Professional Books

Deep calleth unto deep, this is the closes book ever written next to the Bible itself that pertains to true Revelation into the study on The Kingdom of God.

For scripture searches and their meaning from a premillennial veiwpoint, this is a great work. Small print to fill pages in 3 volumes attests to its magnitude. This work is gold in a mine of confused writers. A lifetime work that is greatly appreciated by me and my premil. brethren. Enjoy.

Though out of print, Kregel Publishing is considering reprinting this book when they have enough interested people. Please contact Kregel on their website and express your interest in getting this most classic prophetic work back in print.

Do you wish to know Biblical prophecies? Are you tired and confused about prophetic authors interpreting prophetic Scripture? Rev. George Peters quotes over 4,000 different sources to bring you a list of observations and principles about all that God has done and is doing to set up His future Theocratic Kingdom that will last forever. Premillenial, Biblically sound, almost every book in the Bible is compared to show you the BIG PICTURE of God's dealings with man. This is a must for every serious student of the Bible.

"Absolutely riveting logical presentation of the Kingdom of Christ foretold in the O.T. While a reference work, this treatise unfolds like a mini-series with lucid and scriptural explanations of the meaning of Messiah's Kingdom in relation to the Abrahamic/Davidic covenants and the real meaning of the New Covenant in the NT. A panoramic presentation of church history is woven in and hundreds of familiar names and their works are cited. It will strengthen your faith clear up much confusion on the role of the Church (definitely NOT the promised Kingdom) in God's plan for the Ages. Drop everything and read this work, highlight it, study it, and share it with your brethren."

In this book, the mental health clinician learns about common medical problems and the psychological impacts that they may have on patients. We additionally learn how, too often, mental health and medical conditions are treated separately- with little to no communication between treating providers. Dr Kolbasovsky points out how important it is to communicate with the medical provider to ensure that our patients are being cared for on a total systems basis. I highly recommend this book!

i wasn't expecting to be impressed by this book, but with each page turned, i became increasingly impressed by both the knowledge and the ease conveyed by the book. Most books of this type are filled with jargon, but surprisingly, this book highlighted essential issues in a way both clinicians and practicioners could understnad. the author has a masterful command of the english language, and more importantly, he has a masterful command of what it means to be a clinician in todays world of psychdynamic psychology. obviously, he has years of experience in both the practice of psychology and the practice of writing books about psychological practice. kudos......
sincerely,
dr. sharon sutter

This book is extensively researched yet easy to read and use. This is a valuable addition to any clinician's library. I particularly liked the descriptions of medical conditions without heavy jargon and the discussions of how each medical condition can impact mental health symptoms.

Finally, a book that provides useful information for mental health clinicians. Chronic medical conditions are becoming more and more commonplace especially among psychiatric population who also tend to receive poor medical care. This book shows mental health clinicians how to apply their expertise in behavior to help clients make the necessary lifestyle changes to manage medical conditions like diabetes, asthma, and cardiac conditions and how to address the associated mental health issues. No longer can mental health clincians ignore physical health.

Any clinician interested in the mind body connection or the interactions between medical and mental health should read this book. Well researched yet highly readable, this book is filled with practical tips and useful information. I highly recommend this book to anyone providing care to anyone with a mental health condition.

Anyone providing mental health treatment should read this book. The book provides background on medical conditions seen in every caseload. The book is filled with practical tips on working with clients with psychiatric and medical conditions. Mental health clinicians can and should help clients make behavioral changes that improve both physical and mental health. This book describes how to integrate this approach into your everyday practice. The book is very well organized making it easy to look up information and it provides plenty of case examples. This is the best and most practical book on clinical practice I have read. This is the type of information all clinicians need yet are almost never provide with during their graduate training. I highly recommend it to seasoned clinicians and students alike.

This is a must-have guide for anyone in, or preparing to work in, a professional field involving scientific discovery, creating things, or solving complex real-world problems.

Knowing how to increase my productivity has benefited me in several ways: monetarily, satisfaction, competitive advantages for myself and clients, etc. Leohle explains why skill, motivation, and strategic use of time and effort results in professional success. Worthy library addition for any thinker.

