P Books

This book is nifty beyond words. It takes the complex topic of project management and boils it down to the essence, all in less than two hundred pages. If you've been assigned some project to head up at work, or you aspire to be a project manager, the ten minute guide to project management is as good a starting text and you probably will find.

I had to use this book for a class in Project Management and this was required reading. The "10 Minute Guide to Project Management book is very concise, to the point and yet it is not dry were I lost interest in reading it. In fact, if one really takes what the author writes to heart, they will glean much in a short amount of time.

Remember, this book is NOT all-inclusive and for the low price one shouldn't expect it to be. However, it is time well spent in reading it.

If you are unfamiliar with project management, or it has been a while since you managed a project, you will find this handy book to be just what the doctor ordered. Project management can be a rewarding, exhilarating experience. Yet, far too many people head into it feeling a mild streak of terror, if not outright dread. And why not? The levels of sophistication one can bring to the task of project management varies so wildly that it is easy to be left confused, overwhelmed, and without direction.

The very largest of projects such as launching a space capsule, building an intercontinental shipping fleet, or developing a gene therapy process can involve months and months of work, if not years and years, involving several hundred to several thousand people with a budget that ranges well into the millions. If that is the kind of project that you are going to be involved with, you need a different book.

This book is for the typical career professional who is asked to manage a project of anywhere from just himself or herself to a staff of say 10 or so. The project is probably going to be 6 months or less and cost far less than a million dollars. Still, there are lots of things that you need to know, and you need to know them in a hurry. That is what the 10 Minute Guide to Project Management is all about.

Each of the 18 chapters provides the essential nuggets of wisdom that will carry you along with a full understanding of what your role as project manager involves, kinds of tasks you will be handling, the interpersonal issues that will arise, and how to stay on time and on budget in pursuit of desired outcome. Each chapter takes about 10 minutes to read and absorb. Key glossary terms are provided in the appendix along with a list of further reading and a handy index.

Each chapter is presented in the form of a lesson and includes at the outset a list of three or four things that you will learn as a result of completing the chapter. The great news is that if you are a fairly organized person and have been able to accomplish great things on your own, you probably have great potential for being an effective project manager as well.

Today, there are a variety of supporting tools at your disposal that will see you through to a successful end. These include everything from notebooks and planning guides, to wall charts, to a sophisticated array of software tools--the initial portions of which you can learn within a day and be up and running by the second day.

Once you have successfully completed your first project, or your first project in a while, you just may find that you are so integrated that you are ready to tackle the next and the next. That will work out well in terms of your career progression because managing projects gives you visibility and exposure within your organization that you may not otherwise muster.

While the topic of project management may seem somewhat dry on the surface, the book will hold your attention with insightful quotes and witticisms from leaders throughout history, and will offer tips, cautions, and definitions of terms in plain English.

Yours Truly,
Jeff Davidson

This is a great introduction to project management for anyone in any field. It covers the basic concisely and includes and lot of tips and principles that will help you to be successful and avoid the most common errors beginning project managers make.

The book is laid out well and the most important information is set off and highlighted. It is an especially good book for beginning managers or others who are responsible for the completion of projects, but may not be project managers themselves.

This book is also a very quick read. However, it is packed with lots of useful content and no fluff. However, it is not comprehensive. For this you will have to go somewhere else if you will be managing complex projects. It also doesn't cover using project management software in-depth.

The book is a good, quick read about the hows 'n' whys of project management. I'd like to have seen a bit more about the pros 'n' cons of using project management software, but that's OK.

If you're looking for a book specifically about software project management, immediately start with Steve McConnell's "Software Project Survival Guide".

An excellent source of information regarding trading fundamentals in global markets, especially for beginning FOREX traders. The information provided in the text enables the reader to grasp the main subjects of investment and world trade in a simplified manner. The only short coming is that the information regarding global economic statistics is dated to pre-1997 and it would be great if the authors provided an updated edition

Brian Quinlan, son of Joeseph P. Quinlan, is a funny boy who gives interesting speeches and has the best basement and television set in the world. We like to call him TW for terrific warrior. He is a big fan of Doug Flutie and Zack Debolt and you should beware of the "elbow".

