Tracks Books

This book gives great games for use both in and out of the gym. Student waiting is kept at a minimum with the ideas in this book. The book is laid out very logically and diagrams are VERY clear. Many of the games are great as lead up activities for team sports. Great for upper elementary (grades 3-6).

This is a great book for teachers starting off or looking for new ideas. It provides good written examples and pictures, along with providing guidance and student goals as well.

This book will get your class up and moving. Mr. Hughes has such innovative ideas. This will certainly be a great addition to your teaching library!

As an ex-Intel person, I participated in a number of "map days" to pull project plans together. Timm Esque's book documents the approach, including the "behind-the-scenes" work to prepare for these map days, to run them, and to perform the after-the-map day activities.

I've used Timm's book in running map days in my current organization and in running a large IT program. I've leveraged his PAC (Performance Against Commitments) and his deliverables matrix to stay on top of the program performance and quickly identify what's behind and what's on track.

In short: excellent reference!

Timm Esque has created an outstanding book with many practical insights for project managers. I am a performance technologist for a high tech company. Timm's case studies and templates contribute to making this one of the best books that I have read concerning performance improvement in business environments. The book is well thought out and based on Timm's extensive experience in industry. Tom Gilbert would be proud (if you don't know, read the book to find out who Tom Gilbert is).

This is a two flight book! A coast-to-coast round trip about does it. Actually, Timm's ideas are so straightforward and elegant that it should have taken one flight, but I got into a long conversation about the book with a client on the way. The top-down, bottom-up approach is something I've been teaching for some time in my project management classes. But what Timm has done integrating human performance technology and PM is a breakthrough. The PM community often talks about "the human side" as if there are the real skills (which are very technical--the good stuff) and the touchy-feely things you have to do to glue a team together. Not surprisingly, manipulation is a recurring theme. Timm has hit the Achilles heel of the traditional approach: getting commitment. Traditionally, project management is like scar tissue: it builds up layers of protection against the inevitable re-injury. "No Surprises" reframes the whole conversation into a way of enabling project teams to self-manage the 'how's" while putting the project manager in the role of "making trade-offs visible."

This is an extraordinarily practical book, filled with tools and techniques you can pick up and use right away.

I have known David and Roger since the 70's and have other books by them. They love running foot races and it shows. You can count that this will be the best researched and well written book. I was not disappointed. I dug in and read the book over a couple of weeks. If it is not in this book then it is an unproved rumor.

If you are a runner (especially a marathoner) you have to get this book. It goes through every marathon in Olympic history, giving each race history, events, course, statistics, etc. It is very thorough, while pacing itself to get in all the Olympic marathons into a single volume. And, it was written in an interesting and readable manner.

The competition and sport of the races themselves give a great basis for an exciting read.

If you are doing a research project (like I was) this was the only book I would recommend - or, at least the first book. I could not find a book anywhere that showed the 1960 Rome Olympic course. Martin and Gynn had it. In fact, their race course map was better than the map a friend obtained for me from the Italian Olympic Library (Federazione Italiana Di Ateletica Leggera).

The authors, Martin and Gynn, have put together an unbelieveably detailed review of every Olympic Marathon in the modern era. The detail provided brings the excitement of each successive Marathon alive. The Olympic Marathon is, perhaps, the most grueling Olympic event, and the comprehensive coverage of each race makes the reader feel as if it's taking place before their very eyes. Read this book and you'll get a sense of the drama of the event, the personal history of the runners, and the historical setting of each race. The authors have even reconstructed old Olympic documents to trace the paths each Olympic Marathon took. The information in this book is truly encyclopedic, and the authors have given us with a wonderful sense of what this race is about. This book is a gem.

This book is easily my best rail book purchase in a longtime. The photo reproduction is supurb and railfans have not seen thesort of writing that is in this book since David P. Morgan died.

This book will probably not interest the rivet counter/roster shot takers, it centers on people, on heartfelt feelings, on the things that matter.

Highly recomended.

Mark Bau END

These photographic essays on Western railroading provide excellent black and white images of trains, providing a photogenic collection of rail scenes from across the country. Rail buffs will find these historical photographic presentations engrossing.

