Services Books

This is a beautiful book and I feel it is so wonderful for family caregivers who have just "gotten the call." It has so many personal insights and helpful tips, and I feel it gives a lot of strength and empowerment to caregivers. Please read this. You will be so glad that you did.

Beth has been there for all of us as the head of our "Caregiving" support group. Her experience and knowledge has helped us through, and her beautiful book has helped us know, why she is so caring of others. A must read for all CAREGIVERS.

Beth Witrogen McLeod's book Caregiving The Spiritual Journey of Love, Loss, and Renewal is a must read for any person taking care of an ill loved one, whether they are a child, spouse and/or aging parent. My interview with Beth revealed a strong woman with a fierce detrmination to help other caregivers make the most of a very painful situation. Beth includes her own personal journey along with the stories of hundreds of people she has met online in her chat groups or in person during her many public appearances in her incredible book. As the creator and editor of HotFlash! a woman's online perimenopause/menopause magazine and online support group, I have found women in the same place as Beth. She has described so well in her book the guilt, the pain, the sorrow and yes, at times, the joy of taking care of a sick loved one. In attempting to find hope and love in a truly difficult situation, Beth guides us to make good decisions not only for the person needing care but for the person herself. She pulls back the curtain on this often overlooked yet important topic.

This is a must read for anyone taking care of a loved one and for the rest of us who will one day be in these extraordinary shoes.

In an ideal world, we'd all have parents who we would want to help in old age, and it would be our honor to help them in their old age as they have helped us in our youth.

However, for the children of substance abuse parents and/or mentally ill patients the answers do not come easy. Things are much more complicated than simply finding a place to live, and deciding how much time you can spend with said loved one.

I'm not trying to over simplify, because all decisions dealing with older loved ones are difficult, but I was kind of hoping it would have given me more direction as to when its important to protect yourself as well. Its easy to get caught up in the caretaker role, feeling like a matyr without thinking about wheither or not this is the best desicion for you and your immediate family. Especially, if its puts you at risk for other health issues.

This is a fascinating book. I highly recommend it, although I was hoping it would have more concrete ideas for caring for an elder. I would recommend something like the Fourteen friends Guide to Eldercaring if you are looking for comcrete suggestions and a unique support group.

Just finished it, what an enjoyable experience to sit back with a favorite brew, dog by my side and drift away into Robert Service's world. Cannot recommend this collection highly enough.

I was introduced to Robert Service while attending Jr. High in Alaska. I loved his work so much that my parents bought me this book. Picking it up again, after 25 years, his work is still captivating. It transports the reader back 100+ years, to a wild frontier.

And I want to go back - and I will.

I am not much for poetry in general (having been forced to determine feet and meter and memorize types of sonnets, etc...), but Service's poetry is simple, amazingly clear, and beautiful. His descriptions of the Northern Lights and the wonders of the North are worth the price of the book just in of themselves.

Exactly what I was looking for for my husband. I think it has everything Robert Service ever wrote and is fabulous.

Exactly what I was looking for for my husband. I think it has everything Robert Service ever wrote and is fabulous.

I read this book for a graduate marketing class, but it is a good read for any business professional out there. Why do companies succeed in the long-term? They find a way to put the customer first, time after time. And not just customers, but employees, suppliers, and other stakeholders as well.

"Excellent customer service" is a the frequent promise, which is SELDOM achieved. This book is a good guide to how the elements of really great customer service can be identified and cultivated in an organization. While it is directed more to the larger enterprise, the principles can be applied to small business also.

Leonard L. Berry takes an in-depth look at how service can sustain the success of a business in this detailed, footnoted exploration that includes plenty of interviews and examples from the business world. Written authoritatively, yet conversationally, this book outshines similar works because of its thoroughness. Far from a quick-fix, self-help business guide, the book is thoughtful and doesn't rely on the obvious. We [...] recommend it to managers and leaders in all businesses, particularly if your competitive edge rests on pleasing your customers.

I recently re-read this book (1999) and Berry's previously published On Great Service (1996), curious to know how well they have held up since they were first published. My conclusion? Rock-solid. In fact, both books are even more relevant - and more valuable - now than they were when Leonard Berry wrote them. That is amazing...and commendable.

