Benefits of Books

'The Gap-Year Advantage: Helping your Child Benefit from Time Off Before or During College,' by Karl Haigler and Rae Nelson, is one of those unconventional offerings in the social-educational sphere that has the potential to ignite a mini-revolution and transform our society by changing the lives of individual young people in profound ways.

Today we never stop telling our kids how intelligent they are, how lucky they are to live in such a mobile, technologically advanced, and affluent society. Yet for all its abundance and limitless choices, today's world poses extraordinary challenges to our children. The ancient verities and old certainties are gone, leaving many kids confused, aimless, even self-destructive. The family, cultural, and societal norms that once helped them mature into functional adults have changed radically. We expect our children to go through twelve intensive years of primary and secondary school and then head off to college, now an absolute prerequisite for middle-class status and economic security.

Yet think for a moment what those twelve years do to our children. With few exceptions, the U.S. school system is based on the Prussian model imported by Horace Mann and Thomas Dewey in the late 19th Century, a system designed to mold obedient soldiers and acquiescent factory workers in the service of the Prussian state. Kids must endure a rigidly prescribed curriculum ladled out to them in regular fifty-minute intervals, during which they must sit obediently and receive spoon-fed knowledge passively, interrupted only by rigidly prescribed exams. The result in government schools, in particular, is often a loss of creativity, spontaneity, independent thinking, self-knowledge, and maturity, even if kids do manage to imbibe a degree of academic knowledge.

Enter the "gap year." This is the simple yet revolutionary idea that students should take a year off between high school and college, or during college, for a period of self-examination and self-discovery. The modality of that inner journey can be any number of things --- foreign travel, volunteer or community service work, or learning a new skill. The authors tell a vivid story of their son who embarked on a wonderful array of adventures before entering college to his great benefit, thus they write from practical experience as well as from an impressive knowledge base.

Though I never thought I'd face these same issues, I can attest to the wisdom of the gap year. My own son experienced burnout three-fourths of his way through college. Using the Haigler-Nelson book, we put together a gap year that involves working on a farm (and getting mentored in other ways at the same time), a six-week stint at Outward Bound's Wilderness Course, some non-traditional skills-training, and a month of independent study abroad. While my son hasn't yet finished his gap, he tells me he has more optimism about the future than he's felt in over a year.

'The Gap Year Advantage' is well-named, for the gap year confers real and practical advantages. It's not just a gap-year option or a gap-year substitute for the "real" business of formal education. Moreover, the book is far more than a mere catalogue of volunteer, service, study, or travel opportunities. It is well-written, at times even lyrically so, the obvious product of thoughtful and philosophically sophisticated people. In sum, it is a remarkable treatise on human development and an answer for some of the most troubling issues our kids face today. I wish my son had encountered the gap-year idea three years ago. For that matter, I wish I had encountered it forty years ago.

Gives a soup-to-nuts overview of the options available for making full use of a gap year. Makes a good conversation starter to engage your child. I haven't checked out the resources, but I'm now confident that such resources exist (from cheap/free to more expensive options). Fast read.

The Gap Year Advantage is the most comprehensive and useful book about the benefits and realities of the Gap Year experience. As the parent of a student who did a gap year, we would have better prepared having read this book. Can't recommend it more highly.

I have to disagree slightly with the other reviews here. I did not find that this was an excellent book, it was fair given my expectations, and there are many good lists of resources, organizations, and websites for options once you have decided to do a gap year or year off.

What I found missing in this book was a good discussion on the decision to take a gap year or year off. This may only apply to some people but I would think that a significant number of readers would be involved in the stage of trying to decide if a gap year is a good idea for them or their children. This is stage we are at and I did not find much in this book to stimulate ideas for progress in that decision process other than a few references to gap year consultant groups and some brief personal accounts of how students had decided themselves.

I will have to continue to search for information about how to help our son make this decision but once it is made this book will be a good resource for how to do the gap year.

Text arrived quicker than expected in perfect condition -- transaction was effortless, seamless and completed as if "immediately." Thank you!

Jo Robinson has done the research and it is enlightening. We have come so far from the days of the family farm and we haven't a clue. I am not a vegetarian but you can bet I won't be eating supermarket meat any longer, especially chicken (including eggs). Read the book to find out why (with scientific studies) organics, even more importantly pasture raised meat products are healthier for us. It is a quick and easy read because it does not take long to uncover the truth.

