Business Books

If you are a seasoned sales person/manager who knows the pain of too many Nos or no answer proposals, this is your book. This is a fitting up to date replacement for the New Solution Selling. Marx has been there, dione that and got all the T-shirts,. It is a pure sales book which happily ignores completely the need for nurturing etc. But for pure in the trenches, gut feel selling this is the book. I took a while to read it as the title put me off. But boy was I was mistaken. Marx could have been listening in on many Rocket Builders consults wrto sales and the buyer's journey. He is so bang on. Some insights:

* The salesperson gains power by empowering the buyer.
* Selling is tough but so is buying today.
* Your prospects want to buy, why would you be invited.
* Contracting is essential to set and maintain buyer expectations.
* What is the buyer doing to move the sale forward?
* Use half baked/straw man ideas before you present the maximum idea
* Use progress reports to show how far you have come
* A critical path details where you are going.
* There is no correlation between a rapid turnaround of a proposal and a good sale. None.

This is a salesman's/manager's must buy book.

Its been a good reading so far. Interesting points of view. I'll keep reading it for sure.

I can't speak for every industry but it's dead on for the media industry. When we look at the diminishing number of clients or prospects that have a solid respect for what we do, many of the answers (the little things) are in this book.

I don't hide the fact that I go against the grain in my search to improve procedures and systems to super serve clients while strengthening a company's bottom line. In that quest, a book called, "Close Like The Pros" by Steve Marx, had an impact on me. It's the closest strategy that I have found to date that I totally agree with in terms of real and realistic sales. "Close Like The Pros" is not a sales style, but rather a sales strategy for sales professionals who already understand why and how you should focus on customer needs. The book explains that providing the focus, power, and direction for the sale are important points to make during the sale. Oftentimes, management forces their own sales style on other members of their team and loses focus of the common goals to fill the client's needs while generating revenue for your company.

It's clear that Steve Marx has a sales training company because he provides a useful resource for the employee-focused manager. Those who live by partnership creation realize that it takes a great deal of work to provide that training and teach that skill to others. As an effective tool for the sales staff you want to educate and inspire, "Close Like the Pros" tells it like it is with clear, easy-to-follow examples. The book also includes easy and precise "how-to's" and encourages the exploration of the sales process in steps that permit growth. For the sales person who welcomes the opportunity to become even better, and for the manager who would appreciate an effective format for addressing the subject with new life, "Close Like the Pros" sets the stage for discussion in an active and energetic manner. I don't think there's any doubt that interactive selling is effective - "Close Like the Pros" will boost your own enthusiasm and renew your skills, whether you manage a staff of sales individuals or sell directly yourself. I've heard it said that 90% of all jobs are sales in one way or another. This book benefits people in every field because the ability to interact, to sell our product, or ourselves, is part of life as we know it.

Planguage is a word and concept that combines Planning and LANGUAGE and is rooted in the author's experience since 1960. The core tenant of Competitive Engineering is that well structured specifications have a dramatic cost reduction over down-stream error correction. The defect prevention process (DPP) is used to clean up early stages specs, or preferably measure defects and motivate lower defect injection, in specifications and the attendant issues instead of relying solely on defect detection andcorrection once actual development has begun. Competitive Engineering provides focus and skills to dramatically increase how productive many of us have been in the past.

The centrality of quality specifications means significant gains for the broadest spectrum of stake-holders who stand to win with the System Of Interest (SOI). Take this specification as an example to clean up:

"The new system will use Foo language running on OS Bar and ensure top industry quality response time on web requests."

People in the field have seen specs like these. Hopefully you aren't writing them. There are what Gilb classifies as "Major defects" in this spec. Which web requests, the front page or all of them pulling from the various databases? Can the old system be incrementally upgraded instead of an entirely new development environment? Why use Foo and Bar if something else gets the job done better, faster, and with less resource utilization? Just how fast is "fast", anyway?

In Competitive Engineering you're told to get measureable quality requirements, record who requested that requirement, and exactly what "success" is defined as. That allows you to go back to the requester with notes such as "If we use OS Baz we'll get a 27% increase in CPU performance" and let them make a decision or escalate to the project funder. You're also encouraged to weed out "design constraints"; at least out of the mandatated and into the labelled area "Design Constraint". Wouldn't it be great if you got a specification that let you design the best you could without technical input from someone that can't use a web-browser?

See if you can understand my re-write of the above spec into Planguage.

Response Time on Front Page of Company Website.

Type: Performance Requirement
Version: 1.2
Status: Draft
Owner: F. Flintstone

Stakeholders: Marketing, Server Support, Corporate Intelligence, ,

Ambition: The front page of the corporate website should respond fast enough to keep the viewer's attention.

Description: Marketing research indicates the typical business website viewer makes an opinion on the website, and thus the company, within 20 seconds. Our corporate site pulls data from three different databases and a sizeable image library, taking an average of 26.87 seconds on a home DSL/Cable modem equivalent network. Marketing advantage can be gained if we can grab viewer attention noticibly faster than our two nearest competitors who average 23.43 and 26.09 seconds, respectively.

