Teams Books

10 years ago when I bought this book at my local Target and had it signed by both authors, my first grandson was mere days old and I bought it for the future. The future is NOW. My grandsons are playing baseball in the same park that the '92 and '93 winning teams came from so the book has a very special meaning. Jeff Burroughs and Tom Hennessy's description of the actions of Little Leaguers, Coaches, Managers and officials is dead on, even now 10 years later. When I was reading this book, I was either laughing hysterically, trying to read bits and pieces aloud to "Grandpa" or nodding in total agreement and understanding. This is a must read for every Little League Parent/Grandparent, but for pete's sake, don't let the kids read it!

This book is a classic. I lived through these stories and they are all true. It was the greatest year of my life being a Long Beach Little League World Champ, and I wouldn't trade it for the world. This book allows me to remember everything that happened in the summer of '93. I get goosebumps thinking about it. I loved it! I recommend for everyone to give this book a read.

After reading this book I think everyone should! This book is a great book about the adventure in winning the Little Leauge World Series two years in a row. This book gives a great description on all the players and other coaches. This book helped me believ e you can do anything if you really work hard towards your goals!!!! I learned many pointers off this book and enjoyed reading it!!!!!! I suggest everybody should read this book!

For those involved in the national organization of Little League, especially at the all-star level, this is a very entertaining book. Lots of interesting details about the protocol and the accomodations at the regional level and also at Williamsport. Burroughs is very funny describing his escapades as a coach, dealing with all of the classic issues from managing disgruntled parents to dealing with kids who are slightly left-of-center. If you are a Little League addict, I recommend this book!

The Little Team That Could was pure enjoyment. Jeff Burroughs gives an honest, balanced account of the 1992-1993 Long Beach Little League All-Star teams that reached the pinnacle of success. He describes the thrill of victory and the joy of working with young people. At the same time, he tells about the aggravation of dealing with some Little League parents, officials, and umpires. As a manager in the Little League program for 17 years, I could relate to both the good and the bad. I am so glad I found this book on amazon.com. I wholeheartedly recommend it to any Little League coach, parent, or player.

I honestly could not put it down. I have read books before where I get through a few chapters and I stop and never pick it back up. This book was different. I was VERY interested in what would happen at the end between the characters. The author really mad me feel the emotions of the two characters. I will be reading it again in the near future. Great job to the author!

While the story may have been fiction it was very much something I could really imagine happening. The storyline was very easy to follow and K A Jones did an excellent job of leading you up to the edge and then letting your imagination take over. Never raunchy or distasteful, it subtly explored real life challenges in a very entertaining way.

The characters were very strong but she also exposed their vulnerability and the setting was perfect. Once you start, not finishing isn't an option.

Although I like a little more backstory with my romances (hence the 4 stars instead of 5), I really enjoyed this book. There is nothing raunchy about it, but it is very teasing and fun. The playfulness, tension, and tenderness between the two characters develops well throughout the book and sets a very good tone, not only for this work but for future books! I hope she writes quickly now because I can't wait to pick up the next one.

I really enjoyed reading this book because the two main characters are so colorful and full of personality; you just want them to be together from the very beginning and you can tell that there's some serious conflict, and also an underlying love between them both, but they're so stubborn, and you're never really quite sure if they'll ever work it out. The story takes place in a canyon paradise where nature is at its best (and worst). The wilderness is all around them, and people (ranchers) in the neighboring areas are involved with things that ranchers do best, like putting on rodeos, dealing with horses and cattle, farmland, etc., which gives the story a very nice "cowboy" flavor. The reader can definitely feel the magnetism that occurs between them from the moment they are "thrown" together by the accident which occurs at the beginning of the story, as if by destiny. But there's history between them, there's unfinished business between these two, and you can hardly wait to "experience" all the juicy details!

I like the way that K.A. Jones wrote this book because she has good tasteful writing style--none of that risqué, raunchy, sleazy content; but instead, she writes very tastefully, descriptively, almost teasingly, that keeps the reader yearning for Meg and Evan's love to develop and explode. Jones describes details of each moment in a way that it's really like watching a good movie in the mind's eye. She gives you all the details; the reader can literally see, smell, hear, taste, and feel their way through the story. In fact, this would make a very good movie--very clean, fun, exciting love story! I loved the book and want to read more like this one--can't wait for Jones's next one!

