Sherman Books

The book I order was just as described and it was delivered in a timely fashion. I was extremely surprised.

I received the product quickly and it was in exceptional condition.
Thank you for your professionalism, and quick service.

This book was endlessly useful because I was taking an HR Management class online and the textbook provided was an ebook. I have trouble reading books on my computer due to eye strain, so this book got me through my class.

All managers and HR professionals should have a copy of this textbook on their shelf. I used it for a graduate MBA class and liked it so much that I kept it instead of selling it back on this site--the true mark of a quality textbook. The examples used follow many current headlines, so it's worth picking up the latest edition available.

I found the international version for over 1/2 the price on ebay on through Amazion resellers. The lone diffs between both editions are the end of chapters exercises such as Case Studies and Film examples are missing. Hence, after chapter 1, pager #s are different. No big deal. I also liked the softcover edition since it weighs far less. Page quality / stock / ink is excellent.

They sent me a different edition than what I order so I was a little mad about that but i was still able to use it for class.

As an undergraduate student of history and a Mexican born dual citizen I find this book to be a great work of historical analysis and research. I own the 2003 edition, thus I have owned it for several years. When I came to study abroad in Mexico, this was one of the books I brought with me. The authors hold an objective tone in their easy-to-read scholarly writing. It is very comprehensive and it includes various sub-themes per chapter such as: Women and Society, Culture and Society, Intellectuals and Society, etc.

It also includes various helpful charts and tables to explain data and recent information. As any concise history, it is very brief on some important events but nonetheless it includes the most important facts of the events. For example, the Tlatelolco Massacre of 1968 is explained in a couple pages, but the elements of the basics are there.

I have used this book to do my essays and research both in California and in Mexico. I strongly recommend this book to any student of history, politics, or economy and to the lay and curious reader as well.

Easy to read, remarkably free from academic cant, with suggestions for further reading placed conveniently at the end of each chaper, this is undoubtedly the best one-volume history of Mexico available. A good place to start for anyone interested in the subject.

Had to buy this book for a Modern Mexican History class, so I only read the chapters dealing with Mexican history from the end of the colonial period through the end of the book. What I read was interesting, brief and to the point as a text book should be. However, I would not enjoy just sitting down and reading it for fun.

This is a general narrative summary of Mexican history. It is not very deep on anything, has few direct quotes from primary materials, but it's organized fairly well. For the beginner - or college student who is not very intellectually ambitious or curious - it's OK. For anyone else, I'd advise buying the really excellent Mexico Reader, Duke Univ Press, edited by Gil Joseph et al. The Mexico Reader is a terrific compendium of original sources covering all the same periods and can be used as a complement or in place of this book.

HANGFIRE (4/2001) is the sixth book in the STARFIST 25th Century Military SciFi series, descibing the battles and skirmishes that a company of Space Marines gets involved with on far-flung planets.

This book introduces a new technique of jumping between two completely different storylines throughout the book... one of the storylines is simply to set up the scene for the next two books in the series... the second storyline is a retell of A. Bertram Chandler's MATILDA'S STEPCHILDREN (1979), involving a rogue playground world where Roman gladitorial battles are held in a Colosseum.

As has been the case in the first 5 books in the series, there is virtually no new technology introduced, and most of the military technology used in the books is little more advanced that what we now have in 2008, and some (like UAV technology) is actually behind the times.

Hangfire is the best so far in the series. Good action, good story, and it has a good lead in for the next book. Gives a lot more development on characters who weren't mentioned much or haven't been used much in the last few books. A very good read

Great well rounded charecters who actually CHANGE(develop) from book to book. This is a much better much then the last one and I cannot wait for the next in the saga.

Even "cushy" assignments have a way of turning out harshly for the men of the 34th FIST. They can't seem to catch a break from the higher brass, their Justice Department, their politicians or even a resort world.

HANGFIRE actually consists of several plotlines, most of which will presumably be hashed out in later books.