I can't tell you how many times I have referred to this book for my investment descisions. It's an accurate and clear portrayal of what goes on in the global market. My returns are increasing more and more everyday!

The Export Institute deals with brand new to highly experienced international traders. Many of them already know that the old adage "follow the money" is especially true in foreign commerce. Smart exporters are continually monitoring the activities of global investors and financial institutions.

This book will open your mind to various aspects of the global economy. Any serious investor would be doing him/herself a great favor by picking up this book...it is written in a very organized manner wherein coverage of each topic is short, concise, and each has it's own accompanying graphs/charts/statistics page. A perfect reference.

Recieved item on time, right when we were told it would arrive. Book in very good condition.

Educators already know that intrinsic motivation is preferable, but finding a viable way of doing that can be challenging. This book provides 150 (author was not exaggerating ; ) specific, doable activities for motivating the reluctant learner. I checked it out at the library~ it was so good, I immediately turned to the computer to order on line!

The ideas in this book can be adapted to just about any grade level. The strategies are fun, easy to understand and apply, and don't cost a fortune. I especially like the 'wanted posters' idea. This is a great way to teach diversity in the classroom.

My experience in the teaching work was improved with this lecture

Mr. Raffini has put together a great resource for motivating students. This book shows ways to use active versus passive learning practices. These methods are all classroom tested and designed by successful teachers. He understands what motivates students and what activities leaves lasting learning. Even a few of these suggestions will help make any classroom a better learning environment.

1st Book of the Seriously Extraordinary Crazy Adventures of Becca and Company is a crazily wild adventure that will keep you hooked until the very last word. J.P Nolan's exciting imagination takes you on a crazy ride through a magical world that kids will love. Great for children around age 9 and 10.

J.P. Nolan has written a book that is sure to excite the imagination of every child. Nolan captures the magical thinking that young readers find so engaging. The outrageous twists and turns of the plot are related with aplomb that makes them seem entirely possible. The characters come to life in the spirited dialogue and their interactions with each other. In a writing style that is vivid and uniquely her own, Nolan carries the reader off into a world where strange events are the norm and anything can happen.

I'm a 4th grade teacher and this book is really on target for the 4th/5th grade funny-bone. I was captivated by the creativity and imagination of the author. Becca is swept away in one outlandish exploit after another, moving through space, time, and alternate dimensions. If you like stories that are like an out-of-control roller coaster of adventure, with surprises and twists around every turn, then this is the book for you.

The book is very imaginative! My child loved the book so much he read it twice. In fact, it's his new favorite book. As a parent I appreciate that it tapped into his creativity. I highly recommend it!

so i like looking for random books and stuff, because, well, i absolutely love reading. and i'm going through and find this new book. i'd never heard of it, but the cover's really cute, so i'm like, oh what the heck, and decide to give it a try. it's way cute. for a little younger kids, like 9 or 10ish, but still really funny. when i got to the dancing in the air stuff, i was laughing out loud. you know when you're reading and everybody looks at you kinda weird because you're laughing at something nobody else heard? yeah, i had several of those moments. anyway, i highly recommend it.

Harrison is an anthropologist. He studies Man's cultures, including the thousands of religions that have been invented. Yes, he is of the mind that Man made it all up without even knowing it, but he does not discriminate, insult, or otherwise abuse believers. He likes them and frequently attends religious services with them. Harrison has made it a habit to ask believers why they believe in their god or gods. In this book he has compiled essays built around the fifty most common answers to that question.

His essays are not formally philosophical and are not about splitting theological hairs. Instead, each essay is conversational common sense with statistics about religion thrown in. He does not capitalize god or gods, since he rarely talks about any specific deity, among the thousands that have existed. Several themes recur: He emphasizes that every believer is an atheist about every god other than their own preferred god. Which god a person believes in is almost always an accident of birth. Atheists don't choose to be atheists - they just end up not believing. They are the fourth most plentiful group, after Christians, Muslims, and Hindus - and that only counts the ones out of the closet. The fifth most plentiful group is animism. Various religions make irreconcilable claims that can't all be right, despite the zeal of their believers. This most likely suggests that none of them are true and that humans are good at inventing gods. The countries highest in atheism are the most peaceful and the countries highest in religiosity are the most violent. The same picture shows up in blue versus red states in the US. Although religions are capable of good things, on balance, they are bad for society.

