. I can call myself a screenwriter once again.

I love and collect books on creativity and problem solving. One of my favorites is Dr. Linda Seger's, Making a Good Writer Great: A Creative Workbook for Screenwriters. The title, unfortunately, is too narrow for its own good. It should be: Unleashing Your Creative Genius: Screenwriting as a Metaphor for World Peace...or something just as ostentatious. I'm serious. First, using Linda's techniques just replace all forms of the term "writer" for whatever job you're in: "engineer," "teacher," "mother," "assembler," "unemployed," or "politician." (On second thought, strike that last example.) Second, insert YOURSELF as the protagonist of YOUR PERSONAL story. Third, pick the problem you're having difficulty solving. And finally, using Linda's techniques and exercises creatively think your way to a solution just as you would the fictional character in a story. The problems that face all of us--writer, repressed child, or okay, even world leader--can be solved by using Linda's 12-step program. Here they are in my own words. 1. Discover your mission (or goal). 2. Articulate your values. 3. List the obstacles. 4. Plot turning points around the obstacles. 5. Stick to your passions. 6. Master your powers of observation. 7. Attach meaning to your experiences. 8. Accept your flaws as reasons to persevere. 9. Leverage the opposing forces. 10. Purpose to change the world. 11. Ask God for supernatural inspiration. And 12. Use feedback to ever improve. Linda's book is a winning tool for everyone...including writers.

Linda's writing was very helpful in the writing of my own book on screenwriting published by Michael Wiese Productions: THE MORAL PREMISE: Harnessing Virtue and Vice for Box Office Success.

Thayer's novel lacks the charm and literary prowess of Thomas Berger's "Little Big Man" while following in the same tradition. Although the book is humorous, the resolution is weak, and some of the historical personalities are used as deus ex machinas, solving Woodrow Lowe's dilemmas. This novel nevertheless has its amusing points and most readers will enjoy this trip through history. If "Man of the Century" strikes your fancy, I recommend George MacDonald Fraser's "Flashman" series.

This is a hypnotically compelling trip through a series of adventures in the protagonist's past, each a perfectly shaped and suspenseful drama in itself. The retelling of these events is so intense and involving that I felt as if I were physically falling forward through the book. The greatest joy, next to the beautiful writing, is the rich and fascinating detail describing the exotic places, events and practices in these adventures. This author appears to be a master of a thousand primitive arts. I was amazed, shocked, educated and vastly entertained.

Very enjoyable book. Well written. Found it fun to follow Woodrow Lowe throughout his life. Great summer time reading. Dry wit, lots of chuckles!

Traveling through the lintriguing life of Woodrow, I couldn't put this one down until I learned about his world. Excellent change of pace from the one-story thriller, this book has it all!

I was not previously familiar with the author, but loved his style. The book reminded me of the movie "Forrest Gump". An incredible life story based on a man chasing his first crush, but continually getting caught up in incredible adventures along the way. A good lesson on history, geography, and different cultures. I wish Woodrow hadn't died before we got to hear the end of his adventures! Two thumbs up.

Honestly, unless you want to pore through every major modern quality system (ie ISO, Baldridge) and amass the details of countless companies (from Ritz Carlton to SSM Health - yes, healthcare!), buy the book.

Once you do, expect a tremendous return on this investment for an up to date, well organized, and thorough look at quality in its practical application. To get the most bang for your buck, get the latest version so your not quoting what the Ritz did 5 years ago.

Long, verbose, time consuming and WORTH EVERY BIT OF IT!

Was an assigned text for an upper level university Management course. Excellent choice. The content made sense, was well written/easy to read, and continually built on earlier chapters.

It's still on my shelf as a reference I refer to often in my business. Wouldn't be without it!

Came quickly with the software package included.
Saved over $20 from school bookstore website!

It is straightforward book. Each chapter has some case study, which is real application of Quality management. I would strongly recommend for students as well as managers to read this book. It has different point of views from various Philosophers like Dr. Deming, Dr. Juran, Crosby and other well-known persons.

I used an older edition of this book in preparing for the ASQ Certified Quality Manager Exam. It is a great reference.