Tracks Books

Dr. James K. Todd (Professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine), On Track To Quality is a unique, business-themed book written to answer the question, "What is quality?" Quality is not so easily defined or described; On Track To Quality tackles the conundrum through a parable dialogue between a mix of train passengers caught in a snowstorm. Their revelations, one by one, will aid the reader in discovering and identifying aspects of quality in both personal and business life.

Move over Dr. Phil, meet Dr. Todd. He "gets real" with quality in this insightful, must-read book for supervisors, business managers, and anyone interested in what true quality is. A quick, entertaining read.

A diverse group of train passengers finds themselves waylaid by a mountain snow slide and are drawn into a conversation about how to define "quality." The ensuing discussion produces a much broader perspective than the usual six-Sigma, statistically-significant, business-jargoned definition. I found On Track to Quality interesting, entertaining, clever, a simple read with a profound message, a Renaissance view (a minority perspective these days.) I liked it, especially the assumptions that quality, not profit, should be the holy grail of business and that everything (music, literature, business, philosophy and art) is interconnected, synergistic, driven by the same principles, or should be. Made me think of Quality in a way I hadn't before...as an art form. A small tome to read in a night, "engineered" to produce a change in perspective.

A very interesting and much needed synthesis of the many perceptions of quality. Todd cleverly hits the nail on the head in entertaining fashion.

Debbie teaches us that we can survive in any economy as long as we are welling to change our beliefs. Great book and very helpful.
Catherine Foster www.catherinefoster.com

In Outrageous Business Growth, Debbie Bermont explains each of the three principals that make up her formula for business success. She starts with explaining how to develop an internal prosperity consciousness, so that your business will thrive no matter what is going on in the economy. She than shows you how to align yourself only with people who want to buy your products or services so that you don't waste time and money advertising to the wrong market. Finally she explains how to develop lifetime relationships with your customers to create customer loyalty and increased sales for your business. This version of the book comes with a free one year e-subscription to Outrageous Business Growth Weekly, a $97.00 value.

I've read so many business growth books it has made me crazy! Everyone has a spin and I'm sure they all work. I just want proven success strategies in quickly accessible form AND a process that honors that I am a whole person--physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. And, that's what I got immediately in this book, Outrageous Business Growth.

With my coaching clients, both executives and entrepreneurs, I want to be able to hand them something that works. I give them the people skills to be successful and Debbie's book gives them the strategies to make business boom...and feel good about themselves every day.

Thanks, Debbie, for putting your learning on paper and making it available to every person. Your book makes me, my clients, and every reader take a good look at what it takes to make their business clear, values-driven, on the mark...AND outrageously successful! This is a remarkable book.

I read this book after attending a live seminar from Debbie Bermont. I must tell you that I was blown away. I am a student of marketing and an entrepreneur with business revenue over 25 million dollars per year, so I half expected to hear a re-tread of everything I have heard before. I wasn't jaded, but neither was I expecting a gold mine of marketing insights to deliver on the promise of "Outrageous Business Growth!" After the seminar, I began to read her book and cannot wait to implement and execute in my business. Just the beginning part of what Debbie calls the "Alignment Process" was insightful enough to make me rethink many of the areas of my business that have been on autopilot for a while. I am excited to take a new approach to some of these areas for increased revenue and a decrease in expenses.

I highly recommend Debbie Bermont's book, "Outrageous Business Growth" and believe that any business of any size in any market and any economy will find that this book clearly delivers on the promise of the title.

I read Larry's personal account of his tour of duty several years ago. I was moved then by how unique and profoundly different his prose chronicled his own actual personal experiences. This is so much different than other veteran accounts. It reflects a cultural and spiritual dimension not seen in so many other memoirs.

If you think you understand all that happened to us Vietnam veterans--this will open up new portals to understanding that have not been touched on by any one else. It is truly a personalized but universal life experience that will take the reader on a journey of the heart.

This should be on your list of books to read about the Vietnam War. A truly riveting read!

"Right when I thought I had pretty much read everything there was to be read about the Vietnam War from the soldier's/veteran's perspective, a small manila envelope found it's way to my door. As it turns out, there were some things I had failed to learn.

This isn't an easy book to read. It is painfully easy to follow, but it sure isn't easy to look at. What I mean to say is that, is there anyone who likes to look at their own skeletons in the closet? Not me. But it is something we all have to do if we ever plan to get anywhere in this world.