Harrison gives religion some direct hits, usually with a bit of humor:

"...atheism is not a conscious act of turning away from all gods. It is simply the final destination for those who think...you will be pleased to discover that the sky does not fall down on your head...if you still want to pray, you can (the success rate of your prayers is unlikely to change)."

"...it can be a wonderful life without gods...wise choices, hard work, being born somewhere other than an impoverished hellhole, good health, and a little luck can add up to a fine existence for just about anyone."

"...couldn't natural disasters such as tsunamis, floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, droughts, and tornados be unintelligent and indifferent events that can strike down anyone anywhere, regardless of which gods are prayed to? ...it matches the reality we see in our world."

A fine addition to the recent surge of non-believer books. This one is a kinder, gentler version, and fun to read - with this disclaimer from the author: "No gods were harmed in the writing of this book."

DB

Guy Harrison has written a good book for the non-technically oriented person interested in the God hypothesis. Harrison does a wonderful job of articulating why it makes little sense to believe in the face of 50 of the real reasons why the average person in the pew believes. There are many gems of wisdom in this book as Harrison offers up intelligent answers that everyone can understand against the claims of believers.

John W. Loftus, author of "Why I Became an Atheist."

Guy P. Harrison's, 50 Reasons People Give for Believing in a God, is an honest, funny and brilliantly simple look at belief. His tone is not that of an esoteric philosopher, but of a normal guy who gives simple reasons for why people's reasons for believing in a god or gods are not justifiable or provable.

Harrison's book is written after discussing the topic of belief with many believers over his career as a journalist. Harrison is great at showing the counterarguments and then refuting them without being condescending or insulting to believers. He also shares several personal anecdotes that are meaningful and genuine to the overall context and tone of the book.

The simple theme of the book ends up being that people have very little validity for why they believe what they believe. And although they are not by any means bad or stupid people for this, the question remains: how long will these people continue to deny the evidence against the existence of god or gods?

Whether you are a devout Christian or a devout heathen, this book is a great read.

It's rather difficult to find a book on atheism versus religion that doesn't come across as snide or condescending. Guy P. Harrison does an amazing job of both taking the side of atheists and not belittling religious people in the slightest.

The author's tone is very empathetic. He presents 50 chapters with 50 reasons people have given him for believing in a god. He doesn't discriminate any one religion in his responses, which is a first I've seen. Even more intriguing is that he is willing to point out the good in religion. At the same time, he won't pull his punches--if there's an ugly side, he'll lay it out for you.

As a curious believer myself, I didn't find anything offensive in this book. It's a good, interesting, intelligent read and will certainly give any believer something to think about when they finish each chapter.

Extremely well done, and highly recommended to everyone--even atheists, who may also walk away with a new understanding of believers.

This is an outstanding book. Each chapter is conversational, clear, and thoughtful. Rather than being heated and dogmatic, it is open, calm, and reasonable. I often think that anti-religion books just say the same arguments over and over, making the same old critiques, etc. -- and yet I found a lot of new material and novel insights in this book, and there were many ideas, concepts, arguments, and points that I had never thought of before. So I was pleasantly surprised by how many times I was impressed by a new insight or well-worded rebuttal to religious claims. I strongly recommend this accessible, engaging, fresh book.

This book was has been more useful than all the advice I have gotten from various doctors, articles in magazines and "skin care specialists". The writing is clear and finally so is my skin.

I was privileged to read an advance copy of this book. As a dermatologist, I have always discouraged my patients from buying acne "self-help" books because all of them are either insultingly oversimplified or numbingly complex. And in the end, the answer to your acne problem, amazingly enough, always turns out to be the author's own miracle regimen, which he or she will be only too happy to sell you for an unconscionable amount of money.

