Sales Books

GREAT story, words and illustrations that have captivated our little one since the first read. He, too, has a very specific bedtime routine, and this book fits cozily in between milk and "night-night."

This is a wonderful book for preschool children. I bought it at a garage sale yesterday, and read it to my 2 year old grandson today for the first time. At the end of the story he simply said, "Again!". I read it a second time, and he said, "Again!". I passed the book to his mom who then read it a couple of times. The illustrations are beautiful, and he noticed all the little details, even the mouse running into the hole

The story is just so sweet for little ones. The way Mrs. Bear pretends to forget to kiss Sam good night is just so cute. I hope all little boys and girls have mommies as nice as Mrs. Bear. I highly recommend this book to parents and grandparents.

Because I liked this book so much (there's a plot, a tiny bit of suspense, actual sentences, an obvious place to sneak in real kisses, and inviting semi-detailed comforting pictures), I can not explain why my 9-month old also liked it whose tastes were quite dissimilar. Admittedly, although my sweet quicker-page-flipper forced a quick reading of certain pages sometimes, he was still quite content to hear the book to the end. As he gets older (now, 21 months), this is still his pick from the shelf, often.

I am not much of a fan of books, but with two little ones in the house, my wife and I feel that it is important to read to them. This book tells of a sweet story of a mother bear putting her little youngster bear to bed. She goes through their normal routine buts forgets one thing - the one thing that the little bear is waiting for. She finally remembers.

It is just a sweet story for you to read to your little one and the illustrations are extremely well done.

Anyone who loves their children and loves reading should purchase this book. This book is so warm and loving that renting it from the library just won't due...we read it over and over and over again. A true classic.

Truth, Lies and Advertising is an excellent source material on the ins and outs of advertising. I recommend this book to others interested in information about advertising.

The book was great and really gave me a breakdown of the different parts of the agency and how they work together.

Very interesting book. He is the typo of pro I admire and respect. I have been an account planner al my long adman career, 60 years. I have always been a Bernbachian monk and I see the author is a similar person.

I strongly believe that account planning exists to help create advertising - a supporting role not leading. It is an important element but is by no means a substitute for an fresh new idea beautifully executed.
Account planning should not be misused. It is a tool to help the creators.

Since I'm Brazilian and all my life worked on American accounts, I believe the author's British writing maybe is not as clear as the Americans.

Really, I suppose, the type of book a planner should write.

It is a great introduction to what a planner is and does. A good textbook for anyone involved in advertising or dealing with ad agencies. A brilliant "manual" for planners.

There is a huge shortage of good account planning books. This effort by Jon Steele makes up for it. He is a man passionate about advertising (that's evident throughout the book) and very good at it too.

Jon covers the theoretical and practical aspects of account planning thoroughly and provides insights and advice for planners at all levels, account management staff, creative staff and clients.

Reading this book will show you how to improve the quality of your advertising product. It has certainly helped me do that at the agency I work for in New Zealand. One of the best buys I've made on Amazon.

I love this series, being an Aussie and all, it's nice to be able to share a part of my first reading experiences with my American kidz!
Unfortunately this amazon provider was extremely slow on shipping (ony coz it was free) I ended up finding that barnes and noble were soo much faster I have two now but am happily going to give this copy to another young reader as a gift:)

I had great expectations for this book, since my (3-year-old) son loves Slinky Malinki so much that he can recite virtually the entire book. Our family found this one rather disappointing. There is very little story, and the word choice is not nearly as colorful as in Slinky Malinki. Still, my son does enjoy this one, although I suspect it won't hold his attention as long as Slinky, since it's so much simpler. Now that I know this is one of Lynley Dodd's early books, I understand that better. It's probably best for a slightly younger child (right around 2) who loves dogs.

I got this to read to my three year old. It is the first in a series. This is a fun quick book to read. My daughter likes it. She enjoys guessing which dog is next. The characters come in and out of the story in the same sequence. I think it is a cute book and I will buy more in the series.