An interesting read about the health benefits that come from good ol' fashioned grass farming and its animal products. This book shows how little control we actually have over our own food. On the other hand, it presents a convincing argument for consumers to get back in touch with local farmers and for farmers to rethink what makes good economic sense.

The book supplies great comparisons of how grain fed products are obviously superior! However, I do not feel it will change farmer's minds about the crops they raise and how they raise and finish their cattle. It all comes down to money. I didn't really explain how they can turn a profit...

'People, Performance & Pay' is must-read for all executives and HR professionals who want to understand the point-based pay system, known as the Hay Guide Chart-Profile Methodology. With concrete examples from their consulting experiences, Thomas P.Flannery, David A.Hofrichter, and Paul Platten clearly explain how to develop compensation strategies to support business values, work cultures, and strategic goals.

In the literature, the Hay system has been criticized because it may promote a bureaucratic culture and because it fails to differentiate between high and low performers or contributors. For example, Edward E.Lawler writes, in his 'Rewarding Excellence,' "the Hay system is the most commonly used approach for determining pay and reward levels in large organizations, although numerous other evaluation systems have also been developed. There is a real question, however, about whether Hay or any of the others is the best approach in today's business environment...Job evaluation fits a traditional bureaucratic approach to management that relies heavily on control through job descriptions, standardization of work, and hierarchical levels of management." On the other hand, after defining the Hay system as 'pay for empire,' Peter Block argues, in 'Stewardship,' "it is a widely accepted method of using job descriptions- including the number of direct reports, type of budget responsibility, and levels of responsibility and decision-making authority- to make rational the different pay levels within an organization. For what it was asked to accomplish, this system has done an elegant and durable job. But we must question exactly what it was we asked the Hay system to do-to pay people based on the size of their territory, number of subordinates, budget size, level of authority...Soften it if you like, but these are measures of empire, not contribution to the organization."

In this context, the authors say that "certainly there is truth in Block's statement. Indeed, as the title of our book suggests, people and their performance-their contribution both as individuals and as members of the organizational team-are the linchpins of any effective compensation strategy. But that title and statement do not, despite what our critics might say, signal a sudden shift in our philosophy about pay. The fact is, we've always believed that people and how they performed constitute the foundation of any successful business strategy. We've always believed that compensation is an important element of a successful human resources equation that puts people first...When the Hay system is properly used in the right circumstances, it can still be very effective in creating people-and performance-oriented pay programs."

I highly recommend this reference source on the Hay system.

Don't believe the other reviewers when they tell you this book will teach you how to use the "Hay system" (whatever they mean by that). It has nothing to do with Guide Charts and doesn't teach you how to use the Culture Sort analysis (although it does list the culture attributes, which could enable you to figure out the model is you know what you are doing and have experience in this).

The most important take-away from this book is how business culture affects your remuneration structures.

Written in 1995/6, the book is definitely outdated. ALL companies are moving to a "process based" system and reducing the benefits component of remuneration. You don't need a book or Hay consultant to tell you that.

The book is fairly easy reading with a good index. It lacks extensive 'war strories' which show application of the principles.

The ideas in the book helped me to reshape my organization's compensation programs to align with our overall strategy. It's been great!

This book is an excellent resources for leaders of companies,that are reengineering key process and to sustainable competitive advantage and offers ways of thinking our business strategies or changing organizational.
This book offers excellent ideas for using innovative reward and recognition programs to accelerate organizational and culture change.

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I can't complain about this order, I received it quite quickly and in perfect conditions, I will try to order my next purchases directly from amazon, its delivery and price are pretty good

I have been waiting for a good, practical portfolio management book and this one hits the mark for me. It contains a good mix of content including some "theory" as well as a good bit of practical advice. The writing style is clear, to the point, and provides you with enough to go off and make something happen in your organization.

As an aside, I think the graphic on the cover is right on point. We are too often burning the candle at both ends in the project/program/portfolio management space!

This is a great book for someone trying to implement portfolio management in a company. Excellent insight.

