R Books

This book has playful and engaging illustrations, and helped my toddler daughter fall in love with Dragon Tales! She loved the pictures so much that the book eventually fell apart! For that reason, it is well worth the money to give your little Dragon Tales fan.
However, most Dragon Tales TV episodes have wonderful lessons about how to act and how to treat other people, but I don't believe this story fits. An earlier reviewer wrote that this is a "story about experiencing disappointment and then solving your problem." But Cassie does not solve her own problem; instead, she pouts that she was not chosen for the dragon parade, so her friends create a parade just for her. This did not bother me much at first, but when my husband read the book to our daughter for the first time, he was surprised. "This book teaches you that if you whine and feel sorry for yourself, you can get your way!" he told me. I tend to agree. Your young one may learn that pouting will make others feel sorry for her and give her what she wants. I don't think that's a lesson anyone wants to teach his or her child!

This book is a great example of how to novelize a TV episode. Unlike the Between the Lions book "Red Hat, Green Hat", this book follows the TV episode faithfully, scene per scene, from the point where Max and Emmy are still in the playroom to the point where they're leaving Dragon Land. The illustrations are faithful to the TV series.

Also on the illustration, these are some of the best I've ever seen. They looked like they're lifted directly from the TV series, and I'd believe that too if I didn't take a closer look at the pictures. They're all redone, and this time, with added shadow and highlights to bring out the extra depth in the images.

As for the story, the book's story remain true to the episode on TV. No changes were made and details added. There is the slight bit of the scenes after Max and Emmy returns to the playroom cut off at the end, but it's no big deal.

Overall, this is an excellent book. I give it 5 stars and two thumbs up.

If you and/or your kid enjoy watching Cassie, the smart, somewhat shy pink dragon on "Dragon Tales," then you're going to love this book!

This is a book release of a TV story by the same name. In it, Cassie wants to be in the Dragon Land Parade, but is terribly upset when some other dragons are picked instead. She first shrinks to a very small size, then cries. Fortunately, she meets a new friend and her spirits are soon looking up.

A great, touching story about experiencing disappointment and then solving your problem. Each page is fully and vibrantly illustrated in the style of the show. Enjoy!

This book was very simple and just long enough that my children did not lose interest in a drawn out tale. As usual, the characters work together to find a solution that makes everybody feel good, and it helps my children talk about their feelings and come up with solutions. I love Dragon Tales, and this book is no exception! I am very glad that I ordered it!

As a proud mother of a 2.5 year old "shrinking dragon", I really enjoyed reading this book with my daughter. She is shy and seems to relate to Cassie more than the other characters on the show. When she saw this book, I knew I would only be reading this book to her for some time to come! I truly believe it helps her with her own shyness as well. The repeating passages that she is familiar with from the show make her eyes light up. It is fun to have her read it to me because she remembers so much of what happens from page to page. A must for preschoolers!

This classic is a wonderful exposition of the Buddhist Madhyamika philosophy. Of course, this is not an easy read. Before you start, you probably should have some idea what Madhyamika is about. Some knowledge of European philosophy is also helpful. But you can understand it, e.g., without the knowledge of Sanskrit. (I never studied Sanskrit.)

The author starts with how Madhyamika fits into the history of philosophy in India and how it builds on them. He then explains and elaborates on the core technique of Madhyamika, namely the Dialectic. Then he shows how the Dialectic is used to arrive at the concept of emptiness (sunyata). In the last part of the book, the author compares Madhyamika with other philosophical systems.

I am reading this book after I have heard many talks and read quite a lot of literature of Buddhist teachers about sunyata. It is fantastic how Murti pulls all the things together that I half know and that I have half forgotten so that they actually make sense to me. It is certainly helpful that Murti has a knowledge of European philosophy so that he can compare Madhyamika's concepts to ideas of Western philosophy.

I am very grateful to Murti for this book!

