Business Books

Slightly out of date now (Sybase 12.5 is the current version) but still very useful. I originally purchased my copy when I started at Sybase as a new employee (though I had been using Sybase software for about 10 years prior to that).

I have had my copy now for nearly 5 years, and I still use it as much as ever - though I left the employment of Sybase a long time ago (so this is not an official endorsement).

And I'm not the only one in the office to use it - the book is a very good general reference on Sybase - forget the manuals. This book covers most things you want to know - whether you are a DBA or a developer, but perhaps not always in as much depth as you'll need.

I purchased this book hoping that it would cover all the topics for SYBASE system 11 (server configuration, BCP and fine tuning)and it has DELIVERED! I am very pleased with the detailed information and examples (I LOVE EXAMPLES) in this book and I would definitely recommend it to any DBA working on SYBASE system 11.

I already knew Sybase fairly well when I got a copy of this book. So I never felt the need to read the entire thing.

The reason I know it is valuable and the reason I give it 5 stars is this: every time I have a problem or run across something I don't know how to do, I open this book. Then I quickly and easily find the solution. That makes the book good as gold as far as I am concerned.

This book is copyrighted 1996 but don't let that fool you. It is still the best book on Sybase ASE available. Of course this might say more about the efficacy of Sybase than the book, but we aren't reviewing RDBMs here.

There are a few things that are lacking in this book but if you are just starting out with Sybase, either coming from another RDBMs or starting from scratch, this is it. A second revision would be most welcome as would a 'Sybase on Linux Unleashed'.

To sum it up, if you want to use Sybase, buy this book.

This is an excellent Sybase book (probably the best one on the topic), however I still have to go to sybooks.sybase.com for certain things. For example, sp_changedbowner (to change a database owner) isn't mentioned anywhere.

If you are serious about sales then this book belongs in your library. I found the information about LinkedIn especially useful.

I just finished reading, and before I even finished I had success. Will recommend to anyone who wants to increase networking skills and research ability for projects, clients or prospects. This will be a powerful tool for many different levels of education.

After conducting an audio interview with the author, I've used his suggestions multiple times. Most recently, it led to me getting called back for a second meeting about what could be a large piece of business. The tactics work!

I work with insurance and investment products. I am relatively new to this industry. My biggest hangup beginning in this industry was that I didn't know what resources were all available to me and how to utilize them. I constantly felt like I was working inefficiently and ineffectively.

Then I fell on this book. In all honesty, I am not sure how one person, Sam Richter, could acquire so much knowledge and insight on so many different online sources.

Simply put: I know how to utilize professional databases that would otherwise cost me $4000 and $5000, and now use them virtually for free (and fully legal). I strategically use online networking sites, and do so very effectively. I search in Google and Yahoo differently than I used now that I know how they are set up. Amongst dozens of other options he presents.

It is set up clearly, has easily summarized chapters, the quicktips are summarized in the back of book and indexed. . . overall it is a fantastic source that I am grateful to have in my arsenal.

I have been reading sales and prospecting books for 25 years, and this book is in the handful that I have ever recommended to other people that sell for a living. Sam Richter's book describes in specific detail how to use free Internet resources to find out every relevant, timely and sales oriented detail imaginable about every prospect you want to do business with. In your first cold call to that prospect you will know more about the prospect's business problem--and how your product or service can specifically solve that problem--than any other sales person that has ever called that prospect before.

There seems to be a new trend in business books, titles written by lucrative CEO's and Managers who realize that their success is not based upon their great product, their wonderful organization skills, or their golden management style but based upon finding the right team of people for the job at hand.

Talent Force takes a deeper look at what makes that right team. Groups of employees can't simply be made to fit a specific one size fits all mold. Each company, each circumstance, and each set of problems requires a different set of talents to make the venture successful.

