Associations Books

I work at a proctor care agency. This book has been a great tool for helping children who are in Foster Care feel normal again. It's also been great to help the foster parents stop and realize all the different emotions and feelings their foster children are working through.

Maybe Days provided my 8 year old foster child with some comforting words. In language a young child can understand, it gives the "big" picture of the foster care sysytem. It acknowledges the fact that many aspects are unknown for the child as well as for the foster parents. My foster child has asked me to read it over and over again.

This book is just wonderful! It addresses the reasons why children enter foster care in a realistic but age-appropriate manner. It lets kids know that their feelings are normal...and that it is normal have a hard time adjusting. Maybe Days also addresses the uncertaintly that is such a big part of foster care...will the child live with his siblings again?...will he have visits with his parents?...will he go back to live with them?

Reading this book together is a good way to start conversations with children about their feelings and concerns. There is also an excellent guide at the end of the book for Foster Parents and other adults.

Christine Mitchell
author and illustrator of Welcome Home, Forever Child: A Celebration of Children Adopted as Toddlers, Preschoolers, and Beyond

Wish there were more books like this. Very nice and helpful for children. Good buy!

I work for and adoption agency with children in the foster care system and I LOVE this book. I have not found a better book to explain why to a child why they are in foster care and what is happening around them. This book explains complex topics in a very simple and easy to understand language.

I read this book a decade ago, and reread it last week. Having done a lot of research on education and literacy during the interim, I can more confidently vouch for the scholarship and accuracy of this important book.

I'll warn you frankly that dealing with some of this information for the first time is disorienting for most people. It certainly was for me. Here's why. We have to come to grips with the bizarre, totally unexpected possibility that our education establishment promoted and lied about a reading pedagogy (called Look-Say or Whole Word) which doesn't work and, in fact, caused widespread illiteracy; and further, that the country's largest, most powerful education lobbying group (the National Education Association or NEA) persistently and consciously opposed those education policies which would be best for children and the country.

Here's the grimly funny irony. Whenever the NEA encounters criticism, the NEA will invariably charge the critic with being against "public education." I am very sorry to report my own impression that the Number One obstacle to "public education" in this country is the NEA itself. NEA appears to stand for No Education Association.

Many teachers are forced to be members of this quasi-union; and their dues are extracted by force. I suspect that the majority of these teachers would like to escape. The NEA has grown big, rich, powerful, and imperious, but even its own members seem to have little respect or affection for it.

Blumenfeld records the NEA's history up to 1984, when the book was published. At that time the Cold War was still quite hot. Much of the NEA's aggression is more easily understood if you suppose that the bosses were actually fighting for the other side. The Russians, with their Brezhnev Doctrine, were quite feisty at that time; and the NEA was feisty along with them. I'm guessing there was quite an identity crisis when the USSR collapsed! In any event, I urge the NEA, bosses and teachers alike: come on home, guys. This country is still humanity's best hope; and you should be devoting your considerable resources to promoting what is truly best for our citizens and our children.

As scary as the facts are in this book, I guess I'm really not too surprised by anything except how long this has been going on. This provides the answers to a lot of questions I've had about so many of the bizarre happenings in this country. If you never read another book READ THIS ONE! Our freedoms are being taken away inch by inch, so slowly that we haven't really noticed. Check the backgrounds of our judges, our legislators, lawyers etc. These people have all come from the colleges and universities spouting this propaganda!
The information in this book needs to be brought before the American people as quickly as possible. Write your legislators, contact those who have the power to reach the people of this Nation in large numbers. Hold your children's teacher's and the school district responsible for their actions and what they teach. Confront the Trojan Horse!
If you have the means to enroll your children in a private school, do so and make sure the school they're leaving knows why you're doing it.
Confront those around you who spout the socialist propaganda. They need to be brought into the light so all America can see them for what they are. Pray for this country. We're under seige!