Politicians have trusted advisers and strategists who guide them in their every move. There are, however, many professions that require innovative thinking and decision making, and whose practitioners have to be their own strategists. Of course, people in such occupations could do what most people do, which is to use a trusted colleague as a sounding board for their ideas. However, many times a colleague is not available, and even if one were, there is no guarantee that he or she will have the level of discernment needed for a particular problem. It is possible to circumvent the lack of a guru, a spin doctor or a discerning friend, by verifying our own ideas before implementing them. Loehle's book Thinking Strategically: Power Tools for Personal and Professional Advancement, teaches us how to condition our intellect to think ahead so that we can plan a strategy to attain that which is important to us. Naturally, this includes choosing the best path whilst avoiding pitfalls, side-tracking and even derailment from the path. For that, we must learn how to study the particular, while keeping an eye on the whole, and to keep in perspective several logical and causal connections simultaneously. Then, when we master how to think by ourselves, we must learn how to be our own sounding board, that is, how to check our results against all possible errors that can occur during the thinking process and compare them objectively against a known standard. This aspect of strategic thinking is referred to as reality check. The author distinguishes two types: internal and external. The former is important because many of the patterns we perceive are not real but artefacts of our imagination or, may have resulted from an array of potential errors of thinking such as faulty generalization, bad use of logic, incoherence and bad risk checking. The external reality check is like scientific hypothesis testing or the test drive of a new car, and it requires us to submit our result to an array of tests to discredit it, and finally to peer review. One does not need to be a book worm to fully appreciate this book but being reasonably well-read in scientific and technological matters will help to fully appreciate the examples taken from the great innovators. Thinking Strategically is a cornucopia of rich pickings of allegories, common sense and wisdom tempered by the amusing illustrations of Richard Loehle. I recommend this book for anyone challenged to provide novel ideas or solutions to problems still untackled by routine manuals. pires.obrien@netmatters.co.uk

This book was higly recommended to me by a colleague, and after reading it I realize that the content is indeed very good. But the aridity in the author's writing style sometimes jeopardize the content. The text should be more pleasant to read, with more passion and more fun, but instead, it reads like a scientific thesis, with almost no emotion. The few times the author tries to throw a little humor into the text, it looks like it's out of context. But, again, it is worth reading for the very well structured message about strategic thinking tools and techniques, even if ater a while you become a little bored.

Politicians have trusted advisers and strategists who guide them in their every move. There are, however, many professions that require innovative thinking and decision making, and whose practitioners have to be their own strategists. Of course, people in such occupations could do what most people do, which is to use a trusted colleague as a sounding board for their ideas. However, many times a colleague is not available, and even if one were, there is no guarantee that he or she will have the level of discernment needed for a particular problem. It is possible to circumvent the lack of a guru, a spin doctor or a discerning friend, by verifying our own ideas before implementing them. Loehle's book Thinking Strategically: Power Tools for Personal and Professional Advancement, teaches us how to condition our intellect to think ahead so that we can plan a strategy to attain that which is important to us. Naturally, this includes choosing the best path whilst avoiding pitfalls, side-tracking and even derailment from the path. For that, we must learn how to study the particular, while keeping an eye on the whole, and to keep in perspective several logical and causal connections simultaneously. Then, when we master how to think by ourselves, we must learn how to be our own sounding board, that is, how to check our results against all possible errors that can occur during the thinking process and compare them objectively against a known standard. This aspect of strategic thinking is referred to as reality check. The author distinguishes two types: internal and external. The former is important because many of the patterns we perceive are not real but artefacts of our imagination or, may have resulted from an array of potential errors of thinking such as faulty generalization, bad use of logic, incoherence and bad risk checking. The external reality check is like scientific hypothesis testing or the test drive of a new car, and it requires us to submit our result to an array of tests to discredit it, and finally to peer review. One does not need to be a book worm to fully appreciate this book but being reasonably well-read in scientific and technological matters will help to fully appreciate the examples taken from the great innovators. Thinking Strategically is a cornucopia of rich pickings of allegories, common sense and wisdom tempered by the amusing illustrations of Richard Loehle. I recommend this book for anyone challenged to provide novel ideas or solutions to problems still untackled by routine manuals. pires.obrien@netmatters.co.uk