Murti's study of the Madhyamika should be required reading for anyone interested in Buddhism. With questionable relevance, a number of people now seem to assume that 'post-modern' Western philosophy is moving in the same direction as Nagarjuna- and, mutatis mutandis, more than a few Western Buddhists seem happy to confirm this illusion, coining the idioms of post-modern Western philosophy to confirm 'Buddhist' truths.

Presumably, then, Nagarjuna and the 'post-modernists' are doing the same thing - viz. the recognition that all truth statements are infected with relativity and its corollary - the denial of any place for 'absolutes' in philosophy. In truth, however, as Murti makes clear, Nagarjuna's arguments (the prasanga) were put forth to make way for direct perception of the 'absolute' via prajna-intuition/Buddhi, a faculty entirely unknown to 'post-modernist' Western philosophy. Lacking this faculty, or any awareness of a higher truth (paramartha-satya), the 'post-modernists' are simply stranded in samvrti/samsara. Nagarjuna speaks as a Buddhist - someone advocating a path (marga), with a faculty of insight (bodhi) and a transcendental goal - nirvana. Nagarjuna's declared identity between 'samarara' and 'nirvana' is not therefore, a logical inference, but a potential dis-covery, awaiting those who awaken 'bodhi.' We can go in for as much 'deconstruction' as we like - disowning or abandoning concepts etc., but without prajna-intuition or a spiritual path, it boils down to mere scepticism. Many centuries ago, Sextus Empiricus advanced similar arguments, but that didn't make him a follower of the Madhyamika. On the contrary, it merely left him feeling confirmed in his ignorance.

It is of some note that Murti's account of the Madhyamika has not been framed in terms of a critique of the Theravada - or Southern Buddhism. Murti makes it expressly clear that - going by the classical sources, the Madhyamika (i.e. Mahayana)seems to have arisen as a criticism of proto-typical schools, quite other than those in the Pali-based Theravada tradition. In short, contrary to what is often assumed, the Madhyamika was not a critique of 'Southern' Buddhism - by 'Northern' Buddhists - but a critique which emerged within a corpus of related teachings, arising from internal contradictions. Northern Buddhists have been accused of holding prejudicial views, by coining the terms 'Hinayana' and 'Mahayana.' In the not too distant past, The World Fellowship of Buddhists decided to place a moratorium on the use of the term 'Hinayana' - even though all the textual evidence shows that it acquired meaning in the context of Northern Budhist sources.

Murti's careful account shows the way that the Madhyamika came into being, relating it to primitive Buddhism and the various schools or systems that emerged from it. He also explores the relationship between the Madhyamika and non-Buddhist schools, such as the Upanishadic tradition, the Vedanta etc. Murti's work is accompanied by helpful footnotes, pin-pointing key terms and phrases. This study of the Madhyamika will not make popular reading - but, it will prove satisfying to those who wish to make sense of the rather complex web of notions and matrix of ideas which helped to shape Buddhist schools as we know of them today.

If this profoundly insightful exposition and explication of Madhyamika (the central philosophy of Buddhism) was read by every Zen/Buddhist practitioner, scholar, and teacher in the West, a number of distortions would immediately be eradicated.

Debunking the persistent misunderstandings and misrepresentations concerning the teachings of emptiness (sunyata) expounded by Mahayana Buddhism (including Zen), and especially focusing their highest expression by the Indian philosopher (and Zen "ancestor") Nagarjuna, Mr. Murti invites us to explore the true wonder of this unparalleled doctrine.

If you have ever struggled with Buddhist teachings regarding the ideas of emptiness and form, cause and effect, the relative and the absolute, enlightenment and delusion, Buddhas and ordinary beings, etc. Professor Murti's book will quickly set you on the path to Right Understanding.

Form is indeed emptiness, but have you realized that emptiness is form?

Read this book, you will never see things the same again!