Talent Force does not give step by step directions on how to collect and mesh together the right individuals. Instead, this book gives a lot of examples (historical, modern, global economies, large corporations, and smaller business) of good and bad use of employee talent. These examples and the discussion that is included with each of these situations starts the reader thinking about the obvious benefits of creating a talent force. From here, the reader begins to come up with an individualized plan based upon these concepts.

Back in the olden days of "B school," several--ahem--decades ago anyway, we were all economists and sports writers. To determine the business value of an enterprise, we learned to "line up" the last five years of audited financial reports, calculate "batting averages" and financial ratios, project historical performance into the future, and then "call a huddle" to determine the present value of the future cash flows. This approach is how we made our merger decisions, it was how we purchased capital equipment, and it was how we decided on new product lines. Only as a second thought did we make any attempt to evaluate the management team, or to delve into the important staffing strengths and weaknesses. Those personnel questions would have been too subjective, too qualitative, for our valuation models. The professors would explain, "Quality of the management team is already discounted into the historical performance of the firm, and hence the stock price." We took this to mean we could ignore these issues because good managers generate good numbers. So we followed the numbers.

Predictably, we emerged from school with monetarist attitudes about the power of capital, the amazing quality of market information, and a resulting suspicion of "marketing types," flashy people with pinky rings who advocated controlling our firm's public perception. We were never troubled by the nagging doubts that should have made us wonder, "so how's come none of my models ever determines, with any accuracy, the value of a stock, or the selling price of a company?" We were sure that these discrepancies happen because the market, with its perfect knowledge, knew something about the industry that we didn't know. And too often, we would later learn that we had overlooked an important personnel issue; a looming retirement, a shortage of specialists, an obsolete benefits package, a drinking problem. We should have known. But comforting ourselves with a truism about the focal acuity of "hindsight," we would "get back out there and step back up to the plate."

So it is no wonder that most of my generation still hires, retains, and plans for its workforce in some rough imitation of the way our boss' generation hired. When we have a need for a new person, we concoct a job description, get our bosses approvals, and post the "vacancy" on line. When the hundred thousand resumes arrive, we form a team to winnow the pile down to a manageable fifty. Then we spend the evening with those fifty resumes and in the morning we have ten candidates. After some uncomfortable phone calls, we schedule two or three interviews. Unhappy with the selection, we send the job description out to a small group of "contingency" head hunters. And the same hundred resumes begin filling our inboxes and tying up the fax machine again. But this time, each resume comes with a head hunter advocate, pushing us to meet with this one candidate. By now, everyone in the industry knows that you are hiring, including your own employees, many of whom feel this job would be the next logical stepping stone in their own career track.

If you recognize yourself at all in this short description, you would certainly benefit from a close reading of Rueff and Stringer's Talent Force: a New Manifesto for the Human Side of Business. In the time it will take to meet with a heartbroken and valuable employee who feels "passed over" in your staffing program, you can be reintroduced to the latest tools for maintaining and building the people force that IS your company. More than a motivating "locker room talk," you will learn how to find resources and strategies that you may have overlooked. The most helpful insights may be in the sections on "Emerging Recruitment Practices" and "Strategic Integration Point Person," in which the processes of recruiting, outsourcing, and retaining talent are integrated into a marketing approach prioritized at the top of your organization. Specific advice is offered on how to find qualified talent consultants and specialists. And this is all packaged in an easy to read book that steers clear of theoretical approaches and industry-specific solutions. A copy of this book should be placed in the reading bin of every first class seat on commercial airlines.

Hank and Rusty have teamed to put together a great book that really puts into perspective the vital importance of having an effective Talent Plan at every level of the organization.

Hank's a top recruiting strategist with a great understanding of todays candidate(s) and the actions organizations must take to effectively & consistently recruit and retain Q Talent. Rusty led one of the most successful Talent Strategies with his work at EA enabling them to be the undisputed leader in the gaming industry. A must read for every executive and anyone that hires and manages Talent.