I confess that I am a fan of Scott Adams' "Dilbert" strips, (particularly his current strips, which I find more amusing than his earlier strips, although there was some good work there.) I like the addition of color to all the strips because this makes them for some reason very pleasant to look at, and "Catbert, Evil director of human resources " is always the proper devilish red. I'm not much into making comparisons between one collection and another, but for me Mr. Adams work is only getting more to my liking, more absurd, playful, even "Monty Python-ish" lately. I've really enjoyed his latest collection, and I look forward to the next.

This book has the latest Dilbert comics. They keep up with the latest workplace stupidity and accurately reflect pointy hair in most worklaces. If you work for long enough, Human Resources will seem like talking cats. They are just not human.

Scott Adams is a creative genius. Even after some 20 years of generating his Dilbert Comic strip on a daily basis, he continues to make his audience laugh. This book is a summary of his work in most of 2007 and is truly a wonderful collection. As the creator of www.PublicWorksComic.com I know laugh out loud humor when I see it. Pick up Scott's book. You'll really enjoy it!

This latest (31st) collection of Dilbert cartoons contains all the syndicated cartoon strips (including the longer Sunday strip) from March 2007 - early January 2008. As a bonus, they are now ALL in colour, not just the Sunday ones. I have really enjoyed this collection - Adams has hit a new bit of sharp form in this latest collection. Wally, PHB, Alice....they are all here. An excellent, humourous read. Highly recommended.

Another great Dilbert read with the occasional surprise appearance - the dead horse, scape goat etc. Just relaxing and pure fun. A bonus this time is that ALL the cartoons are in color.

I read tons of business books, and so many of them suffer from the same fatal flaw. They are really aiming for a high executive or an entrepenuer. Go attack this market segment, divest this business, etc. That's all well and great, if you're in this demographic. But what about the people out there that often read these books - middle management trying to make the jump to the executive ranks in their Fortune 500 companies? Sometimes these business books don't always scale to that level. I read them, frustrated, and out of time and money.

This book was a unique read for me. If is the first business book focusing on strategy that really changed the way I looked at the problems I face on the daily basis. As a cog in the machine, I don't have the ability to make aquisitions, divest services that aren't profitable, etc. But I do have the ability to EXPAND my service offering by securing strong squares, identifying dream positions, and getting rid of bad bishops. The first thing I did when I finished this book was bought a copy for each of my direct reports, then we've torn my 18 month plan down and started from scrach. Nothing Rice tells you in here is that hard to figure out on your own; there are no ridiculous correllations between successful companies and specific moves that other books rely on. Rice just uses a few chess antecdotes here and there, and makes an analogy to the business world, demonstrated by some winners and losers. The way this is all presented is so different, and fresh. Nothing rocket science, just a different way of seeing the same thing.

I haven't played chess since I was a teenager. After reading this book, I am so impressed by Rice's passion that I think I may just need to pick it up again!

Great business book. It gives a fascinating account of how the author's personal experiences as a grandmaster chess player apply to the world of business. The book is a testament to how the knowledge and experience gained in one area of human activity be transferred to and enrich a different field. The author, a successful startup CEO, received his business education at the chess board, and that's what makes his style of thinking very unique. If you are an MBA student or in your early years of the business career you will enjoy this book and view the corporate world from an unusual angle. The book refers to many well known examples from the lives of AOL, Microsoft and the like, but by far the most interesting case studies are from the author's own experiences as a CEO.

I just purchased the book and am looking forward to some good reading. Can't wait! Once I finish, I'll come back and post an update.