If you're not a fan of railroads and not a fan of photography, you will still enjoy this book. It's no secret Ted's been around, and to some places you wouldn't even believe. However with all these places it's hard to contain it all in a single volume, but Ted has done a wonderful job picking the best and his favorite photographs for the book. Thirteen lucky chapters detail his subjects with a flare and writing that goes down like a bottle of imported beer...nice and smooth! This book is a must for your home library!

This is a great book use to track your written prayers.
It's amazing how your answer is given, after you go back over your day to see what has transpired.
And just by saying Thank you Lord, helps you to keep a smile on your face, get you thru the day and have someone tell you how good you've been to them just by smiling.
I can testify to this, I have written and spoken prayers of Thanks, and gotten answers each time.

this journal will help you understand how good god is. you will be able to track you daily thoughts and prayers and realize that god hears all and answers all in time. i find some of the suggestions very helpful in how to pray as well as many people also need to know how to be forgiving to all the good blessings god has for us all... thank you, mary in laurel md.

I love this book! It has great tips on more effective prayer and tons of space for writing. My first prayer in the book is going to be I hope this book will help others as much as it will help me. Thank you Billy for created this book. Love you!

"Nash Black's Qualifying Laps will leave you asking when this exciting new author will have another book out! Wonderfully original, the book is filled with fast action, realistic description and dialgue, with believable characters you will never forget! Mystery fans must add this one to their collections." Roberta Simpson Brown, Queen of the Cold-Blooded Tales.

If you like a good mystery with a little humor and can't wait to see how the book ends, you will enjoy reading this book.

Qualifying Laps is a good little mystery. A family of nine boys and their mother get involved in trying to solve the mystery of the skeleton found sitting in the Corvette in a Brewster County barn. The book is exciting and even funny in places. Being from Kentucky, I really enjoyed the references to real names and places. This is a good start. We want more!

European 5,000 meter Gold medalist Bruce Tulloh calls Running Dialogue "a nice combination of good humor and sound advice". The advice is from a 31 minute 10k runner, plus contributions from: John Babbington, Roy Benson, Scott Douglas, Jack Daniels Ph.D., Frank Horwill, John Pagliano DPM, Gary Tuttle and Harry Wilson. Their athletes include Lynn Jennings and Steve Ovett. The first 66 pages are for the new runner, with special sections showing how to make time for exercise, and how to incorporate speedwork on low mileage. The next 100 pages take you through to VERY serious training in a humane and often humorous way. Cartoons illustrate key points and messages. Comprehensive injury prevention and treatment sections follow, nutrition and marathon training closes out the advice. The last 40 pages are a bonus: essays with a point to make, followed by pace charts showing speed to run at for anaerobic threshold and for VO2 max training. The book covers 5k to the marathon. It includes full 10k coverage, but "10k running and training" by David Holt will be available in November 1998.

David got me started with my first training schedules as his book nursed me through my first 6 months of varied and interesting training. He then follows it up with all you'd ever need to know to become and expert runner at 5K to the marathon. e.g. three chapters on Interval training. Nice cartoons and injury advice was a bonus: no need to get a specialist injury avoidence and treatment book if you have Running Dialogue. Unlike most authors, he also includes nutrition advice. David backs up his advice with science and other experts. My favorite is the training heartrate calculated from your resting heartrate: Unique.

David got me started with my first training schedules as his book nursed me through my first 6 months of varied and interesting training. He then follows it up with all you'd ever need to know to become and expert runner at 5K to the marathon. e.g. three chapters on Interval training. Nice cartoons and injury advice was a bonus: no need to get a specialist injury avoidence and treatment book if you have Running Dialogue. Unlike most authors, he also includes nutrition advice. David backs up his advice with science and other experts. My favorite is the training heartrate calculated from your resting heartrate: Unique.