I shall ask Mr. Mitchell's forgiveness in advance if I speak incorrectly of his past. It is not my intent to do anything but shed light on the plight of the Native American Vietnam veteran. They are rarely spoken of, written about or honored. These men are all bigger people than I. If my grandfathers had their hair cut off, land and language stolen from them, I am not sure if I would be so eager to serve a government that had done this. I sometimes hear people ask, "Why don't the Indians just get over it? That was a long time ago." My answer would be, they have. They have fought and died for this country since before this country even had its own name. It seems odd to me that despite a man's heritage, he can be expected to lay his life down in a foreign land, maybe even for a foreign cause, but in his very own homeland, he is not honored for that sacrifice. That is so disrespectful and sad. Those are some of the reasons this book is so difficult to read. And that, like it or not, it isn't so easy to "move on" or to "get over it."

There are many scars a man can possess. A bullet wound will heal, ask a soldier with a Purple Heart. It may even be worth a good story or two. Scars on the forearm from jungle rot will make people gasp, but it doesn't hurt the veteran anymore. But there are some scars on the inside that, try as you might, you can't get to them, you can't bandage them or suture them. You can't blow them up, you can't ignore them, you can't outflank them and you can't run from them. They become part of you: in a way, they are you.

Then the question becomes "How do you live your life with the person you have been made to be?" The author speaks with great eloquence of this. He seems to have few regrets about serving his country, and yet one can barely hesitate when asking why? He has been ignored, taunted, refused and mistreated. What would you do if the tables were reversed? That is your big question. Would you be able to rise above it? Would you sink beneath that burden? I was halfway through the book when I thought I could not continue, I did not want to find out what happened to the author on the breakneck pace of self-destruction he was on. I figured someone else must have finished writing the book for him, for surely he was in prison or dead. He is neither. Please read on if you hit the middle ground, as I did. The ending will touch your heart.

The author looks you square in the eyes, as is the way of any honorable man, and he never lets his eyes blink through the entire book. It made me want to look away, to cry in shame, anger and want to have met this man back then to prove not all people are like many that he had met. I wanted to tell him that people don't treat veterans that way in Oregon. That he would have had it better here. But I don't really know that, do I? Maybe I see things from the eyes of a person who has always had the door opened for me, always had options, never been afraid to sleep for fear of what my mind would do while I tried to escape into slumber. I am safe because of the sacrifices men like Mr. Mitchell have made.

I have always been safe. Maybe that is why I felt so helpless reading this book. It just didn't feel right. I was left unsettled. But maybe that is the purpose of some things in life. Shake people up now and then. Challenge some of their notions, shake their ivory towers, maybe some of us will fall out and jog some sense back into our heads. It should not matter to me or you if the Vietnam War ended 30 years ago or 30 minutes ago. The fact is that millions served, thousands sacrificed all that they had, their lives, souls, minds, arms and legs. I have given them nothing in return. What have you given them? A parade? A job when they needed one? A swift kick in the teeth? A hand? I don't know what you are going to do, but I can make a suggestion. Read this book. Then think about it for a while. Then decide if there isn't some little something you owe a veteran you know. I know what I am going to do. I shall start off by writing Larry Mitchell a letter of appreciation. I think I shall also make him a batch of cookies - every soldier needs a box of cookies in the mail."

-Joni Bour

Potawatomi poet and Vietnam veteran Larry Mitchell takes us on a harrowing journey fraught with danger and drug addiction during his tour of duty in Vietnam and afterwards. The cover photo of Mitchell and his fellow GIs reveals the strong bonds that formed as they endured life under fire, endless days of tedium in the mud and jungles, and tension broken by sudden attacks from an unseen enemy. Some survived, but damaged. Others never came home. "Potawatomi Tracks" is one man's personal record, yet it rings with universal truths.

In strong cadences and vivid images, Mr. Mitchell tells of his struggles with PTSD, drug addiction, and aimlessness as well as poverty as he returned to civilian life on the reservation and later spent time stationed in Germany. Now married with two grown sons, he teaches writing, secure in his tribal community and visions for the future. Ultimately, his story becomes a testament of spiritual survival and the healing power of the drum.

"Potatawomi Tracks" does more than educate us and touch the heart. These poems bridge a cultural gap and issue yet another challenge to our government to pay heed to voices from Indian country. This book belongs in homes and libraries everywhere.