The first plot concerns the way the normal duty rotations of the 34th out of the unit (a hardship post) seem to have come to a complete halt. The CO takes it upon himself to investigate this matter for the good of the morale of his men and no one will like the answers. The main thrust of this one is of a senior CO looking after his men. He learns the reasons but it will be left to later books to see how he handles the situation and how his men react.

The second plot concerns the alien "Skinks" first encountered in the 4th volume, BLOOD CONTACT. We see the skins gearing up for some major nastiness against humanity but this is almost entirely independent of the real story being told in this book. Again, it seems to be a matter of setting things up for stories to come. What is incredible is the amount of space dedicated to setting it up since it does nothing to advance the main plot of this book.

The third but main plotline concerns an independent assignment given to 3 marines seconded to the justice department. They are to infiltrate an exotic and expensive resort world run by the mob in order to gather evidence for the feds. Since the Justice department is calling the shots, we are guaranteed that things will be set up so as to put the 3 marines into as much hot water as possible with too little regard for the lives of the marines in question. In that respect, its pretty realistic. The marines manage, as marines do, to come through it all with physical and emotional wounds but with the mission accomplished.

All in all, this is not a bad installment. It seems a bit disjointed at times but I suspect that is less problematical for me since I am reading the series in close succession.

This is the sixth book of the series and it still brings something new to the 34th FIST. The storyline is much different that previous books but it still keeps you on the edge of your seat.

On the opposite, there is always previous information coming from the previous books that is good to know while reading. It puts everything in perspective. Flashback from Elnear, Wandejhar, Society 436 and Diamunde reminds you of the previous missions for the marines.

What's next?? I need to wait for number 7: Kingdom;s Swords...

This book helped me get my federal disability claim on my 2nd try. The author, a former federal employee for the Social Security department, explains in good detail the best way to file for your claim.

He explains that the reason many filers get denied even though they have a valid claim is because they didn't have the right kind of documentation. What is the right kind of documentation? First of all, it must meet the medical wording guidelines of the Social Security Department. Has your medical provider written up your diagnosis clearly with enough sufficient detail?

Keep in mind that not all doctors are good at written communication. They tend to be busy and so might write up your description in the briefest language possible. You might also have a doctor who is just plain careless and sloppy with word choice usage. (We've all heard about the stereotype of messy doctor's writing.) Make sure you ask nicely (preferably in writing) that the doctor write according to federal standards. If you have access to the Internet, then you can check out their writing guidelines online.

Secondly, make sure your medical records department send copies of your medical documents promptly. Again, a nicely worded and toned voice mail and/or letter should do the job.

The other interesting fact he mentioned is that some federal examiners tend to grant claims at a lower rate, while others tend to grant claims at a higher rate. You have the right to find out who your examiner is and what their denial rate is. Some work faster than others. There is currently a backlog of claims, so don't be surprised if your claim can take as long as over one year to be decided on. In my case, I was very fortunate to have my second claim granted within one year of filing.

Not all true disabilities are accepted by the federal government. Check out their website for the latest medical definitions. I met one woman in Seattle who told me she was filing her disability claim on the diagnosis of bipolar disorder, even though her true disability is Disassociative Identity Disorder (otherwise known as Multiple Personality Disorder.) This is because one of her alters actually does have bipolar disorder. I haven't seen her since but I do hope her claim was granted. (This conversation took place about three years ago, when the feds didn't recognize DID/MPD.)

Even some skin disorders are accepted as disabilities if they prevent you from working full time.

Once you get the disability claim granted, you are allowed to supplement your disability income by almost $900 per month as of 2008. This maximum amount goes up per year according to cost of living increases.

According to federal guidelines, a disability is a condition that prevents someone from working full-time in any capacity they have the skills, knowledge, and experience for.

This book gave you examples of the language you need to use. Pretty easy to read and I did find it helpful.