I read this book because one of the authors is a friend of mine from college and because I know that demographics are working against us - the amount of talent leaving the workforce as Baby Boomers retire isn't being replaced - in numbers, experience, or skills. This trend has vast implications for all of us, yet it hasn't become a prevalent part of business conversation yet. I hoped this book would help me think about that fact.

Having read the book, I recommend it somewhat different reasons. Yes it helps you understand this trend, and yes Rusty is a great guy. But you need to read this book because it helps you put your talent in a strategic frame of reference. The skills of the people in your organization are paramount to your success, and this book describes that and reinforces that point in fresh and salient ways.

Initially I thought this book would mostly be for leaders in large organizations with lots of ongoing hiring. I was wrong. As a small business owner, I have many ideas and processes in mind to help me as I move forward. I believe a line manger or leader in an organization of any size will gain value from this book.

If you care about keeping the talent you have and expanding or replacing it rapidly and effectively, you must read this book.

What we have in this brilliant book is a rigorous and eloquent analysis of challenges to which Rueff and Stringer refer in this excerpt from the Introduction: "This book is about how to find, attract, and retain high-quality talent in the midst of a new global economy that makes it more difficult and more important than ever to have the best people contributing to your organization. It's about how technology is changing the ways that both individuals and companies approach the job market. It is about how these forces and others will shape the talent market during the next decade and beyond and what smart companies will do to stay ahead. Most importantly, it is about the human factor involved in all of this and how expectations, views, and approaches to work are changing for participants in today's talent market."

Rueff and Stringer carefully organize their material within nine chapters whose subjects range from "The Quality Talent Imperative" to "Talent Forces of Tomorrow." They address a number of real-world business issues which include those specifically related to developments and challenges when managing talent capital. In a perfect world, every organization will have the right person in the right place at the right time. Also, every organization will have a "deep bench" of talent immediately available whenever needed. In reality, it is possible but highly unlikely that any organization has the right person in every place or even in most places, and always or almost always at the right time. More often than not, organizations must make do with adequate talent in many -- if not most -- positions.

As I read this book, I especially appreciated a number of reader-friendly devices throughout Rueff and Stringer's narrative. For example, their provision of boxed supplements such as "The Parable of the Talents" (pages xx-xxi), "Will the United States Experience a Labor Shortage?" (pages 15-16), "The Benefits of Automated Qualifying [Interview] Questions" (pages 87-88), and "Blogs Bring Media Power to the Masses" (pages 120-122). I also commend Rueff and Stringer for including a number of checklists which summarize their key points and, later, expedite a review of them. For example, a list of proactive, strategic steps that various organizations are taking to meet their long-range talent needs (pages 72-74), five ways that senior managers can contribute to their organization's talent goals (pages 97-98), and "Ten Qualities of Great Recruiters" (pages 138-139). Well-done.

In "The Parable of the Talents," an important question is raised which remains relevant more than 2,000 years later: Do we figure out how to take one talent and turn it into 10, or do we bury our talent in the ground to protect what we have? For Rueff and Stringer, this is an "awesome challenge." I agree. What they offer in this book is a cohesive, comprehensive, and cost-effective response to that challenge. Only a fool would immediately agree with every observation, accept every premise, and implement every recommendation. No system is seamless, much less appropriate to every organization every time and in every situation. However, after modification, what Rueff and Stringer offer in this book can help almost any organization (regardless of size or nature) to find, attract, and retain high-quality talent.

According to an ancient Chinese proverb, "The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best time is now." Why wait?

Brooke Stephens is a valued member in the African American community, her contributions are culturally constructive, professionally progressive, and economically empowering.

We support her because her goal is to empower us.

BTW, those who gave Brooke's book a rating of 4 or more, we clicked `yes' for the question "Was this review helpful to you?" Even in this little way we empower one another.

While some of the information in this book is outdated, it gives the new investor some good knowledge to build on.