"Your ignorance of the Word of God is the only effective weapon an enemy can use against you." (Mike Murdock)
Generations upon generations are at risk if change doesn't come to to the public schools. This book will show you at this present time that public schools are not meeting the grade. So what are we as parents to do? We need to take back our children's education!
We need to get back to basics...homeschooling preferred if not atleast a Christian school education. Please do buy and read this book you won't be disappointed.
"An angry man is a AWAKENED man."
"Only an angry man can change the mind of the unconcerned."
"The Persuaded become the persuasive."
(Mike Murdock)

I'm a teacher and I read this book years ago, shortly after it first came out. At that time I was working in a school system that required either joining the NEA or paying almost the exact same amount of money to it and not having a say in it. For two years, I mindlessly paid my dues and was a member. Then, I decided to read the material I had been given by the NEA. It was a 75-page, very fine print 8 1/2 x 11" book(let). I read every word of it and was amazed at some of the thing the NEA was supporting. Then I heard about this book on a radio program and when I read it, I saw that this man was pointing out the very things I had already seen.

The NEA is not a harmless group that merely wants the best for the education of our children. The changes that are happening in education are part of an overall agenda and that agenda is NOT to produce the most intelligent and well-educated children we can.

If you are an educator today, please read this book! Don't give your money mindlessly to this organization. You expect your students to research their facts and you need to do the same yourself. You owe it to yourself and the children you teach. Joining the NEA is NOT the best way to educate our youth!

This author has excellent documentation for what he says. It is well worth your time to read. Even though it was originally published in the 80's, the NEA has only gotten worse. (Did you know the NEA was sued a couple of years ago for misappropriation of funds?)

Once you read this, you'll wonder how intelligent people like teachers have been duped into thinking this is only a pro-education group. (Did you know teachers are now referred to as "agents of change"? After reading this book, you'll know why.)

This book answered many questions that I had about American public education. It discusses how the original purpose of the public school was to promote socialism; the history and philosophy of the "look-say" method of reading, which actually induces artificial dyslexia; and how the agenda of the NEA threatens our freedom. It's shocking, bold, and well-researched. Everyone in America needs to read this.

This book was great! I shared the stories with some of my students. It is so nice to hear the nice things people do.

This book does not need a long review. It is simply about the very best of what human beings are capable of doing. Random Acts of Kindness is simply the most important book I have ever read. -- Sam Yulish, author of WHERE HAVE ALL THE HIPPIES GONE? and THE HESITANT PSYCHIC.

Basically this is a wonderful idea for a book. The world does need more kindness. And Kindness , being kind to others not only makes us better people it also enriches our lives and gives them meaning. To give is often the greatest form of helping oneself possible.
Nonetheless I could have wished some of the stories here were more 'tough and complicated ' stories. I also could have wished that there was more deep thought about kindness. For kindness too has its qualification in the Jewish wisdom, " He who is kind to the cruel will end up being cruel to the kind"
Kindness is important.We should all be kind as we can. But there is a time and place for everything.

"Imagine what would happen if there were an outbreak of
kindness in the world," notes Daphne Rose Kingma in the foreword
to RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS by the editors of Conari
Press . . . you'd bring "delight and goodness
to yourself and others."

Methinks that could well be possible; i.e., if everybody took
the time to read this short but oh-so-powerful book . . . it is
packed with practical ideas that can be applied to work
situations, such as the following:

I had a client who owed me a good deal of money.
Eventually she stopped seeing me, but each month
I would send her a bill and receive no response.
Finally I wrote to her and said, "I don't know what
difficulty has befallen you that you are unable to pay
me, but whenever it is, I'm writing to tell you your debt
is forgiven in full. My only request is that at some point
in your life, when your circumstances have changed, you
will pass this favor on to someone else."