Lynley Dodd is a FANTASTIC author. I own a ton of her books. I love them, children love them. The characters are characters you instantly fall in love with. The vocabulary Dodd uses is creative and intelligent, and leads to great conversations with kids. The books rhyme and remind me of Dr. Seuss without the nonsense words.

You won't be disappointed with Dodd's books.

I love this book. I won this book as a readathon prize 20 years ago when I was seven. I think the target audience for this book is probably more likely to be kids aged 3-6. It was a definite favorite of my little brother's - he learnt the words off by heart before he could read. It is also a favorite of my nieces and nephews, and I have just ordered one for my baby who is due any day now. The really fantastic thing about this book is that it is actually a fun read for adults too - If my nieces ask me to read them a book I always grab a Hairy Maclary. They are just the right length, and have enough of a storyline to keep you entertained as well.

Interesting, detailed story. Typical Kertzer. A must read for students of Italian, Church and/or Jewish history.

We are accustomed to viewing excellent documentaries on the TV and the big screen. It is nice to find a literary documentary just as enjoyable. The mid 19th century was an incredible time for change. Europe was adjusting to the post Napoleonic ideals of political and religious freedom. The United States was fighting against the secular immorality of slavery. Prussia was building a military machine to dominate Europe. Italy was struggling with a unification which would require shedding the medieval yoke of the Catholic Church. In the midst of these changes a 6 year old Jewish boy , Edgardo Mortara, is kidnapped within the Papal States under orders of the Inquisition. The charge is that the boy has been secretly baptized. The baptism cannot be undone and therefore the boy cannot continue to live with his Jewish parents. Governments from around the world protest the kidnapping and Pope Pius IX responds with traditional dogma. This is a wonderful researched narrative which brings together themes which will be of interest to Christians, Jews and any reader curious about the changing role of the Roman Catholic Church in this period of European history.

The excellent DVD, "Secret Files of the Inquisition", (available from Amazon and Netflix) dramatizes part of this story and includes commentary by the author, David Kertzer.

Simply one of the most insightful books I have ever read. Thank you Mr. Kertzer for illuminating this fascinating event in our history.

Douglas Wood has already summarized and evaluated this book, justly praising its historical worth. I'd like to add a note about its shock value; in a moment of history when anti-semitism seems to be a joke in some people's minds, surely this is a book that might make the pain and folly of bigotry "real" in terms of a single family, and therefore accessible to readers who can't empathize with mass tragedy.
It's also quite a thrilling book to read, by the way, a better detective story by far than Dan Brown could manufacture.

A Jewish family's illiterate Catholic housekeeper sprinkles well-water over an infant child and furtively mumbles the baptismal sacrament. When the Inquisitor learns of the deed, he orders the kidnapping of the then six-year-old Jewish boy. This foul deed is almost certainly sanctioned by the highest levels of the Catholic hierarchy. The police forcibly remove the child from his family's Bologna home and swiftly transport him to the Church's House of Catechumens in Rome for reeducation. Despite all protests from the boy's family and the Jewish community and in the face of a destabilizing international uproar, the Holy Father refuses to yield. By holy grace, the boy has been miraculously saved and the Church keeps him, inculcates him in the Catholic Christian religion, and assiduously converts the boy.

The boy kidnapped in the name of religion? Edgardo Mortara. The Holy Father in question? Pope Pius IX. The year? 1858. That's right 1858, not 1458, not 1658, but smack dab in the middle of 19th century Europe.

Historian David Kertzer tells the complete tale in his excellent work, `The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara.' As Kertzer relates in the epilogue he learned to his surprise that there was no reliable work on this topic. Kertzer sets out to remedy this gap and succeeds by examining the episode in fine detail. Using detailed court and police investigation records, Kertzer explores numerous evidentiary questions such as whether the baptism took place at all, whether the proper conditions for a valid lay baptism existed, who put the girl up to it, and how did the Inquisition find out about it?