I found this a rather difficult read. There are a ton of Sanskrit terms mixed into the text and although there are often some explanations to their meaning that is not always the case. There are also a ton of foot notes, some of which are entirely in Sanskrit with no attempt at an english explanation or translation. But that aside I also found the explanation of the Madhyamika dialectic itself somewhat inaccessible. It seems as though the mindset of the logic is different than Western logic as I understand it. When it comes down to the details of the actual refutations there are assumptions that I don't think are valid. Assumptions about the nature of things that are the "same" or "different" or "changing" or "unchanging" with particular reference to intrinsic characteristics. For instance the idea that something that changes cannot be permanent. The assumption of the dialectic seems to be that if it changes it is not what it was and therefore it has become something different and therefore whatever it was to start with was impermanent. Although this makes a sort of sense, to my Western way of thinking this is not a valid argument. Water can exist as ice or liquid, does that mean that if it is converted from one to the other and then back again that it was not the same thing all along? The dialectic is however filled with these types of assumptions and ways of thinking so that some ideas are presented as given, or logically folowing others, when in fact they seem to be based on assumptions about reality that differ from Western thought. The author makes reference to Kant's Critic on Reason quite often as a comparison and I plan to check that out and see if it holds up any better under critical analysis. Having said all of that though, I appreciate the underlying idea that the essential philosphy of Buddhism is that no statements regarding anything, either positive or negative, can be accurately made. There is no place whatsoever in which to stand which includes the place of standing for this idea.

The Central Philosophy of Buddhism--A Study of Madhyamika System (T.R.V. Murti) is rare jewel; a true masterpiece for any serious minded student interested in a bed-rock spiritual journey. If you think your faith is secure and the only way to God, be prepared to be stripped naked. But by the time you've reached the end of Murti's exposition you'll realize that naked is the needed condition for genuine spiritual release and communion. Don't hesitate--rush to this book. Never mind that you think of yourself as non-Buddhist. Whatever your brand of religious persuasion Murti will fill the void you don't even know that you have.

I picked this book up due to Ravi Z. mentioning it several times in his various lectures. I lived up to everything I expected of it, a short read packed with thought dissecting richness.

I do not care for television based on the moral depravity. Malcolm gave an interesting look inside the juggernaught of television media. It is even easier to see his points in todays media, as they have become even more self-serving than when he wrote this book. A very insightful read and the excerpts of his lectures were an added bonus.

I really appreciate Malcolm Muggeridge's insider view of what the constant medial has done toward the erosion of moral values. Having been a main man at BBC, he has special knowledge about the fantasy of media and the reality of life.

This book is probably one of Malcolm's most interesting works for a couple of reasons. First, he is at the top of his game in his use of English and reason. Second, because this is the most unmitigated and focused response to liberal media I have ever read. It was so direct and harsh that66 at times I found I wasn't sure I agreed with him. However, the more I mulled over the thoughts and worked through it, the more I realized I was in agreement with his premises. Excellent and thorough, though it will seem a bit short.

Muggeridge was a modern-day prophet in that he had a clear perception and understanding of the impact of Television on Western Media. In his words, "It is a truism to say that the media in general, and TV in particular...are incomparably the greatest single influence in our society today...This influence [is] largely exerted irresponsibly, arbitrarily, and without reference to any moral or intellectual, still less spiritual, guidelines whatsoever. Furthermore, if it is the case, as I believe, that what we still call Western civilization is fast disintegrating, then the media are playing a major role in the process by carrying out, albeit for the most part unconsciously, a mighty brainwashing operation, whereby all traditional standards and values are being denigrated to the point of disappearing, leaving a moral vacuum in which the very concepts of Good and Evil have ceased to have any validity."
He clearly describes the power of the editor (of TV news/documentaries especially) to present "the truth" or "reality" live, in living color, through carefully edited clips--which present the event from the perspective of the editor--telling the story the way the editor wants to present it, which may be (and often is) very different from "the truth" as seen and experienced by the various people involved in the event.
Bernard Goldberg, in his book "Bias", has described several examples from CBS News, and there have been many more recently.
Muggeridge's only practical solution: "Put a Christian behind the camera." I believe he meant by that, a person who is truly following Christ and therefore is aware of and sensitive to his/her own worldview; who respects the beliefs and worldviews of others; and who makes a genuine attempt to "balance" the story by providing multiple viewpoints and not promoting his/her own view at the expense of others. Clearly, not a person who fabricates "facts" to support their beliefs or theories; not someone who "spins" or twists the facts, or who ignores data that does not fit their view or agenda.
A rather brief book - but I believe a powerful vision of the potential for Evil (Muggeridge's word, not mine) when TV editorializing/production is in the hands of men and women who thirst for power and who lack moral judgement. The "Greatest Generation" called it by it's proper name: Propaganda.
Thanks to the publisher for re-publishing this valuable book!