After having evaluated many recent books on the subject of Project Portfolio Management, I found the practical guidance and descriptive clarity as provided by Harvey A. Levine exceptional. Working for Serena Software, I was looking for a single book that could educate and guide a variety of people into PPM, ranging from new Mariner account managers, engineers as well as Mariner customers. Not only does this book provide an easy way to understand the typical Project Portfolio Management process, it is being done using such simple terms, avoiding buzzwords and unnecessary jargon, making it very easy and fast to read, even for a non native English speaking audience. The latter is important if you are operating worldwide. The book does contain some level of repetition, especially in Part Two, but as these are contributing sections and case studies, written by different authors who provide a different angle or viewpoint to the same concepts, I found those especially useful for practitioners (our engineers and customers). The downside of having multiple authors is however that Levine's simple and clear writing style is not always maintained. The advantage of this approach is that within the same book, readers will benefit from learning some related topics such as ways to measure (e.g. earned value, AHP, NPV), Enterprise Project Management, IT Governance, and much more.

As a result, the company has bought over 50 copies to date and I have been recommending this book to our new employees, partners, and customers worldwide who want to build up their knowledge and implementation skills in Project Portfolio Management.

Eddy Pauwels
Serena Software
Antwerp, Belgium

The authors' explanation of the workings of the Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, etc systems is adequate but is not particularly well written and often lacks clarity. This is certainly not one of NOLO's best offerings.

Especially annoying was the authors' frequent and tedious editorializing. I suspect most readers of this book want the facts, not the authors' socialistic, simplistic opinions.

page 10/7: "E. Medical Treatment....And dependents and survisors of a veteran who has a service connected disabilities, or who receives a veterans pension, are entitled to care in VA facilities if they are unable to afford private care."

I have been a VA employee for 16 years. The above is WRONG. There IS a pilot program in a handful of VA hospitals allowing dependents to use the VA hospital. Otherwise, this is NOT the case.

..."The VA can also pay for long-term care of an elderly or disabled veteran in a private nursing facility if there is no space in a VA facility."

This is also not entirely correct. The operative would is CAN. However, the VA is only obligated to pay for the care of veterans who have a certain percentage of Service-Connected Disability. If they pay at all for any others, most VA's only pay for care for a VERY limited period of time.

The authors of this comprehensive guidebook come close to achieving this feat. As they point out, many Americans are not receiving all the benefits they deserve under our current system. By explaining the various benefit programs and laws in conversational English, they hope to help readers ensure they are getting everything to which they are entitled. It's also helpful that the text is presented in a visually interesting two-column format with plenty of headings, boxes, and even the occasional illustration.

Each chapter explains a different benefit program or set of laws designed to protect the rights of older Americans. Security and Medicare take up more than half the book. The discussions of Medicare claims and appeal procedures are particularly thorough, complete with samples of Medicare summary notices explaining what the sometimes confusing columns of numbers mean. There also are chapters on Medigap policies, Veterans benefits, private pensions and 401(k) plans, and federal civil service retirement benefits. However, if you're looking for in-depth information on Medicaid coverage of nursing home costs, this is not your best resource. While Medicaid's basic eligibility rules are briefly discussed, the complexities of transferring assets to qualify for Medicaid benefits are not.

The authors mainly stick to the facts, but every once in a while they reveal their view of our society's tattered safety net. For example, they call our failure to enact a comprehensive, universal health care plan a "national disgrace."

This happens to be the best all-around book concerning the difficult subject of Social Security that I have read. Understandable and very well written. The sections regarding disability are filled with just the info I needed to know.

Richard I. Henderson's steadfast refusal to add value to his classic textbook more or less forced me into adopting this book. I've used Henderson for over fifteen years, but could not continue to have my students backfill the many holes in that old book.

This book is better in that respect, but does suffer from a "lightness of treatment" that I did not have to worry about with Henderson. Henderson was completely comprehensive; this book cannot claim that.

But it's a good book, and better than Henderson in its current state.

This is a well written, comprehensive presentation of compensation and benefits, including such subjects as skill / knowledge based pay and executive and international compensation. Its features include summaries, questions with links to the www, key terms, and thought-provoking "flip side of the coin" and "reflection" inserts. Includes a useful glossary of terms. The author places considerable emphasis on current issues and that is appreciated.