And frankly, I never thought a book in the "Dummies" series would be the one to break that mold. However, I can honestly say this is no less than the finest and most objective layperson's acne book ever written.

Dr. Goodheart has succeeded admirably where many others have failed -- he has taken a very confusing subject and made it crystal clear. He explains what acne is, in terms anyone can understand. He outlines the various types of acne, along with various treatment options, both over-the-counter and prescription, for each, and even addresses disease "lookalikes" that are often confused with acne, even by some physicians.

And most importantly, he cuts through all the lies, legends, and myths of acne treatment. You will learn which treatments really work, and which are a waste of money. You will learn what you can do for acne on your own, and what you should leave to the professionals. And most importantly, you will learn all of this from someone without a financial interest in which treatment you choose.

Finally, an honest physician, who is not trying to sell you any miracle potions or magical snake oils, has set on paper a completely objective evaluation of all the legitimate treatment options available, including Accutane.

Everyone who suffers with potentially disfiguring acne -- and their parents -- should read this book. It will be an invaluable resource for them, and for me as well. I will have several copies in my waiting room.

If anything can help bridge the generational divide, it's this book! Easy to read, incredibly informative, Dr. Goodheart has provided a terrific overview of a subject that's often difficult for parents and teenagers to discuss. This book's given us great historical, clinical and psychological perspective---so that together we can figure out possible treatment strategies. It's helped make my husband and I a bit more sensitive about what our kids are going through---while it answers a lot of their spoken and unspoken questions. We all recommend ACNE FOR DUMMIES highly.

I was interested in this book before even buying it because I have seen Dr. Goodheart's name several times in the NY Times Science Section. And the book more than met my expectations. NOt only is it clear and informative, but I feel as though Dr. GOODHEART is talking directly to me, anticipating all my questions before I can even think OF them. And he takes into consideration not only the skin but how we all feel when we're struggling with how we look and helps give us ways to deal with that. This is a terrific book: easy to use and hugely informative. This is the book to buy about your acne troubles or even other related skin issues.

My mom gave me Acne For Dummies to read because I'm very frustrated about my acne and for the first time I read something that I could UNDERSTAND and was also very helpful. I also enjoyed some of the unusual sidebars!! I recommend this book for all teens who have been confronted with the confounding problems of acne-- this book is clear, concise and very useful. I will refer back to it from time to time to remind myself of the options available to me. I think all pediatricians should be recommending it as well as school nurses and stuff. Thanks Dr. Goodheart for writing this book!!

This book will help you release from the anger that's ruining your life.

Many of the patients I've worked with have let their anger destroy their lives. And then the harder they fight to control their anger, THE MORE ANGRY THEY GET! It's easy to see how this can quickly become a self-destructive cycle.

What I love about "Act on Life Not on Anger," and what my patients find so helpful, are the techniques drawn from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). If you're like my patients -- and me -- ACT will help you relax, learn to become an observer of your own mind, and help you develop skills to avoid getting hooked into every anger-provoking situation that comes along in your life. 'Cause lets face it, there's certainly a lot of them, and in the end, the only thing that any of us can really control are our own reactions to those situations.

This highly readable book is so much more than simply a resource for transforming the reader's relationship with problem anger. It contains a wealth of insight into what life is like for the vast majority of human beings, whose daily struggle with painful thoughts and feelings obscures the truth about their deepest sense of self. The good news is that people's most fundamental sense of self can eventually become successfully untangled from burdensome thoughts and feelings, to make possible a meaningful life enriched by the pursuit of freely-chosen values. With clear, accessible prose, engaging illustrations and carefully explained practical exercises, this work is infused with the dynamism and excitement of specialists who are aware of the potential for their truly original approach to transform the quality of the reader's life, whether in the realm of personal psychological experience, relationships with others, or meaningful actions. Through the experiential development of `willingness', `cognitive defusion', the identification of values, and the development of self- and other-directed forgiveness and compassion, the reader is led to the discovery of a new and invulnerable source of identity that can act with unfettered freedom and restore to the suffering individual a fundamental sense of dignity and power. I am convinced that the development of emotional intelligence should have an equal place in the school curriculum with the development of academic intelligence, and an accessible book on anger of this kind has the potential to really challenge and transform the thinking of the (many) adolescents who (understandably) spend a lot of time struggling with angry feelings and ceding to the impulse to act on them, sometimes with devastating consequences. There is a wealth of wisdom and potential to improve human experience in this book.