With regard to the title of this book, consider this brief excerpt from the concluding chapter: "Great service companies have a soul that underlies their strategies and day-to-day operations. The company's soul - its value system - is its foundational center, its inner core." Berry fully understands how difficult it is to achieve and then sustain a great service company, noting that such companies are "humane communities that humanely serve customers and the broader communities in which they live." Decision-makers, especially in companies which have problems attracting and then retaining the talented, skilled, and principled people needed, would be well-advised to consider very carefully the meaning and significance of Berry's concluding observation. The same can be said for companies which have problems keeping valued customers and don't know why.

As Berry explains, his purpose in this book is to identify, describe, and illustrate the underlying drivers of sustainable success in service businesses. Creating a successful service operation is unquestionably a difficult task...The greater involvement of people in creating value for customers, the greater the challenge." He examines 14 outstanding service companies which include The Container Store, the Charles Schwab Corporation, Chick-fil-A, Enterprise Rent-a-Car, the St. Paul Saints AAA baseball franchise, and USAA. He suggests what lessons can be learned from them. Although quite different in terms of their size and nature, they demonstrate the same nine drivers of success, to each of which Berry devotes a separate chapter.

One of his key points is that humane core values sustain human service energy as organizations grow and mature. When the "product" is a human performance, values-driven leadership is at the center of sustainable success. He focuses on often-neglected or under-appreciated basics and explains how the superior service to which the exemplary companies are wholly committed creates for each of them a significant, perhaps decisive competitive advantage. The core strategies seems obvious: focus on serving a specific market need rather than on marketing a specific product for that need, focus on serving underserved market needs, and focus on serving the chosen markets with executional excellence. When stressing the importance of "trust-based" relationships, Berry includes everyone involved in the given enterprise. Hence the importance of what he characterizes as "humane organizational values" and he correctly insists that such values depend on values-driven leadership which must permeate the organization, at all levels and in all areas of operation. Stable leadership stabilizes values and propels all other success sustainers.

Of special interest to me is what he has to say about Cora Griffith in Chapter 8, "Investment in Employee Success." She is a long-time waitress for the Orchard Café in Appleton, Wisconsin. According to Berry, she implements each day the nine rules of success: she treats each customer like family, she is an alert listener, she strives to anticipate her customers' wants, she is attentive to significant details ("simple things make the difference"), she "works smart" by constantly scanning all the tables, maintains an on-going effort to improve her skills while learning new ones, and is contented in her work. "Cora is a team player, an all for one, one for all employee." She takes great pride in her work. And credits her employers, Dick and John Bergstrom, for convincing her how important it is to take good care of each customer and who gave her the "freedom" to do it. How many service providers have you encountered lately who measure up to Cora Griffith's standards? The sad fact is that most service providers could but, for whatever reasons, don't.

It is to Berry's great credit that he recognizes the importance - and significance -- of the Cora Griffiths in this society at a time when most books which discuss superior customer service focus almost entirely on companies such Nordstrom, Ritz-Carlton, and Southwest Airlines. They are indeed exemplary organizations but two points need to be made: Each has its own significant number of Cora Griffiths, and, the same high level of customer service can be provided by all other organizations, even by a hotel restaurant in a small midwestern town.

With all due respect to Mies van der Rohe, God may not be in the details but "the soul of service" certainly is.

It is very difficult for me to work with "interviews and case study" based books since they are almost invariably full of "brilliant" quotes and "success and beyond-duty" stories that, to say the least, sound too good as to be of a sustainable nature in real world. This book is based on experiences and what seems very solid research and, for sure, is not free of this type of passages; and yet, it is one of the most useful and often-referenced books that I own and work with. So, if you will yourself through it, you'll find one of the best and most down-to-earth books on Customer Service. The author identifies nine drivers that can make any organization successful, all of them emphasizing the human nature of the relationship with customers (customer-centered). It is truly a recipe for success, more easily applicable to on-going enterprises rather than to start-ups. From this book the reader can produce very useful check-lists to diagnose the company and its strategic practices regarding their service approach. It can also be used as a guiding document to move a company to a truly customer-awareness territory and, most important, to keep it there. Of special relevance is the author's brilliant exposition in the final chapter "Lessons from World-Class Service Companies", where the reader obtains a rarely seen synopsis of all the good things that excellent companies do "to sustain their excellence". If nothing else, this chapter by itself justifies buying this book and incorporating it to your professional library.