This is an extraordinary work. Aside from being extremely well written (something that one can rarely say about business books), the central thesis here is that in a rapidly changing business environment it is no long sufficient to give 'cookbook' answers to solving problems. Instead, by apply chess theories (NOT 'rules'), Three Moves Ahead gives business executives (and particularly entrepreneurs with early stage companies) a framework for developing their overall business strategies in a world that is morphing faster than we can understand it. The concepts are rock solid, the 21st century examples to which they are applied are brilliant, and the result is a gem of a book that has the potential to reframe the entire discussion of success factors in business.

This is one of those rare business books that is both entertaining to read and offers valuable insight into how companies make decisions in today's faster paced business environment, particularly in the high tech world. I enjoyed learning about the limitations of strategic thinking shared by great chess players and great business executives. I'd recommend this book to both seasoned business executives and younger business people. It will remind veteran decisionmakers how to focus on what's ahead of them and provide younger managers (particularly young entrepreneurs) with context for why business plans most often have to change. A fun look at business strategy from a very unique perspective.

This book explains how it isn't just one thing we do but all of the "Life-Giving Systems" in our churches are interconnected.
The authors have counseled numerous churches and now they impart that knowledge to anyone who wants their church to grow instead of plateau.
Any pastor or lay-leader who wants their church to experience growth in the number of attendees and spiritually should read this book.

This book has 10 attributes of successful churches. I was so impressed I bought a copy for each Board member and had them read it. We then discussed it at a Board meeting and determined how well we matched up. Highly recommended to pastors and churches who want to be successful in carrying out the Great Commission.

A practical look at ten systems being used by churches to create a healthy and growing environment. The authors use examples from the real world to support their ideas and to encourage the reader to develop healthy systems.

Dan Reeves and Gary McIntosh are two of the best church consultants around and in Thriving Churches in the Twenty-First Century you get all their wisdom for the bargain price of a book. This book is based on real-life case studies that they have observed first hand. Buy this book - it will be the cheapest church consultant you wil ever hire.

I am so excited and don't know where to start after reading this book. I have bought copies for others on my staff.

This book has relevant topics for any Christian or church looking for ways to reach people. And ways to reach people that are beyond the traditional church Bubble.

There are some great insights for any Christian who wants a system to stay connected to God.

Great for a leader who is looking to start a new church. You will find some good foundations for building a vision and core values for your staff.

If you're a church that's been around there are insightful chapters on redefining and discovering who you are so you can better use what God has given your church (resources, gifts, Staff, etc.) to build on what you have and be open to change in society to continue to reach people. And reach people where they are at.

God desires us to know him and be used to help connect Him with others. In this book there are many great tools and systems to keep the church relevant (yet biblical) with the world we are in.

T. Rogers

Not only does this book give a remarkable description of the 97'/98' season but also a in depth look at the previous seasons and how the Jazz came to be in Utah. It is the best written Jazz book I have ever read and I will read it over and over. Michael Lewis has wrote the book in away that all the memorable moments come rushing back to you as if you were still in front of the T.V. celebrating with your friends. It brings it back to life.

This book is a summary of the 97-98 Utah Jazz season; and even as a diehard Jazz fan, I didn't know of some of the sticky situations that went on in their season and what a miracle it was that they made the finals. The whole state of Utah (they're all Jazz fans, right?) needs to read this book; along with any other Jazz fan.

Not only does this book give a remarkable description of the 97'/98' season but also a in depth look at the previous seasons and how the Jazz came to be in Utah. It is the best written Jazz book I have ever read and I will read it over and over. Michael Lewis as wrote the book in away that all the memorable moments come rushing back to you as if you were still in front of the T.V. celebrating with your friends. It brings it back to life.

I just finished this book and I can't say enough about it. It describes the Jazz's season perfectly! If you get 1 book this year make it this one.

I bought this book recently and I must say that I love it! The author is honest about the team, writing about the good times, bad times and how players react to all kind of distraction. I strongly recommend this book for all the Jazz fans out there. This is a well written book which alows the reader to travel with the team, hear what they have to say and see how they react to reporters for example. Just buy it.