Between about 1954 and 1984 I read huge amounts of material on training for middle distance running - books, magazines and journal articles on sports physiology. Nothing I read, and nothing I was told by several High School and College coaches of the time came close to explaining what interval training really was, how it worked or why. This book contains most of this explanatory information in the introductions to each chapter. Once the recovery aspect of this training method was made clear, I could use the tables to design workouts for running 10K and 15K road races. (By that time the "running boom" was growing fast and I had "aged up" into the master's group.) Nonetheless, with no real coaching available in the mid-1980's, I added one good, long, "middle distance" interval session per week. Sometimes I did it every two weeks. I used a combination of a college track and a nearby measured cross country course. I designed several different workouts to avoid boredom. I ended up running faster, longer and with better form than at any younger age. I had to quit competition because of family and job commitments. Otherwise, I think I was headed towards "top ten" rankings (regionally) within the coming year. The only other ingredient a runner needs is a good reference on sensible, active recovery workouts after the interval training and how to be careful in building up your volume of work over the long term to avoid injury. Books on foot care, shoes and orthotics might be good as well. There used to be a booklet by Tom Osler called "The Conditioning of Distance Runners." I suspect it is out of print, but by now there must be updated resources (see books on "periodization"). If you don't have access to a good coach, or even if you do but want to learn more, this may be the best studying you can do. I believe these workouts can be modified for use by swimmers and cyclists without too much difficulty.

This book helps you see where your running potential lies. You can find out, based on your PR in a given event, how fast your intervals should be run.

Payton Jordan suggested to me to try this book of charts indicating the current progress of a runner and the step-up procedures necessary to improve. It was, and still is, "the" book to understand effort levels and training procedures within the reach of the user!!

Marcia Simpson delivers another satisfying tale, SOUND TRACKS, the second in the series following Liz Romero, bookmoboat librarian/delivery service in Alaska. Her first, CROW IN STOLEN COLORS, was an excellent debut of this new series and I couldn't put it down. Simpson's moody descriptions take you right to the scene of dripping pines, foggy harbors and the "last frontier" atmosphere of the region. Although the crime itself isn't followed in a traditional whodunit style, both books have fascinated me and I can highly recommend them for their in-depth characterizations and skillfully woven plots. CROW was a bit more hit-in-the-gut suspense, with a young boy's life in peril, while TRACKS follows the bay water's endangered whale population. You easily get caught up even in the quirky secondary characters. Simpson is a true storyteller.

As a mystery author with my debut novel in its initial release, I can easily predict that Marcia Simpson will develop into a major talent in our mystery genre. Alaska is a grand land (I was recently there to appear at Anchorage's LEFT COAST CRIME mystery convention) and Ms. Simpson makes the most of her setting. Liza Romero captains a freighter that services the islands south of the state capital. Along this stretch of water, strange events begin to happen. Among these strange events, healthy whales are beaching themselves. The wildlife expert, Henry Sizemore, who investigates the cause of the beached whales apparently drowns in an accident. So launches Liza Romero's second mystery. Liza remains a strong character in this new novel. Newcomer, Scott Beringer also proves interestingly conflicted. The most fascinating elements of SOUND TRACKS, though, are the ecological underpinnings of this story. SOUND TRACKS is a terrific follow-up to Ms. Simpson's stunning debut, CROW IN STOLEN COLORS.

Off the coast of Alaska, whales are acting out of character and crashing into things they normally avoided like rocks and boats. Sea captain Liza Romero knows first hand the problem when a whale crashes into her boat. Even more shocking is the realization that healthy whales are beaching themselves for no apparent reason. The Alaskan State Wildlife Protection Agency whale expert Henry Sizemore investigates the phenomena, thinking sound may be the problem. However, before he can complete his inquiries, Henry drowns in what appears to be an unfortunate accident.

San Diego-based Scott Beringer is sent to replace Henry as the whale expert. He wants to say no because of his custody fight with his spouse over their child, but heads north to Alaska anyway. As Scott begins to learn the truth about what is causing the whales to behave aberrantly, he finds his personal life has followed him to his new job as Liza wonders how safe sailing in any of the waters is with rogue whales running wild.

SOUND TRACKS is an excellent environmental mystery that showcases the raw beauty of Alaska as rarely seen in a novel. The story line never slows down as events keep piling upon each other and that adds up to quite a tale. Liza remains a strong character as she returns after quite an appearance in her debut, CROW IN STOLEN COLORS. Scott is a reluctant hero always striving to do the right thing for the state and for his daughter. Marcia Simpson provides an enjoyable regional mystery that showcases a state, a way of life, and her talent.