I am writing as a reviewer, consultant and university instructor. I use this text in teaching my introductory compensation course at UCLA's School of Business and Management. I have tried many texts that my students bemoaned as too technical, boring, and somniferous. But my students find this text highly readable, understandable and interesting. That's a victory, especially when my students are mostly working HR professionals who drag themselves to class through the clogged freeways of Los Angeles. The least I can offer them is a good textbook; this is it!

Compensation is not the most popular course in the undergraduate curriculum, but this text makes it much more attractive. The examples are very easy to follow and the chapters flow well. As an instructor looking for something to make a very important topic more accessible to students, I was delighted to find this text. I highly recommend it.

I have seen many textbooks that are relentlessly boring due to the author's inability to balance technical and nontechnical jargon. But, this book somehow masters the ability to deliver relevant knowlege in an explicit manner. If you really want to know the foundations of compensating and you do not want to be bombarded by irrelevant wordiness, buy this book.

Benefit of clergy (the exemption of priests and deacons from secular trial on felony charges) was abolished in 1827. Frank Sinclair's `benefit of clergy' is an elasticated metaphor touching on third-party mediation in salvific esotericism. Heavy going? Have no fear. As Sinclair populates his theme within the dramatic context of `The Work' - the legacy of George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff - one quickly grasps that "archeologists of these concerns of the spirit" can unearth real treasures. Sinclair's unindexed, fuzzily illustrated book begins as a relaxed State-side saunter down memory lane but ends as high-octane polemic: a dialectical banquet for Gurdjieffians, anti-Gurdjieffians, and sociologists of New Religious Movements wheresoever.
Sinclair is au fond a mystic. Early in life his vocational guidance counsellor, a psychology professor from Columbia University, told him so. One paragraph which Sinclair may regret when older (he is only 76) celebrates the conception in him of "a brilliant, shining, golden embryo". This epiphany occurred back in his neophyte years at Franklin Farms, the New Jersey estate of Gurdjieff's early pupil Sophie Grigorievna Ouspensky. Here Sinclair was grudgingly received; and here Leonid Savitsky, Madame Ouspensky's pest of a grandson, bought a pistol and schemed to shoot him - but later shot himself instead...It was nevertheless at Mendham on 29 October 1958 that Sinclair met the individual whose presence broods over this entire book. Her name was Jeanne de Salzmann.
When Gurdjieff died in Paris in autumn 1949, stewardship of his teaching fell to this gifted French-Swiss woman; and spring 1950 saw the first shy crocuses of an institutional `Gurdjieffianity'. Decades passed. By 1989 Madame de Salzmann and her indentured `Foundations' in Paris, London, and New York had been together for forty years and it didn't seem a day too long. She had brokered publication of Gurdjieff's writings and music, and created ten superb archival films of his Movements or Sacred Dances. She had played midwife to Peter Brook's unfortunately stillborn film of Gurdjieff's youthful quest in Central Asia. She had instigated an American translation (now a collector's item) of Gurdjieff's major book Beelzebub's Tales. And she had designated Dr Michel de Salzmann, her son by Gurdjieff, as her successor.
What most enthuses Sinclair is that Madame de Salzmann insistently promoted - in Movements classes, group meetings, and communal, Zen-like meditations - an innovatory discipline relating the corporeal body to Higher Mind. Thousands of pupils sat at her feet, although the Parisian Work eminence Pauline de Dampierre confesses: "Very few people, perhaps only two or three, understood what Madame de Salzmann was trying to bring." Such a cost/benefit ratio, if true, might dismay a lesser apologist, but not Sinclair. Guilelessly he paints the scene: Madame "would indicate the flow of this subtle energy with a gesture almost (dare I say it) of papal authority."
In appraising his teacher's long, historically significant, pontificate (she lived to 101) Sinclair awards her ten out of ten - tacitly implying that the awesome, complex, integrated body of Gurdjieff's original teaching is utterly subsumed in, or transcended by, Madame's 'there-is-an-energy-from-above' experience. Commonsense and historical probity may well ask: "Do you think so?" but, in today's Work ambience, they keep their voices down.
Sinclair is a regular-kinda-guy whose pride in his modesty attains oxymoronic heights. His understanding impoverished, his recollections beggarly, his mind "a tattered sieve", he unconvincingly presents as an insignificant peripheral figure - though not necessarily "a prospect for a straightjacket and heavy sedation" and certainly "no mean hand at shovelling manure". Curiously enough, his judgemental manure falls from a great height upon `group leaders' - the unfrocked clergy who mediate the Work to ordinary marching-up-and-down Gurdjieffians. Roundly he castigates their "downright ignorance, appalling self-conceit, unexamined arrogance, and presumptuous elitism... endless ego gratification, divisive personal agendas, boorishness, inconsiderateness, crass exploitation, and even brazen intimidation."
This problematical indictment invites crushing rebuttal by the President of The Gurdjieff Foundation. But Sinclair is President of The Gurdjieff Foundation... Supposing Madame de Salzmann's institution has indeed painted itself into a corner, nevertheless all is not lost. For, as she herself once thrillingly said, Gurdjieff's is "a thought which, passing through a great diversity of echoes, keeps its own resonance and its power of action".
James Moore is Gurdjieff's biographer.
His memoir `Gurdjieffian Confessions: a
self remembered' was published in 2005.