You don't have to be in the wine business to have noticed the rise of Fetzer Vineyards over the last decade or so. As a Californian and a long time devotee of the vintner's art (as well as a consumer!) I can tell you that Fetzer makes six and seven dollar bottles of wine with the best of them, and their more expensive labels are outstanding. And maybe this has always been the case, but before Paul Dolan was picked to head up the company in 1992 most of us didn't know much about Fetzer Vineyards.

In this candid memoir (and frankly, part manifesto) about corporate culture and responsibility, Dolan gives us some insight into how he was able to grow the company by more than fifteen percent a year as he shares with us his ideas about how businesses should be run in a time of dwindling and strained natural resources. Fundamentally he believes that "it's time for business, one of the most powerful forces on Earth, to become a positive force for change. We already know that we can create tremendous wealth and technological progress. The new possibility...is to preserve that progress and wealth for the generations to come." (p. 8) This is the mantra of "sustainability" which rewards employees as well as shareholders, customers as well as executives. For someone involved in viticulture this means sustaining the land as well, and for Dolan this means organic agriculture.

But Dolan also wants to make a difference in a larger sense. He wants to win awards for environmental excellence (and he has) by filtering the winery's wastewater and using renewable energy for the winery. He especially wants to show the world how Fetzer is both an economic success and a leader in environment-friendly practices and community and worker relationships. His "green" credentials might be judged from this statement: "The true cost of a gallon of gas is not the price you pay at the pump. The true cost" includes "what it costs the earth when oil is extracted and the cost when some of its byproducts return to the atmosphere..." (p. 17)

He also recognizes that "Nonrenewable resources are running out," and that "Nothing takes place in isolation." (p. 18) Would that more business leaders recognized these facts and acted appropriately.

This is also a book about how to become an effective manager. Dolan describes how he learned to listen, to his employees, to his son, and how he learned to put aside preconceived ideas and realized that sometimes the problem was himself. He tells a story about an annoying person (to him) named Tracey and the clay model they were trying to make (pp. 81-83) and how his change in attitude (inspired by his competitive nature!) allowed them to be successful in their project, and how that led him to stop regarding his son as "My Son The Jerk" (p. 84). This impressed me because it is not easy being that honest in public and in print. Later he even tells of a boldfaced lie he told and of an environmental mistake he made.

But Dolan can afford to reveal his shortcomings because when you read the chapter devoted to his third principle: "The soul of a business is found in the hearts of its people" it easy to see that he not only respects and appreciates the efforts of others, but that he knows that such respect and appreciation allows them to do their best work. He sees this as part of our "inner psychology engine...that gets us to put our heart and soul into something." (p. 101)

Another part of the book is actually about the wine making business, about how he grew the business by acquisition and branding, and how Fetzer committed, for example, to making a lot of Merlot and why (see especially pages 143-146). And there is an Afterword on how wine is made. The book ends with a Fetzer history time line and Resources for future study including books on sustainability.

This is an inspirational book by a man who is proud of his achievements and wants to share that pride with the world. And it is a story about growth, not just the growth of Fetzer, but the growth of Paul Dolan. I should add that this is a beautifully produced book, clearly written (wine writer Thom Elkjer had something to do with that) and meticulously edited.

True to Our Roots is a combination of one man's evolution as a leader and a case history of how to engage business in serving its stakeholders in more ways. This is one of the rare books I have read where a company has used environmentally friendly policies and practices to enhance its business performance on a sustained basis while influencing its industry to make the same kind of improvements. Any business leader can learn helpful lessons from this book.

Mr. Dolan came to Fetzer as a winemaker and helped the company make great strides in that role. One day he had an epiphany. Tasting grapes to see if they were ready for harvest, he noted that the flavors were much richer in one section than in the next. They were the same type of grapes, grown in the same microclimate. What could be the difference? Then, he remembered that the better tasting grapes had been tended with organic farming practices while the less good tasting grapes at received conventional chemical fertilizers and pesticides. His conclusion: His customers deserved the better tasting grapes. From that epiphany, he began a life journey that has led him to becoming a new type of leader and one who hopes to influence everyone in the world.