Vision: Enough accurate information provided quickly enough to keep the customer on our site.

Scale: Time, in Seconds, to a complete front page load on the equivalent of a 250K network connection.

Past [Front page, 1 Apr 07]: 26.87 seconds

Goal [1 November 07]: 19 seconds <- Marketing Director: BR

Stretch: 15 seconds

Wish: 9 seconds

Design Constraint: Supportability <- Server Support Manager WF Must utilize .

Design Constraint: Security <- Corporate Intelligence BB Must meet .

------------------------ end of spec example --------------------

Probably the only thing that might confuse you about that specification is the use of text within "<...>". Planguage uses that to denote a "fuzzy requirement"; something that is defined but not with the concreteness you'd like. In this example, however, it would be relatively simple to query B. Rubble for the specific guidelines her team seeks to enforce. The use of fuzzy requirements also allows for change over time; more OS versions may become supported while others are obsolete.

When I read part of an electronic copy of the text I had a problem. My antiquated home printer could not print it and if I used the work printer I view the output as a possession of my employer. The book is written as part instruction, part reference manual; I bought my own copy because I know I'm going to use it for the next few years and several employers.

This is one the books which has caused a great impression on me. It helps to get away from high-level, gut-feeling, fuzzy goals and descriptions to very concrete targets, unambiguous requirements and rational decisions. This strikes a chord at the heart of systems design and architecture, which consists in maximizing a set of business goals with limited resources (time, budget, personnel). I highly recommend it.

Building software systems is not easy, this book can help you to do a better job.

In a period where the trend is to follow agile approaches with condensed guidance (see the 12 principles of the Agile Manifesto for instance), it could seem strange to publish a book on software development with more than 500 dense pages. You should however not be frightened by this book. Beneath the size and the structured form lies an approach based on practical experience that incorporates change and flexibility without abandoning the quest for precision and delivering value.

The main concept of Competitive Engineering is Planguage, a word created mixing plan and language. Communication is the basis for working together. This is why Tom Gilb emphasises first the creation of a common vocabulary. He states that his glossary could be considered as the best contribution of this book. Beneath the definition of a common language, for me the "hidden agenda" of the book is to help us to think... further. The common language is only a tool that helps us express our thoughts more precisely and completely.

Fortunately for us, Tom Gilb didn't only write a dictionary of system engineering. A large part of the book is devoted to the activities of system engineering and project management. Based on Planguage, Gilb gives us a framework to elicit clearer requirements. He emphasises a measurable vision ("bad numbers beat good words") and presents tools to achieve this objective. He also helps us separate requirements from design. He devotes an entire chapter to quality control. Finally, there is a presentation of the techniques of evolutionary project management that supports incremental development based on the priority and impact techniques described in previous parts of the book.

In every chapter you will find examples and case studies that help to visualise how the concepts translate into practice. There is also an "additional ideas" part that presents material for further thinking. Beneath the seriousness of the topic, Gilb also manage to place some lighter parts and you will find how to compare seriously apples with oranges.

At the end, your realise that you have a book where process is not opposed to people, structure is not opposed to flexibility, precision is not opposed to allowing change, documentation is not opposed to active refinement, Gilb's proposed solution is not opposed to customisation for your needs. It is just a book that gives you new inspiration to deliver better software solutions to your customer.

If you are interested in software process improvement, you can read this book from the beginning and find practical material to examine your current practices with a different vision. If you are a lonesome project manager or developer, you could begin by just using the index to get Gilb's view on your current activity or problem. Be cautious, because there are many chances that you will be tempted to read more material ;o)

After reading this book, I browsed again my old copy of "Principles of Software Engineering" that I bought when it was published in 1988. I saw that many ideas from "Competitive Engineering" were already presented in this book. Tom Gilb just applied to his ideas the same concepts he proposes for system engineering. He refined, expanded and structured them to get a better product. The printing industry has just prevented evolutionary delivery, but you can bet that he will find a way to include this in the future.

My interest in the topic of competitive engineering (CE) was piqued several years ago when I heard very favorable comments about Tom Gilb's tutorial on that subject at the INCOSE 2002 Symposium in Las Vegas.

The book's subtitle is "A Handbook for Systems Engineering, Requirements Engineering, and Software Engineering Using Planguage". The term "Planguage" is central to an understanding of the book. Planguage, which is derived from a union of "plan" and "language", is the methodology for implementing CE. Much of the book is devoted to describing the generalized processes, rules, and vocabulary of Planguage. Tom notes, "Planguage should be viewed as a powerful way to develop and implement strategies that will help your projects to deliver the required competitive results." Fundamentally, the book presents a new take on best practices in systems engineering and management.

The book is useful on several levels. For organizations without a formal or documented process, tailoring of Planguage would jump start the process at a high level of maturity. For organizations that have achieved CMMI level 3 status, Planguage by itself is not as useful. However, many of the ideas of CE-the Planguage methods-are worth considering for enhancement of existing organizational processes. Tom states that CE is "about technological management, risk control, and breakthrough improvement in complex business systems, projects, and processes." CE is a believable approach for delivering complex projects on time and within budget.