The story is told against the background of the movement to unify Italy under secular rule. And here is yet another surprise for the uninitiated reader, including this one: until 1861 the Pope was still the temporal ruler of a wide swath of the Italian peninsula (this rule continued on a lesser scale to 1870). The treatment of young Edgardo was one of the factors that helped build support across Italy and internationally for the Risorgimento or Italian reunification.

The episode also hastened Pius IX's evolution, shall we say, to reactionary beliefs. Pius IX not only made papal infallibility part of Church dogma, but he also issued his infamous Syllabus of Errors in 1864, a broad attack on rationalism, science, and religious freedom - really a frontal assault on the Enlightenment and most other signs of progress in the previous three centuries. If Kertzer's book does nothing more than direct his reader's attention to this astonishing document, he has succeeded in the historian's task.

Kertzer examines the trial of the Inquisitor in detail and the formidable difficulties facing the prosecution. For example, what crime did the Inquisitor commit when his acts were legal at the time he committed them? Would the new government prove willing to violate the fundamental principle that the accused must have had notice of the illegality of his acts?

As for Edgardo, he remained with the Church fathers until he reached his majority and by then his conversion had firmly taken hold. He went on to become a famed proselytizer for Catholicism especially among the Jewish peoples. This role may help explain why this story has remained untold: it embarrassed Jews and Catholics alike.

Some readers may find the detail devoted to the investigations and trials to be excessive, but bear in mind that Kertzer is writing the seminal history of Edgardo's kidnapping. A fascinating tale full of surprises, very highly recommended.

I thought this was a great follow up to See You At The Top. I enjoyed it and Zig continues to inspire me.

A renowned writer and speaker, Zig Ziglar is known for his passionate and empowering presentations - even if you're not a self-help junkie, do yourself a favor and pick up one of his audio books for the experience. 'Over the Top' is all about goal setting, performance, and motivation. As with any self-help book, there is plenty of repetition, and a few insightful examples. Personally, it helped me identify several new areas for improvement, as well as, reminded me of several habits which I have forgotten. The only word of warning: there is a heavy dose of messaging on spirituality and religion. If you're new to the self-help section, I would recommend starting with Jack Canfield's 'The Success Principles'.

Another great book from Zig Ziglar!! Zig teaches you a lot of stuff that will help you live a better and more fulfilled life, in all aspects!! This is good read!! What I got most out of this book was how to set goals and meet them. I now use the Personal weekly perfomance record to see where I am at on daily, weekly and annual basis. Works great!! Read this book!!!

I have read Zig's books, attended his seminars and listened to his audio tapes.....I think I like this book the best of them all. His ideas are timeless and I love his positive mental attitude. Also, he is a funny guy and that comes through in the book. He is a model of success and his strategies in this book, if followed, will make you successful. Finally, this book is easy and quick to read....

I am a christian and have read the post about the person trying to make void what Zig teaches because he is a Christian. It is probably a good guess that the post was from someone that does not know God. I love Zig, his books are awesome and his insights; I am sure come from the Holy Bible and God. The truth always comes from God. I love all of the posts for this review. I even like the one from the anti-christian because in a way it shows that God can work through his willing and obedient people to teach men the best way to live.Some people want all the rewards w/o the sacrifice.

You'll see results from this book if you stick to it. Go through the chapters slowly and take time to follow the suggestions - I've found them quite helpful! This is one of the best self-esteem books I've seen.

This is one of the few books on self esteem that covers the inner critic and the outer critic. If all you ever do is reduce the criticism in your life, your self esteem will improve.

As an added bonus, the book also covers risk assessment, and how to identify blockages that prevent you from fully analyzing the risk of any given choice or situation. This is almost more important than self esteem, as the right choices will always lead you to prosperity, and the wrong choices will always lead you to lack. The ability to clearly see the risk associated with any given choice is immense.

This work provides practical strategies on how to
identify both constructive and non-constructive
criticisms . People need motivation.
As such, considerable things are achieved
when we have the requisite drive.

The critic tends to serve
our guilt with a heaping of criticism. The authors
provide strategies to anticipate the criticism and
deal with it constructively. According to the authors,
we should seek to unmask the criticism to divine its
purpose. In some ways, critics serve us by solving
the fear of failure. Some say that you cannot do
things. Occasionally, they are proven wrong.