It is no fun being diabled but it is even worse to go thru a 3 year fight to get what you have paid into for 30 years. This book tells you everything you need to do each step of the way. I wish I had it then. I got it for the keeping it part as I am having my first review. I am even more sick than before and the letter you get from SSA is quite upsettting. This book helps you put it into perspective. A must have for all people on SSDI or those who manage others who are.

this is a must for those of us who deserve disability, but will have to fight for our rights. some of us have what's referred to as "invisible problems" such as chronic severe back problems, Fibromyalgia, MS, etc, and this book is really good. Certainly worth the price.

This book gave a step by step process to apply for social security disability. It also answered every question that I had. This is a must read for anyone considering disability.

The thought of hiring someone to help in the house brought up a swirling mixture of emotions, making it hard to logically decide if household help was right for me. Besides covering all the how-to issues of placing ads, interviewing, training, and paying taxes, in her book Kathy helps readers sort out the emotional side of deciding to hire household help. In summation, if we are willing to buy a meal from a fast food chain that pays its workers a bit above minimum wage, why not pay someone to cook a meal for us in our own kitchen (at a higher hourly wage)? Ditto for paying for laundry services, a grocery store that picks out our food, or a babysitter to watch the kids while we do chores. Because I am a married woman without kids, I initially decided to hire a cleaning service to come once a month instead of hiring my own part-time employee. But when my husband ruptured his Achilles' tendon, leading to three successive casts and rehabilitation, my work activities as a self-employed writer and real estate investor came to a crashing halt. Much of my time was spent doing his share of the chores plus taking care of his new needs. I reread Kathy's book, placed an ad in the local college newspaper, and received three calls a day until I canceled the ad early (I decided it was worth it to offer $11 per hour to get the best applicants I could afford). The mature student I hired has worked in the past for a cleaning service, is more of a neatnik than I am, and is a talented cook! Even after my husband's leg heals, I suspect we are going to continue hiring part-time help. It is absolutely wonderful to leave my computer and walk upstairs into a clean house with fresh baked cookies cooling on the counter! For us, it is worth it to economize in other areas (our newest car is 8 years old) in order to afford household help. I'm glad Kathy wrote this book because it helped us make a decision that worked for us.

I am surprised by all the good reviews this book has received.

To start with, this book is mainly about a woman who says 1) she isn't very good at housework and 2) just plain doesn't want to do it, so she hires it out. Now, mind you, there is *nothing* wrong with that attitude, people hire out tasks all the time for those very reasons.

However, throughout the book, she makes derogatory assumptions such as:

Housekeeping is a no skills/low skills job
People who choose to be housekeepers aren't very smart
Children can't be trained to take over housekeeping tasks

And so on--too many to list here, and then in other parts of the book she goes and contradicts some of her previous statements.

Her arguments for hiring a housekeeper are of the whiny, I-shouldn't-have-to-do-this-demeaning-work type, and she brings up the tired, "traditional" man vs. woman arguments, as well as "we're all too busy". Do men and women argue over housework? Of course, but these days usually the arguments are neatnik vs. slob, not about who's doing (or not doing) the dishes. Are people busier than they used to be? Maybe, but that is a choice you make, not something forced on you.

Children need some chores to teach them life skills for when they leave home--the few chores she leaves for children in her book are a joke. If you're willing to take the time to train a new housekeeper, why not spend that quality time training your children instead? Not to mention that, if you're truly willing to pay for housekeeping, why not pay family first?

She has a cost justification worksheet, where for example she states that you save money by having your housekeeper prepare your meals. Well, no, you're shifting the costs from buying convenience foods and/or eating out to paying your new employee. And, by the way, her website where she says there are forms to use does not work.

In one way, this book was unintentionally funny--in the back she has a list of references. In it, she lists books such as The Sidetracked Sisters Catch Up On the Kitchen. If she'd taken time to actually *read* the book, and their first book, Sidetracked Home Executives, she would have learned that it would not be necessary to hire a housekeeper. Once you go to all the trouble to clean up for the housekeeper and get a system in place (which Sherman insists on, by the way, so that a housekeeper will *want* to work for you), the little that is left to do could easily be accomplished by her children, her, and her husband. For example, one of the DAILY tasks for her housekeeper is to vacuum the entry, living room, etc. Well, if you have a "no shoes" policy, you could vacuum once a week, or even every other week.