I have read this book and found it be be very insightful and informative. I would highly recommend this resource to those taking a looking at their financdial status and making corrective changes. This is a timely work. This resource is packed with information from cover to cover. I appreciate all that the author intended to do and accomplish with this work. Take the time to sit down and read this book for encouragment to do better financial management and control of your personal financial destiny.

This book should be read by every african-american. While I was reading I thought she was talking about me. We seem to spend more money on unnecessary things and worry and complain about how we are going to pay those high interest credit cards. I now look at life and living a whole lot different. I have passed the book on to other family members in hopes that it changes their lives like it has changed mine.

I read this book about three years ago when I was deeply in debt always borrowing from one credit card to pay another credit card. After reading this book I stopped making Tommy Hilfiger, Perry Ellis and Ralph Lauren so rich and started paying myself and it has paid off in ways I could not imagine. I don't have ten credit cards anymore and I don't bounce checks anymore either, but instead I am reading Black Enterprise and the Wall Street Journal looking for the best investment opportunities.

Tax This! is an extraordinarily valuable book. It is well written and filled with informative information for all taxpayers. Nothing short of brilliant, this book provides an exceptional roadmap to dealings with the IRS.

This is an excellent resource. Shipped quickly and in great condition!!! Thank you.

This is good, solid advice for dealing with the IRS. The authors credentials make it very valuable because he comes from the "other side" and can tell taxpayers how the IRS really works. He truly is an "insider."

His book is not a lot of hype on tricky loopholes, but very solid advice for dealing with what can be a very frightening situation. I've interviewed Scott for my Internet radio show, EverydayWealth Radio, and found him to be a very conscientious caring resource for dealing with tax issues. I recommend this book and his other resources!

"Tax This" is a great resource for individuals, small businesses, and self-employed persons, like myself. From the general IRS and tax system information to the rules for dealing with an actual IRS audit, this book has all the information you'll need. The section on how to handle IRS Penalties and Notices and the the chapters on negotiating with the IRS were very informative and designed to save money. If you are currently involved in an IRS audit and want to know how to defend yorself or if you simply want to know some strategies for reducing your odds of being selected for an IRS audit this book is for you. I would recommend it for any taxpayer.

If you're faced with an encounter with the IRS, I would highly recommend getting this book for starters. Most tax experts will tend to steer you in one of two directions: knuckle under or fight the IRS up to and including jail time (for you, not the expert.) You need to understand what your options are before you seek outside help because all too often the outside help has an agenda that is not in your best interests.

This book does an outstanding job of laying out realistic stategies and options for helping you with tax issues and for working with, rather than against, the IRS to obtain the best possible outcome. It offers a refreshing change in the tax literature. By offering well-grounded, honest advice in a well-written fashion, this book should be in the hands of anyone seeking to resolve a tax problem without "giving away the farm" to the IRS.

Learn what your options are and how best to work with the IRS and you'll save yourself a lot of grief and a lot of green.

A solid overview of the emerging field of collaborative and shared leadership. Joyce provides insight in a book that is thick on content and coverage while being economical with words. I have found other peices helpful, like the audiobook and website which includes practical skill building tools and helpful links.

This GEM of a book is "fetchingly" elegant, brilliant and useful.
Mr. Joyce is a superb tactician and artist in how he superbly,
succinctly and simply, uses his wise words of the everyday in the workplace to create useful knowledge for the day-to-day practitioner of organizational and relational leadership. His book is well-crafted and offers realistic lessons for anyone interested in becoming a "catalytic companion" at work and play. All the "white" space he uses in the page layout allows the reader to comfortably insert themselves into his message and get the meaning of the book from within. And, it's internet interactive too. Great job, Mr. Joyce, I've already ordered ten copies
to give to my friends, work-mates and clients. Thank you for an original breath of organizational fresh air!

[...]