By the same token, there were perhaps an equal number
of things that could be utilized if you wanted to make
your home life more enjoyable, including this one:

There was a time in my life when everything was working
so smoothly, I found myself sitting at home one Saturday
with all my work done, all my household chores completed:
dishes washed, laundry folded and put away, house dusted,
grocery shopping completed, and that delicious feeling of
having nothing to do. Then I thought about a friend from
work who was a single mother of two small children and
never seemed to have the time for anything. I jumped into
my car, drove over to her house, walked in and said, "Put
me to work." At first she didn't really believe it, but we ended
up having a great time, cleaning like mad, taking time out to
feed and play with the kids, and then diving back into the
chores.

I also liked the quotes sprinkled throughout the book . . . what
caught my attention was the fact that many had not been
seen by me previously, including:

* Do every act of your life as if it were your last.--Marcus Aurelius;

* I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the community,
and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever
I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the
harder I work, the more I live. Life is no "brief candle" to me.
It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for a
moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible
before handing it on to future generations.--George Bernard Shaw; and

The question is not whether we will die, but how we will live.--Joan
Borysenko.

Lastly, I appreciated the thought-provoking suggestions presented
throughout RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS . . . among the ones
that caught my attention were these:

* As you go about your day, why not pick up the trash you find on
your sidewalk?

* Buy a big box of donuts or chocolates for the office next to yours
Or the kids who hang out on the street corner. Or the UPS person
or the mail carrier.

* If you have an infirmed person living near you, offer to do the grocery
shopping for him or her.

In 1982, California peace activist Ann Herbert wrote on a placemat at a restuarant "Practice random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty." A fellow diner was impressed by these words, and wrote them down. Gradually they spread and inspired conversation and thought. This international bestseller greatly accelerated the process. Today there is a World Kindness Movement and many organizations spreading the concept of kindness throughout our country.

Bestselling author Dapne Rose Kingma writes the forward, and there is an introduction by Dr. Dawna Markova. But about 63 others participated in stories and ideas for this book. It is a group project than transcends anyone author.

The concept of random of kindness is an antidote to the concept of random acts of violence. Random of kindess are far more common than random acts of violence, and the more they are encouraged, the more they should dominate.

Random acts of kindness can be both as simple as talking to strangers, as inconspicuous as allowing people in a hurry to get ahead of you in line, as generous as doing unsolicited chores for people in need, as philanthropic as paying for a stranger's dinner or sending books to a sick child.

Random acts of kindness can be as fulfilling as climbing a tree after a runaway child, and then leading the child down, or as planting a tree that others will enjoy decades letter. They can be forbearance in the case of a minor traffic accident or of a personal debt. They can be meaningful advice given, compassion and empathy shared. They can be tips given in appreciation of the server instead of the value of the service. They can be the willingness to let others act on misunderstandings despite some element of personal sacrifice by the actor.

The endless examples of the ways people can treat others with random kindness are well sampled in this book. So are inspirational quotes.

Pennsylvania founder William Penn says "If there is any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do, let me do it now, and not dter or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again." Martin Luther King describes the concept of agape as "understanding, create redemptive goodwill toward all men...and overflowing love which seeks nothing in return. When you rise to love on this level, you love all men not because you like them, not because their ways appeal to you, but you love them because God loves them."

The Dalai Lama says "My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness." Jesus says "If you bring forth what is inside of you, what you bring forth will save you. If you don't bring forth what is inside of you, what you don't bring forth will destroy you."

Herman Melville says "We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men; and among these fibers, as sympathetic threads, our actions run as causes, and they come back to us as effects." William James says "I am done with great things and big plans, great institutions and big success. I am for those tiny, invisible loving human forces that work from individual to individual, creeping through the crannies of the world like so many rootlets, or like the capillary oozing of water, which, if given time, will rend the hardest moments of pride."

M.C. Richards says "Compassion is an alternate perception." Albert Einstein says "A human being is part of the whole that we call the universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest--a kind of optical illusion of conscioiusness. The illusion is a prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for only the few people nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living beings and all of nature."