Monitoring the critic will help us sort out the
non-constructive criticism from criticism that
helps to make us better people in every aspect.
According to the author, we should look at the rule
structures which are at the heart of our
critics. Are the rules relevant, fair or topical ?
If they aren't, we have a basis to view the
criticism with skepticism.

The authors also remind us to view ourselves
dispassionately. Try to determine how others see you.
Sometimes, your physical appearance or demeanor are
important. How do you relate to other people?

To get answers to these questions, we must learn to
listen in order to receive quality input. The authors
provide a wealth of very pertinent information helpful
in strengthening every aspect of inter-personnel
relations with a plethora of people around us.
i.e. mentors, peers, friends, relevant others etc.

The book is worth the purchase price for the
significant value of the information contained within.

Who's the book for? Anyone who wants to improve their self-esteem.

What's the goal of the book? To improve your self-esteem.

How does it do this? By showing you how to disarm your "inner critic", you know, that negative inner voice that attacks and judges you. Everyone has one, and people with low self-esteem tend to have a more vicious inner critic.

Is it easy to read? Yes, the book is laid out well and written in a very friendly tone. The first three chapters cover the most important and universally applicable information. After finishing them, there is a chart for you to look at. It will direct you to the appropriate chapter(s) that deal with your specific problems. Neat!

You don't have to read the book cover-to-cover unless you just need general info- but that's what's good about it; you can use the book to fit your individual needs. With over 600,000 copies sold, it must have helped a few people! Other self-help books I liked include Finding Happiness in a Frustrating World. Good luck!

I cannot speak highly enough of this book. I found it to be absolutely invaluable in developing better self esteem. You do need to actually sit down with a pen and paper and do the exercises it suggests, but I found this process really helped me to understand myself and my thinking patterns better.

For me, what really opened my eyes was the way the authors explained how the inner critic is reinforced. I feel that this is crucial information which is missing from many other books on self esteem. The authors explain a number of different ways in which we reinforce our inner critic and more importantly, they explain why we continue to use these self-limiting behaviours and provide alternatives. A simple example of this is that your inner critic drives you to achieve goals. You may tell yourself that you will be stupid or worthless if you don't achieve a high exam mark, or a good performance review at work. The critic is reinforced because this fear and criticism motivates you to achieve - yet it also sacrifices your self esteem. A healthier alternative is to rebut the inner critic and practice visualization techniques to motive you to achieve success.

The chapters on Compassion and Handling Mistakes also really helped to alter my way of thinking. I, like many other people, had a tendency to continually beat myself up over past mistakes. The book helped me to reframe the way I think about mistakes. More importantly, it helped me to understand the limits of my awareness, at the time of the mistake we are usually attempting to get our needs met in what we deem to be the most effective way. The chapter on Compassion also provided a really simple and powerful exercise which helped me to move past mistakes made by myself and other people.

Another reason I highly recommend this book is the chapter on Core Beliefs. We are usually completely unaware of our negative core beliefs and therefore they continue to have a very profound negative effect on our self-esteem at a deep level. Identifying and testing my core beliefs has been an eye-opening and empowering experience. It does take time as there are no quick-fixes, but the process of building more positive core beliefs has fundamentally changed the way I view myself and the world around me.

Other parts of this book which I found to be helpful were the sections on responding to criticism, healthy and unhealthy values, asking for what you want and the accurate self assessments.

In summary, this book has been instrumental in building my self-esteem. It is written in an easy to understand and relatively entertaining manner. There are plenty of practical exercises to help you apply the information that is given. I strongly recommend it.

You've written your book. It might be the next great American novel, your heartfelt memoir, the results of years of personal research, a collection of poems, or anything in between. You thought the hard part was behind you. Unfortunately, it's just about to begin.