In Teaching an Anthill to Fetch, Stephen Joyce gives us a new paradigm for work and life. The purpose of the book is to enlighten us to the benefits of Collaborative Intelligence (CQ). Actually he makes a very strong case that we must embrace CQ if we are going to achieve the most from work and life.

Stephen uses the ant and the anthill to illustrate and contrast the difference between the ways of nature and how most individuals act. We need to realize that "at the most fundemental level all natural system are cooperative rather than competitive". The ants, while a very basic life form, by cooperating can accomplish wonders. Humans on the other hand, while extremely complex and highly developed, struggle in so many areas of life simply because we compete with each other rather than collaborate.

While the book's primary purpose is to teach the value of collaboration, it really is much more of a manual for developing or improving your life. Stephen starts with examining our belief system. "Our belief systems control the way we live. Beliefs make good servants but poor masters." Too often, we let beliefs master us, instead of being our servants.

The book is filled with meaningful quotations tied to the subject being discusses. There is a wealth of wisdom in the book. There is really so much wisdom that it would be difficult to absorb it all in one reading.

Some of my favorite bits of widsom are:

"The only happy people I know are the ones who are working well at something the consider important." Abraham Maslow

You can "survive any how if you have sufficient why." Nietzsche.

The book is well written, easy to read and has very important exercises at the end of each chapter. Also there are references to his website for "Go Deeper" on many subjects covered in the book.

The world is changing. The old system of command and control no longer works. If you are going to survive and thrive in today's more complex world, you must learn to collaborate. This is a wonderful guide to the new paradigm.

One word of caution, reading it is not enough. Take action on the lessons that are contained in the book.

This book reads as if a really engaging, curious and bright gentleman took a look around his bookshelves; pulled out the full range of quotes, tips, models, favorite stories; and then jammed them all into a big old shining aluminum can and painted "Collaborative Intelligence" on the front.

To be clear: "Collaborative Intelligence" is a GREAT way to market the stale old cliches of teambuilding. And no one who does leadership or organizational development should EVER get points taken off for writing the obligatory book to accompany the lucretive consulting gigs. But try as I might---I really couldn't find anything really new here. NOT that Joyce is putting anything out there as new. He is very respectful of citing his sources. And he does add value making the work of Senge or Sharmer perhaps a bit more accessible (although I always found the Senge "Field Books" to be extremely accessible. And "Presence" is a book I'd call brilliant.)

As it appears this book will sell---perhaps he can now afford a ghost writer or even an editor. There is a conceptual muddiness that runs through the book. One quick example: Joyce cites "Perception" as being one of the 5 elements of Perception. (page 30). On page 129 he introduces a question (and it is an important one) that he tells us "runs through the whole book." Mr. Joyce---why did you wait till the middle of the book for that?

That's the frustration---the guy really is good. The book really has a core sense of having a message that is vitally important on all sorts of levels. But the book itself is full of half formed, cliches (see the chapter on "Communication")and platitudes that get in the way of his message.

Look for his NEXT book. I'm betting that should he decide to partner with some of the folks he's read---he'll have something important to say. Maybe even something new and conceptually sound.


Roger Wright
Leadership and OD Consultant

I read a lot of business books. I mean a LOT. I even write one occasionally. What Stephen Joyce has done with this book is quite extraordinary. It's rare that we discover a TRULY new way of looking at how the world works. That's exactly what this book does. Joyce practically compels you see and act on new solutions and opportunities. I really think that this is one of the best and most useful books that I've read in a very long time. I highly recommend it.

I have not read the more well known Technical Analysis books from John Murphy or Martin Pring but this one caught my eye. I leafed through it a few times before buying it. It is written like a textbook for students and gives an objective view on all topics of trading. There is a huge bibliography at the back that is referred to throughout the chapters. There are also numerous websites referred to in the text so I would recommend reading the book with a pencil and paper.

Overall the authors have done a sterling job and every trader and investor should have a copy on his/her bookshelf as a reference.