So having demonstrated the relevance and the vitality of the random acts of kindness philosophy to both everyday situations and to the thoughts of the world's greatest humanitarians, the authors praise part of the beauty of the concept of random acts of kindness as "the turnaround from the ugliest and most frightening of all phrases: random acts of violence....It's so easy to fear. It's so easy to create an almost palpable reality out of our imagined teerror. Random acts of kindness ring pure and true to that fear, as life-confirming revolutionary acts."

"Kindness," the authors say, "is soft and bubtle. It permeates everything it comes in contact with, remains as a permanent reminder of what could and should be."

At some level, this is a book of great idealism. At another level, it is a book of great pragmatism. A world of kind people is a world that values all people and gives all people the great gift of a friendly and supportive environment.

This reviewer can think of no one who would not beneift from reading this book. At a practical, everyday level it is an invaluable guide to building up communities of hope, trust, friendship, and love. It seeks not a Utopia on Earth, but communities around the globe worthy of the best aspirations of our most profound and visionary insprirational leaders and the day to day lives of our nicest and kindest people.

Ellen Castro has written a perfect gift for any busy leader. Her inspirational insight into various aspects of leadership is easy to read and includes space for personal reflection. Whether you read one a week for 52 weeks or several a week, the key will be how you apply this material to your personal leadership.

Castro has taught leaders and been in leadership. She knows what she's talking about. If you want to build trust with others in your workplace, you need this book.

Ellen Castro's book has provided me with many excellent ideas to use in my own business. I had the pleasure of meeting her recently. She walks her talk!

Ms. Castro has written one of the most worthwhile and innovative books on leadership you could hope to read.

Ellen has given each of us the gift of how to become the type of leader we want and were meant to be.

Even if you aren't in a formal leadership position this book is a must read for those wishing to be true to themselves in their professional and personal life.

"Spirited Leadership" has thought provoking questions for the reader at the end of each chapter. If you take time to consider each issue as the author allows, you will be well on your way to a "Spirited Leader".

Very applicable and to the point. A great check list for reviewing my behaviors. Enjoyed the reflections. Helped me integrate into my everyday life.

"Ellen Castro's Spirited Leadership offers a generous feast for the managerial soul. Readers will return to this lovely book repeatedly, and will be refreshed and reinspirited each time. It's a vademecum for the 1990s - a source of spiritual guidance and a stimulus to reflection." Lee Bolman, Missouri Chair in Leadership University of Missouri-Kansas City

This book is quite unusual. Its words come out at you with such meaning and intensity that as a reader you are simply in awe. The last few lines of each poem are captivating. There is a story within each verse. This is indeed a poetic novel and I am enchanted.

I read Dorfman's book and am pleasantly surprised with her poetry narrative, her delightful flow as well as her perspectives.

Great work and we await your next book anxiously!

I enjoyed reading,"Unmasking The Passion." I found it to be so different from other books. It has such reading appeal to it. It seems to dance in your hand well after you have read its pages. Its hard to explain. But, Dorfman has definitely made an impression on me and I await more of her work. The poem "Rapture," was intriguing.

I read this book with a preconceived notion of "I don't like poetry so why should I read this one". I must now eat my words, for this book has changed my opinion forever. These poems are thought provoking, erotic, sad, clever, insightful and truth itself. I have never had anything touch my soul and make me remember all the joy and pain of a relationship. The good and the bad, from the first meeting through the relationship, to the end. Each poem kept me hooked until the end and then I wanted more. I hope this is just the beginning of such enlightenment. I can only hope that Ms. Dorfman has much more to share. A new devoted fan.

I urge those who have been in relationships that have not worked out to read this book. The poetry seems to offer objective reasoning and allow one to come to grips with their own perplexities. Its nice to read this book for my ego seems to be in much better shape. I feel invigorated and able to face my next relationship with a clearer understanding of who I am and what it is that I want.