This is the first time I've read KA Jones, and I loved it.
This was a book that I picked up on a whim while in the bookstore because I had a few extra dollars and I thought that it might be mildly entertaining. It has one of those fluff covers that seems to denote a certain style of romance that is usually rather light. As a result of my buying impulse, I was surprised to find myself reading a very entertaining book and discovered a new favorite author.
The main characters are engaging, the dialogue is fast-paced and realistic
I wound up liking the characters in the book, liking the way the relationship developed, liking their quirks. It's one of those books that once you start it, you have to finish it.
I enjoyed this book. I thought the characters really clicked together.
Jones also does a good job of developing the romance between Meg and Evan -- Both Meg and Evan have to work through some issues. Those issues are nothing new in romances -- Still, Evan and Meg's relationship is so much fun, that you're rooting for them the entire time.

Most often it is the unimportant details that hold up a workable project. By zeroing in on the problem or what is to be accomplished, the problem answers itself. This book helps get to the Nitty-Gritty!

I'd like to comment on this book as it has assisted our group at work to organize our thoughts, simplify our approaches to planning and become focus oriented in executing projects. Thank you!

Unlike many self-help books (many of them far more costly) that talk AT you but don't really focus on the specific challenge you are stuck on, The Magic Megaphone actually talks you THROUGH getting your projects unstuck and back on track...in under 6o minutes! The book offers easy-to-follow examples, and guides you through every one of the simple five steps involved with "megaphoning" yourself (and your team) to getting unstuck and on the path to success. Nick Montoya's process is explained in clear terms, with real-world examples from other "megaphoners" who also were "stuck" on various projects.

Reading The Magic Megaphone is money and time well spent...albeit less than one hour worth of time! How many other books can make a difference in your life so quickly (within an hour)? The Magic Megaphone is truly in a league of its own!

The Magic Megaphone is also a perfect holiday, birthday or graduation gift for that loved one, family member, friend or manager who can use a little help getting "unstuck and back on track." I put the principles taught in the book to use and have seen unbelievably quick results. Nick Montoya and The Magic Megaphone truly uphold the mantra that "It's simple. It's effective. It works like MAGIC!"

Where was this book (and method) years ago? After reading this my first thoughts were of the countless hours I have spent in meetings about projects that went nowhere! I love the simple, easy to use outline and having the case studies available to refer to. As a consultant who now has to manage projects on behalf of clients, this is a book I am going to pass on to each of them. This process is something every project team can use and in my opinion, every project team should use. Get unstuck...get this book and we'll all move along faster with our projects!

I have to say the Magic Megaphone is a very simple and easy project management process. It's easy to glance at the process and possibly dismiss it as useless. I almost did. I'm very critical at times and maybe even a bit skeptical. Once I learned the process, my skepticism was silenced. It's a simple tool, and sometimes the simplest tools are the ones you can't do without. You don't hear people dismissing the lever or the wheel because they're not complicated enough. Allow me to share some of my insight into the process.

When creating a Magic Megaphone, you go through 5 steps. By the end of those 5 steps, you've brainstormed the answers to some questions that are important to the success of your project. Step 1 is short and sweet - you're describing your mission in a sentence. Step 5 can be pretty involved - you're developing a plan of action.

Step 5, your Mega Plan, will end up being the most important part of your Megaphone. It's the component that will get you unstuck and back into action. If the project is new and you haven't even started it yet, the Mega Plan will make sure you don't ever get stuck. It's hard to get stuck when you always know your next step!

In order to get the best Mega Plan possible, Steps 1 through 4 are invaluable. Those steps truly give you the tools to construct the Mega Plan that will get your project to the finish line with the best possible results. That's why it's a p-r-o-c-e-s-s with 5 steps, not just 1.

Magic Megaphones aren't rocket science. They're far from it. Once you really know how to construct these things, you can do them in a matter of minutes. You'll use it all the time because it's an effective way to manage your projects, big or small. It's about getting organized, understanding what's important, and getting into action.

I must admit that I bought this book as a Spartan fan expecting pictures and statistics. To my pleasant surprise, there were incredible stories about a history that is richer than I ever imagined. This book is a must have for Spartan Fans and Basketball Fans alike!

If you like Michigan State or college basketball, this book is a must read. The stories and photos are fabulous. I laughed and cried. Every Spartan should have a copy. So should every Wolverine.

If you like Michigan State or college basketball, this book is a must read. The stories and photos are fabulous. I laughed and cried. Every Spartan should have a copy. So should every Wolverine.

This is a great book! It's as simple as that. Great stories, interesting pictures, this book has it all. A great book for any Spartan fan as well as any fan of college basketball.

This is a great book for any Spartan fan. The writers do a wonderful job. The book tells about the best players, games, and seasons in Spartan basketball history.