After reading this book, I still was not convinced that hiring out your housekeeping would allow you to increase your income, or even save you money, although it might make you feel better.

Now, on the other hand, a housekeeper would be quite helpful, say if you have several children under 5 at home, or are looking into one for an elderly parent, you're recovering from surgery, etc., and for someone in these situations, this book would be helpful for overcoming objections to hiring one. But for the vast majority of people, let's be honest, hiring out housekeeping is a *luxury*, not a necessity.

The book has a few useful food recipes, some tips on getting your point across, and a sample housekeeper schedule that you might find useful. Borrow from your library first, before buying.

I also suggest that people read "Your Money or Your Life" along with this book to get some perspective. Would you rather do a little housework here and there on your terms and timetable, or work at a job that not only costs you money to go to, but puts restrictions on how you spend your time and creates extra stress in your life so that you can hire a housekeeper?

I'm sold on the idea of getting household help, but many of my friends say they would rather do it on their own. Rather clean toilets than play golf? Rather mop the floor than spend time with their families? Hey, get your priorities straight.
A clean house creates a haven for you and your family, but it doesn't have to cost you all your free time. This book helps you understand the need for help in our over-scheduled lives and what can be traded to make it affordable.
The book is written in a straight-forward manner and really covers the topic well.
Here's a comment I found by the author on the Dollar Stretchers website: "Conflicts over housework are rapidly joining the 'big two' causes of arguments (sex and money) in two-career families. Household chores which include tasks like grocery shopping, cooking, laundry, ironing, daily tidy-up, and heavy cleaning average 35 hours a week in families with children, a burden that is borne disproportionately by women whether or not they work outside the home. After trying, and failing, to get their husbands to take on an equal share of this workload, women are paying the price through increased stress levels, loss of leisure time, and damage to their marriages because of rising levels of anger and resentment towards their spouses."

This book practically saved my marriage. We were both working full-time but then had another full-time job at home so we barely had time for our marriage. The housekeeper isn't that expensive after we analyzed things.

Another book that we got that really got our marriage back on track was -- The Romantic's Guide. It gave us hundreds of tips and ideas on things to do to get closer again. I'd highly recommend both.

This "author", and I use that term loosely, has the nerve to write several "customer reviews" (as opposed to editorial reviews, which she is obviously not qualified to do) on several ground breaking amd creative books regarding social and economic conditions. For what reason? To shamelessly promote her own book. This is a pathetic attempt to plug her own work, and its a disgrace to legitimate authors. She ought to be ashamed of herself, not only for her comments, but for this pathetic literary attempt. Shame on you Kathy Sherman.

I have had it 2 months and am quite blown away by it. Sacred Rose is not strictly RWS or Thoth based .....it's in its own category completely imo. The images are so forceful and full of cosmic vibration. Very intense and darkly mysterious. I have been doing daily draws with SRT and I keep getting these very profound "revelations". This deck seems to have an ancient personality, whispering secrets from the primal deep Night. The book the author wrote is one of the best companion books for deck I have read. Very unusual, in-depth and with a poetic turn to her words and interpertations. This deck is a classic, around since 1982, and you can clearly see the artist's deep and lifelong involvement with the Tarot shine through in her original and inspired images, colours and symbols.

The intense and captivating colours in this deck deserve special mention. Each suit has it's own set of colour swirls and they are completely stunning. Swords are all kinds of blues, purples, dark mauve, violet.....very menacholy. The Wands are a exquisite palette of oranges and reds. Pentacles are so evocative of the Earth, Autumn and harvest....citrines, golds, russets, yelllows and on and on. The majors are extremely powerful, you get a sense of partaking of wisdom from the Cosmos. Lots of nature infuses and makes this pack feel alive with much personality.