I used this book, along with the Cliffs Notes book for the CLEP Principles of Management exam, and passed the exam after studying for 4 days. If you have any sales/management experience, it will help you with the questions on this exam. The practice exam questions were actually more difficult than the ones on the actual exam.

To all the people who are trying to pass this clep test as badly as I wanted to, here is the truth about this book...

Im a senior student at BU and i've taken so many management classes over the years that I was keeping the MG 301 (this clep) till the end not to waste time and money...

Truth is, I studied this book pretty well and the first thing I can say is that it is quite outdated with the material presented in 2008.

The best way to prepare is to skim over the most important chapters in the book and take the OFFICIAL study guide exam. From the official preparation test you should get a feeling of which notions were not even covered in the REA manual.


All in all I passed with a 54, I got the credit but I wasn't as prepared as I thought i'd be!

Good luck to you all!

This is all I used to study for the Principles of Management CLEP test. I read through the book once, took both practice tests, and then read through the answer explanations for each test. Then I loosely paged through the book a second time and took some notes on what I though was important. I think taking the notes made it all come together. I took the test and got a 73. This book is great and all you will need to pass! I have used the REA books previously for History of the United States I and College Freshman Composition. I did fine on those tests but I had to supplement with other sources. This book is more complete and I was better prepared for this exam in less time. I highly recommend it!

I read this book once through. Took each of the practice tests. This is the only thing I used, and I passed the test. What more can be said.

I've been in the military for a while now and a lot of the management concepts are very close to what I've learned. I advise anyone, especially GoArmyEd students, to CLEP this class. It's the easiest 3 credits you'll ever receive because you may know it already. There are some of the same concepts in management as PLDC, BNCOC, and other MOS schools, just different lingo. That's where this book came in for me. It helped me translate what I already knew into "civilian language." Passed the exam and now I don't have to spend 12 weeks in the Principles of Management class. Yay!!!!!

Wow! This wonderful compendium of American composition dolls is the most comprehensive and beautifully presented book ever written on the subject. What I most appreciated about this volume was that Ms. Mertz gave thorough descriptions of the dolls including markings, manufactured sizes, inconsistencies and even how these dolls were produced. So many other authors seem to "slap-dash" books together without paying attenton to these important details which truly make a collector's book worth its mettle. This book is not only filled with useful identification markings and values...it is also filled with the most professional of photographs that truly capture the spirit of each doll. It is obvious that this project was undertaken with great care, attention to detail and a lot of love for its subject. Even if one is not a doll collector, this is a book that captures a part of American design history and a simpler time when most major doll companies were still a family business..not some impersonal conglomerate. Hats-off to Ursula Mertz (and her husband) for creating this treasure of historical and collector's information. I think it belongs in the library of every doll collector and every historian of popular Americana.

I have the other Ursula R. Mertz book on compo dolls and both are just great! I would recommend both books!

1) Photos: Large, bright, highly detailed!

2) Descriptions: Very accurate. Ursula is probably one of the most knowledgeable people on this subject around today!

3) Well written. Well researched.