It's ironic that Native Americans have always loyally served our country overseas, only to be treated as second-class citizens back home. From the code talkers of World War II to soldiers who've died in Iraq such as Navajo mother Lori Piestawa, Indians have fought and died for America. Surely they deserve the recognition that other veterans receive.

"Potawatomi Tracks", Larry Mitchell's poetic chronicle relating the events of his year-long tour of duty in Vietnam and the path back to his home in the Northeast corner of Kansas on the Potawatomi Reservation is followed by years of drug abuse, alcoholism, homelessness and racial discrimination before he is able to overcome his feelings of despair to regain his dignity, self respect and take back control of his life.

From a Native Unity Review

No longer a dusty realm occupied solely by the Southern male, NASCAR has exploded over the last decade into a full-throttle national obsession. That said, it's only fitting that Mark McCarter, a homegrown Tennessee boy who's become a nationally recognized sportswriter, should be at the wheel of this tribute to America's newest past time. McCarter's evocative prose flawlessly blends a professional's dizzying knowledge of the sport with a race fan's tender passion. The heart-pounding, full-color photographs of Talladega, Daytona, and other racetracks around the U.S. are so vivid you'll swear you can smell the motor oil rising off the page! The Racetracks Book is a must-have for any red-blooded American who calls himself-or herself-a NASCAR fan.

I love NASCAR and I'm so excited about this book. The pictures are amazing, but there's so much I didn't really know about the racetracks. This is a very well-written book and the author did a fantastic job!

This book is a gem. Mark McCarter, a gifted and nationally recognized newspaper sports columnist, has done for stock car racing what Jack London did for dogs and James Joyce once did for drunk Irishmen. This book is the ultimate compliment to a fan's love of NASCAR. Grown fans will love this book for the access it gives them to some of America's premier tracks. But children will also love the pictures and stories. So parents, listen up: put down those boring Fairy Tales and pick up "The Racetracks Book" when your kids demand a bedtime story.

Mark McCarter is simply one of the most prolific sportswriters of our time. His poignant and powerful memoirs of life around the culturally diverse venues of NASCAR is spellbinding and makes any fan heady with excitement for his or her next visit to the track.

Recapturing the Growth Track is a practical, step-by-step guide to making change happen starting at the very top of an organizatoin. It is written directly to leaders of entrepreneurial organizations who have hit the proverbial wall.

It teaches them to look in the mirror to find the ultimate source of most growth stoppages. It gives them a paved road, not a trail of breadcrumbs, to navigate their way out of the woods.

As an organizational consultant and executive coach, I found the book very helpful in structuring my thinking around change activities. I felt that the authors were generous in sharing every ingredient in their secret formula for successful executive-level interventions.

Recapturing the Growth Track is a valuable addition to my business library. It is a book that I will not only read but consult.

I have personally read this book from cover to cover and believe me it is awesome!! Mr. Utech tells business owners/executives how to recapture the efficiency, energy, and drive that your company used to have when it was smaller and younger. This is not a gimmicky "system" or "process" that probably won't help you anyway. This is a PROVEN way of allowing people at all levels in your organization to COMMUNICATE effectively and extremely honestly so as to promote a positive accountability . Lack of proper communication and accountability saps efficiency by promoting dissatisfaction and a culture of blaming others. This program restores that lost efficiency and competitiveness that every company needs. Don't buy this book if you want a magic miracle cure. This book will show you the way by challenging you, as the leader, to grow and to change your disempowering ways. This book is all about personal growth that leads to business growth-this book will deeply challenge you! I guarantee you that you've never seen these ideas before (unless you are in one of the companies that are now market leaders after having hired Mr. Utech as a consultant.) I don't know why we have never thought of this before. If you implement these ideas now you will be ahead of the curve because in a couple of years everyone worldwide will be talking about the "Utech Cure".

Recapturing the Growth Track is a practical, step-by-step guide to making change happen starting at the very top of an organizatoin. It is written directly to leaders of entrepreneurial organizations who have hit the proverbial wall. It teaches them to look in the mirror to find the ultimate source of most growth stoppages. It gives them a paved road, not a trail of breadcrumbs, to navigate their way out of the woods.

As an organizational consultant and executive coach, I found the book very helpful in structuring my thinking around change activities. I felt that the authors were generous in sharing every ingredient in their secret formula for successful executive-level interventions. Recapturing the Growth Track is a valuable addition to my business library. It is a book that I will not only read but consult.