"Defending the Brand" is the definitive work in the field of protecting your brand presence on the Internet. I have read several books on Internet Security, site hijacking, and other problems of the Internet and even hold a security certification. I am not aware of any other book on the market today that explains so well the problems of malicious hackers and pranksters and how quickly they can destroy your brand name. The book is full of example after example of real-life problems that others have faced and solid advice on how to handle each of the various situations. Of course, it also has sound, positive steps you can take to help protect your brand from problems to begin with. Author Brian Murray doesn't give basic advice that is supposed to fit every situation but helps the reader to determine what factors make a situation warrant action, which ones are better off left alone, which ones might require legal action, and which ones trying to get a legal letter so they can further defame your brand name. Every business with an Internet presence should have a copy of this book. Using the Internet it is now possible to lose many years of positive customer relations in a matter of just a few days. You are responsible for knowing how to protect your company and yourself and this book will open your eyes.

Our company has been the victim of phishing attacks and it has been hard finding books that can help. Def the Brand was recommended to me by a friend and it has been very useful for some aspects. Defending the brand is not only valuable for marketing and legal professionals but I would call it a must read for security professionals given the changes in what we are dealing with. The book does a good job covering the different ways that other people on the Internet can use/abuse your corporate identity.

Wow, this book provides a tremendous amount of insite into the world of online brand management. New technology has created a new set of issues for brand managers and IP counsel. Ten years ago cybersquating, meta tag abuse and typo-piracy certainly weren't in my vocablulary. This is very informative book from someone who is very knowledgeable of what is going on in the online area......

Mr. Murray has changed my strategy on protecting our image and reputation in the marketplace. I knew that we had to closely monitor the use and licensing of our brand in the off-line world but this book opened my eyes to the on-line marketplace. There is nothing more valuable than our companies reputation and as a result of the great examples given, I've changed the way our digital marketing group operates with the Internet. Thanks Brian for this valuable contribution to preserving our shareholders investment.

Just a decade ago, defending your brand essentially meant ensuring that sidewalk vendors weren't hawking knockoffs of your goods. That has changed drastically with the explosive growth of the Internet, which has revolutionized retailing, but has also made it easier for thieves to hawk counterfeit product.

Leading brands are finding the Internet to be a perfect vehicle for reaching out to their existing customers and finding new customers. The flip side is that for every Internet marketing method there exists a nefarious online activity that exploits the power and goodwill of established brands. For example, rumors and fictitious product information can hurt companies' brands.

Never before have companies faced such a siege on their intellectual property and brands, so the publication of Defending the Brand is timely. In a fascinating depiction of today's threats, the book explains in lay terms how an organization can develop a strategy to fight brand thieves.

The eleven chapters are replete with real-world examples of how companies such as Home Depot and Disney have struggled to protect their brands online. The author furnishes effective advice on how companies can better deal with situations ranging from digital brand abuse to illegal distribution. At 250 pages, Defending the Brand is a quick and fascinating read.

Reading this book makes you wonder why futurists didn't foresee the need for it earlier. But then, that's one of the major purposes of Future, Inc.: to de-mystify futures studies, so that people stop thinking of it as a way of predicting the future, with all the negative, crystal-ball charlatanism that evokes. I read futurist magazines and attended futurist conferences during the 90's, but was turned-off by two things: 1) the boring predictability of most of the speakers/writers, and 2) the irrelevance of their methods, most of them seeming to have been devised in tremendous isolation from the real world. Garland's book cuts through all that ingrown navel-gazing and gets straight to what most readers (especially business readers) care about: is there any way I can get a better handle on what might be coming down the pike, as it relates to my work? This should be on every executive's bookshelf (AFTER being read, of course).

Fantastic book!
Very interesting and well written. Connects directly "future studies" with "strategic planning". Introduces the concept of System Thinking, analizes trends and go through scenario generation, all ilustrated by good cases.

After hearing the author speak on a panel about the future, I decided to buy his book. And what a fabulous book it is! Displaying in-depth knowledge, and conveying it in an entertaining and clear manner usually don't go together. That is what makes this book a great read.
If you like ideas, thinking about them, exploring them, etc., then you will love this book.