Yes! I am really glad this book came out. As a clinician, I have been hoping for a good "self-help" book for my clients dealing with dysfunctional aggression and anger problems. The area of anger is so under-represented in applied psychology, and I am glad to see these authors offering a digestible self-help approach using contemporary and effective psychotherapy principles.

It's a good read. I recommend it for people dealing with anger issues in their life, and also for counselors.

With so many people acting destructively under the influence of anger these days the need for the methods and concepts outlined in this book is urgent. Of course anger is a normal human emotion that serves a real purpose. The problem is not anger itself but the dysfunctional expression of this common emotion. With the huge costs associated with the destructive expression of anger -- for the individuals involved and society as a whole -- it's hard to believe there's no mention of pathological anger in the DSM-IV, the medical establishment's bible of psychiatric diagnoses. This glaring error of omission means anger research doesn't get funded and therapists are ill-equipped to effectively treat clients presenting destructive anger. Eifert and co-authors present a wonderfully simple and effective approach based on the principles of ACT. This book should be required reading for all mental health professionals (and especially the individuals on the advisory committee for the DSM-V).

This book could be a great addition to anyone's therapy or meditation practice. For some, it can be therapy in itself. Anger can be the most troubling and still elusive feeling to understand and deal with. The more you try not to have it the more you will as so many of us have seen and experienced in our lives. The authors of this book guide our minds with simply and effectively while based upon current research. Once the reader can accept anger as a normal and natural but uncomfortable feeling, then the path to living life more fully opens up. The authors teach us that observing without acting out on these feelings helps us to gain control by letting go. The exercises are challenging but essential to the reader's success in using this profound little book. There is a wealth of wisdom and compassion expressed here so gently and deeply about all of life's challenges.

--Robert A. Naseef, Ph.D., psychologist, author of Special Children, Challenged Parents, and co-editor Voices from the Spectrum
Special Children, Challenged Parents: The Struggles and Rewards of Raising a Child With a Disability

For those dissatisfied with the ludicrous baggage of the world's gods and religions as the origin of mankind and the source of human behaviour, Robert Ardrey is a good place to start. Though some of his conclusions are now outdated by modern research, no one has written with more poetry and skill on this topic than Ardrey. Throughout his quartet of books on human origins [African Genesis is the first of the four] Ardrey shows how mankind is less of a fallen angel and more of a risen ape; and that man truly is still only a halfway house between the ape and the human being.

After a Broadway flop American playwright Robert Ardrey [author of the play Thunder Bay and the script for the film Khartoum among others] toured East and Southern Africa in the early 1960s. This was a time when astonishing fossil discoveries were being made in the Olduvai Gorge by the Leakey family and by others showing that man had originated in Africa some 2 million years ago. Ardrey talked to the fossil-hunters, the palaeontologists and the anthropologists and learned all he could of the new discoveries and their implications for human origins and behaviour.

Ardrey's main thesis is that mankind was born in Africa over 2 million years ago, and for most of that two million years the species' success has been largely dependant on its ability to kill. Without that underlying hard edge the species would have vanished aeons ago along with all the others that failed to survive. And only if we take that unpalatable truth about ourselves into account can modern mankind be truly understood.

The book is moving and beautifully written. If you want to understand human nature, and the possibilities for the future of the species, there is no better place to start than African Genesis.

African Genesis is a book that deals with experiments, scientific facts, and evolutionary developments. Even though its old you still have to respect all of the different information in this book. Ardrey's first explanation's are the importance of territory. He used two studies done by other Anthropologists. One with ants the other with birds. The red ant experiment was done by Eugene Maris, it was simply a little bridge that the ants wouldn't cross to leave their territory, but would cross when coming back. Eugene Maris's other works are explained in great detail in this book. His other experiments were more interesting. The bird experiment, done by Eliot Howard, explained the importance of a male establishing its territory before anything else; with birds and apes. It explains an error in Darwin's teachings of man, claiming that sexual tendencies are the first priority. Howard, in all his long career, never knew of a male bird, with territory, to lose a mate; nor a male bird without territory to gain one. Ardrey shows some of these same examples later in the book with gorillas.