As far as these controversial "blank eyes" that get so much mention. I love them! They are evocative of the Otherworld/Underworld energy that this deck is so strongly infused with. I am starting to feel this deck really does transport you into the Otherworld deeper and deeper the longer you focus and work on it. You can travel to all levels with this deck.

It is a very Autumnal Tarot....the ambience and strong pull is so entwined with my love for Fall. It's a Tarot that doesn't hide the darker aspects of life, it embraces them, and turns them into something hauntingly beautiful. The backs are like a mandala and stand out as an image that can import some deep insights if meditated upon.

I have around 65 decks.....this is always the deck I return too, I feel it is my signature deck, the one that feels like home, I connect with it on a very profound soul level. I recommend it for someone looking for immense power in their readings and for exceptional self-growth and development of their intuitivr/psychic powers.

I am a tarot reader and healer by profession. I have been reading for a very long time. The two decks I usually use are this one and the Rider Waite deck. I use this deck for specific things such as is there dysfunction in the readers environment or addiction. I use these cards almost daily. I feel the two's in this deck sum up relationships in a very symbolic way.

The tarot card is one of the oldest, most popular, and pervasively influential sources of metaphysical inquiry known to the human race. With respect to The Sacred Rose Tarot, Johanna Gargiulo-Sherman draws upon ancient kabbalah traditions and symbols (including the Tree of Life), and combines them with the symbolic rose of western culture. The result is a uniquely thoughtful and thought-provoking collection of major and minor arcana -- and a tarot deck that is as cosmic as it is personal. Also from U.S. Games (a premier source of tarot decks for the metaphysical community) and very highly recommended for both novice and experienced tarot readers are Norbert Losche's Cosmic Tarot Deck ...Gayan Sylvie Winter and Jo Dose's Vision Tarot Deck ); Carol Bridges' Medicine Woman Tarot Deck and Magda Weck Gonzalez and J.A. Gonzalez's Native American Tarot Deck

Although I give the artist much credit for the minors cards, some of them are astounding beautiful and meaningful. In general I found this deck too loud in the intensity of the images and facial expressions( the eyes are so gross). Also, the cards have much ornamentation and are much crowded. I have a taste for more simplicity,I don`t like distracting borders.
This deck is valuable in the artistic demonstration of a technique, but not what Tarot really is about. This happens when a Deck is commissioned to an artist that does`nt have Tarot knowledge; it is void and superficial. When a Deck is made by a person that has studied and used Tarot, you can feel the energy and Mystic in the images, and in the Deck as a whole, even when you touch it.

The Sacred Rose Tarot Deck by Johanna Gargiulo-Sherman is one of my favorite decks. Her use of imagery to convey the symbolic meanings of each of the cards is not only thoughtfully rendered, but is easy to understand and learn even for beginning tarot card readers. I love her use of color and shape to energize and give fluidity to the compositional elements of each card. Even though this deck was published in the 80's the cards are as relevant and powerful today as they were in its first introduction. A great deck for both collectors and mystics.

BLOOD CONTACT(12/1999) is the fourth entry in the STARFIST series of Far Future Military "Space Marines" stories. This story involves the Space Marines of 34th FIST being sent to a remote and uninhabited world to discover what happened to a scientific colony of 1000 humans. When they get there, all heck breaks loose.

While there is still the over-abundance and silliness of the 70's Philadelphia Flyers character names, and there are a lot of over-exaggerated character personalities (always seeming to involve "officers", who the authors seem to have a bit of an aversion to), there is enough action and redemption to make this story an overall winner. It is a fun and fast read, and I'll definitely be moving on to the fifth book in the series.

I'd also like to mention that this story returns to the successful theme of "small scale skirmishes" of books I & II of the series. Book III involved a "large scale skirmish" that was short on technology and believability, and was hopelessly out of date 9 years after it was published.

In this, the fourth of the StarFIST series, the story improves once again in terms of interest. The last book was alright but nothing too memorable. This one is.