The book passed my value-added test, when I realized that I was photocopying several pages for future reference, to be part of my "toolkit" of helpful tips and techniques. I particularly enjoyed reading the 10 often witty, summary principles in each chapter. Two examples are:

* The Principle of `Storage of Wisdom': "If your people are not all experienced or geniuses, You need to store their hard-earned wisdom in your defined process. Capture wisdom for reuse, Fail to write it, that's abuse!"

* The Principle of `The early bird catches the worm': "Your customers will be happier with an early long-term stream of their priority improvements, than years of promises, culminating in late disaster."

About 30% of the book is the Planguage Concept Glossary, which Tom views as a central contribution of the book. I focused my attention on the other, more interesting, parts of the book, which describe the main CE/Planguage methods of Requirement Specification (RS), Design Engineering (DE), Impact Estimation (IE), Specification Quality Control (SQC), and Evolutionary Project Management (EVO, also known as Evo). RS describes an approach for identifying all types of requirements while avoiding ambiguity and also planning for change. Functional and performance requirements are distinguished. DE deals with identifying, choosing, and prioritizing the order in which design ideas are implemented and delivered. In conjunction with Evo, DE selects the design ideas most likely to provide a significant benefit for early delivery.

SQC is an eminently practical approach for evaluating the quality of any technical document via sampling measurements. An hour of SQC early in a project can save almost 10 hours of rework. SQC also provides a means to assess the success of process improvement efforts. IE provides a realistic method for evaluating-in quantitative terms-the effectiveness of designs in meeting both the requirements, especially critical performance attributes, and the resource budgets.

Evo focuses on early, frequent delivery of project results via a series of high-value, small evolutionary steps. An ideal Evo approach would divide the project into a series of cycles. Each cycle would consume 2-5% of the total financial budget and 2-5% of the total project time-while delivering some measurable, required results to the stakeholders. The next cycle is selected to deliver the best stakeholder value for its cost (highest ratio of value to cost, or highest ratio of performance to cost). Although an ideal approach can't always be realized, Tom provides some convincing examples to argue that there is always a solution to making a project evolutionary (small steps with critical deliveries first).

Perseverance pays off with Competitive Engineering. The book is not a quick read, which Tom acknowledges. You have to carefully study some of the pages to understand the concepts being presented. The reward occurs when you glean the nuggets of wisdom from the numerous practical examples, case studies, and Planguage examples. Tom's way of presenting the CE concepts makes the book a useful addition to the systems engineer's library.

David has written a great book for those like myself who need a little hand-holding.

He is also an engaging and helpful speaker for your writing group. He came to a Redwood Writers meeting last fall and gave generously of his time and expertise.

This book was helpful with sparking new ideas. It provided a well-rounded description of publishing, the interaction of distributors with sales reps, bookstores, chains, special sales, etc. It one thing it didn't really provide, at least not enough to my liking, was a detailed description of what goes into a press kit, how to write a press release, etc. If I gave this book to an entry-level person in publishing, I would feel like they need another resource to show them how to write a press release and marketing copy, how to put together a press kit, etc.

Basic book marketing information from a man who has thirty years experience in publishing and marketing. Gives you all the strategies you need to promote your book and gain results. The chapter entitled Book Publicity Basics is very informative - in this chapter he points out an interesting thought to keep in mind, "There are so many media outlets - both general and specialized - that almost every book and author can attract some attention."

Rene' Jackson RN BSN MS
Co-author with Alberto Righi MD
The Death of Mammography
Caveat Press 2006

The book industry is changing so fast it takes some moxy to even try summarizing publishing, distributing, and marketing tactics, knowing that much of what is written will be somewhat out-of-date by the time the book is published (or shortly thereafter). The Complete Guide to Book Marketing offers a strong foundation of information concerning the more traditional aspects of book distribution and marketing. When read with a companion book, such as Plug Your Book: Online Book Marketing for Authors, Book Publicity through Social Networking (which does just the opposite), the more comprehensive picture is revealed. The importance of a strong foundation cannot be stressed enough and that is where this book shines. Brent Sampson, author of Self-publishing Simplified: Experience Your Publishing Dreams With Outskirts Press

I purchased this book about a year ago as a result of walking the aisles at Barnes & Noble and noticing its beautiful cover and stellar table of contents. At the time I was reading mostly books about how to prepare a business plan, and this book seemed to cover the marketing plan topics I expected to include in a business plan I was hoping to write. I finally got around to reading the book, but I have yet to write the business plan. Oh well.

As of late I have been reading books on how to profitably self publish. The books I have been reading say it's a waste of effort to try to get signed up with a publisher if you are writing nonfiction. They also say not to aim at bookstores as a distribution channel. They say to use the Internet and the Amazon site to sell a self-published book.