Frank Sinclair has written an important book. Subtitled Some Personal Footnotes to the Gurdjieff Teaching, Without Benefit of Clergy is a recounting of one person's long experience in the Gurdjieff Work.

The result of his years of work is not the annihilation of personality to be replaced by divine being, but personality suffused with a finer energy. What we are presented with is the man himself: a hard earned presence glowing through the fixed features of an ordinary earth bound man. This alone is quite an achievement.

Beginning with childhood in South Africa, continuing through his associations with some great practitioners of the Work (including Lord Pentland and Madame de Salzmann) and concluding with comments on the present state of the Work, Sinclair presents the living experience of one man's search. It is not strictly speaking autobiography or memoir. It is one man coming into being through the Gurdjieff Work.

The recollections of childhood are of events that awakened a need for a deeper understanding than any that was available in ordinary life. His recollections of exceptional people are not portraits but accounts of Sinclair's experiences with them. The question can be raised, is this all too subjective and egotistical? Or is this book simply an account of how the Work works? There is no attempt to explain or even present the great ideas of the Gurdjieff teaching, but the reader is given a clear account of how these ideas can manifest through one's subjectivity.

Sinclair's own hope for his recollections is that "...they may provide a little encouragement to the simple troops in the trenches, the anonymous practitioners of the Work, the true searchers, quietly (and invisibly) struggling to relate their subjectivity to a more objective life."

Without Benefit of Clergy offers a unique and valuable perspective on the Work. Eschewing the philosophical approach (as he says, "The Unknown does not yield itself through abundant description."), Sinclair gives the reader a taste of the experience of Work.

It is interesting that his mentor was Martin Benson - clearly not an intellectual, but a man of conscience as this anecdote of Benson's World War I combat experience demonstrates: "During one battle he had rescued a wounded comrade, slung him over his shoulder and carried him from the front. They came under attack, and his friend was killed by machine-gun fire. `The court-marshal proved to me that I had killed him,' Benson told me."

The heart of this rewarding book is the chapter on Madame de Salzmann. Sinclair seeks to counter the accusations made by James Moore and others that Madame de Salzmann distorted Gurdjieff's teaching. He goes to great lengths to demonstrate how Madame de Salzmann carried on - and did not weaken or distort - the great teaching that Gurdjieff brought. Although this reviewer is not one who needed to be convinced of this, I found the chapter full of rich material. One small quotation from Madame de Salzmann will serve as an example: "Beyond our contradictions is a life which has no beginning or end."

It is a puzzlement to this reviewer that the new translation of Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson became a rallying issue for the anti-de Salzmann schism. Just as I find it useful to have more than one translation of The Bible to read and refer to, I feel grateful to be able to avail myself of the two excellent English translations that are currently available. We all need all the help we can get.

Denouncing Work leaders whose views or methods do not correspond with one's personal dogma is misguided. As James Wyckoff once said, "The problem is always me." Blaming the leader - whether Madame de Salzmann or someone else - is often a sign that one is losing touch with the Work. I am reminded of Gurdjieff's story of the cow (told in Chapter 6). On returning to the barn, the cow pauses unsure if it should enter. "Cow look at barn door, used to be green." The outer form of the Work also changes, but the inner Work remains the same - the search is still in the same direction.