The marines are recuperating from their hard fought campaign when they get work of a scientific outpost which has fallen silent. A single platoon is sent to investigate. What they find is what no one expected. Hostile aliens have taken over the place and killed everybody. These are the first intelligent aliens to be encountered in these writer's universe and they are strange. There is no negotiating with them. They are fanatics who fight to the end and immolate themselves rather than let the jarheads take any prisoners, dead or alive. The marines have their work cut out for them and are not helped by the glory hound naval officer who accompanies them.

It is a good read from start to finish. It is not as well polished as some series but it keeps the interest and it portrays the men and their leaders as they should be portrayed. Semper Fi!

The story is pretty good and does brings something new against Charlie Bass and his men. It is different than the tribal on Elneal or the tank of Diamunde and its brings some action for the marines.

I was unable to put down the book as I was reading since I was waiting for a grande finale. However, once the book was fully read I had some questions about missing links.

Anyway, I am still very pleased with the outcome of the book. I will finish reading HangFire and buy the seventh book Kingsdom's Sword once it is out.

Enjoy

When the book opens the Confederation is facing a new military invasion, only this time it is aliens. What will happen? Who will win? Dean and the 34st FIST or the bad guys. I could tell you but Amazon wouldn't let me, you have to read it to find out.

In the first Starfist novel, the 34th FIST went up against a bunch of nomadic, "low-tech" tribes. Next, they trained a puppet-police force to stand against rebels. Then, they spearheaded an invasion against an entire mechanized army. What's left for the fourth book, you ask? Heck, ALIENS!

A remote research outpost on a planet a bit too far gone to be accurately called "remote" suddenly disappears. True to form, the bureacracy (sp?) diddles around before deciding to send a single FIST platoon and the Navy's most embarrassing rejects to investigate. Of course, L platoon, 34th FIST, draws the short straw...probably the best thing the powers-that-be could've done. *g* So, how do you makes heads and tails of a planet covered by swamps and impassable mountains, littered with corpses, full of gigantic lizards (some of which want to melt you), and all the while encumbered with the only human survivors, a rag-tag band of pirates? Just put Charlie Bass in charge!

This novel was non-stop from the beginning! Old comrades, new friends, mysterious pasts, enigmatic genocides, and a diabolically sentient race that's next to impossible to track, mindless in its persuit of the destruction of all things human, and simply ingenious in its tactics all add together to make a truely original read! Not your typical "slimey alien drooling on floor grunts a few gutteral noises then whips out a super-advanced weapon and blows the sun up" cookie-cutter beastie, these are coldly calculating commanders with hordes of mindless minions to do their bidding.

This is a very highly recommended book! I couldn't find anything to tick on it for, except maybe Dan Cragg and David Sherman's continual downplay of the Navy forces...which, as an ex-Navy man myself, I can totally understand. All in all, I can't wait for book five and six to come out!

This is an extraordinarily well written first person account of life as a Naval Aviator. Have you ever wondered what kind of men we send into harm's way, what they're like and where they come from? Are they different from the rest of us? What's it like to fly and fight a Naval aircraft in a real shooting war? Sherman Baldwin has your answers. Rather than the bravado common to other first-person combat stories, Baldwin's account is told with a great deal of humanity. Certainly there are the accounts of combat and carrier operations that will have you on the edge of your seat. But this is really the story of a man (not a machine) in an extraordinary situation doing extraordinary things on behalf of his country. I know men like this. They are my heroes, and Sherman Baldwin captures their lives and experiences as well as his. If you want to feel proud about America, read this book.

Oddly, the book starts to flounder when the Gulf War begins - the "war stories" he tells are actually quite uneventful. The best parts of the book are when he describes the people he works with on the ship. He does a good job of bringing these people to life, and telling about his difficulties dealing with the higher-ups onboard and their intimidating leadership styles. That was very honest of him, but he didn't reveal much about why he decided to leave the Navy and go into business just a few years later. Overall, it's a good book. I recommend Bogeys and Bandits as the best Navy pilot book.