Highly recommended reading for anyone. It contains important ideas. I think about its relevance, particularly in light of the news [daily] about an upcoming Recession. While this may tend to put us in knee-jerk reaction-mode, thinking about what we have to do presently in reaction to the possible conditions of the next 12-18 months; it is actually now more than ever that we need a framework for thinking about what is on the 10-20 year horizon. If you could effectively do that [i.e., build the scenario for 10-20 years out, and alter your current plans accordingly], imagine how far ahead of your competition you would be -- in business and in life.

I think knowing about trends and anticipating the future is an invaluable skill for consultants and senior HR people. This is especially true for the latter if they want to be a strategic player. If you truly want to make your "place at the table" being a "business futurist" is one way to do it. I just finished reading Eric Garland's Future Inc.: How Businesses Can Anticipate and Profit from What's Next and I think it is excellent. Garland steps you through the process of viewing the world as a system, recognizing trends, developing scenarios, drawing pictures to make those scenarios easier to communicate and then actually communicating the future to your target audience. One tool that I found to be very helpful, in fact I have already applied it to one consulting situation, is what he called the STEEP model. It is a model that you can use to think about all the potential impacts on your situation, as an example, your current recruiting method. STEEP stands for:


Society
Technology
Economics
Ecology
Politics
Thus, if you were trying to determine what future recruitment for you company might look like you would consider these areas and what their impact might be on recruiting. For example, society might include, Gen Y considerations, talent shortages, demographics, migration patterns, and educational shortages. Technology might include the impact of Internet recruiting and video resumes. Economics might include inflation, cost-of-living, and relocation expense. Ecology might include "green" considerations and your company's reputation. Politics might include federal and state legislative changes that would change discrimination definitions. If you get nothing else out of this book other than the use of this tool it will be well worth the price of the book.

Garland then finishes the book with his take on what he calls the "Drivers of the Future." He discusses: Aging, Information Technology, Health Care (versus what we do today which is 'sick care'), Biotechnology, Energy, Nanotechnology, Media and Communications, and Ecology and Sustainability. All of them are important, but for the HR professional the first three are of particular importance.

The key point of his book is to view the world as a system and to realize that there are multiple impacts on whatever you are working on and to be effective in anticipating the future you must consider this system. That is why the STEEP tool is so effective. This can be put to use today in ALL HR departments and it will have an immediate impact on how you view the strategic aspect of your job and how you are viewed as a contributor to strategy.

I just completed Laugh and Learn and found it to be a helpful resource.

I have used humor in my training programs for a long time, but with some inconsistent results. The author's advice to focus on having fun (instead of trying to be funny) was a breakthrough for me and has resulted in improved instruction.

We teach a graduate class at Western Michigan University entitled "Humor and Fun: The Brain's Best Learning Strategy." After much deliberation, we made LAUGH AND LEARN the required text for the course. We love the sound and accurate science on humor and brain function, and meanwhile it is a genuinely funny read. In short, the book both proves AND demonstrates the central point of the course: that fun really is the best learning strategy.

Our students include pre-school, middle school, high school, and college teachers, and even administrators. In spite of the fact that LAUGH AND LEARN was written primarily from a trainer's point of view, we find that it offers good stuff for all. We're delighted to report that the response to the book (and the class) has been excellent. We highly recommend this book for virtually any teaching professional.

As a corporate consultant and trainer, I'm always looking for ways to increase my effectiveness in helping clients really learn the material at hand. Like many, I don't consider myself particularly funny, and worry that I could do more harm than good by trying too hard to incorporate humor into workshops.

Doni Tamblyn does a terrific job not only showing the reader how to easily and safely insert humor, she also references fascinating research that clearly supports why humor is so critical to the learning process. The book is written in a friendly, approachable style that makes it a fun read, and I appreciate the handy index to the "95 Ways" listed at the beginning of the book for quick reference.