This book is clearly dated. It is written for a publishing company executive who promotes her authors' books and tries to make a living selling books the old fashioned way. And the author even admits that the old fashioned way of doing business is not going to last all that much longer. I didn't really see any helpful hints in the book that would be economically feasible for a self-publisher to do to sell her tome.

But the book is well written and informative. And its audience is broader than just publishing company executives. I think anybody who has a consulting or coaching practice would learn a great deal about marketing their practice by reading this book. The author includes solid content on word of mouth marketing, networking, publicity, public relations, and the need for a written business plan and marketing plan. I would have liked the book a lot more if it had not included the material on direct mail, advertising, and serial rights. But that's because I wanted the book to be geared toward self-publishers.

Even if you are interested in self-publishing like me, you will get a lot out of this book regarding how traditional publishing functions. And as I write this review traditional publishing still exists and competes against self-publishers. To win the race you've got to understand your competition. And this book will help a self-publisher plan to win when it comes to selling her books (and marketing her consulting practice). 4 stars!

I will be using Sandra's title as a recommended resource in my upcoming High Profile Hiatus: Career Comeback Series starting June 2, 2008.
The 8-week tele-course will show ambitious career women, entrepreneurs and other professionals seeking to re-enter the workforce how to stay visible, credible, confident and connected "during a hiatus" or lay-off to help them avoid career suicide, re-launch their careers with confidence and ease the re-entry process when they're ready to return to work.

Barbara Bamba is a career hiatus expert who specializes in "career hiatus marketing and management." She is the founder and former owner of the Philadelphia Speakers Bureau, a sought after speaker and creator of the High Profile Hiatus: Career Comeback Series for ambitious women, entrepreneurs and other professionals who step-out, opt-out or get pushed-out of the workforce. Contact Barbara for more info at: barbarabamba@aol.com [...]

Complete Publicity Plans: How to Create Publicity That Will Spark Media Exposure and Excitement (Adams Streetwise Series)

As PR has become more of a necessity for more companies, the world of public relations has become just as cluttered as the world of advertising, yet it remains a completely distinct animal. Gone are the days when writing a decent press release was enough to get you exposure. Today you need to take a strategic approach and have a complete plan. This book helps you develop that plan (and also helps you with how to write a good press release if you've not done that before).

As the host of a radio show called The Publicity Show, I have spoken with a lot of publicists and PR professionals. This book gives an insiders view on what it takes to break through the clutter that reporters are bombarded with and create real momentum that will snowball. If you are looking for how to get consistent exposure instead of just a quick hit, this is the book.

This is an excellent book to create publicity for your business. It tells you step by step how to write and implement a publicity plan to promote your products or services. I cannot recommend it more highly.

as a public relations director, i was really missing this book. It refreshed my knowlege and added new inputs to me. this book is good for beginners as well as PR professionals. I highly recommend it for those who want to grasp pulbic relations and corportat communications subjects.

I classify business books as follows: read and forget, take notes and dump, keep for reference. This book is definitely in the latter category. For small businesses, typically characterized by a tight budget, PR is often a mystery. How do so many businesses get into the media - sometimes repeatedly? This book demystifies PR in plain language. It also has formats, elements and numerous examples of the varius types of press releases. The book also makes the valid point that money is better spent on PR than advertising. Buy this book, save thousands of dollars for a consultant, and increase the probability to make thousands for your business.

i am still reading the book as i write but i can tell you this is a definite
book for your personal library ! the pictures are breath taking ,the info on each crystal is superb covering emotional,physical,healt and methaphysical aspects and applications. excellent book!

This is an excellent reference for crystal collectors, particularly those who are interested in the metaphysical properties of minerals and gemstones.

What makes this book unique is that it incorporates several elements into one volume. Many books that I have encountered describe crystals with the assumption that you know what they look like or they have pictures and geological data but do not describe the use of crystals. This book does all of these things.

There are colored photos and, when possible, more than one version of a crystal is depicted so that you can see what the different forms look like. If you are new to the study of crystals, this is an invaluable resource because it helps you to identify crystals through pictures and through its mineral properties, so if you are a "rock hound" you can still get a lot of benefit from this book.

The only detriment to this book is that it doesn't include more crystals! It covers many of the popular gemstones like amethyst, quartz, hematite, and agate, so you will still get great use out of this book. I only wish it was twice as long so that more minerals could be represented.

I also am also glad that this book is readily available on the internet as it took me a long time to find this book in the bookstore. Though it is spectacular, I haven't seen it in many mainstream bookstores, so when you see it, get it, in case you don't see it again!

I bought a lot of books about crystals and minerals and all of them seemed copy-cat to each other, and a bit out of touch or sometimes too far from where we stand in THIS WORLD. Many of them sound like as if they were "guru" or masters of some kind without case study or their own experience. It is very frustrating the way many authors use certain words such as "psychic" and spiritualism in every page! Michel Gienger's crystal power, healing book is so different from all other authors. His approach to crystal healing is logically explained, easy to understand chemical components of minerals and how and why it works, practical and down to earth, even spiritual part is more based on how the change of our minds can change our lives by the aid of crystals, and not that crystals change our lives automatically. And photos are so beautiful that because of his book and its photos I bought so many crystals and minerals. Thank you Michael!!! I recommend his book to everybody who is interested in crystal power!