This book was not the literary version of Top Gun so if you are looking for seat of the pants air combat this is not really the book to read. The author was a navy EA-6 Prowler pilot during the Gulf War. He flew from the U.S.S. Midway. One of the more interesting parts of his story is that he was a new carrier pilot at the start of the conflict, therefore, he had to get accustomed to flying from a carrier during war conditions. The tensest passages in the book deal with his night landings and aerial refuelings. The actual job his aircraft performed in the war, although very valuable, was a bit dull. This was not air to air fighter pilot dogfights.

I was also a little disappointed with his descriptions of what life was like on a carrier during wartime. There were some descriptions, but not enough for me to get a good picture of his time out on the ship. Do not get me wrong, the book was enjoyable and the writing was good. The book did tell the story of the war that most of us would not get to hear given the author was not a fighter pilot glamour jockey. I just wanted a bit more overall details of his group's missions and life on the carrier and skip the love story.

The main thing I got out of this book is a compelling need to ALWAYS send letters to our servicemen and servicewomen in overseas wars. I had no idea how much it meant to them. It was pretty interesting, and I don't understand why Baldwin's friends would criticize him for using his Harvard education on the Navy. What I don't get is how he can waste his Harvard education on what he's doing now (read the epilogue).

When not distracted, Baldwin delivers an honestly written and interesting account of his experience as a naval aviator during the gulf war. His stories of the missions flown are both interesting and thrilling. The problem, in my eyes, is that it seems like he spends half the book telling us all how amazingly wonderful his then girlfriend, now wife, is. Certainly the connection to home and family are an integral part of any miltary story, but he takes it way too far. He crows on and on about how this girl is the most beautiful, wonderful, greatest thing on the planet. I have no doubt she is, but I was trying to read a book about Naval Aviation.

Tichy is a guru of all gurus and he has a winner with this book. Highly recommended.

Hero worship this book is without shame. Sure, the book calls Jack Welch an "As***le" but it is spoken as a compliment. This highly antagonistic, argumentative, determined, intelligent, and energetic hero is indeed a first class "As***le" without apologies. He is the consummate proof that one needs to be an excellent "As***le" to be considered as a great CEO\manager. If you are one of the nice guys who wants to be gentle, cheerful, and sympathetic to your 80+hr/week working employees, forget it, you can't be a successful manager at GE. You need to be like Jack, and take all the credit for the hard work your underlings, and if any of them complain, you kick their fatass during their review which you are required to cut at least 5% of your staff.

Be a tough, bottom-line demanding, reality driven, confrontation seeking, slave driving, and kick assing manager. Otherwise, you will get your butt kicked by other first class manager\as***les. This is the primary lesson of "Control your destiny or someone else will".

On the business side, I found Jack's view on competitiveness ("if you don't have competitive advantage, don't compete") and productivity (productivity is the engine that drives profitability, job security, competitiveness, and higher pay) quite refreshing.

This book looks dauntingly thick when you pick it up, but some brief exploration will show that including the interviews only 311 pages are the Jack Welch story-- the rest of the book is Afterword, GE Timeline, GE Shareholder Reports, Bibliography and finally a section meant to be applied to your own business. I suppose that there are readers out there who wanted that level of completeness in their history of GE. I did not. I stopped reading after the afterword.

The book covers GE during the period of Jack Welch's reign. Specifically, it charts his efforts in five major initiatives: Services, Six Sigma, Digitization, Succession, and the Honeywell acquisition.

I found it interesting and readable, although I was left with the feeling (despite the author's best efforts) that these were very difficult achievements to duplicate if you did not happen to be Jack Welch. Although ostensibly a business biography, I still had much more of a feel of personality than facts when I was done. I would have been pleased to have a less broad-ranging treatment which delved a little bit more deeply into some specific numbers and consequences. Although this information might have been contained in the investor reports, I had no patience to page through it and find the information.

This is maybe a 4 Star book - IF, and ONLY if, this is the first book on Jack Welch and GE you have picked up. If you have already read "Jack" skip it. There is nothing here that hasn't already been said elsewhere. I was disappointed how little "new" information was presented in this book.