A note on the writing style of Without Benefit of Clergy: Frank Sinclair presents clear, well constructed sentences. He takes the time to allow more than his automatic thought processes to shape what he is saying - offering the possibility of real communication.

Frederick Bauman is the author of the novel, Periwinkle and Enneagramatic Improvisations, a book of poems to be published by Codhill Press in 2007.

I welcome this book for various reasons!

First of all because it is based on experience and not on reiterating Gurdjieff's ideas. In other words, it has ideas that originated in the writer himself, through experience, and not just experience, but 'experience digested'. The ideas, impressions, did not go just into the head, the intellect (I am sure most readers will agree that there is enough of that around already).

At the same time the book is an evaluation of the writer's inner Work over a long period of time. For me Mr. Sinclair confirms that Gurdjieff Work is not 'instant enlightenment' and waking up is a long process, where things happen as if in slow motion.

Another 'welcome' is because this book is written by 'one who never met Gurdjieff'. It is important that people like us can air our views. Perhaps we have some advantage over 'the ones that met Gurdjieff'! Maybe we can even be slightly less identified with the person and instead of following him, follow the path he followed.

The book is full of humour and I felt that this is the first book of the many that I have read, which has a strong attitude of self-criticism about the writer's relationship to his own Work and those, who are 'in it' - this I felt not as weakness, but as strength. This is the real benefit without clergy!

I found 'a long lost friend', although I never met Mr. Sinclair!

In this largely autobiographical account of his several decades in the Gurdjieff Work, or what he calls his "personal indulgence," Frank Sinclair shares some moving reflections on his inner and outer experiences in that pursuit. When he was in his twenties, his search took him from Cape Town, South Africa where he was born and raised, to Franklin Farms, the Ouspensky estate in Mendham, New Jersey. He later found his home in the Work in New York, where he lives today and attends to the affairs of the New York Foundation as its president. While recounting his search for meaning and his struggle to live in two worlds--the sacred and the profane--Sinclair courageously tells on himself, so to speak, as well as on others. In the end, he exposes the same human being full of contradictions, strengths and weaknesses, within us all--that being who would wish to be more than "just a piece of the furniture," as he recalls he was once devastated and crushed to overhear Madame Olga de Hartman call him, "with pitiless contempt," nearly fifty years ago. What marks this book is the author's humility and his ability to allow his vulnerability to be revealed to his readers. It is open, honest, and direct, a fine contemporary testimony to the creativity and energy generated through "the Work."

Sinclair "did not drink Armagnac with Gurdjieff." However, despite his modest self-portrayal, Sinclair did have the good fortune of having had direct relationships with such unusual individuals as Martin Benson, Lord Pentland, William Segal, Michel de Salzmann, and others, and he could regard Madame Jeanne de Salzmann as his teacher. While Sinclair acknowledges his sense of indebtedness to these and other elders who guided him on his Way, he also stresses that "one is ultimately on one's own, standing one on one before the higher--or the unknown." In support of this, he quotes Meister Eckhart, who said, "Every kind of mediation is alien to God." And "If we are to know God, it must be without mediation."

Hence, Sinclair's title for his book, Without Benefit of Clergy, which very words he reasserts throughout the text. In addition to telling of his life, one evident purpose in writing this book is to address some misconceptions about the Work that have gone unchallenged, and, ultimately, to bear witness to what he regards as Madame de Salzmann's "extraordinary influence" in the transmission of Gurdjieff's teaching. Overall, the book is an expression of the author's gratitude towards her, not the least for having helped "to ensure that a healthy nucleus had taken root around her" so that succeeding generations could receive the authentic teaching.

Sinclair has an adroitness and flair for saying things as he sees them, which makes the book something of a page-turner. However, it seems clear that he bases his incisive comments on a work that helps him stay true to what is essential. That is, in speaking of various distortions as he sees them, he does not get distracted from his real aim: "to understand the lifelong intimations of `another current' of life that have touched my consciousness."