If you've ever wonder why crystals and rocks effect you the way they do or if you are confused by all of the books out there that don't tell you how they arrived at what sometimes seems like arbitrary attributes...buy this book. This is a must have for any crystal healing reference library. Not your usual fare. "Crystal Power, Crystal Healing" supplies the missing pieces for working with rocks and crystals effectively. It explores why crystals have the effect they do..from their mineral classification and crystal structure to the actual chemical make-up....and how that effects their spiritual and healing properties.

This appeared along my path for research for a book of my own because it scratched the surface of some topics that no other book even begins to contemplate. This book is thoroughly well researched, full of experiential knowledge, and elevates crystal healing to a new level. It is concise and simple enough for anyone to explore, but it is a great resource especially for the newer breed of crystal co creators that are emerging.

I cannot strongly reccomend this book enough to everyone!

I love this book. It should be required reading for all undergraduate and graduate business students. I'll be looking for Windham's next book.

I must congratulate Ms. Windham on her excellent book "Dead Ahead". I think I must have read it more than three times by now. I am a consultant and my company is involved in web design and development. On many of my assignments, I relied on this book as a guide and many of her ideas have worked very well with my clients.

Our company provides e-commerce and web presence solutions. We use "Dead Ahead: The Web Dilemma and the New Rules of Business" by Laurie Windham extensively to help us provide effective solutions for our clients.

Dead Ahead covers the 'new rules' of web-based commerce, from using existing businesses and strategies to succeed to establishing recognition and associations via the internet. Important chapters on investing in the right technology and conducting e-business make for important insights on the rules and atmosphere of the web.

This was used as a text book in my e-business MBA class and would recommend it to others outside of class. It covered a lot of issues relevant to the topic. I enjoy reading books like this that are up-to-date in a dynamic industry.

i just started (well just INCORPORATED) my catering business. i found this book to be written in an accessible and unintimidating style. Fishman goes to great lengths to give examples, cite external sources for additional information, and generally uncomplicates the IRS jargon. now only if i had read this 6 months ago, i would really be ahead of the game!

This book has the information I have been looking for. It is the most detailed (and clearly written) of any books that I've purchased to help me know what is allowable (and not) as deductions for my small business. Helps in planning as well.
SUPERB!

I read this book after forming a C-Corp in California (using the Nolo guide). Although I am familiar with many biz deductions, this book walks you through many examples of deductions you can take if you plan ahead. I really like the "Day in the Life of..." examples of how you can maximize legal deductions pertaining to mileage. There's an excellent section on home office deductions. My husband, a self-admitted dummy when it comes to expense reports, taxes, etc., picked up the book after I was done, and even he understands the concepts. Already he has found deductions for his sole proprietorship and non-reimbursed employee biz expenses. Great value and so easy to understand. Highly recommend.

This book is a must small business owners because it can improve their bottom line. Although it provides fairly good overview of tax deudctions, it should not be used as a comprehensive reference for tax professionals.

The book is a relatively light read in a highly readable format. Each tax deduction has a good overview and a case example to boot. It isn't, however, an answer to complex tax questions which the book willingly acknowledges should be taken to a tax professional. For most business owners, this book should be sufficient for most of the tax deduction questions they may have. This book certainly answered all of mine.

The book provides valuable information on the probability of an IRS audit (don't form sole proprietorship if you want to avoid an audit) and how one can minimize one's chances of an audit.

Great book. Just one comment. A lot of the text in this book is identical to the text in Tax Deductions for Professionals. You don't need both books; choose one.

Almost thirty years ago, William Donaldson, using the pen name Henry Root, produced a few books of letters he had written to important people or companies and the replies he had gotten. He wrote outlandish and silly suggestions, and it was funny to read the replies back, most of which took his letters seriously, which made them all the funnier. It was, however, a little mean; the respondents were probably in their respective public relations departments and had to take Root's inquiries seriously at the risk of offending a customer. Such tricking of well-meaning clerks was thus morally questionable, but no one ought to fret over the same sorts of tricks being played now thirty years later on e-mail spammers, who deserve to be the butt of any pranks anyone on the internet can devise. Scotsman Bob Servant is just the prankster for the job, and in _Delete This at Your Peril: One Man's Hilarious Exchanges with Internet Spammers_ (Skyhorse Publishing) he has presented to us eight of his recent skirmishes, e-mails back and forth that confuse, anger, and waste the time of the spammers who have attempted to get his money. Servant seems to be, in the tradition of Henry Root, a pseudonymic creation of Neil Forsyth, who has written the introduction to the book describing the author. Forsyth explains that Bob Servant lives in the Dundee suburb of Broughty Ferry and is "a former window cleaner and cheeseburger magnate" who pals around with Tommy Peanuts, Chappy Williams, and Frank Theplank ("Frank the Plank"), who are sometimes pulled into the e-mail action transcribed here. Servant's book is laugh-out-loud funny, as he takes his new e-pals on aberrant and bizarre twists of correspondence, and anyone who hates spam will find his efforts not just amusing but inspiring.