Its stuff like this that makes me believe evolution over creation. Reading though the chapters the relationships of us to Australopithecus africanus or erectus is amazing. According to this book A africanus was a carnivorous smaller type of gorilla, erectus was a vegetarian and was bigger than africanus. Ardrey's Romantic fallacy deals with many animals that had true emotions and showed some examples. You see its all evolution. The last chapter is a laudatory approach to free speech. Ardrey is humble about agreeing with him or not, but not to ignore natural sciences brought to us. We are an unfinished revolution he says. He continues and then relates back to Africa's origin of man. The next book I will look for is where this one left off; for this left off at our stage. I would have liked him to continue and explain how all the different races formed if we came from Africa. But that may be too much for this book. What matters is after you read this book you have a clear understanding of Darwin's decent of man. You know that evolution is a long process and has many debates (like Ardrey's 24 paragraph debate of evidence that the use of weapons is a human legacy from the animal world). Anybody that is interested in the evolution of man and African anthropology, you'll want to start with this book.

I feel like I'm being a little generous giving this one four stars for two reason: (1) It's quite dated - So much has been learned and written, both in formal and popular science circles, since this book was first published in 1961, the arguments Ardrey puts forth are not quite as true to the mark as they once appeared to be, but more importantly (2) Ardrey's style of writing is much less suited to today's readership than it must have been 40 years ago. He ceaselessly anthropomorphosizes his animal characters far past where it's proper. This tends to detract from his overall arguments in today's more savvy readership.

Still, Ardrey had a point to make. And it's a good one. The struggle for survival in the natural world is the game our ancestors played as well, and we're here because we were good at it - better than our ancestors competing for the same niche. That's why we're here and they're not.

This book is also a starting point from which popular anthropology has its base. It was very shortly after this point in time that the Leakeys came into the public arena in a big way. So it's interesting to see where the forefront of the public view was at this point in time. There's a fairly decent summary of the work done up to that point as well. Fellows like Dart, who pioneered the field of modern physical anthropology, tend to get forgotten in the frenzy of activity that followed in the 60's and beyond. For these reasons, the book is worth getting.

Finding Ardrey's "African Genesis" may be a chore. But the Amazon book search worked for me, ...

African Genesis is a book that deals with experiments, scientific facts, and evolutionary developments. Even though its old you still have to respect all of the different information in this book. Ardrey's first explanation's are the importance of territory. He used two studies done by other Anthropologists. One with ants the other with birds. The red ant experiment was done by Eugene Maris, it was simply a little bridge that the ants wouldn't cross to leave their territory, but would cross when coming back. Eugene Maris's other works are explained in great detail in this book. His other experiments were more interesting. The bird experiment, done by Eliot Howard, explained the importance of a male establishing its territory before anything else; with birds and apes. It explains an error in Darwin's teachings of man, claiming that sexual tendencies are the first priority. Howard, in all his long career, never knew of a male bird, with territory, to lose a mate; nor a male bird without territory to gain one. Ardrey shows some of these same examples later in the book with gorillas.

Its stuff like this that makes me believe evolution over creation. Reading though the chapters the relationships of us to Australopithecus africanus or erectus is amazing. According to this book A africanus was a carnivorous smaller type of gorilla, erectus was a vegetarian and was bigger than africanus. Ardrey's Romantic fallacy deals with many animals that had true emotions and showed some examples. You see its all evolution. The last chapter is a laudatory approach to free speech. Ardrey is humble about agreeing with him or not, but not to ignore natural sciences brought to us. We are an unfinished revolution he says. He continues and then relates back to Africa's origin of man. The next book I will look for is where this one left off; for this left off at our stage. I would have liked him to continue and explain how all the different races formed if we came from Africa. But that may be too much for this book. What matters is after you read this book you have a clear understanding of Darwin's decent of man. You know that evolution is a long process and has many debates (like Ardrey's 24 paragraph debate of evidence that the use of weapons is a human legacy from the animal world). Anybody that is interested in the evolution of man and African anthropology, you'll want to start with this book.