This is by far the best book on composition dolls printed to date. Ms. Mertz begins her book with a little background on the construction of composition dolls and traits peculiar to them alone. Lesser known compaies receive equal representation in this book ,with a section devoted to Patsy look-a-likes that shows many dolls some of us never knew existed. The photography is outstanding and quality is consistent throughout. I particularly like the section on Effanbee dolls;there are some early F&B's that I have never seen anywhere else.
For the serious collector it is an invaluable resource; for the doll lover, it is a work of art . For both, it is the ultimate 'wishbook'!

Thoroughly enjoyed all the information provided. This book will continue to be a reference for anyone interested in composition dolls both recent and antique, the photographs are wonderful.

This is the BEST book I have ever seen on Composition Dolls! Not only does it include marked dolls, but identifies unmarked dolls based on their characteristics. Also has many dolls that the Blue Book does not have. Great color photographs! The only thing that this book does not have is an index of marks (initials & numbers) for quick reference. I love this book!

This book is great. It is filled with a variety of coloratura pieces (definitely not for the average soprano). These pieces help the singer to showcase her technique, range, capacity for languages, acting ability, and endurance. As some of the other reviewers have said: it is not for beginners. It is full of entertaining pieces. It does not have any repeats from the G. Schirmer Arias for Soprano, which is great (apparently the old version of that and this book do, however).

I needed this book for my voice lessons and it was a great price and in wonderful condition. Thank you!

This book is filled with arias that are well known and arias that are rarely sung. It's nice to have a little bit of both. Great for a serious opera singer looking to expand her song list or for auditions

The goal of the editors does not appear to have been to present the most difficult coloratura soprano pieces, but to set out a range of music that the student and instructor could use in order to develop flexibility in the voice. Well done!

This is a fantastic book for the genuine coloratura soprano, as well as offering a good selection for light lyrics who are looking to increase their agility and move into the coloratura repertoire. While offering a few easier selections, such as "Poor Wand'ring One," many of these arias are very challenging and should definitely not be undertaken by the beginning singer. It is great to have these blockbuster soprano arias all in one place!

Glyer's book provides valuable insight for fans and scholars of The Inklings collective works. She has a fresh slant on material that most Tolkien and Lewis readers have seen in other formats. Her agenda, though, presents the idea of "influence" in a changing light. I think that she opens doors of critcical opportunity that will allow much more fruitful sorts of investigations of Lewis, Tolkien, and William's work.

The Company They Keep is scholarly writing at it's best. I used it with gifted high schoolers with excellent results. The students became excited about how Glyer did such extensive research and then wrote about it in such an interesting and readable way.

The fantasy literature of C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkein is so imaginative and idiosyncratic that one accepts that they wrote such lasting works somewhat obstinately and mainly privately almost as a hobby with little hope they would ever be published, much less popular. The picture of J. R. Rowling writing the beginnings of the first Harry Potter book sitting along at a table in an English shop comes to mind with this image of the earlier authors. Lewis and Tolkein are known to be good friends as well as professional colleagues at Oxford University. But as professor of English at Azusa Pacific U. in California Glyer puts forward, Lewis and Tolkein were part of a circle of academics and writers who had a large, discernible, and often documented influence on their works. From diaries, memoirs, letters, and other sources, Glyer finds that this influence is most evident with Tolkein. This circle which acquired the name "The Inklings," "modeled the behavior of poets and storytellers, provided feedback on his drafts, helped him develop his own critical faculties, recommended reading material that supported and shaped his imagination, and suggested that certain pieces be started, reworked, completed, or submitted for publication." Glyer continues, "It is no small matter that all of this early influence took place within a highly interactive group setting." What the author says with respect to Tolkein applies as well to Lewis, though not quite so overtly recognizably. In their turn, Tolkein and Lewis were active participants in the group offering the same support and suggestions to its other members. Shortly after arriving at Oxford as a student, Tolkein founded the literary society named the "Apolausticks."

In an appendix by a David Bratman, relevant background on 17 members of the Inklings besides Tolkein and Lewis is given. Most became university professors of English or medieval literature or of language studies, with most doing scholarly writings on literary criticism. This work of literary criticism and author biography is obviously timely given the current interest in these authors as evidenced by widely-popular movies made from books of theirs.