Previous reviewers have summarized the bios of the authors and the form of this book, so there is no need for me to reinvent the horse or belabor the wheel. Simply put this is the finest textbook on the subject. I am overcome by envy and admiration at the achievement represented here. Students and readers tend to look at a book and assess its worth. Authors of long books tend to look at a book, assess its quality and sigh over the amount of work which went into it. A colossal amount of work. A colossal contribution to the field.
W.H.C. Bassetti
Malcom S.M. Watts III Adjunct Professor
Finance and Economics
Golden Gate University San Francisco
Editor & Coauthor of Edwards & Magee's
Technical Analysis of Stock Trends, 9th Ed.

Great book for those looking for a place to start on Technical Analysis. I highly recommend this book, great addition to my collection.

This is the most robust reference book about the technical analysis (TA) I have ever read. If you read it, you'll acquire the big picture of what TA is all about. Nothing is left over, except for the voo doo methods, like Gann analysis. The authors are reasoning in a logical way, and refer to external research results as much as possible, rather than just their own experience. The authors are not high about any method, like most of the other authors on the topic. They describe the bright and dark sides of every TA tool. A balanced and objective judgement makes you trust the authors. If you start in TA, it's the best book to get started - you'll get a realistic view of what TA is all about, without any bias towards any of the methods (well, maybe except for the long term chart patterns and Bollinger Bands?). If you're advanced, you'll get all your knowledge properly sorted and tested.

Great book,from the first page to the last,if you are serious about learning technical analysis there is no better way to start than this exceptional book,
it takes you from the history of technical analysis,to the basics,principles,different techniques,charting,,,...it is a complete source of information

Great book and great read. Another Lencioni hit. I would recommend it for all families. It would be great for newlyweds too, to help them start things right from the beginning.

This book is written in true Lencioni style: a fable throughout. He likens the family to any other organization that needs assistance with management, focus, and purpose. I can see where this will be a difficult pill for families to swallow, but overall, I think it is a good idea. Personally, I would like to see some additional information for how to bring older children into the fold of decision-making for the family, but that may not play into Lencioni's overall belief system. I would recommend this book if you like Lencioni's other books and would enjoy reading about how to apply management principles to the family organization.

In "The Three Big Questions for a Frantic Family," fabled Pat Lencioni offers us a fable focusing on the most important organization in life, our family. Motivated by his own experience and observation of his contemporaries, Lencioni concludes today's parents are stressed out and overwhelmed because they operate by the seat of their pants. The long term costs are real but go unappreciated until the family implodes. Unfocused day to day living increases rates of depression, substance abuse, and psychological illness leading to serious dysfunctions and divorce.

Lencioni offers a prescription for restoring sanity and ensuring more purposeful, less frantic lives. It centers on three key questions:
1. What makes your family unique?
2. What is your family's top priority - rallying cry - right now?
3. How will you use the answers? And how will you keep the answers alive?

The fundamental principal applied by Lencioni is context. Once a family knows the context in which it operates, they will have an agreed-upon guide for family decision-making.

My wife, who read this in one sitting, loved the book as well. She noted that Lencioni's model provides couples with an exellent methodology for dialogue on child rearing and day-to-day living. "The model leads to consistency on decisions and a way to judge a couple's response to unplanned events. Most importantly, it will knit couples closer together as it leads to better coordination and mutual support."

This is an excellent book for all families. Prior to the publication of "The Three Big Questions for a Frantic Family," Lencioni tested his prescription and provides outcomes from a number of families who tried the medicine. He notes every family plan will be different and will not alleviate all stress, as some chaos is inevitable.

I read "The Three Big Questions for a Frantic Family" with my children's families in mind only to discover that Lencioni's sage advice is hard to ignore for any couple, regardless of age.