As a young man, Mr. Dolan was like many young people -- anxious to prove his worth. Working like a maniac, he wanted everyone to cater to his decisions and purpose. That kept people from becoming close to him, and led to the break-up of his first marriage. He later remarried one of the Fetzer daughters, and tried to cure his over-controlling nature. Eventually, he learned that he should listen to, encourage, and inspire other people to do what they thought was right . . . rather than expect blind compliance to his ideas. That shift made all the difference in his personal life, and to the business.

One of the surprising things about this story is that Mr. Dolan made most of these changes after Fetzer had been acquired by Brown-Forman, the alcoholic beverages giant. It's even rarer to find such industry leadership innovations coming from the heart in a small division of a large public company. But Brown-Forman has encouraged the changes. No doubt the support was enhanced by the Fetzer company's extraordinary success . . . growing earnings by 15 percent a year -- a remarkable feat in the wine business.

One of the interesting lessons of the change to environmentally friendly practices (called "sustainability" in the book) is that it drew on the preferences of employees to do the right thing, and provide higher quality.

Most of the book is devoted to explaining the six principles of the company's management style (with one chapter for each).

Your Business Is Part of a Much Larger System -- The focus here is to see the linkages between what you do and the effects on your stakeholders and those who are connected to them. For more on this kind of systems thinking, see The Fifth Discipline.

Your Company's Culture Is Determined by the Context You Create for It -- By setting appropriate goals that inspire people, you establish a way of thinking to creates the changes that you seek to make. For more on this thought, see Peter Drucker's The Effective Executive.

The Soul of Your Business Is Found in the Hearts of Its People -- Letting people know that more than profits count leads to innovation by everyone in taking responsibility for the rest of the company's relationships. For more examples, see any of Millard Fuller's books about Habitat for Humanity International.

True Power Is Living What You Know -- Living with integrity creates great personal and organizational power and effectiveness. See Tony Robbins for more examples of personal and organizational power.

You Can't Predict the Future, but You Can Create It -- Your vision of what's missing to create a better future liberates the process of making the changes that are needed. The example of establishing leadership in the Merlot category is a very good one here.

There Is a Way to Make an Idea's Time Come -- Set a good example to ease the process of change makes good ideas become real.

The book has many good qualities, but I have to note what seems like a potential deficiency in the case history. While all of us like to think that alcohol is harmless, it actually destroys many lives and harms the families and friends of those whose lives it destroys. Alcoholics drink fine table wine just as much as they drink anything else. Although there is one brief mention of standing for wine consumption in moderation, the Fetzer story doesn't include any ideas for making itself more sustainable by dealing with alcoholism. It's a startling omission. I also wondered how much of the company's efforts to be "green" and respectful to stakeholders and stakeholders' stakeholders are related to residual guilt over the harm created by alcoholic beverages. For example, if you grow consumption of wine in the United States by increasing overall alcohol consumption, have you just created more alcoholics? Is that sustainable progress?

I graded the book down one star for failing to adequately address this issue.

Be sustainable in every way you can!

What could be more fitting than a recommendation for Paul Dolan's book, "True to Our Roots: Fermenting a Business Revolution"? Through this book, I became aware of Fetzer's attempt to reengineer the entire American wine industry along sustainable principles.

A few quotes:

"Fetzer Vineyards increased earnings an average of 15 percent a year through the 1990s, while keeping its environmental and social responsibilities as top priorities. Our experience proves that operating on a more sustainable basis is not an economic liability. If anything, we see sustainability as an economic asset and a competitive advantage."

"A successful sustainable business... reaches out beyond the next four quarters, beyond the next five years, to consider what's ahead for the next generation. I is prosperous without being wasteful. It grows without mortgaging its future. It shares its discoveries without giving up its leadership. A successful business lives by its principles, and each new challenge is an opportunity to express those principles more fully, not abandon them conveniently."

Taking a stand is different from taking a position. Gandhi did not take a position that the British salt laws were bad, or unfair, or illegal. They may have been all that, but he was not interested in taking a position about them. He wanted to end them. So he took a stand. There is a huge difference."