For those dissatisfied with the ludicrous baggage of the world's gods and religions in seeking answers to questions on the origin of mankind and the source of human behaviour, Robert Ardrey is a good place to start. Though some of his conclusions are now outdated by modern research, no one has written with more poetry and skill on this topic than Ardrey. Throughout his quartet of books on human origins and behaviour [African Genesis is the first of the four] Ardrey shows how mankind is less of a fallen angel and more of a risen ape; and that man truly is still only a halfway house between the ape and the human being.

After a Broadway flop American playwright Robert Ardrey [author of the play Thunder Rock and the script for the film Khartoum among others] toured East and Southern Africa in the early 1960s. This was a time when astonishing fossil discoveries were being made in the Olduvai Gorge by the Leakey family and by others showing that humanoids had originated in Africa some 2 million years ago. Ardrey talked to the fossil-hunters, the palaeontologists and the anthropologists and learned all he could of the new discoveries and their implications for human origins and behaviour.

Ardrey's main thesis is that mankind was born in Africa over 2 million years ago, and for most of that two million years the species' success has been largely dependant on its ability to kill. Without that underlying hard edge the species would have vanished aeons ago along with all the others that failed to survive. And only if we take that unpalatable truth about ourselves into account can modern mankind be truly understood.

In this book Ardrey's hero is Australian-born palaeontologist Raymond Dart who discovered and named the first Australopithecus Africanus skull in the 1930s, and who correctly identified Africa as the first home of the human species and A. Africanus as a human ancestor in the face of ridicule and rejection by the scientific establishment for 30 years. The book is moving and beautifully written. If you want to understand human nature, and the possibilities for both the past and the future of the species, there is no better place to start than African Genesis.

John Warden was the strategist of the air campaign in the 1991 Gulf War. In 1998, he updated his influential book. A must read for anyone interested in the military, its past, present and future.

John Warden's book earned high praise because of its author's role in planning operation Desert Storm, but although the book is a very good synthesis of air warfare theory it is not either groundbreaking or revolutionary. In fact most of its arguments were presented for the first time by the pioneers of air power of the 1920s and 30s like Giulio Duhet and William Mitschell. Warden's contribution has more to do with the revival of those forgotten theories and the presentation of a complete picture of aerial operations instead of inventing new methods of war. Central to his thesis is the idea that air superiority is crucial, that a campaign will be lost if the enemy has it, that in many circumsatnces it alone can win a war, and that its possession is needed before other actions on the ground or in the air can be undertaken.

Warden also places emphasis on thorough training saying that if something is going to be done in war, it ought to be practiced in peace, and if it has not be practiced, losses are likely to be high and the plan is unlikely to go as expected. He analyzes the three kinds of inderdiction (distant, indermediate and close) and he gives an interesting definition of the term "close air support": "It is an air operation that theoritically could and would be done by ground forces on their own, if sufficient troops or artillery were available".

The author repeats often the great value of striking the enemy's center of gravity, that timing is everything in the commitment of air reserves and that ground and naval forces can serve as an adjunct to air forces in the battle for air superiority. His opinion that fighting defensively is the worst way to fight an air war is uneiversally accepted as is his thesis that numbers are important, so important that a primary goal of the operational commander ought to be to make sure that his forces outnumber the enemy every time they meet. Modern research using the Lancaster equations has also proved his argument that the large force almost always inflicts greater absolute casualties on the smaller force and thath it also suffers less in the process.

John Warden also explains in the Epilogue how his concept of ideas was implemented in the Desert Storm campaign of 1991. In that case the enemy was visualized as a target system of five concentric rings (leadership, key production, infrastructure, population and field forces) with the leadership ring at the center. In the case of Iraq, the US goal was "to reduce the energy level of the entire system enough to reach our peace objectives" which were to eject "Iraq out of Kuwait and an Iraq that would not be a strategically threatening regional superpower for the next decade".