The title of the book comes from a 419 scammer who sent his first e-mail with that line as the subject. The mail was from "His Royal Highnest Jack Thomson" whose father "King Arawi of tribal land" was poisoned for his wealth, which his Highnest is ready to share with Bob Servant at the rate of 25%. "Good morning your Majesty," comes Bob's terse reply, "I want 30% and not a penny less." By the time Bob has readjusted his desire up to 40%, he is also requesting to be paid in lions, as cash is too dangerous, and helpfully suggests to his new friend Jack that Frank the Plank once saw a talking lion on the television, and could Jack get one of those? Jack says one of the lions talks a little, whereupon Bob pounces, "I'm not sure about a lion that only talks a little, I'd like one that isn't so shy, if possible?" Jack replies, "Now you are saying the lion has to talk? What is this madness? Send me the £1700 that we agreed imeediately." Bob is undeterred: "What does the lion say when it talks. I am just checking that it won't get me into any fights." After delaying a reply, Bob goes on to apologize, "Sorry about the delay. I was round at Frank's earlier and got stuck up a tree whilst chasing a snake, then fell off and banged my head on a chicken. You know what it's like." There are ten further volleys in this insane e-mail conversation before it ends, with no money going to Jack and no lions to Bob. The other exchanges collected here are just as silly. When his new Russian girlfriend expresses some doubts that he is being serious with her, he replies, "What kind of weirdo would spend all this time emailing you if they were not serious?"

Indeed. Weirdo or not, Bob Servant/ Neil Forsyth deserves our thanks for his efforts in the war against spam, and for making them available to us in this absurdly hilarious collection. If you hate spam, it will be all the funnier imagining the targets of Bob's furious nonsense scratching their heads at the meandering replies after their initial certainty that they have hooked a likely meal ticket. One final reply comes from Nigeria when it has eventually dawned on the spammer that no money is going to be forthcoming and a good deal of time has been spent reading nonsense: "YOU ARE A STUPID MAN". Not a chance of it; deranged, perhaps, but Bob Servant is far from stupid. It is a pleasure to see such hilarity marshaled against foes who so deserve it.

Bob Servant, Delete This at Your Peril: One Man's Hilarious Exchanges with Internet Spammers (Skyhorse Publishing, 2008)

One of my rules of thumb is to take books whose subtitles contain value judgments with a grain of salt. The hilarious is never as hilarious as one would expect from the book's flashy title. I am happy to report that Delete This at Your Peril is that rara-est of avis-es: an exception to the rule. This slim book, which is composed almost completely of the promised email exchanges (with some footnoting from Neil Forsyth, author of Other Peoples' Money, who helped Bob whip the book into shape-- the footnotes are sometimes just as funny), is often the kind of laugh-out-loud gigglefest that will cause people to look askance at you on the bus. In each of the eight episodes here, Servant starts out by responding to a spammer as if he's seriously interested, then gets more and more absurd in his emails until they finally get frustrated and blow up at him. It's a wonderful hobby, and more people should do things like this-- and then write books about them. I have now become a huge Bob Servant fan, and as soon as he gives me his bank account details, I'll tell the world so. ****

A blurb on the cover from "MAXIM" exclaims "GENIUS! Highly entertaining and brilliantly deranged." I wouldn't go that far with the genius and brilliant part, but "Delete This at Your Peril" IS very funny and a bit deranged. I read the entire book in less than an hour, and although Servant is as long-winded at times as he is weird, I had some real laugh out loud moments.

The question is, does "Bob Servant," putative author of this humor opus that makes fun of Internet spammers and scammers, really exist? Or is he the bizarre creation of "editor" Neil Forsyth who holds the copyright to the book?

Not that it matters. What Bob Servant (or Neil Forsyth) does--and this has been done before, see, for example, Black Hat: Misfits, Criminals, and Spammers in the Internet Age (2004) by John Biggs--is play along with the spammers as though he is some unsophisticated rube who is falling for the con. What makes the book so funny is how Servant is able to turn the tables on the 419 scam masters from Nigeria and elsewhere and rope them into a lengthy and fruitless email correspondence, while holding out the carrot of his actually going to the bank. Servant piles it on relentlessly with misdirections and pratfalls among and with his ne'er-do-well friends and acquaintances in Broughty Ferry, Scotland.

In the first chapter, there is a certain "His Royal Highnest, [sic] Jack Thompson...the only son of late King Arawi of tribal land" who is seeking "a foreign partner" to transfer "$75m" to, "for investment," to whom he will pay 20% of the proceeds.

Bob Servant fires back with "Good morning your Majesty, I want 30%, and not a penny less."

After a bit of pulling line, Servant declares that he wants the money in lions, and he wants pictures of the lions. Thompson sends him a photo of four identical gold lions, but Servant is not satisfied. He writes, "There appears to have been a slight misunderstanding my friend, I was expecting four live lions, not gold ones."