This is an excellent book for any student who is doing a report on drugs. it has everything you would need to know and not just about the drugs themselves it has the culture, the history, chemical make up. a very well organized book

like title states this book covers it all. whether your a student doing research or a concerned parent this book will make things much clearer. from how addictive drugs are to street names to statistics this book has it all.

I can't praise the author of this book highly enough. He has created a comprehensive, readable and thoroughly engaging reference including almost every drug found in society today. The bulleted notes found at the beginning of every chapter were some of the most helpful I have found; indicating risk factors, addiction potential, chemical makeup and street names. Antic dotes keep the subject matter fun and well-cited scientific facts lend credibility to the oft surprising statements. I wish the author had included a more extensive section on legal substances like alcohol, but it's a small issue in the face of all the other information included. A must read for anyone interested in drug culture or for parents seeking an informed point of view on the subject.

This is an excellent, informative book. The reviewer who said this book lacks cites is correct. Otherwise, it is money well spent.

Paul Gahlinger does an excellent job of finding "all" of the 178 or whatever number he says is the number of illegal drugs in (I guess) America. He readily admits that the war on drugs is not working, but then compliments the DEA on its extreme efforts to curve the war on them. This is a rather old subject of thought that has been updated time and time again. He is an MD from Utah, so remember that as you read. On many of the issues he raises he is correct, but on several he not. For example, he states that caffeine (on page 180) is "highly addictive, creating both physical and phychological dependence after as little as 100mg a day." Now, if that were true, most of my friends and I would be in the ER every other day!! Goodness. This is totally false and he knows it. Also in the book he includes the deaths of Elvis and Marilyn Monroe to get his point across that almost everything except water is not good for you-- or can be addicting. His data at times is two sentences, and his sources are questionable, because they are not listed. I must admit he covers just about any, and I do mean any substance that could used to make something illegal. But Dr. Gahlinger is missing the point. We also have outlawed murder, but it still happens. There are laws against theft, but people steal. I had a student tell me he gets stoned sniffing gasoline, so does the author want to outlaw gasoline also? The US laws are full of these draconian statutes which give the government unlimited power of seizure already. One legislator in congress said recently the US cannot afford to win the war on drugs because it has become too lucrative for the DEA and other governmental agencies. The author says knowledge is the only way to win the war on drugs..haven't we done DARE for 15 years now? It does NOT work. This is a very good text on the history of illegal drug use, but is a little weak on the pharmaceutical aspects or dynamics of how medications become addictive to human beings. Can anyone say the drug problems of the 70s are any better now, almost 40 years later? I do question some of his numbers and science, but as far as covering a subject matter, this is a fine addition to anyone's library. Just double check the numbers before using it as a reference. guyairey

In all things about James Joyce, no one has exhibited more of an acute understanding of the man and his works than Richard Ellmann. He is the bridge by which readers who have not read Joyce or do not understand what they have read by him to the inner workings of the artist and his life.

This biography, "James Joyce" has been around for decades, virtually unchallenged. He presents to the reader all the facets of Joyce's life and personality. This is no mere star-gazing. Along with all the great things about Joyce, he also examines his weakness: his superstitions, his drinking, his occasional selfishnes, his sexual complexities, and his failure to really take care of his family. We get to see Joyce in all his dimensions and from several perspectives. That makes this book not only the best biography of James Joyce but one of the classic biographies of all time.

I just cannot praise this book enough. Ellman's biography of Joyce is amazing, bewildering, daunting (at least in its length) and wonderful -- not coincidently, just like James Joyce. One caveat: I imagine a reader might be quite confused if s/he read this before reading any of Joyce's major works (Ulysses or Finnegans Wake). I am kicking myself that I didn't read this biography years ago! Truly a marvelous work -- and a must for readers of Joyce.