I've had an opportunity to use the online software offered by the author. The book outlines and describes in detail what requirements are necessary to Make Robust Decisions. It's not perfect, but nothing ever is. This book is great reading for those that need to make difficult decisions or predictions on projects, or other management related decisions that are unknown. I've already recommended this book to several people based on their attempts in making decisions that were difficult. Hopefully they're as impressed with the outcomes as I have been.

To begin, I'm a fan of David Ullman and his work. He's a pragmatically brilliant engineer, recently retired as (arguably) the nation's best engineering design educator, founder of several interesting companies, etc. I suppose other candidates for "best educator" might include Woodie Flowers at MIT and Dean Kamen for his FIRST program. That's the disclosure.

Most of the world makes decisions from gut feel and then puts a veneer of explanation over it. There's no better recent example of this than how we got into the Iraq war, the relatively weak "what if" planning that preceded operations and the like. Like most decisions based on an individual or sub-cultural sense of certainty, when things go wrong there's a desire to rewrite history or shift the blame. Ullman's too much of an engineer to use this example, but the world might be a different place if everyone in the government read his book before making mission-critical decisions.

Ullman's book is an appeal to make key decisions a different way, backed with lots of details about why and how. Find a group of smart people with relevent but diverse opinions and experiences. Then use a disciplined approach to get at both the objective facts and a range of "gut" feels to arrive at what Ullman calls a "robust" decision. His preferred process (among many illustrated) even gives a sense of the confidence level, using a Bayesian approach in the background, that things will go according to plan.

My main criticism of the book (and the process) is that people will resist a more disciplined approach. It's an unnatural act, somewhat like asking teenagers to think with their brains. It seems faster and more comfortable to think with the gut, marshall some facts to support our feelings, and then either march on (if the gut-thinker is the decider) or spend months arguing back and forth if it's a group with balanced but opposing views.

The reason for the five stars is that anyone working within on a team and faced with truly crucial decisions should at least skim the book (a process that could be a little bit easier) and take the time to make a truly "robust" decision. Recommended.

I encountered Ullman's work through his interest in the late Col. John Boyd's work with the OODA loop cycle (Observe, Orient, Decide, Act). In any competitive environment, whether between individuals or between organizations, those who can make effective decisions in the least time will end up dominating the strategic landscape. Delay and dithering in making decisions can be even worse than making bad decisions. At least making a bad decision will let you go on to making the next decision. In the corporate environment, many decisions are delayed in iterated observing and orienting because of fears over uncertainty surrounding the decision. Ullman writes that many times the "OODA Loop has been reduced to the stuttering sound of "OO-OO-OO" - leading to a decision by running out of time or a command decision by a superior who has less knowledge than those supposed to make the decision. Aside from taking too long, such forced decisions are often weak and lead to failures. Ullman is concerned to help readers make "robust" decisions - those that achieve successful results and survive the test of time.

Ullman brings his long background as a design and systems engineer, and professor of mechanical design to explain his methodology for making successful decisions - especially when confronted with divergent team beliefs, incomplete knowledge, uncertainty, limited time, and risk. He starts with simple principles and examples and progressively builds depth and power into the methodology as he analyses the limitations of each previous chapter's methodology.

Making Robust Decisions is based on a major reworking and extension of an earlier book - 12 Steps to Robust Decisions: Building Consensus in Product Development and Business. The present book clearly benefits from the long process of thinking and rethinking. His writing is clear, crisp, crisp, and above all, practical.

The complete methodology as described is difficult to remember and apply in its full detail. However, it is implemented and made easy to use in the Accord software application that Ullman has developed.

I am recommending that all decision makers in my own organization study the book and keep it for continuing reference. With no more than the book in hand as a reminder, my organization could have substantially improved on many of our past decisions. It should be required reading for all project managers.

Dr. Ullman's book provides practical guidance for making difficult or complex decisions, as an individual or with a group. He provides a variety of tools suitable for different types and levels of decisions. He provides new insight about the types of uncertainty that often makes decisions difficult. The Bayesian based tool he discusses simplifies applying a seemingly complex approach to make better decisions, and to clarify what to do next. The focus on what to do next is one of the powerful unique insights provided by the robust decision approach.

The book is well organizaed and presented. The writing is clear and concise. The illustrations are useful. Although he has a PhD in Mechanical Engineering, and has been a Professor, the practical experience of the author comes out. The book is easy to read and apply.