On the minus side of the book are the extremely poor black and white pictures.

A fresh and renovated review on a complicated topic such as Strategy. Interesting and updated points of view with a simple and easy language. A must for any military aviator.

Colonel John A. Warden III was one of the most distinguished officers of his generation. A veteran fighter pilot, he was--is--as well a true defense intellectual--not the sort of individual often touted by the so-called "defense reform movement," but a true warrior-scholar in the classic image of, say, a J. F. C. Fuller--or a George Patton. Not one to shy away from controversy, Warden was convinced in the 1980's that the United States Air Force--had strayed away from its first principles. It had become a stove-piped, tribal organization, riven by discord and confusion between its "strategic" and "tactical" communities. Warden, in this brilliant work (written as a thesis at the National Defense University), posited an exciting new vision of the centrality of air power in national defense. This book served as an important departure point for the service's subsequent "Global Reach--Global Power" strategic planning framework issued in 1990. By that time, Warden was running Checkmate, a key office in Air Force planning. Through his own initiative and vision, he and a small team of "weapons officers" planned Instant Thunder, the first major response to Saddam Hussein's aggression in the Gulf. Warden briefed Instant Thunder to the Air Force Vice Chief of Staff (the Chief was away), and then on his suggestion to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. Colin Powell. Powell sent him to CENTCOM to brief Norman Schwarzkopf. His reaction was enthusiastic, and Warden was directed to brief Instant Thunder in the Gulf, to the CENTAF air component commander, General Charles Horner. Horner, brilliant in his own right, accepted much of what Warden said. But the personal chemistry between the two men was bad, and Warden returned to the States, leaving behind a small staff of acolytes and experts, most notably Lt. Col. David A. Deptula. It was the partnership of Deptula, Gen. Buster Glosson, Gen. Horner, and (back in Checkmate) John Warden that made the Desert Storm air campaign a success. After the war, Warden became commander of the Air Command and Staff College, making notable (and badly needed) changes to its curriculum. This book is a "must read" by anyone who would consider themselves a military and/or air power professional. There are Americans alive today because of John Warden's work. Warden never made general, largely because of petty jealousies by senior people above him. He was--is--a consumate professional and true patriot: never complaining, never self-advocating, always keeping true to his core beliefs. But his truest legacy is this book and the thinking it has inspired--thinking that has lead to five notable American victories over the last decade. Buy it, read it, keep it, use it!

Col. Warden adds new material to this important work on strategy, especially new material on what happened after the Gulf War. This book is many things. It is a history of airpower. It is a fresh look at the application of airpower. It is a guide for anyone in the military or business world who wants to compete or attack a system. Very readable. With Col Warden's reputation as the architect of the Air Campaign against Iraq, he has demonstrated that he can apply his ideas in real world situations. Outstanding read.

Im planning to go into Aviation Management and this is a great book that goes over everything that happens at an airport and how to run an airport!! Great book!!

Don't be afraid of the great amount of number data. It's all understandable

This book is an excellent text to all airport related personnels. I found it's particularly useful to people working in airport and/or aviation management who want to gain more in-depth understanding to all areas of airport operations. This book can also serve as in-house classroom training text for airline personnel. A highly recommended one!

This is a great source of information and very clear definitions of many of the key issues relating to Airport Management and Operations. Although written primarily from the European and Asia Pacific Airport and Airline perspectives, the author has worked very hard to include North American issues and examples. As The Airport Industry moves continually towards privatization, these differences will move to the background and be less obvious; and less important. This is a great starting place for the researcher or the occasional affectionato

This book provides a thorough analysis in all facets of airport operations and provides the reader with a logistical insight that is unmatched. While the book provides a great overview, it lacks information particularly on air cargo development and facility planning at airports. While the growth in air cargo traffic significantly outpaces passenger growth, air cargo development issues at airports become more significant. Air cargo development issues must be addressed by airport authorities. This book only makes scant reference to this. However, "Airport Operations" is a valuable book to all airport authorities, consultants and transport researchers. No doubt, a very timely piece of information.