For those of you interested in a biography of James Joyce that's as erudite as his works themselves, then Ellmann's "James Joyce" is most definitely for you. This is a product of years of interviews and correspondence with many of Joyce's friends and family members; and Ellmann's love for both the writer and the man radiate through every page. His sections on the key themes and events that inspired both "Ulysses" and "Finnegans Wake" are invaluable. Moreover, you'll find yourself chuckling a great deal of time, and even shedding a few tears, as I did. My only critique of the book, albeit fairly minor, is not so much directed at the author as it is at the publisher: there is little room in the margins for notes, as well as very sparse flyleaves; hence for those of you who like to engage a book with gushing pen in hand, then you'll find the layout of this book quite restraining, as I did. One might counter this critique, however, with the perhaps granted point that it leaves all the more canvas space on which to overlay layers and layers of brush strokes much needed when attempting to paint the life of this very complex, gifted, and charming man.

Richard Ellmann's biography of James Joyce is hands down among the three best or the best biography written in the 20th century. For anyone with a serious interest in Joyce or his writings, will truly enjoy getting to know Joyce and his writings through this book.

I've read maybe a few thousand reviews of other titles on this website but this is the first book I've felt I needed to comment on. I comment mainly because I noted that two reviewers gave this book "4 stars". What unmitigated gall!

Richard Ellmann's biography is the most definitive and complete examination of James Joyce that has been written. This extensive work examines Joyce's life from his birth to his death. Ellmann's narrative derives from Joyce's letters as well as accounts from Joyce's brother, Stanislaus. The book is most revealing in offering an understanding of the process it took for Joyce to come up with his most monumental works, ULYSSES AND FINNEGANS WAKE. Ellmann states that Joyce intentionally made it difficult for anyone to understand what he wrote. He wanted to keep his critics, academics and scholars, guessing of what significance his nonsensical gibberish creation represented. In addition, Ellmann intertwines events that occurred in Joyce's life that show how they closely resemble the characters in the works he produced, such as his early work, A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN.

James Joyce most likely can be considered a "starving artist." He would go without a new pair of shoes until they wore down to the soles, but looked debonair and sophisticated with non-matching suits. In the beginning, he aspired to be a work within the realms of Jesuit studies, but later opted for a writing career that would take him from Trieste, Paris, and Zurich. Joyce struggled with poverty through out his life even as his most famous works were published. Monetary problems and health conditions that affected his eyesight never hindered his creative process. If he lost his eyesight, he probably would have continued to write blind. Joyce appeared to be an eccentric and stubborn man. However, Ellmann shows a caring and supporting man who loved his wife and children, and most of all, his father, John Stanislaus Joyce.

In terms to history and literature, Ellmann constantly references Joyce's fascination with Shakespeare, ancient civilization and history. This is best displayed in ULYSSES, but one significant footnote is that he did not appear to care for American history. He makes a minute reference to Ulysses S. Grant in ULYSSES, but he did not even know who the man was; Joyce loathed the United States. Also, Ellmann offers a birds-eye view of what his cohorts thought of his work. Gertrude Stein as well as Ernest Hemingway praised and envied Joyce's contributions to Modernism.

Ellmann examines a tremendous amount of information within his narrative. When one completes JAMES JOYCE, what else do you need to know about this genuine writer who used his craft as a means of getting back home, but never quite made it there? But he preferred Zurich and its snow-capped mountains as home rather than the complexities of his former Dublin. JAMES JOYCE is the springboard one needs when beginning a study of Joyce the man and his works, which should begin with PORTRAIT and ending with WAKE.

This was my absolute favorite book when i was growing up. I still have the entire thing memorized. I never get tired of looking and the illustrations and hope that my children will enjoy this book as much as i did and still do!

My Grandma bought me this book when I was a small child. We read it over and over again. I absolutely loved it!!! I will definitely be reading this book to my future children and the future children in my classroom. I hope they love it as much as I do.

This was one of my favorite books as a little girl, and now my two little nieces can't get enough of it. I'm actually buying a replacement book now because the one we have is so worn out from reading it again and again. I definitely recommend it for the kids in your life.

Awwww I feel like crying! This was one of my all time favorite books as a child! My favorite library teacher let me have it in 1st grade and I read it over and over until i knew the words by heart

this is a great story, both to read out loud and to read alone. it's about a girl whose mother wants her to clean her room, but her friends come over and they end up playing instead. her mother tells her a few times to go clean her room and she seemingly goes to do it, but she takes her friends with her, as well as her baby sister, and they get distracted by their imaginations, so we get to see them pretending to be a bunch of different things. at the end though her mother puts her foot down and tells jillian to clean her room, so she tells her friends to come back when her room is neater.

the book rhymes, which is amazing for reading out loud, or for singular readings, the flow is nice. the illustrations are great too, the characters look like they're having fun. the way they're drawn conveys a lot of energy and excitement, and yet the drawings are simple... i guess they kind of remind me of children themselves, not a whole lot to them, but invest your time and you'll have more than your share of fun.

this whole series is great. i recommend.