"A robust decision is the best possible choice, one found by eliminating all the uncertainty possible within available resources, and then choosing with known and acceptable levels of satisfaction and risk"

The book is a discussion of the challenges of making complex decisions, especially those with alternatives and uncertainty, and a methodology/software platform for approaching these kinds of decisions. It's a quick read with some great advice for anyone trying to make decisions, even if they don't want to adopt a more formal methodology. The sections on uncertainty, weighting of criteria and belief maps were particularly interesting.
The book has some nice discussions of various decision-making processes. The discussion of the impact of not deciding (management by wringing of hands) is well covered, David noting that in business the competition keeps taking action and you keep using resources without adding the value a decision would add. In other words, getting stuck at the decision point can have severe, even grave consequences. He also discussed briefly how a well defined decision process can help you benefit from the wisdom of crowds in that groups of estimates are better than single ones.

Full disclosure - I'm a guy. :-) I first ran across Mamatoto years ago before the birth of my child. I paged through the book and was enchanted by the pregnancy and childbirth legends and folklore from around the world. It is both amusing and lovely at the same time. The mommy-to-be was thrilled. I highly recommend it for all new parents. (Yes, even the daddies-to-be will like it.)

This is a must-have book if you're curious about how women in non Western countries experience pregnancy and childbirth. The book is charmingly illustrated and full of fascinating, reassuring, and inspiring anecdotes and facts about pregnancy and childbirth in other cultures and times. Essential reading for anyone questioning the overly clinical, flat-on-your-back, hooked-up-to-monitors North American method of childbirth as the only way to have baby.

Beautifully adorned with mothers and babes, this collection allows the Western mother and mother-to-be to step out of our comfort zone and let mothers' of the world teach us. Packed full of information in an easy-to-read style. Mamatoto offers what no other prenatal/pregnancy book can... spirit and guidance in what often feels like uncharted territory. Enjoy this book completely until it is in tatters- like mine.

While most pre-pregnancy books focus on the medical aspects of pregnancy and childbirth, this wonderful little book looks at the cultural and spiritual aspects of becoming a mother. Full of poems, stories, true anecdotes, humor, and beautiful photos and artwork from around the world, this book gives the reader a more accurate view of pregnancy than any medical text could. This book makes a wonderful gift not only for expectant mothers, but for those who already have children (or grandchildren).

This was a beautiful book full of traditions surrounding birth from around the world. Beautiful photography, poems and art. Definitely a great gift for anyone interested in childbirth.

This is a very nice book. It gives you a lot of advices and beautiful pictures. I really recommend it.

MASTER GUIDE FOR TEAM SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY by James Williams tells how to capture athletes and game action on film, from selecting the right equipment suitable for sports photography to getting league and school sports assignments, scouting locations, and posing groups and individuals. With so many participating in sports, it will prove a pick not just for aspiring pros, but for parents wishing to capture their child's sports moments in a more professional manner.

This book has everything you ever wanted to know about sports team photography. Good how-to and good sources. I recommend it.
Steve Laitman

I'm an aspiring sports photographer, and I found this book to be exceptionally useful. The sample images alone are worth the price. Definitely would recommend to beginning/intermediate sports photographers - especially those who are wanting to do team and individual pictures.

In this book, Mr. Williams gives photographers a "step by step" guide to success in the field of school and league sports photography. He has included an in depth listing of all equipment necessary and the marketing tips and ideas are proven winners. If you have an interest in school and league sports photography, this book is a must have.

I'm still in the middle of enjoying this detailed and interesting account of my beloved Mets...what can I say, but if you are into numbers or want to bone up on your Mets history, buy this book. As the title infers, the chapter layouts of the book follow the Mets number by number. Sure, you'll know you Mookies and Carters, Hernandezs and Strawberrys, but it is the lesser known players and their stories that make this a great resource.

This book is a must-have for all Met fans! It's a great read to brush up on your Mets history or to use as a reference guide. You'll feel like a more-informed met-nerd once you buy & read this book. It was written by fanatics, for fanatics.

People give me METS related gifts all the time, but this is the best thing I have ever received! I had so much fun reading this book and learning the history behind who wore what number and all the juicy details that came leaping off the page once you get past the numbers themselves.

If you like the METS, if you love the METS and certainly if you know anyone else who does, you have just found what to buy for mother's day, father's day, graduation or birthdays. There's no way that any METS fan would be less than enthralled with this spectacular book!

This is a must for any Mets fan, what makes this book so great is that it tells the story of the story behind the uniform number from Mookie #1 to Turk #99, a very fun and informative read.

Yes. I dare. It's the best Mets book ever, and I've read them all (or at least most of them). I was drawn to it by the premise (history of the team by uniform numbers) and I was not disappointed.