Now with manuscript in hand (or rather on file), you need to find someone to publish your work. Maybe you've gone to countless publishers and been turned down. More likely, you've decided that you want more control over your baby. So you've chosen to self-publish through a Publish on Demand (POD) firm.

Now comes the hard part. Not all POD's are equal. The amounts that they charge vary substantially as do the services they provide. Then there's distribution and royalty rate issues to work through.

Thank goodness for Top Self Publishing Firms. This book includes an easy to understand chart showing the overall ratings in a variety of categories (sales results, royalties, costs, distribution, and overall value) of the top POD firms. This makes comparing the different options so much easier. More information about each company is then provided later on in the book so that you can find the publisher that best suits your needs.

Stacie Vander Pol did an outstanding job, not only in pulling the information in this book together, but in presenting it in such an easy reference format. It's a great book, so needed. The book is not only informative but, as an author, I found it inspiring as well. every author who is considering self-publishing should get a copy of this book before making a final decision.

Stacie really did her homework for this book. If you are considering publishing with the assistance of a print-on-demand firm, this book will likely save you a lot of research time. The comparison chart on pages 46-47 is worth the price of the book alone! Well done.

If you are thinking about self publishing, this is a must read. It can save you lots of grief, point you in the right direction, and help you to make the best decisions possible. Stacie Vander Pol's extensive research and business expertise combine to work for you so that you can smartly choose the best publisher for your book. She takes the 26 best firms and compares them head to head on a variety of dimensions such as best value publishing packages, sales performance, royalties, contracts, and distribution. There is also valuable information on leveraging Amazon and promoting your book. Do not self publish before you read this book!

How embarrassing for Stacie - she has written a wonderful, helpful book on self publishing, which I will use often. In the book she rates CreateSpace, her own publisher, very highly. Imagine my surprise when my copy arrived from Amazon - I had TWO full copies of the book bound inside one cover! Possibly due to this, the cover wasn't properly printed. The "podpeople" have struck.

This inspiring book is a must for all recruiters who understand the leverage power of online sourcing and networking.

As its subtitle suggests, The Virtual Handshake is all about interfacing with business and social contacts through the worldwide web. In my field (recruiting), the lines between business and social contacts blur since everyone I encounter might need either a new job or project, might know someone who does, or might be in a position to hire. Networking is not just about pressing flesh and passing business cards at a luncheon these days. There is a rapidly growing area of opportunity to meet people and make deals on the internet. However, please note that The Virtual Handshake does not merely expound the virtues of the internet or report results of deals closed and marriages made, the authors also make the technologies easy to understand and provide practical advice on how to use what's out there. Published in 2005, the book provides current information on various virtual options and their uses. The authors cover topic such as social software and services online; virtual clubs and associations; tips on managing the deluge of email; basics on blogging; effective use of email blasts without being perceived as a spammer; netiquette; privacy protection; and, of course, real-life examples of the use of the virtual medium. Easy to read and very useful, The Virtual Handshake is a primer for those of us who haven't been hip to the virtual world that's out there. It made me wonder if I've been living under a rock! The good news is it's not too late to learn, and this book will definitely help. I was so inspired by this book that I boldly went out there into the virtual world and set up my own blogsite!

This book delivers everything it promises. It is interesting from beginning to end and is obviously written by someone who is inspiring, articulate and experienced. It gives really good advice abot how to handle and manage one's growing familiarity with Internet capabilities and offers several good references for aspiring networkers. It even explains how to write a good resume.

The world is changing and so is business. The Internet, and various "Web 2.0" technologies, for lack of a better (or even good) name, are rapidly becoming an integral part of business and life.

The Virtual Handshake doesn't attempt to get you entirely up to date -- that's impossible, but up to speed -- that's far more valuable.

If you don't have any trusted colleagues you've never met in person or maybe not even talked to over the phone, you need this book. Even if you've spent a quarter of a century online like I have, you need this book. I learned a lot, and still refer to this book often. (If your secretary reads your email to you and you dictate answers, I suggest you retire or read this book ASAP.- You need help catching up).