As a leadership coach, I will be adding this book to my toolbox for the many leaders struggling with balance while growing their career in a time where travel is increased, support staff reduced and demands higher than ever. Thanks for this wonderful resource

My wife and I have really grown with the simple steps outlined in The 3 Big Questions for a Frantic Family. Our 7 year old is totally involved as well.

I'm a successful business professional, and have always been experiencing mixed feelings during personal life because of the chaos.

At the times our family is disappointed when things aren't living up to our idea of the "perfect day," or month, or year, I have many feelings including:
- Sadness the family is disappointed - seeing the long faces of my wife and kids. I want us to be happy.
- Hopeful since I wait for my family to "finally" realize a little bit of team communication can go a long way to producing the results we want.
- Openly excited that maybe there will be some family buy-in to my desires to focus on teamwork now that we, once again, feel the pain of "what we are doing is not working" - so how about a change in how we do things around the home?

Patrick Lencioni's book has changed that! I read the book first, being a huge fan of all of Lencioni's books. By reading excepts to my lovely spouse, she became interested enough to read the book herself. Soon my wife was saying, "that's me! that's us!" and she read the book as fast as she would read her People magazine!

We are actively participating in the three steps as a family and the results are amazing. Short meetings, once a week, limited to 10 minutes, and our family is so much happier and functional than ever before.

This is a wonderful book for any family. Lots of books have "the right stuff" for families, and what sets The 3 Big Questions apart from other books in my mind is that the story of the fable format will appeal to people who ordinarily wouldn't read a book like this.

I hope to some day meet Mr. Lencioni and thank him in person. Our family life has gone to a whole new level around here!

I couldn't put this book down. This is a richly crafted novel about opposing cultures, youth, love and political conflict. Daanish and Dia are real. The author crafted their characters with such complexity that I felt as if we were all in the same room together. The stories of each family are spun as smoothly as the silk on which the story is based. Brilliant!
Linda C. Wright, Author, One Clown Short
One Clown Short

An excellently written, moving story that allowed me see some of what living in Lahore might be like.

I came across this book because I mentioned to a friend that I was sick of books written about 'the post-9/11 Muslim disaffection' and she said that TRESPASSING was written BEFORE and ABOUT pre-9/11 disaffection, so I might want to give it a try. I'm glad I did. It's a shame this book isn't getting as much attention as the spate of post-9/11 books, because there are so many things it puts into deeper perspective.

The character Daanish is studying in the States during the 1991 Gulf War, and the alienation and anger he feels as a young Muslim male during the Iraq invasion and subsequent American 'victory' are an eerie foreshadowing of the current crisis. It's not just the anti-Muslim media that oppresses him, but the general apathy of ordinary, even friendly Americans who don't want to know about their country's foreign policy. This book implies that the cost of this apathy is more anger, more alienation -- and more violence. If you want to know that the world we're living in today did not begin on 9/11, I highly recommend this book.

Uzma Aslam Khan pulls off a very difficult feat in this novel. She successful creates a wide range of compelling characters who wind their way through various aspects of Pakistan of the late 1980s and early 1990s. The main protoganists are a male student who has returned home from America and is being set up with a woman from a well-connected family. The other is a free sprited local woman who has never been outside Pakistan and has fallen in love with this recent returnee, who is being set up with her best friend. Their relationship tests the limits of what is tolerated in a very traditional culture.

Other characters explore the political nature of life in Pakistan, from involvement in a movement against the government, to anger expressed at foreigners (i.e. Koreans fishing off the coast in traditional fishing waters to the First Iraq War.) This book is authentic in the sense that it explores the frustrations of Pakistani people, regardless of its justification. In fact, the author doesn't justify anything. She presents and lets the reader make his/her own judgements.

My only criticism is that she uses anti-U.S. Iraq War sources (i.e. from General Ramsey Clark) that the average Pakistani would not have access to and is very one-sided. However, this does not detract from the overall message that the average Pakistani was most certainly against the 1991 U.S. war in Iraq.