Nevertheless, Sinclair carefully braces himself for the almost inevitable criticism and misunderstanding as he comments on the effects of the old Ouspenskyan authoritarianism and "impulse to expound," or points out the "downright ignorance, appalling self-conceit, unexamined arrogance, and presumptuous elitism" displayed by some in the Work. He writes, "I will give my own recollections of some events in and around New York without feeling compelled to gloss over the indelicate or the unsavory, since they were real enough, and stubborn facts of the first order." His only apology for recording these "stubborn facts" is that that's how things looked and sounded "from where [he] was sitting."

Perhaps an even more precise understanding of some of these facts as he relates them, taking place in the "institutional setting" of the Work, can be found later in the book:

"And so the overriding, exacting, and practical necessity in Gurdjieff's teaching is the work for attention. Moments of attention are, in fact, proof that the Work is a movement between levels. But talk as we may about attention (and the practice of remorse, and the growth of consciousness) we do not truly see our extraordinary predicament. If we who profess to be "in the Work" find ourselves living in a state of almost unrelieved - and unperceived - identification, can there be any wonder that there are endless misunderstandings about the nature of Gurdjieff's message itself, not to speak of struggles for turf at the worldly level, and other tasteless presumptions?" [253]

We come to this kind of fine and thoughtful analysis again and again in these pages. We also hear the voice of a sincere seeker who describes inner experiences which appeared at unexpected points in his search. When he recounts the experiences of his inner world, and other insights, he also shows how we may respect and encompass such events so that what we learn remains embedded within us. Sinclair not only transmits a pearl or ten, but also ultimately models Gurdjieff's famous recommendation to verify everything for oneself.

While he knows that, as he says, "one's very motives for speaking [about one's intense experiences] tend to arouse suspicion," Sinclair presses on, as it were, to authenticate the miraculous, risking to put words to the ineffable. He explores "the subtle interplay of the sacred and the profane" as he brings readers courageously close to the inner situations in which he found himself, openings to what he calls "objective inner events". He ventures parallels between his own experience of moments of real being to Gurdjieff's or Madame de Salzmann's written or spoken words: first to try to understand and open to what they may have meant; and second, to bolster his argument that Madame de Salzmann was not in some way inventing a "New Work" by stressing the "descending movement of energy" but was being faithful to Gurdjieff's Work. He writes, "Quite frankly, I have never been able to believe that there was either a New Work or an Old Work. At the heart of the teaching, there is only one Work, and Madame de Salzmann clearly was faithful to that."

Among the sobering conclusions with which one walks away from this book is that in responding to this call and undertaking "the work for being," there are "no shortcuts, no overnight sensations"; on the contrary, "inner freedom must be bought and paid for." That is, "real self-consciousness has to be earned." As Madame de Salzmann once shared with Sinclair, even Mr. Gurdjieff admitted "gnashing [his] teeth and weeping bitter tears on [his] pillow."

Indeed, Sinclair points out that " `the demands for unremitting struggle and effort' are never absent." But he also brings to our attention that "it is the nature of effort that needs to be more clearly understood as it becomes more refined and purified, as well as the transition (never guaranteed or predictable) from effort to non-effort." He writes, "But there needs to be a next step. One has to be `available' to be drawn beyond the apparent threshold of the moment - beyond the limits of the known, beyond even the here and the now."

On the final page Sinclair concludes, "We are called to fathom a very great mystery." And what is this very great mystery? The clues were there from the beginning in what his principal mentor had pointed to for those who could hear. He reports having found this "simple entry" when browsing through one of his old notebooks: "Madame de Salzmann said to us that `Beyond our contradictions is a life which has no beginning or end.' The teaching was all in that. And how was one to open to this?" It is perhaps this perennial question that Sinclair's book raises, and that stays with us long after we put this remarkable book down.

Müge N. Galin, Ph.D., is professor in the Department of English at The Ohio State University. Her books include Between East and West: Sufism in the Novels of Doris Lessing (SUNY Press, 1997) and Turkish Sampler: Writings for all Readers (Indiana University, 1989).

A good mystery. It is simple to read and I enjoyed it. I enjoy their longer novels better because there is more time to develop the characters but this is good for a quick read.