(I wish I had space to reprint Dolan's vision of a sustainable society based on sustainable business. If you get the book, it's on pages 150-151.)

Paul shows how a big business can have a much bigger and healthier effect on society not just the company's bottom line. The integrity of Paul Dolan and Fetzer vineyards in their goal to be sustainable should inspire everyone.

Paul Dolan's book is different from many of the other leadership books on the market in that he develops the "context" for leadership. His description of his own experiences allowed me to understand more about how great leadership is developed individually. This is not a recipe or formulaic book, but a well written, heart-felt attempt to appeal to our humanity while those of us charged with leadership lead.

This product has a ton of information. It was recommended by a friend because I am not an accountant by trade but work in a position where it comes up daily. However the writing is quite small and reading some things requires a re read.
Over all, I would recommend this book for information seekers.

As a tax preparer this manual gives just the facts enough samples to work to the preparers advantage. Cut and dried! Just what I wanted. We'll see how well when I sit for my EA :-)

An automatic must have every year. This handbook is a great reference tool for any level of staff.

My one-stop source for updated Federal tax information. I don't prepare taxes, but I buy a new copy every year to stay current on tax law and IRS regulation changes. A must-have for financial/accounting managers and executives.

This book is a tax preparer's dream, with all the answers for any questions that might arise in processing 2006 returns. It's simple language and full explanations of new tax law changes that impact 2006 filers is extensive. I use these guides every year and as always I am never disappointed. Thank you.

First, it's a very clear example of how to extend UML within its own rules for extension. Other authors need more than raw UML gives, so start adding cruft any way they want - wrong! UML was meant to be extended and has explicit points at which extension is allowed. This shows extension as it's meant to be done.

Second, it is a worthwhile application area. Frameworks have been around for years, important all out of proportion to the relativley small number of them and relatively small number of framework developers. Framework development deserves attention as a specific discipline, and it's good to see this kind of attention being paid. The authors have chosen parts of well known design patterns for examples, keeping the ideas readable and understandable.

Best, it doesn't try to pull the entire UML standard into the discussion. To tell the truth, if I printed out the whole set of UML standards documents, I'm not sure I'd be able to lift the pile. This uses a well-chosen subset of the standard, but still lets the afficionado use as much more of the standard as desired.

Still, it's just notation. It's a set of tags for making statements about frameworks. The book doesn't really go into the design of frameworks. Framework design appears to be a premise, something the reader already understands well - perhaps not a good assumption.

The real problem with this notation, though, is that it is barely useable without tool support. It's based on sets of tags, which refine other tags (using something like inheritance), which refine yet other tags. Looking at tag A, though, there is no way to know that it refines tag B. Nothing about the tag indicates its family tree of inheritance, or even where to look for the information. Also, the UML extension mechanism for tags appears not to have dealt with global uniqueness at all. Nothing prevents me and you from coming up with the same tag names independently, then causing collisions for our common customer. XML deals with global uniqueness fairly well. If XML conventions are compatible with UML, they should be used - if not, UML needs to create conventions.

On the whole, this is interesting and informative. It's nearly impossible to put to practical use without significant automation, however, and that automation is not available to me.

This book gives a fairly good insight for expanding the concept of UML designs and notations for more practical framework approaches.

This is a excellent book, since it provides good examples in how using patterns, frameworks and UML in practice.

This is a great book! It gives a good insight into Design Patterns, Framework, Components and UML. It is especially useful as it provides a good and practical explanation while combining these concepts.
I have always been into Design Patterns, Framework, Components and UML. Although still missing some points when mixing these concepts. This book definitely provides a good clarification as it goes further into these OO concepts.
In a whole, it's a book worth studying carefully.

Whenever I read about a new UML profile for something, I wonder whether it will be really useful and also usable. Well, the UML-F profile presented in this book, happens to be both -- useful and usable, for framework developers and users, but also for people interested in frameworks, patterns and OO in general.
It is a very good, easy-to-read book (contents and style):
the authors grasp the reader's attention from the very beginning, with motivating examples and good explanations.