Harriet Klausner

"I recommend this book to film students and anyone else who is interested in the art of mixing film sound; it contains absorbing insights into the creative process from some of the best sound designers in the industry. By engaging film sound artists in a series of revealing dialogs, Pasquariello highlights some of the practical problems and ingenious solutions to making films sound good." Ioan Allen, senior vice president, Dolby Laboratories

From May/June, 1997 issue of the Editors Guild (IATSE Local 776) Newsletter, Hollywood, California BOOK REVIEW: "SOUNDS OF MOVIES - Interviews with the Creators of Feature Sound Tracks" by Nicholas Pasquariello 240 pages, softcover - Port Bridge Books Reviewed by Dave Whittaker Nicholas Pasquariello has been writing about the technical side of filmmaking for a variety of periodicals for about twenty years, and he now has published a valuable book that collects together interviews with thirteen individuals who are all prominent in the world of film sound. The interviews span the last thirteen years, published originally in Mix magazine and others, and the interviews included here seem to have been chosen for their timelessness, a wise choice. While this book seems aimed largely at the academic film community, there's sufficient depth in the contents so as to be of value to "working professionals" in the film industry. The book is divided into two main sections about production and post-production. The production interviews are with prominent production mixers; the section on post is with re-recording mixers, sound editors, and "sound designers" who wear both hats. The balance is devoted to absorbing interviews on director/composer collaboration, the archival restorations of 'Othello' and 'Lawrence of Arabia', and the perils of translating and dubbing foreign-language versions abroad. In the production section the interviews are with Chris Newman on 'A Chorus Line' and 'Mosquito Coast', Drew Kunin on the rigors of getting usable sound on racing yachts for Carrol Ballard's 'Wind', Ivan Sharrock on 'The Last Emperor', Simon Kaye on 'Platoon', Tod Maitland on 'The Doors', and Nelson Stoll on the marriage of documentary and feature techniques and the politics of the job. It's an interesting and highly varied group of films, with an equally interesting and varied group of mixers talking. If you've never worked in production, or if you've ever complained about the production mixing on a show you're working on, these interviews can be most enlightening. You'll gain some appreciation for the difficult position these folks are in. Trying to reconcile the goal of good sound quality with the conflicting demands of preoccupied directors, camera and lighting needs, difficult locations, and budget realities, all the while "looking good in dailies", is clearly revealed to be a most elusive objective. In the post-production section are interviews with Mark Berger on re-recording 'Amadeus' and 'Mosquito Coast', Richard Beggs on sound design for 'Cotton Club' and 'Tucker', Leslie Shatz on sound design for 'Mishima', Mark Mangini on sound effects for 'Star Trek IV', and Mike Minkler on re-recording 'Explorers'. Like the production mixing section, the group of films here is quite varied and the personalities of the interviewees are often quite engaging. The post section devotes most of its length to the interviews with Bay Area professionals. As a Hollywood sound editor, I was taken aback by this at first, but then realized that this proves to be a bit of a virtue, because the multiple-hat wearing of Richard Beggs and Leslie Shatz allows the interviews to roam over the entire sound-post process, presenting a cohesive picture of what really goes on beyond the picture editing room. Perhaps this Bay Area weighting is a reflection of the tendency for many filmmakers who appreciate the value of collaboration to be attracted to the less-compartmentalized working methods there. It proves useful to read about the difficult location sound recording on 'Mosquito Coast', and then read later about the ramifications of those early decisions when Alan Splet and Mark Berger were trying to edit and mix the tracks. Where this book could be improved would be if there more of these linkages of interviews. Also, when techniques with a long history are discussed in the interviews (such as dance foley for 'Chorus Line') an internal author's reference about that history would be enlightening (as in: "Fred Astaire and others were doing this in 1934"). But these are minor quibbles, somewhat made up for by the presence of fascinating 'bonus' interviews with Vittorio Storaro and Dean Tavoularis on the cinematography and production design for 'Tucker'. There's precious little published material on the working and creative processes of film sound, and this book helps to fill the void. Check it out.

"I recommend this book to film students and anyone else who is interested in the art of mixing film sound; it contains absorbing insights into the creative process from some of the best sound designers in the industry. By engaging film sound artists in a series of revealing dialogs, Pasquariello highlights some of the practical problems and ingenious solutions to making films sound good." Ioen Allen Senior Vice President Dolby Laboratories