Death Benefits was just as good as the rest of the Hideaway series. Even though much of the story takes place in Hawaii and not Hideaway, there are still lots of tie ins to the town. I especially liked the surprise plot twist toward the end of the book.

Ginger Carpenter was forced into retirement from the mission field, and she still resents it. However, she's determined not to let her hurt feelings interfere with her brother's wedding. Graham and Willow Traynor, his intended bride, have survied a dangerous attack which almost cost them their lives. Now they are flying their wedding party to Hawaii for the ceremony. Everything is going well until they board the plane and Ginger discovers that Ray Clyde, the man responsible for her retirement, is Graham's best man. Then Rick Fenrow, the man who almost killed Willow escapes from prison, and even in Hawaii, they are not safe from his plans for revenge.
Lots of character conflict, an exotic setting, plenty of romance, and great suspense. As usual, Hannah Alexander delivers an exciting, tightly woven story.

I work as a financial advisor for UBS and find this is a great reference for government employees and their advisors. I've had it less than a week and have used it a number of times already. It is well written and well organized. Highly recommended.

The book has both comprehensive retirement information and an understandable style. I found it usefull and easier to read than most technical publications. The free benefit analysis is in itself worth the $35.00.

Very informative and efficient book for employees. Computation tables and charts made finding relevant information quite easy, especially for CSRS, FERS... Highly recommended. Looking forward to their next publication.

I work for a Tech company in Silicon Valley. It's been about 10 years since this book was written and it's amazing to me how little has changed since then. The work culture in Silicon Valley corporations mirrors that of "Ditto" corporation. People feel obligated to work long hours while sacrificing their personal lives. To me, reading this book has been an eye-opening experience. I am now aware of the havoc that the work/life balance equation can unleash on people's lives. I see shades of the characters covered in the book in my colleagues and friends. Awareness of these issues is the first step in defining your personal values at work.

Good job, Leslie!

While this book explores work-family issues, it also gives concrete suggestions about how to improve management processes and allow workers more personal time without decreasing productivity. Essentially, the thesis of the book is that workers that can work uninterrupted for a significant period each day are more productive and efficient. This thesis is supported by a study done by the author at a Fortune 500 company named "Ditto" (probably Xerox in real life).

However, a depressing aspect of the book is that once higher productivity is achieved, Ditto Corp just piles on more work! Anyone who has worked in a high-stress, tight-deadline environment will be able to identify with the situations in this book.

In terms of action orientation, I found this book better than "Time Bind" by Arlie Hochschild. It also leaves out the liberal politics. Give it as an anonymous gift to the the CEO of your company!

Time Management skills are essential for successful people the book deals with practical techniques, which have helped the leading people in business reach the pinnacles of their careers. The skills explained in the book helps you to become reliable and effective and show you how to identify and focus on the activities that give you the greatest returns by explaining goal setting, which is a vitally important skill for achieving what you want to achieve with your life. It is neatly summed up in the Pareto Principle, or the "80:20 Rule". This argues that typically 80% of unfocussed effort generates only 20% of results. The remaining 80% of results are achieved with only 20% of the effort. While the ratio is not always 80:20, this broad pattern of a small proportion of activity generating non-scalar returns recurs so frequently as to be the norm in many areas. It also talks about issues like learn to say no, learn to prioritize, combine several activities, doing subordinate's work, doing the work of others, scheduling projects, monitoring staff, and setting long-term objectives. The absence of personal time management is characterized by last minute rushes to meet deadlines, days, which seem somehow to slip unproductively by, crises, which loom unexpected from nowhere. This sort of environment leads to inordinate stress and degradation of performance. Poor time management is often a symptom of over confidence: techniques, which used to work with small projects and workloads, are simply reused with large ones. However, inefficiencies, which were insignificant in the small role, are ludicrous in the large. You cannot drive a motor bike like a bicycle, nor can you manage a supermarket-chain like a market stall. The demands, the problems, and the payoffs for increased efficiency are all larger as your responsibility grows; you must learn to apply proper techniques, or be bettered by those who do. Possibly, the reason Time Management is poorly practiced is that it so seldom forms a measured part of appraisal and performance review; what many fail to foresee, however, is how intimately it is connected to aspects, which do. Leslie Parlow's, excellent practical application of Time Management.By Vivek Dixit, Stanford.edu.