So Jack Thompson replies, "I am buying four male lions from my friends private zoo and he has also arranged for shipment to Scotland." Thompson attaches a photo of a lion! But this isn't enough. Servant wants the lions to be able to talk. After some discussion of what the lions might be able to say, Thompson assures Servant that one of the lions can talk. Meanwhile Servant is pretending to get the funds ready to send via Western Union to Thompson. But then Servant decides he (and his buddy "Frank Theplank") also want "2 leopards, 1 elephant, 1 alligator, 2 parrots, 1 hedgehog."

At some point Thompson begins to shout: "BOB LETS GO STRAIGHT TO THE POINT. THE LIONS AND LEOPARDS ARE HERE WITH ME AT THE BACK OF MY HOUSE THEY ARE FRIENDLY AND ONE OF THE LION TALKS. BOB SEND ME THE £1700 SO I CAN COLLECT THAT MONEY AND SHIP THEM TO YOU."

Bob Servant replies by asking "What are the names of the lions?" and "What does the lion say when it talks? The bank is preparing me some forms."

To a Russian babe named Alexandra who wants to find a husband, Servant writes, "What a fantastic photo. My God, what a pair of bazookas..." She responds in part with "I do not like Russian men, their attitude to women. I want to love and be loved. Unfortunately, I have not found that in the country. I am gentle women but I am a tiger when I am in love!"

At length Servant sends Alexandra a photo of himself holding a very large, bloated carp. (Well, not himself but some old guy, whom Alex deigns to find interesting, although I don't think she got the symbolic intent of the caught fish.) Bob regales her with tales of life at Broughty Ferry with his buds, Chappy Williams and the regulars at Stewpot's Bar. And on and on and on. Finally in utter frustration (ha, ha, ha) Alexander fumes, "F-you!. To me has bothered to read your delirium."

Ah, such sweet revenge! Bob Servant has done a right bloody good turn for all of us in keeping these con artists at bay and wasting their time.

There are seven more tales in the book. One wishes there were a few more. Bottom line on the old laugh-o-meter: five stars.

Every day
Jamming your In-Box
Is SPAM

This book
Is about one man
Who replied

Watch Bob
Spam the Spammers
For laughs


The paragraphs below use some of Bob's examples to give the reader a sense of this book, which is really quite clever if you like this sort of thing.

[Warning: Replying to spammers can cause spam mail to increase exponentially]


Greetings to you in the name of the Most High.

A business acquaintance of mine visited your fine country of Scotland recently and recommended you as a fine and honorable gentleman who can be entrusted with a matter of the highest confidentiality and importance.

He has assured me that you are an expert in business and trade, and that you may have purchased already four golden lions, two leopards and an alligator from the only son of His Excellency King Arawi of Togo. I hope that they are thriving and bringing you much joy.

First, I will introduce myself. I am a former citizen of a Soviet country, but through good fortune and most reputable mail order organization I was able to get married to a good man from Nigeria, who owns both a textile company and a pottery barn. I also obtained for myself a PhD doctorate in Business and Finance through correspondence with major unaccredited university in the United American States.

I am sad to say that my husband is now late due to assassination by his competitors, and I am left alone with his business affairs to handle. I will also tell you that due to his relatives in the government, my husband has been able to save a lot of money which is in an account in my name, and I trust you to keep this information in confidence. My friend Bob, I am a beautiful woman of only 25 years, and I am unable to do business here with the men in Nigeria. My late husband's lawyer cannot be trusted with such matters, and I am looking to you to help me transfer 32 million Sterling pounds to Scotland, where I understand you own a Cheeseburger Business and an African Café.

I would like for us to get better acquainted and maybe you would like to become my husband. I can cook genuine African dishes, especially yam potage, Isi Ewu and Afang soup, which I am sure your customers will enjoy. We can achieve many great things together, you and I.

My dear Bob, I am so excited about this venture between us that I can hardly wait for your soonest reply. Please also send me your photo and the name of your bank and account number so I can begin preparing to transfer the money.



Modesta Spamminovitch-Upayme



This is a quick and funny read, and heartily recommended to anyone who has e-mail.




Amanda Richards, July 19, 2008

With the internet age has come all kinds of wonderful new convinces we now rely on every day. But with every plus comes a minus, and for most of us that minus is spam. Every morning, I hate wading through the massive amount of e-mails I get that I'm not even interested in reading.

One man decided to have some fun, however. And we get to share that fun because of this book. "Bob Servant" (and the observant person will pick up on that name faster than I did) decided to reply to some of his spam and see how long he could drag out the exchanges without the other side catching on or giving up. Here in, we get eight such exchanges and the results are hilarious.

Most of these e-mails start out all too familiar. There's the African native who needs Bob to get money out of the country. Theirs the Chinese company looking for a local person in Scotland to help with local payments. And there's Alexandria, who is more interested in Scottish men than her native Russians.

But what follows is anything but routine. It's hard to describe just how great this book because half the fun is watching how the events unfold. Twice, Bob turns a job offer into a potential job for the spammer when he pretends to be interested in buying a painting or a bunch of pots.

