Teams Books

If you want something that is a GOOD READ, but full of really useful information and advice about how to really get things done in the pressured work environment of today, Crisis in Santa's Workshop is a book you'll want to own.

All the way through I was following a manager, a lot like me: conscientious but overwhelmed, knowing he had a huge job to do (what could be more pressure and time sensitive than toys going out in time for Christmas?), and now being able to just do it all himself. I had to keep reading to find out what he was going to do. I'd like my whole work team to read this book.

This book is a follow- up to Managers as Facilitators, a book I very much enjoyed, but done in a fun business fable format. Good book!

I have been looking for a book that will convince my organization to include more people in making important decisions and put an end to unproductive power struggles. This is it! My thanks to the authors. I am looking forward to applying their facilitation process in my work. I intend to give this book to every member of my team.

While author Mijnd Huijser may not add extra depth to the literature on national, organizational and team culture, he does a credible, helpful job of highlighting the work of pioneers in the field. His accessible approach features brief anecdotes about cultural dilemmas followed by explanations of the cultural issues at stake. The author's "Model of Freedom" is a graphic representation of cultural axes and dimensions, though readers who are unaccustomed to such graphs may find it more confusing than helpful. We believe this useful book offers a brief, broad and somewhat casual beginner's guide to the subject of culture in business - and provides interesting, accessible insights - and recommends it to those who need a solid introduction.

Business people working on international teams face a myriad of communication and business challenges, addressed here in CULTURAL ADVANTAGE: A NEW MODEL FOR SUCCEEDING WITH GLOBAL TEAMS. The author has over 15 years of international experience training intercultural groups and has tested his tool for overcoming common team problems: his CULTURAL ADVANTAGE reads with the excitement of fiction, following a case study through the book to teach methodology in an inviting, appealing manner business libraries and readers will appreciate.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

this was a gift for a friend of mine....book was in excellent shape and had shrink wrap around it

I gave this book as a gift. Dave is a fanatical Dallas Cowboy fan and he takes this with him where ever he goes. His wife says it has become his new bible for Cowboy trivia

Two books with similar titles came out within weeks of each other. Which one should you buy?

The books are:

DAY BY DAY WITH THE BOSTON RED SOX by Bill Nowlin

RED SOX JOURNAL by John Synder. Snyder's book is subtitled "Year by Year & Day by Day with the Boston Red Sox Since 1901."

Nowlin's book looks like the better one to me, but anyone who can afford both should buy both as they complement each other well. Both books try to look at interesting things that happened on given dates in Red Sox history.

If you want to look up a given year, say 1958, Snyder's book is better because it's organized by year. If you want to look up a given date and see everything that happened on that particular date, Nowlin's book works better because it's organized by the day of the year.

Nowlin's book costs $17.95. Snyder's book costs almost twice as much, a full $12 more: $29.95. Snyder's book has 92 more pages, but the pages aren't as densely packed with information. At first glance, the two books seem to have about the same amount of information.

The Nowlin book is easier to handle, given its size and shape. The Snyder book is a little unwieldy.

Both books offer incredible, almost unprecedented amount of detail. Snyder's book sprinkles a dozen or so photographs throughout. It's going to take weeks to read through the two books for content, but there's one troubling gaffe right on the back cover of the Snyder book. His publisher cites the sale of Babe Ruth to the Yankees for $125,000 on January 5, 1920. The sale actually occurred in 1919 on December 26, and the price was an even $100,000.

The amount of work that went into these books is staggering. It's too bad they both came out at practically the same time. Both books merit five stars.

Bill Nowlin has created something very special here: surely the most complete day to day history of the Boston Red Sox ever written. The book was inspired by the comprehensive 1978 compendium This Date in Boston Red Sox History,authored by my friend and mentor, the late Ed Walton. Nowlin's book may be the greatest literary tribute one could pay to Ed.
In order to write a book such as Day by Day, you have to have two characteristics:
- an abiding, all-consuming love of the Boston Red Sox
- an almost obsessive need to document, with painstaking accuracy, every aspect of their history
Nowlin possesses both of these "qualities" in spades. He is obviously a tireless researcher, yet he manages to bring a sense of humor to what could be a very dry and lifeless project. Day by Day brings Red Sox history alive in a very unique way. Turn to any date - your birthday perhaps - and you will doubtless discover something interesting, if not fascinating.
I can't imagine a Red Sox fan not having this book in her or his library. It is definitive.
Teddy Ballgame

Jonathan Schwartz captures the sweet sadness of being a lifelong Red Sox fan (at least until 2004).

Unless you are a Red Sox fan, you may not know about the Curse of the Bambino. In the early part of the 20th century, the Boston Red Sox dominated the American League. One of their best players was a pitcher named Babe Ruth. The owner traded the Babe to the New York Yankees in exchange for the money to invest in the Broadway production of No No, Nanette and it's been no cigar for the Red Sox ever since.