I highly recommend this book not only to other professional trainers, but to speakers and presenters of all types. Personally, after trying some of Tamblyn's strategies, I not only feel more confident in front of a room, but hey, I'm having more fun too. You can't beat that!

As a corporate consultant and trainer, I'm always looking for ways to increase my effectiveness in helping clients really learn the material at hand. Like many, I don't consider myself particularly funny, and worry that I could do more harm than good by trying too hard to incorporate humor into workshops.

Doni Tamblyn does a terrific job not only showing the reader how to easily and safely insert humor, she also references fascinating research that clearly supports why humor is so critical to the learning process. The book is written in a friendly, approachable style that makes it a fun read, and I appreciate the handy index to the "95 Ways" listed at the beginning of the book for quick reference.

I highly recommend this book not only to other professional trainers, but to speakers and presenters of all types. Personally, after trying some of Tamblyn's strategies, I not only feel more confident in front of a room, but hey, I'm having more fun too. You can't beat that!

"Laughter and Learning"

I'm reading this book, and I sense it is what I have been waiting for. I believe Doni Tamblyn has really nailed it. She's given structure to what seems to be the very complex art of effective teaching. I'll start giving her methods a try by using the "smooth" vs "crunchy" approach for initiating group/team work, and by finally using some of those cartoons I've been accumulating for years.

I'm also thinking about how I could apply some of her ideas to my online distance learning courses, where teaching and learning are not in a traditional classroom. This environment lacks the needed spontaneity, but I could see what would happen if I divided my online class into small discussion teams competing for bonus points for "fabulous prizes" to be awarded at our once-per-week lab meetings.

I appreciate that Ms. Tamblyn has combined her comedic experience with Dewey's ideas, theories of motivation, accelerated learning, and optimal/compatible brain learning, the
Koran, the Talmud, famous quotes, tips on psychology and comedic delivery, and has taken the time to share her synthesis of them in a book. Her Laugh and Learn is not only a great how-to book, but also a scholarly piece of work. I don't usually find how-to books with an index, references, endnotes, so many examples, and a case study! (Her "anatomy of a creative learning module" is precious.) Thank you, Ms. Tamblyn!"

The Payroll Source is the best payroll book available in the market today. I use it for reference material almost every day. Practically every payroll issue is covered and if you need to see the IRS regs involved, just look at the bottom of the page. What could be more efficient? Try it. You will be thrilled. How did you ever live without it?

I wouldn't have it out of arms reach at my desk! I use it every day and would be lost without it.

This book has been my life blood as a payroll professional. It explains complicated regulations which are often incomprehensible when viewed as code and states them in a concise and useful manner.

Michael O'Toole's book has saved my day on many days!!!

This is THE book to have if you are at all involved with payroll. It is a comprehensive resource and provides information in an easy to read and understand format. It goes well beyond the basics of paying employees and handling taxes by including information on recordkeeping, accounting, technology and management. A truly complete reference that I reach for again and again!

I wouldn't have it out of arms reach at my desk! I use it every day and would be lost without it.

A smart, fast read, but also practical and frank. Usable advice on query letters, proposals, networking, when to self-publlish and how to negotiate.

This is a nice place for prospective non-fiction writers to start investigating the process of what it takes to get published. A quick and easy read, the book's main benefit is as a reality check to knock the naiveté out of prospective authors. To be sure, pretty much everything Brown discusses is covered by other books on the topic, however, these often spend far too much time getting to the point and/or offering various bits of writing advice that aren't really germane to the nuts and bolts of getting a book deal. Quite properly Brown assumes you can write; and while his brevity is often a good thing, sometimes the rapid pace and flip tone leads to broad generalizations that can be slightly misleading.