Virtually every manager and CEO wonders why his or her organization doesn't perform better ... like it used to! What's gone wrong?
When, despite using all the cutting-edge techniques, effectiveness has gone stale, the authors contend the malaise probably rests with how the leaders are inadvertently behaving ... causing an unclear, unfocused, sub-energized organization. What worked before (when challenges were less complex) no longer does. It's not a case of just "doing differently." It's a need for the CEO to better understand his/her drivers because they're being perceived with ambivalence.
These drivers aren't the normal ones like integrity, quality and responsiveness. Rather they are even deeper, more personalized. They derive from old fears, past successes, and major aspirations.
This How To, easy-to-read book helps the CEO and his/her organization learn what these inherent drivers and especially their limitations are ... and then model the key leadership trait of vulnerability so that others want to help them ... and their peers ... succeed! They see a leadership team more in sync, as well as how their own skills are critical to creating success. They then model this new behavior themselves, holding each other accountable, practicing a self-actrualizing peer dynamic rather than a controlling boss-subordinate one. This book describes a process which will ensure better execution, more motivated employees, higher productivity, more new ideas, more satisfied customers, and increased profits.

I purchased this book for my son, just because it was written by my favorite author. Although I immediately fell in love with it, I wasn't so sure what my 6 year old son would think of it, but, perhaps for different reasons than me, he insists on having it read to him frequently. Like any classic folktale, it uses a simple style and classic images to present timeless and complicated truths. The illustrations are gorgeous and evoke just the right feelings for the story.

I read this book to my daughters, ages 6 and 4. Several weeks later when we were visiting my in-laws, my oldest daughter ran up to me holding a "red mare", a small wooden horse that her grandparents had purchased in Sweden. She retold the entire story and then offered to rescue her brother if ever he should be abducted by trolls.

When I think of "good children's books," this is the first one I think of. I gave it to my five-year-old daughter years ago, and I read it to her first-grade class as a parent helper. I've never seen children so entranced, so silent, hanging on every word. Now I'm buying another copy to read to my own classes after I get my teaching credential.

This is a fantastic story with beautiful illustrations.

I bought it for my daughter when she was five. At the age of twelve it is still a favorite of hers, and for me as well. Since Le Guin has used techniques from oral traditions, it is simply wonderful to read aloud.

I think this is an example of a perfectly written short story. Everything in the story has a purpose. Not a word can be taken away without detracting from the story, and any additions would be superfluous.

This is one of the few books that will not be traded in or given to a library.

No matter what your level of running is, you can learn something from this book. There is a wealth of information here from basic fitness running to competitive running...this book has it all. Highly recommended for anyone interested in learning more about what would appear on the surface to be a simple sport.

This is a great beginner's book on learning how to run. The advice is practical and it had me running with confidence in no time. Buy this book if you want to learn the basics of running without a bunch of technical mumbo-jumbo.

I found myself picking this book up again and again, reading another one of the many pieces of wisdom on one of the so many topics of running covered by this book. I have been running for over 10 years, from marathons to triathlons to weekend trail runs, and yet this book tells me things about running that I have either forgotten or had not yet learned. And the format of the book makes it easy to read a topic for a quick bit of insight or motivation. A good solid resource for runners from beginners to veterans!

This is an ideal book for those beginning running and hoping to improve. What should you wear, what should you do, how can you avoid injury? All the answers are here in a well written, clear and concise format. Joe Henderson has written many books and for the beginning or intermediate runner this might be not only his best, but the best currently available. Tips, tables and helpful hints from years of experience and years of running are here.

The main character is a young girl from Israel and her friend is from Palestine, the place that has been in war with Israel for years. She needs to race for a reason her friend can't understand, but her father was killed and he was a runner so she has to run. I liked this book because it was well written and had just enough detail. It's about a really interesting topic- you know, the wars in Israel, really, things that happened only a couple years ago. This is a book full of meaning and truth.

Written by Anna Levine, her inspiration for Running on Eggs was developed from her experience living on a kibbutz, an agricultural settlement, in Israel. It is a book about a hidden friendship between two 13-year-old girls. Their families do not approve of their friendship and they try to hide it.

Karen and Yasmine are track teammates from very different backgrounds. Karen lives on an Israeli kibbutz as a Jewish girl. Her father was killed years ago in the war in Labanon. Her family is still struggling with the loss. She secretly meets Yasmine in "no man's land," a lot dividing Karen's kibbutz from Yasmine's village.