This publication of "Little Quack" is nice with the addition of a dial that allows the kids to turn the dial as ducks enter the pond overcoming their fear, and responding to the encouragement of their mother. The story does not differ.

My 2 year old daughter just loves all of the books in the Little Quack series. I would definitely recommend them!

My husband and my mother love to read the Little Quack books to my son. My son is very interested in the pictures and it's the only books he'll sit through.

This is a well-written book for toddlers--a fun story, with interesting language, that they can easily understand. It's got a good message, about not being afraid to try new things, and the illustrations are very cute and interesting. My 2-year-old is madly in love with Little Quack, and my 4-year-old likes to listen in too!

With characters named Widdle, Waddle, Piddle Puddle and Little Quack you know that your pre-schooler is bound to love this book. It's a cute little story about the ducks leaving the nest for their first big swim, and how Quack builds up the courage to leave the nest with lots of love and encouragement.

There are wonderful lessons here for little readers, but the best and most amazing part of this book are the fabulous expressions on the faces of all these little ducks! I didn't think it was possible to make ducks look all that different and show real emotion, but it's all here in this wonderful, entertaining book that will win raves from the kids and parents.

This book is great- between the detailed illustrations, the extensive lists of muscle functions and the breakdown of why the muscle does what it does, it really helped me to learn. The only think I didn't love is the order the muscles are listed in, in my brain they would have been logically grouped together a bit differently, especially when it comes to trunk muscles.

I bought this book after attending one of Dr. Muscolino's cadaver lab workshops. I highly recommend this book and, if you are thinking about a cadaver workshop, I recommend that as well. Dr. Muscolino is very knowledgeable, caring and sensitive.

It is nice to find a book dedicated to the muscular system. Although the graphics are simple (not photographic), the information and the lay out are great for learning and understanding of the muscles. The best pages in this book are those that lay out the muscular attachments of a region of the body.

Highly recommended for anyone that works in any field where the muscles are the focus!

Dr. Joseph E. Muscolino truly compiled the ultimate Musculoskeletal system anatomy textbook.

I esspicially found the Latin and Greek derivation section's to be very helpful in understanding the origins of the muscle names.

This author's logic and approach is unmatched.

Kudos to Dr. Joseph E. Muscolino!!!

This book is comprehensive in nature, scrupulous in detail, and the product of an obvious passion for the wealth of information to be found in our musculoskeletal system. As a massage therapist and perpetual student of the human body, I am glad to add this book to my library. It is well organized which makes it easy to reference whether I know the muscle, the bony landmark, or the general anatomical area of the body. Having so much information about an individual muscle in one book makes it easy to enhance or refresh my existing knowledge. I have opened the book just to refresh my knowledge of what an individual muscle looks like and found the illustrations clear. I have used the cross reference to find other muscles that might be adding to an existing muscular problem in a client. I have refreshed my awareness of an individual muscle by using the easy to follow palpation information. And I have added to my knowledge of individual muscle actions when helping a client isolate a muscle's tightness. Every time I have opened the book I have not been overwhelmed by what I do not know but rather come away feeling smarter.

This book addresses every aspect of doing business on the Internet securely. A must read for anyone that uses the Internet to either buy or sell.

This is an excellent book for the skeptic who thinks that "it can't happen to us!" I think many different companies (government and private sector alike) will be amazed at how comparitively little it actually costs to prevent a corporate disaster. Ever wish to go inside the mind of a good hacker and learn how he does it? This is the book for you!

The ubiquitous Internet is a double-edged sword. A major benefit is sharing information; a major detriment is the risk to customers of divulging private information. For e-businesses, therefore, privacy is a showstopper issue. This book was written to promote e-business success by helping organizations evaluate privacy needs, establish a privacy task force, use technologies to provide maximum protection, formulate privacy policies and procedures, implement and test privacy procedures, and monitor and modify privacy protection. This one's a winner--for companies that want to "win" at e-business.