He comes at the topic with a wealth of personal experience, having published some twenty or so books with a variety of major publishing houses. Despite this, his perspective is rather limited -- as a former financial writer (for Inc. and Forbes), all but one of his books are business titles. And the reality is that business non-fiction is a slightly different beast, and the lessons learned there can't necessarily be extrapolated to other nonfiction genres. Business books tend to be what Hollywood calls "high concept", that is, all about a central, easily grasped premise, and generally not particularly nuanced. So while much of this "insider's guide" is certainly useful for all prospective writers, some of the advice is very hard to apply to other nonfiction genres.

Similarly, Brown downplays the extent to which his existing position as a journalist smoothed the path to the book world. He advocates a stepped process to approaching editors with one's pitch: start small with a query letter, then if you get a nibble, send a brief (around 3 page) mini-proposal, and then, only as a last resort, put together a proper full-scale proposal. While there's certainly logic to avoiding the substantial work of putting together a full proposal, a writer with his background (especially when working with a "name" co-author) can get away with the approach. whereas 99% of the readership for this book cannot. Probably the worst advice in the book is on page 52, where he argues against sending a full proposal even when an editor has responded "tell me more in writing." If an editor tells you this, you'd better come back with as complete and polished a pitch as possible, because if they're not impressed, they may not give you another chance.

The other aspect of full-blown proposals Brown doesn't acknowledge is that the process of creating the proposal will help you immeasurably in honing your idea and pitch -- and may well lead you to realize you can't write the book. Which is not to suggest that Brown doesn't like proposals -- he includes a complete one of his, and has annotated it with copious footnotes pointing out areas for improvement. This "peering under the hood" is a very strong part of the book, and is well worth examining (even though I actually don't like some of the proposal's arrangement).

Generally, whenever I read a book on this topic, I will jot down the few ideas from it that I found particularly unique or compelling. I didn't do that once with this book -- but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I've already read a lot on the topic, and thus have a good store of material. But this would make a great first book to read on the topic, as long as one recognizes its limitations and reads a few others for more perspective and depth.

I bought this book last Friday afternoon, and had read it entirely by the late evening - I could not put it down.

Not only is it filled with information to help get your first non-fiction book published, it is written in a thouroughly approachable and enjoyable style.

That "memo" is mentioned in the appendix about how this particular book came to be, and I thought it was cool to title a review like that.

Not mentioned in the above little summary is the "snide editorial comments by Ellen Kadin" (on the cover) which are dispersed throughout the book. Ellen Kadin is AMACOM's editor, an independent (and funny) voice to let you know how accurate Paul B. Brown really is. Most, but not all of them are affirmations...but they are all funny. If someone (like me) got the book from a library right next to all those traditional Chapter 6-1/2 books, you might want to skip the her annotations if you are actually reading it _in_ the libary, because you are likely to make enough noise (laughing, cussing, or both) to get dragged out by security...fortunately, I am good friends with my library's security.

With insight and irreverence Paul Brown lays it all out for aspiring writers. He takes you from book proposal to agent to publisher to promotion.

That's all that a would-be nonfiction author could want. He'll tell you things you don't want to hear, but must know in order to make your foray into writing a success.

Brown has endured book ideas that were rejected and books that didn't sell, along with a perennial best-seller Customers For Life.

If nothing else Brown knows his trade when it comes to publishing nonfiction books.

I'd like to point out errors in his 'Nontraditional Approaches' but from my observations, Brown is correct more than I'd like to say.

And, when he has a question, he knows where to go to find the answers, which, of course, he shares with readers.

If you don't like the idea of pitching book ideas to publishers, then maybe being an author isn't for you.

If you don't like the idea of a 40 to 50 page book proposal, Brown will explain why it's in your best interest to get through it, or scrap your idea of a nonfiction book deal.

If you want a bigger advance - and why you should try to get the most you can (besides the obvious reason) - are nailed by Brown in Publishing Confidential.

If your idea is to write a nonfiction best seller, then Brown's book will save you a lot of time, and serve as your tour guide.

You may not write the next top selling business book, it's not a guarantee, but Brown's book will help you get through it with his `insider's guide to what it really takes to land a nonfiction book deal.'

Brown delivers.