This is a moving tale and you feel sympathy for all of the principle characters who are caught in a system not of their own making and from which they cannot escape. The concerns are political, social, and economic.

Most Westerners have a difficult time seeing life through the lenses of those who don't have the freedoms and wealth that most in the world do not possess. Though I am an American who has lived many years overseas (I live in Taiwan), I live in a relatively open, prosperous and democratic country. Life here bears no resemblance at all to life as portrayed in Pakistan.

Ms. Khan deserves praise for daring to present to a Western audience the realities of Pakistani life as seen through her eyes. Even if you don't agree with some of the conclusions and beliefs of some of the characters, particularly vis a vis the United States, they also can't be denigrated or ignored. Even if you don't agree with the feelings of those in another culture and you feel they are the result of incomplete information, the feelings are still real and are ignored at our peril. Ms. Khan effectively weaves this into the story without being overly judgemental in her own right.

This book is a must read.

An amazing story of love, lust, power, greed, self-preservation, and self-loathing. The author does an amazing job of challenging our own value system by pushing us to see how all of these powerful states of being emanate from the universal "need to belong". Trespassing is a scintillating tale of the existential angst experienced by its characters, as well as an poignant cautionary essay on how the personal becomes political and vice versa.

Looking forward to Ms. Khan's next novel!

I enjoyed reading Margaret Wheatley's book, "Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future". This book is easy to read, applicable and possibly life-changing.

Read this book with a group of your friends, or neighbors, or with a group of the willing. The opening premise simply states: "I believe we can change the world, if we start listening to one another again. Simple, truthful conversation where we each have a chance to speak, we each feel heard and we each listen well." The book encourages us to actually listen to each other, to different perspectives, to our own perspective, with the aim that we are better off when we have genuine connections with others. One of the best parts of the book is "A Prayer for Children" by Ina. J. Hughes; the poem is poignant, humorous and intriguing.

So simple, and yet such a fresh way of looking at life, leadership, community and conversation. I learned a ton from this book, very helpful in specific situations I am involved in. It teaches me how to become an ever better listener.

Margaret has created such a powerful book on conversation, learning, and change. I can not imagine a more powerful book telling stories that can transform how we work, play, and learn together. This is a life changing read and one that I highly recommend. And even more importantly, in such a turbulent time, keeping in conversation with others may be the only thing that helps us hold this world together. Therefore, do not only read the book, but put into action conversations that can change the world.

Margaret Wheatley's Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future is one of the most important books I've read.

It is based on the incredibly simple premise that growth, real growth begins with two people having a conversation.

Part 1 discusses a range of subjects: Wheatley's views on conversation and listening, including the importance of staying with conversations that sometimes get "messy" to reveal deeper truths and commonalities; her belief in the importance of being surprised and even shocked by the person(s) with whom she converses, versus seeking people who agree with her, affirm her thoughts, or where the conversation follows either a predictable course, or safe outcomes; the belief that differences between people can lead to deeper commonalities and greater closeness.

Quite frankly, there are simply too many gems of wisdom and insight in this book to do more than recall a handful that particularly struck me.

Part 2 is very short, restating some fundamental principles or concepts explained in greater detail in Part 1.

Part 3 is a list and explanation of 10 possible conversation openers.

This is not per se a "how to" book, as if there is "one way" either to converse, listen or relate to another person. Quite the opposite. She talks, for example, of the reality that various people can have a seemingly unlimited number of interpretations and reactions to a given event to stress (implied) that what matters is the process, the act of conversing and relating.

Wheatley's book is about possibilities, the possibilities that everyone possesses in terms of relating to one another, personal growth, healing oneself and restoring hope in the future, compared to the fragmentation, isolation, pressures of day-to-day life, the impersonality of technology, etc.

It is an exciting book to read, a book that virtually anyone can benefit from no matter where they are in their lives. It is, fundamentally, a gift that those of us fortunate to read this book should be grateful Margaret Wheatley wanted to share.