But my favorite exchanges cross the line into the absurd. Some of these involve wild animals and the postman. But that's all I'm going to say. Well, that and it reveals just how desperate the criminal spammers are to get the information they need. They are certainly persistent. And rather stupid themselves.

I've got to give the author credit. He has created a great world you real get involved in. In each exchange we get to see a different side of Bob and his friends. They provide half the fun.

While most of these exchanges are wonderful, I did think a couple went on too long. And they weren't quite the mostly clean stuff I normally enjoy reading. But that didn't dampen my enjoyment for long.

Ironically enough, I got this book because I replied to a spam e-mail from the author. And I'm glad I did. If you need a release from the constant attack of spam, this book is perfect for you.

If you decide to buy this book take a good deep breath. You should be good enough in algebra, and you should be quite comfortable with some six sigma basics. This book gives a good explanation in TRIZ and in the DFSS algoritm.
The axiomatic design could be better (lack of examples). It is well written.

This is a book with a lot of information. Each chapter can be used as a starting point for a specific six sigma technique. However, this is the worst edited book I have ever read. You can hardly find one page without errors/typos.

While the concept of six-sigma is a very popular one, it is not often that one can find such a comprehensive yet clearly-written volume devoted to the most important topics of six-sigma. A book that contains so much information and not just hot air is especially hard to find. Yang and El-Haik have successfully written one of the most impressive and useful reads I have ever encountered within this field. Especially intriguing and novel concept of TRIZ. A very worthwhile book, in any case.

I have not found such a comprehensive book for design of six sigma. I started using this book for advanced experimental design and taguchi methods, but ended understanding the complete roadmap for design of six sigma. The systems approach allows an enthusiast reader to start anywhere, without having to spend time refering back to earlier chapters. The relatively newer trends as TRIZ and axiomatic design have also been nicely dealt with.
Overall, this is a very nice and easy read book, with excellent and well defined examples. A must for everyone who wants a quick refresher on the design principles of six sigma.

This is an outstanding DFSS book for production development. It contains integrated information and some of which you could hardly find anywhere else, thus with one book in hand, you have all the tools to get to your destination. This is also a easy to read book providing the reader with a solid understanding- Concepts are clearly defined, real world examples/ case studies are fully described and the chapters are well organized. It can serve as a textbook for students/beginners and also can serve as a handbook for experienced engineers.
The title says it all- this is a roadmap for you to find the way correctly and easily. I am reading the book right now, and the book is really beneficial to me.

Not that detailed but great if you are not going to sit down and read an involved design book. Quick tips.

Most of the books of the same kind, you'll find 500 pages just with theory, things that you should do and you shouldn't. This one is just plane and simple, if you are an expertise graphic designer, it will show you really cool and fresh ideas.
If you are a designer with no background education, it will guide you step by step in the process of creation.
For the price you pay and the content you get, this book is one of its kind.

I've read literally hundreds of design books and frankly find most of them to be long on theory and have precious little to offer by way of concrete learning and real-world usability. This book (and The Design-It-Yourself Newsletter also by Chuck - which I also own) doesn't overburden the reader with "fluff." It's a pleasure to find a book that tells me what I should know and need to know rather than what some "expert" wants to tell me. These books are practical, useful, clear, and easy-to-follow. Do yourself a favor and invest a very reasonable sum in this book (or any of Chuck's books for that matter), and you will be a better designer for it.

Who is this book for? Non-designers trying to design their own logos, letterheads & businesscards.

How good is it? It's the best I've come across. And I've gone through hundreds of them. This book helped me design a logo and stationary for more than one business, got my creative juices flowing, gave me a lot of ideas - that I would've never thought about otherwise - and to top it all, gave me STEP BY STEP instruction on how to achieve simple but very elegant, clean & professional results!

The design of the book itself makes you want to buy it the very first time you look at it - very well organized, simple, elegant. Inspires confidence.

Does it deliver the goods as promised? SURE!

Another of Chuck's books that I read ages ago and is highly recommended and valuable even today: The Desktop Publisher's Idea Book. It still sits on my desk/bookshelf, and I go back to it often to get new ideas.

Finally, Chuck's web site - ... - is equally impressive, a treasure chest of ideas & resources for budding or amateur designers exploring the world of design.

Request to Chuck if he reads this - please let us have more of these in a series - Design It Yourself Logos 2, 3, 4... etc. PLEASE!

Bharat Suneja

I recently purchased this book at a local bookstore on my lunch hour. It was so difficult to eat lunch with my new treasure and then have to return to work. Right after dinner that evening I sat down in a comfortable chair and just read and read until I went through the entire book. I just couldn't put this book down. It was wonderful, interesting and very informative. The recipes were great and I will incorporate their use in my at home graphic design business. I have been doing graphic design for about 8 years and cannot get enough to read on the subject. I am self taught and this is just the kind of book that will help those who are just like me, or even give fresh new ideas to those who are experts. Thanks Chuck! I need more of this -- got any more like this coming?