If you are looking for something on the topic of controlling your own destiny this title is somewhat misleading.

I came into this book assuming a book on the history of Jack Welch's early years with GE. It ended up being much more and I was pleasantly surprised at the overall educational value of the book.

The book is broken down into three "acts" which recount the years of Jack Welch - when and how he was made the CEO with GE, the early years of layoffs, the early resistance to his ideas, reorganization of GE, the need for globalization, and eventual acceptance of his ideas as he empowered GE's employees. Welch's ideas of empowering the employee encompassed such things as "boundarylessness", strong values, leadership, simplicity, and productivity. As the book progresses, the reader is provided with the real world GE examples that qualified Jack's ideas and their results. Nor does the book hold back from describing Jack's missteps and describes the lessons learned.

Overall the book was a good read. The examples read as stories that both entertain and educate. Welch's ideas, as presented in Control Your Destiny, are probably now considered common sense business practices. The ideas seem simple today, yet were revolutionary for that time as you'll read.

The end of the book provides a manual that can be used to carry out a similar revolution with your business and employees. I didn't really work my way through it - it seemed more appropriate for larger organizations.

Having taught Finance at various schools, I found this book refreshingly straightforward for a topic most of my students find complex. Unlike a lot of the text type books on this topic (which are also good for technical analyst types), the authors have captured and synthesized a very clear strategy which works.
The incorporation of LEAP's which were introduced in the early 1990's and training on the language of options which I find many brokers do not understand, makes this volume unique.
I recently began recieving the fax service which provides real time reccomendations and ongoing guidance for all positions. So far I have achieved results beyond what I used to achieve with my regular equity positions.
I would reccomend this book for those that are new to options as well as those who have some years of experience. I have found it a small investment that pays for itself many times over.

"Finally the Secrets Are Revealed... ", but I have not find anything new in the book that was not known for centuries. The authors claim a "annualized return of up to 400% with less risk than owning stocks!" , but the book never explains when to buy or when to sell. On the authors webpage they publish their performance tracking, - and of course the annual return is miles high for every trade but...all performances are from closed trades. There is no possibility to check the process in real-time. If the authors make these tremendous returns indeed in trading, I wonder why they don't publish their 'strategy' on the net for free, but need to sell books for a price that is not worth it. I would stay away from this one unless you are a complete beginner...

Having taught Finance at various schools, I found this book refreshingly straightforward for a topic most of my students find complex. Unlike a lot of the text type books on this topic (which are also good for technical analyst types), the authors have captured and synthesized a very clear strategy which works.
The incorporation of LEAP's which were introduced in the early 1990's and training on the language of options which I find many brokers do not understand, makes this volume unique.
I recently began recieving the fax service which provides real time reccomendations and ongoing guidance for all positions. So far I have achieved results beyond what I used to achieve with my regular equity positions.
I would reccomend this book for those that are new to options as well as those who have some years of experience. I have found it a small investment that pays for itself many times over.

I learned about the futures and options market in my MBA classes. However, you don't learn street proven trading strategies from an MBA program. You learn these strategies from books such as Optional Wealth.

This book is great for those looking to learn proven options strategies for the first time. For those who are already experienced options traders, there are techniques in the book that can enhance your current trading strategies.

The author's publish their trandes on their website and you'll notice that they rarely lose.

This paperback only counts 128 pages and nevertheless costs $ 40. I could not find any strategy on options in the book that is not common knowledge or that anyone would not be able to find on the internet within a minute. Many pages are reserved for the subject 'selecting a broker ("....if you are not getting what you need, do not hesitate to select a new broker". Thanks) and 'research on stocks' ("Should you desire to develop expertise in a particular area (like technical analysis) we recommend you find a good book on the topic...". Thanks again). The book contains four graphics which, as far as I can judge, have not any connection with the text whatsoever. For me the book has not add any new information, and I am afraid this will be the case for many more people.