This book shows scholarly intellect, hard work, dedication, and insightful thought that I have only achieved in lofty dreams. Diana Glyer presents interesting, insiteful, and inspiring information about the Inklings that you will not find anywhere else. I have never read a book that so skillfully puts scholarship in such an accessable read. For anyone who is a fan of the Inklings, Lewis, Tolkien, Williams, or anyone remotely related to these men do yourself a favor and read this book.

Glyer has put together an incredibly researched study of the relationships of "The Inklings," the social gathering that included C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien among others. "The Company They Keep" is not a casual read for the Narnia fan; it is a scholarly exposition of the influence that the Inklings had upon one another and the way that that influence appears in their works.

Using a formula for determining influence created by another scholar, Karen Lefevre, Glyer analyzes the way the Inklings served as Resonators (encouraging voices), Opponents (thoughtful critics), Editors, and Collaborators (project teammates) for one another. She then adds her own fifth category, that they were Referents who wrote about one another and promoted one another's books to publishers and the public. Ultimately, Glyer rejects what Inkling scholarship heretofore has asserted: that the Inklings by their own admission did not largely influence each other. Glyer argues that such claims were aimed at acknowledging their independent credibility, but that in fact they had significant roles in shaping one another's works.

So the book is important on two levels. It contributes notably to biographical scholarship on the Inklings. But is also makes thoughtful contributions to literary criticism, which traces and debates the nature of influence. Glyer is immersed in the field and defends her thesis well.

It's a great book; not a "fun" read, but definitely a fascinating one for the serious reader.

James W. Miller is the author of God Scent: A Devotional

If I had to buy one on book on the topic of change management this could be it, because it takes a wide angle view of the overall task of a change manager. A lot of what gets written on change management is dense and reader 'unfriendly,' This one has some hard hitting advise, lots of perspective, and I can actually understand it. That alone makes it a
worthwhile book.

Dear Swamped-By-Change Reader,

My hardiest congratulations to you on picking up this book! These days, each of us faces so much change on a continuing basis that it's practically an act of heroism to get up in the morning, face the day with all its challenges, and still keep one's sanity intact! Yet, you've made it this far, and with this handy guide to managing change, your year, career, and life in general are going to take a turn for the better.

Perhaps by now you've already encountered one or more of the books in The Complete Idiot's Guide series, as there are more than 300 of them. While they are written in a humorous, lighthearted style, you know that they offer authoritative, hard-hitting advice.

We homo sapiens prefer to have the fundamentals of life stay relatively the same. Being constantly confronted by change and managing it effectively represent a considerable challenge. This book offers a simple framework for approaching, understanding, managing, and ultimately mastering change in your career and personal life.

If managing change was easy, everyone would be good at it. We would all be humming along in our careers, feeling in control, staying mentally and physically fit, and having peace-of-mind. Obviously, no one can accurately predict the future; however, a variety of proven techniques, as well as fresh perspectives for handling change, will give you the edge you need to be effective. You'll be treated to a variety of strategies, mini-case histories, observations, witticisms, and good, old-fashioned common sense, mixed with leading edge thinking.

The more people in your life who are adept at managing change, the better your life goes! If you're surrounded by highly competent managers and coworkers and innovative, forward-thinking family members and friends, you will probably experience less resistance to your ideas.

As you and all the people for whom you've bought copies of this book will discover, once you become adept at managing change in one aspect of your life, your new found knowledge spills over into other aspects of your life, i.e. you get good at dealing with change on a variety of levels. Such a deal!

Yours truly,
Jeff Davidson

The beauty of this book is the ease in which it deals with really major issues. Unlike other books i have read on the topic, you don't need a degree in public relations to understand it. And the principles are easily understood and applied. Two thumbs up.