If you are a true fan of the blue and orange, you owe it to yourself to pick up and read this gem. Written with great wit and insight and from a different perspective than all of the previously published team histories out there, this book is an absolute joy to read.

GO METS!

Nine Keys is a very practical step-by-step process in how to implement successful, healthy small groups into the local church.

I am a small-groups person. I have been in one small group or another, often as a leader, almost continually, for the past 30 years. I believe small groups are just about the most important aspect of a church's life.

I have read many books on this, gone to many seminars. There is a lot of good material on this topic.

But in my present role as a church consultant, this is the book on small groups that I hand to pastors who are wanting to know how to grow a small group ministry or how to better equip their small group leaders.

Why? As George explains in this book, most church small groups do a good job of promoting nurture and fellowship, but most stop there. George believes an effective small group should perform three basic functions, not just nurture. In addition to nurture, he believes small groups should be effectively engaged in small-group-based evangelism (George says that in any given year, only one small group in four does any evangelism), and he thinks that small groups should constantly be training small group leaders through apprenticeship. I agree that a small group needs all three functions. And so I use this book as the entry point for someone who is new to these ideas about small group life.

After this introduction, I point churches to further training or more in-depth printed materials about various aspects of this approach to small groups, but in my opinion, there's not a better starting point than this one.

We have used this tool since it came out. I've found that this tool is best for easily organizing the 'how to' stuff of small group leadership. It does not cover the ministerial philosophy issues. A good book for that is 'Master Plan of Evangelism' by Robert Coleman.

As the title for this book says, it covers nine keys for effective small group leadership. Each key really has four or five sub points...so in reality it is nine times about five...or forty five keys if you will. But George has organized them into nine groups...or keys.

We've found that leaders who study this material are easier to work with and easier to build a vision with for a local church ministry. There are a lot of books on Small Group Leadership that will help you. This one is very practical. It's so well written you can use it even if all you do is read the paragraph headers. Everything is well explained and easy to find or follow.

So even for leaders who don't like to read or who you suspect will not read everything you ask them to read, this book still might get through to them. I recommend it as a curriculum text for a course in a local church/ministry for leading small groups.

Enjoy it!

The best two things about this book are: 1) it helps the small group leader coordinate with the pastor, and 2) it includes shepherding, building community, discipleship and evangelism as part of the small group experience. It is the best balanced book available today!

Carl George effectively communicates the essential basics. This book does a good job of highlighting the difference between being a facilitator of small group time and being a leader (someone who is a disciple-maker). I have used this book as the main text for training small group leaders. It provides great material for interactive discussion and presenting a wholistic picture of all that small groups can be.

Walt Garrison is a true cowboy who became a Cowboy. His wit is dry and his humor is natural. This is a great story about how Walt went from a tough as a boot rodeo cowboy to a hard nosed, not big enough, not fast enough Dallas Cowboy. Full of humor throughout. I rarely laugh out loud but this kind of humor got to me. If you remember Walt Garrison from the NFL or the Skoal commericals "Just a pinch between my cheek and gums" you'll be able to here his hard county accent when you read it which adds to the humor. If you can find this book...read it, you won't be disappointed.

I have read this book quite a few times and it never gets old. It is the funniest sports book I have ever read and any old Cowboy Fan will feel the same way. Enjoy and great reading.

Walt Garrison is a true cowboy who became a Cowboy. His wit is dry and his humor is natural. This is a great story about how Walt went from a tough as a boot rodeo cowboy to a hard nosed, not big enough, not fast enough Dallas Cowboy. Full of humor throughout. I rarely laugh out loud but this kind of humor got to me. If you remember Walt Garrison from the NFL or the Skoal commericals "Just a pinch between my cheek and gums" you'll be able to here his hard county accent when you read it which adds to the humor. If you can find this book...read it, you won't be disappointed.

Walt Garrison is a true cowboy who became a Cowboy. His wit is dry and his humor is natural. This is a great story about how Walt went from a tough as a boot rodeo cowboy to a hard nosed, not big enough, not fast enough Dallas Cowboy. Full of humor throughout. I rarely laugh out loud but this kind of humor got to me. If you remember Walt Garrison from the NFL or the Skoal commericals "Just a pinch between my cheek and gums" you'll be able to here his hard county accent when you read it which adds to the humor. If you can find this book...read it, you won't be disappointed.

I checked this book out from my local Libary and read it and my mom did the same. When the locker room was talked about I almost wish I was in there. It was a awsome book!