After reading The Virtual Handshake, and I strongly suggest you do, you'll understand the basics, importance, and success guidelines of social software. You'll be up to speed in perhaps the most critical area of business change in our lifetime. The CURRENT wave of the Internet, and probably more important than the original commercialization and popularization of the Internet.

Hey, what's more interesting, the Big Bang Theory or How Life Came About?? This is the "How Life Came About" part and you'll learn about things like virtual communities and social networking, but far more importantly,- you'll know what to do. Actual steps you should take --- and plenty of case studies to help you understand their importance. Guidelines to harness the power of these new whateveryoucallthem.

Hint: be yourself, act responsibly, and remember you are the same person both online and offline and don't forget it!

There is a lot of valuable information in this book. Plan to read it, enjoy it, and then study it. And plan on concrete benefits.

It's a rehash of common sense. Do not waste your time reading this book.

Not only is this book super clever, but a great way to teach your kid's about rhyming. It also is a good tool for character study as most of the characters are caring, concerned, and encouraging, and work together to fix their broken teapot friend. We got this book when my daughter was three. She loved it then, and now at 4 1/2 still likes it, and I suspect it will be a favorite for quite awhile.

This was the first book I ever read all by myself, with the help of the rhymes and picture clues. I read it over and over, and still recite some of the rhymes to my children. I found a copy several years ago through a scholastic book order at school, thank goodness. I've written several lesson plans around this book and read it to my kindergarten class every year. All the children love it! I wish I could find it in hardcover or library binding, I'd buy a copy for myself, and one for every school in the district.

My brother and I, 46 and 42, respectively, were just remembering the book from when we were children. We loved this book and remembered many of the rhymes. We have since read the book to our own children and still have the original copy of this book. I would recommend this book to all people... we still get a kick out of it, it is such creative imaginative fun.

I may as well add in the praise for year 2005! My sister and I LOVED this book as children and I inherited the copy for my now 3 year old. He loves it!!! It is so battered though, I need to (hopefully) find a better one. I have read that rhymes are one of the greatest ways to teach reading and word structure, (etc, etc!) and I think this proves it. I start each phrase and my son will finish it. That's the ticket said the.....cricket!!

How can I resist adding my comments, after reading how many others went in search of this book for exactly the same reason I did! I have a old, tattered copy from my childhood that I recently pulled out to read to my 3 1/2 yr. old, thinking he was finally old enough to listen to it. He listened intently, asking all about why the teapot fell and what the spiders were doing... and when we came to the line, "Don't be dumb" said the crumb." - he burst out laughing in a fit of joyful giggles that lasted a full 10 minutes! How could I not go in search of a new copy so my children and I can share the laughter together?
A truly wonderful, joyful book about friends and teamwork.

this book was recommended by the instructor for a course on Shakespeare I took, to help those of us who were new to the literature and language of Shakespeare. It was an amazing resource and made it much easier to read and write about the plays. It's clearly written, explains the story well and any historically significant information that might be of importance to the play's history. This is an excellent suppliment for anyone reading Shakespeare.

This really does sum it up best:

"Shakespeare's genius is marked by his rare ability to appeal to theatergoers of all types and all levels of education. But for most modern folks, the Greek and Roman mythology and history, let alone the history of England and the geography of sixteenth-century Europe that his works are laden with, are hardly within our grasp. Isaac Asimov comes to making obscure issues clear to the layperson, selects key passages from 38 of the great bard's plays plus two of his narrative poems and, with the help of beautifully rendered maps an figures, illuminates us about their historical and mythological background."

Asimov is a genius, Shakespeare is a genius, it takes one to know one.

October 21, 2007

If you want to understand Shakespeare or just appreciate him more,this is a "must have" book.

Highly recommended for Shakespeare fans.

Gunner October, 2007 Comment | Permalink

This is the book if you want to start exploring Shakespeare. And don't get me wrong: it is not shallow -- on the contrary! -- but it is a very uncomplicated reading. Totally worth it.

As usual with Asimov works, this guide is absolutely superb!! I fully recommend it to readers attacking Shakesperare for the first time