I can't say enough about this book. It's almost encyclopedic in its approach to laying out a process for identifying and attracting new clients. The book is loaded with charts and most of them are relatively easy to understand on first viewing. Although the book appears to be geared towards a firm with at least 8 or 10 professionals, I think the authors' system would work as well for a professional firm with only one or two individuals.

This is a deceptively clever book on the topic of change management in business. Normally I wouldn't consider picking up an Idiot's Guide on something as important as managing a change initiative, I was pleasantly surprised by the scope and depth of this book. It is well researched, far reaching, and a valuable asset for anyone whose been asked to head up any kind of business or organizational change. I can recommend it without reservation.

Gary Blinn, like other servicemen who were in Vietnam in 68-69 believing in the validity of their Government's decision, has put in writing, after 30 years, a memoir on the war and its affect on those patriotic American servicemen who survived.

Gary Blinn's new book is a journey to a land I have never visited - the land of war. It is an intimate portrait of one man's spiritual, moral, and physical struggles with the experience of being a soldier in combat. The book's title refers to confession. As a priest, I've heard a lot of confessions, but few this honest or compelling. In this book you won't find many of the gory details of bullets tearing up flesh that you find in many Vietnam books and movies. Instead, you will find that bullets are not the only things that tear apart body and soul. Confession is good for the soul, and so is reading a book that has helped one man reveal some of his wounds of war. Only then is healing even possible for Gary and for our country.

I was there when Gary was - and I recognize many of the people he "fictionalizes". This is an extraordinarily sensitive and effective description of the experiences we had and the emotions we felt. To my knowledge, it is the only book on the subject written by someone who actually rode the boats in combat.

Gary Blinn's "Confession to a Deaf God" compares favorably to the writings in Bill Mauldin's Pulitzer Prize-winning W.W.II exposé, "Up Front." Although Mauldin's forte was his sardonic cartoons, Blinn's "bracelet format" of writing is the perfect vehicle to convey his scathing indictment of a different war and a different time. About his experiences as a Navy Swift Boat skipper in Vietnam's Mekong River Delta, Lt. Blinn says, "It's been 30 years since I was in-country; that isn't true. I go back every night." And what a haunting nightmare that nocturnal sojourn must be. His vivid descriptives allow you to practically feel Charlie's bullets whiz by your head as you set your sites on the enemy, whomever or whatever that might be. Blinn's series of Inky Bite-sized vignettes are truly fantastic as he juxtaposes scenes one would never expect to see together-moose hunting and San Francisco lesbians; elephant dung and twin .50 caliber machine guns; a little house on the Nebraska prairie and the Hong Kong Hilton. "Confession to a Deaf God" is surprisingly literary, almost poetic, and makes apt references to the likes of Conrad, Hemingway, Homer and Mick Jagger. Whether or not Americans want to remember our time in Vietnam, we all owe ourselves the treat of accompanying Lt. Blinn on his own journey into the heart of darkness.

Prior to reading his book I would have said that I knew the author, Gary Blinn, well, having spent a little over 4 years of my life in the early and mid `60s in the same company with him at the Naval Academy, and in flight training. Now that I have read it I know him so much better. This book is a work that provides a tunnel into his psyche, and sometimes his soul, at least as it was during his duties in Viet Nam, and our view down that tunnel expands with every chapter. It is well worth the trip down the tunnel.

I had a hard time getting into it having started twice with months between attempts, but ultimately I found that I couldn't put the book down. I attribute part of this delay to less than expert placement of the material by the editors; because there is plenty there to grab the reader and more of it should have been up front. But an equal part of my difficulty rested with an expectation that I was trying to start yet another Viet Nam polemic, and I had other things to do. Ultimately I will send copies to other friends and recommend it widely. The style using the "bracelet" format lent itself to my current reading method of absorbing short segments between distractions, provided an easy means to regularly reconnect with the book, and also reflected the nature of military operations with many unremarkable hours laced with urgent encounters. You could expect most bracelets to be packed with significance. They were not tied together in a hum-drum fashion but linked in irregular bounds and across chapters in an intriguing way, much the same as the chapters of life are linked.