Yasmine lives in an Arab village. Her parents are very strict. Her dad does not allow her to run in shorts and wants her to run in a long skirt. Yasmine's family does not support her love for track, and eventually her father forces her to drop out.

Although they ride the bus together, the young Arabs and Jews have lived apart. On the bus, they purposely switch lunchboxes, giving them a reason to meet. The two are brought together by their passion for running. They both were hoping to do well in the Galilee Run so they could qualify for another race in Spain. After Yasmine is forced to quit, Karen continues to train with Yasmine's help.

When Yasmine's brother discovers the girls' friendship, the punishment could divide the two communities even. This book is about loyalty and friendship during conflicts and distrust. The story ends peacefully. This book teaches readers about the Arab-Israeli dispute. It also teaches about the way people judge others and form opinions based on preconceived ideas instead of the real person.

This was a great book. It's hard to believe it is a kids book because you don't get many books for kids on this subject. I think it's great that kids can learn about the Arab-Israeli dispute in a mellow way. I really liked this because you start to understand what it must feel like to be 9 in Israel right now. I think the reason the Israelis and Arabs got over their fight (in the book) is because they relized they could share, and they could use it for something they had in common. And, in the end it all worked out, for everyone.

This is a great book on a subject that is not often written about for kids. It is written in language that draws them into the story, and lets them understand and experience another part of the world through the eyes of normal kids facing problems that are much bigger than they are. This book tackles the subject of distrust between Jews and Arabs in Israel. It is ultimately about friendship. American kids will be easily able to identify with the kids in this story even though the subject may be new to them.

Sara Littlecrow Russell's debut book dishes out the horrors of bigotry with humor and a matter of fact tone that can only arrive in the company of truth. If you're looking for the feather and the flute, you've come to the wrong place. This is the fire and the blade. Nothing rings false. The poems feel as if they could have been written on paper bags while shopping yet with the surgical precision of finely honed craft. Honest, real and fleshy. So what are you waiting for? It belongs on the shelf of anyone who likes the direct gaze, the strong handshake, the wild dance. These poems do not waste your time, they ignite it.

Magdalena Gomez, Poet
www.myspace.com/magdalenagomez

A unique and thought-provoking book. Littlecrow writes with the voice of a strong survivor weaving the threads of tradition, belief and harsh reality in modern day America. Her writing is sharply clever and savagely witty yet shines with integrity. The images are vivid and accessible and will resonate with the reader struggling to hold their sanity in a world gone mad. A book to be savoured.

I tried to read it one poem at a time, tried to take my time, to let it all soak in. But I stayed up very late reading it, until my eyes wouldn't stay open any longer, and when I woke, I was unable to get out of bed until I completed it. Now I keep my copy at work, so I can lend it out to folks. This collection of poetry is vivid, fierce, powerfull, deep. Poetry for the people.

...it would be more appropriate in the backpack, car, bedside table, work place, public library, etc. Sara's poems are awesome - like swallowing little razors and every cut gets you closer to the truth. Kind of like Sharon Olds only more dazzling and gutsy. I don't read too many poets but I bought seven of these and gave them all to people I care about. Buy two - one for you and one to leave at a bus stop somewhere.

Overall a very informative and useful guide book to those who wants to start a home track or race at clubs competitevely with RTR cars. Rob did a good job in explaining into details mostly, what beginners miss out when preparing their cars to put on the tracks.

Great Book for slot enthusiast.

Slot Car Racing: Tips, Tricks, & Track Plans
Excellent informations for begginers and experienced "racers". I recommend this book!!

I bought this edition first.Yes,its the next book in the series and this is another title you should have.

This edition takes you further into detail on tracks,driving tips,etc on slot cars.An impressive book that will help you build and race your cars.
This edition and the author's first book,"The slot car bible" are must have books for all slot car owners.

OK, so it's a hobby sport and not a real race car: that doesn't mean slot car racing is a kids' sport - far from it. Over the years it's become one of the most popular hobbies of adults, and Slot Car Racing: Tips, Tricks & Track Plans provides an excellent set of details on how to fine-tune one's cars for optimum performance. From modifying and maintaining slot cars to putting together over fifty offered track plans, slot car enthusiasts receive a guidebook packed with tips which come from a slot car enthusiast himself. Learn how to build your own slot car and gain the most from the models available with this outstanding guide.