The ubiquitous nature of the Internet is a double-edged sword, with sharing information a major benefit, and the risk of divulging private information a major detriment. In the rush to establish an e-business, organizations can't afford to ignore the showstopper issue: privacy. Erbschloe and Vacca provide a how-to for businesses to help them evaluate their privacy needs, establish a privacy task force, use privacy technologies to the best advantage, formulate privacy policies and procedures, implement and test privacy procedures, and monitor and modify their privacy protection. This one's a winner--for businesses that want to "win" at e-business.

A very informative and useful book in an area which is near and dear to all of us as we open up to the world of i-payments.

In this book the author blames the initial assault on David Koresh's Mount Cramel property on the ATF. He neglects to mention that David Koresh had enough guns, hand grenades and illegal automatic weapons to outfit the Kosovo Army for it's next Revolution.The BLAME lies with David Koresh and his followers. When you amass such as stockpile of ILLEGAL weaapons then you should expect a visit from the authorities which is exactly what happend . And due to Koresh's arsenal he managed to "outgun" the ATF and four good Peace Officers were murdered. All of this occurred because that madman and psychopath Koresh thought he had a "Direct Hotline" to God. Those 86 people chose not to surrender. Perhaps they thought the seige would end with flowers and free bottles of French Champagne? It seems like nearly everybody wants to blame somebody else for the Waco Incident instead of laying the blame at Koresh and his followers.I give this book 5 stars because no doubt it will apeal to the Paranoid Conspiracy Theorists out there and the Survivalist who now think their Government is "The Enemy "ever since Russians turned out to be nice people after all.

Kopel and Blackman did more than just their homework on this book. It is perhaps the most factual yet interesting critique on the way in which federal law enforcement operates today. The attack on Mt. Carmel is a very important even in the history of this nation and only from our mistakes can we change the future. This review I believe is especially credible since I read but certainly don't always like David Kopel's writings. Highest recommendation and a great source for research papers.

Once again David Kopel (and Paul Blackman) gets to the bottom of things and shows what the Waco disaster was all about. If you only read one section of this book, read the part detailing the search warrant. It appears that all the death and destruction (on the part of both the Branch Davidians and the BATF agents who were killed) was brought on because of a failure to pay a several hundred dollar tax on a firearm.

This book focuses on Waco but also delves into the expansion of federal law enforcement and the effect it has on civil liberties in this country.

As per the United States Constitution, the federal government should have law enforcement jurisdiction over the following acts: piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, offences against the law of nations, and counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States.

Something has gone terribly wrong.

Read this book. Then read anything else that David Kopel has written. It will be well worth your time, and you will be well educated about the erosion of our rights as citizens.

A very impressive accomplishment. There is a tremendous amount of detail here -- right down to how the ATF's name evolved from BATF -- but presented in a compelling and readable way.

This book is unusual in that it does not slant everything in one direction; it refuses to classify those involved as unambiguous good guys or bad guys.

The scope of the book goes beyond what's implied by the title. There is plenty of fascinating history here, many references to other law enforcement debacles. A compelling case is made that law enforcement has become too militarized and too federalized. The discussion of how "groupthink" on both sides (the government and the Davidians) leads to this kind of tragedy is especially excellent.

I've long wondered why liberals and conservatives seem inverted on Waco. Liberals are thought to be strong on civil rights, including religious freedom, and anti-military. Conservatives are thought to favor strong law-and-order. The authors explain this puzzle: the Congressional hearings quickly degenerated into an attempt to embarrass political opponents rather than a dispassionate search for the truth. The American public and the media took their orientation from Congress to a large extent. If a Republican had been president at the time of Waco, it's very possible the sides would have been reversed.

The authors show very clearly that the real problems with law enforcement have been building regardless of which party controls the White House or the Congress. I hope some legislators read this book and take the excellent reform suggestions to heart.

This work is not only an outstanding explanation of the Waco and Ruby Ridge incidents, but a critical review of modern federal law enforcement. The book goes beyond sorting out -- in meticulous detail -- what really happened in these debacles. Even more valuable is the objective analysis of the abuses and excesses of federal law enforcement, along with suggested remedies.

This book is a "must read" for anyone concerned with civil liberties or law enforcement.