This book confirms that any organization that puts a young person in a deadly situation, day after day for a year or more, with scant relief, reward that doesn't measure up to the level of danger (Could it ever?), and poor leadership is following a recipe for building contempt for the decision makers who occupy the higher rungs. The emotional and psychological scars built in the first few days and etched by fatigue can never be totally erased. I see the scars in my brother, an Air Force veteran who spent a year on night patrols with a guard dog at Ton San Nhut during the exact same time as Gary's tour in Swift boats. You see the scars in congregations of veterans such as Rolling Thunder, who ask the ever present question, "Were you in-country?" And you see it in isolated veterans who have never assimilated back into the society. Read this book to understand how the scars get formed, then consider what you will do to ease the life of the returning veteran who is being sent back for a second or third tour in Iraq or Afghanistan.

I had the very good fortune of knowing Don Droz and Ken Norton personally who are among the Swifties `still on patrol' to whom the book is dedicated. I also had the good fortune of working with a Chief Bosun's Mate in the mid `70s who had been in riverine patrol craft and constantly lamented the demise of the force as a mistake on the part of the Navy. I served later on active duty with no fewer than five former Viet Nam POWs. It is a shame that the author was not in the Navy after the enactment of the All Volunteer Force and never had the chance to see the force of will of these veterans of the Viet Nam war. They were determined to change the level of leadership and throw out the dangerous people whose attitudes allowed fine men to be `wasted'. They largely succeeded.

I was at the dedication of the Viet Nam memorial. The next time I'm there I intend to leave one of Gary's books at the base of the V as a tribute.

I was facing the challenge of helping a startup IT company. They were unclear as to what goals they wanted to set for the next few years, and how they would go about achieving their goals.

I used the methodology described in this book as a model to help my client. The simple structure and logical flow of the steps made sense to the client and provided them with the framework they needed. This framework was then used to identify improvement opportunities within the client processes, and to establish focused goals for the next couple years.

I truly believe that my client immensely benefited from the methodology described in this book. A must have for management consultants !

This book clearly presents a well designed methodology for process improvement consulting engagements. Although it works as a general guide to a team-approach consulting process, it is clearly intended as a handbook to be used specifically by consultants who become members of an organization called the Consulting Alliance. This is not just an overview or general guide; it is a step-by-step procedure manual for running engagements. It should be pointed out that this methodology was specifically designed for non-profits and SMB organizations and is not geared to F500 environments.

The accompanying Web site contains a number of forms and other tools to be used in conjunction with the book, so this is really a robust system, and much more than just a handbook. Although production values are simple (spiral-bound), the book and accompanying materials still represent good value for the money and equally important, match the mission of the organization and the values of their clients.

This book details a process that every manager should embrace. It is time sensitive (both for the project and your own), budget focussed and guarenteed to effect immediate results if followed properly. Sound like every other management booklet you have been pushed, probably but Maxwell's Methodology is truely cradle to grave, inception to implementation with a level of detail and due diligence missing from many strategic and operational management planning tools.

This manual is a superb introduction to management consulting. It is a pleasure to read, presented in a narrative format that is easy to relate to and that clearly defines terms. The Priority of Team Improvement is a step-by-step guide for the improvement identification process, a management tool that can be used to help your team identify problems that are causing it to underperform and develop potential solutions that are truly implementable. This consulting approach gives the team ownership over the entire process, which helps to ensure success. The strategies included in this manual can be applied to many situations and are something you will want to continually come back to.

The book "Consulting Alliance - The Priority of Team Improvement" is an example of an improvement process, of which there are probably hundreds available under the umbrella of business processes.

The big issue is the price, the "book" is only a pamphlet that looks like it was just printed out on a bubble-jet printer, not what I was expecting for $18. A more realistic price would be $5.

I talked to the author, he is a really nice guy and very serious about the work that USA Leadership Consulting does.