Jonathan Schwartz has one of the worst cases of Red Sox addiction that I have ever heard of. He has been a radio announcer in New York for over 30 years (that's enemy territory for Red Sox fans). To stay up with his beloved Red Sox, he spent almost $15,000 in long distance charges from 1970-77 to listen in to the air check for WITS in Hartford of the games (calling in from Paris in some cases).

This is a story first published in Sports Illustrated in 1978 and covers one of the worst periods in Red Sox history: The season when they blew a late 14 game lead to the dreaded Yankees. I lived in Boston at that time, and it was painful to recall the swoon. Yet at the end of the season, they pulled a comeback and tied the Yankees. There was to be a one-game playoff in Fenway Park (determined by a coin toss) on October 2, 1978. In a prior playoff against Cleveland in Fenway in 1948 (also on October 2), the Sox had lost 8-3.

During the slide, the worst time had been when the Red Sox lost four in a row in Fenway to the Yankees with less than a month to go. Schwartz recounts his reaction. In a funk, he impulsively walked out of his apartment with $50 and a credit card, and flew to California. Only after arriving did he remember to call his live-in girlfriend and tell her what he had done.

With the big game coming up, Schwartz thinks he should take it easy and watch the game on television. At the last minute, he cannot resist and calls in some markers to get a press pass.

Most of the book recounts the game. It is interspaced with pre and post game comments from the key players.

The ironies continue to abound. You'll have to read the book to get them all. The Sox took a 2-0 early lead, but the faithful were fearful. Bucky Dent, the light-hitting shortstop, fouled a ball off his leg and play was stopped temporarily while he was treated. On the mound, the delay cost Torres (the Red Sox pitcher and former Yankee) his concentration. You guessed it. Dent hit a home run. Gossage replaced Guidry later on and stops the Red Sox from rallying back.

The final score: New York 5, Boston 4 (or as Schwartz puts it "Destiny 5, Boston 4).

Required reading and rereading for all Red Sox fans until the Curse of the Bambino is lifted!

Overcome your disbelief that anyone team could have so much bad luck with so much talent by reading this engaging story of baseball tragedy!

As a die-hard fan for almost 50 years, I could relate to the many stories of the personal attachment to our beloved White Sox. Highly recommended for all true Sox fans!

Like many other Sox fans, I went to the cemetary to "tell" my father about the White Sox winning the World Series. I like to think he knew, but just in case, I wanted to share it with him. To my surprise, there were many other graves decorated with Sox flags already-obviously by other families with similar intent ! Love for the Sox is an obsession, almost a religion. If you don't believe it, read all the dedications, mostly to older relatives who introduced the writer to the Sox. I found the book touching, humorous. You need to be a hard core older fan to appreciate it, however. The kind of fan who uses the web site. My dedication is to my Dad, George J. who died 10 years before the championship. The games he took me to at old Comisky are my best memories. Nellie Fox, Louie Apparicio to Wilbur Wood, Jack McDowell, and Ozzie Guillen, have been my heroes. I only wish we could have shared the Championship season, Dad. I'm sure you find joy in the way your grandsons and I play, coach, and cheer on the Sox.

THIS BOOK DEFENSE WIN IS THE BEST BASKETBALL BOOK I HAVE EVER READ ANY COACH THAT WANTS TO WIN AT ANY LEVEL SHOULD READ THIS BOOK. IT TELLS YOU EVERYTHING AND ANYTHING ABOUT WINNING DEFENSE, YOU WILL WIN AT ANY LEVEL, WHEN USING THESE GREAT DRILLS AND SET-UP THAT THE MASTER-MIND AUTHOR bill haubrich HAS PUT IN THIS AMAZING BOOK. THE PATRICES DRILLS AND GAME SET-UP THAT THIS GREAT BOOK GIVES YOU WILL WIN!

This was an outstanding book for anyone who wishes to coach defense at the highest level. The book does an effective job atbreaking down every aspect of team man to man defense. A must read for any coach serious about winning with defense.

This is absolutely a "must-have" for any Detroit Tigers fan! Not just a book of statistics, "Detroit Tigers Lists and More" is about every fascinating and obscure trivia you ever wanted to know about the Tigers. Everything from Tigers in other Halls of Fame to player nicknames to fantasy teams to miscellaneous info too good to pass up (like notable fights, forfeits and family relations) - it's here, all neatly cataloged and indexed for easy reference. Pick one up for your favorite sports fan!

This is absolutely a "must-have" for any Detroit Tigers fan! Not just a book of statistics, "Detroit Tigers Lists and More" is about every fascinating and obscure trivia you ever wanted to know about the Tigers. Everything from Tigers in other Halls of Fame to player nicknames to fantasy teams to miscellaneous info too good to pass up (like notable fights, forfeits and family relations) - it's here, all neatly cataloged and indexed for easy reference. Pick one up for your favorite sports fan!

Ian Browne, who so ably chronicles the Red Sox for mlb.com, has provided us with a wonderful inside look at one of the most compelling stories from the team's 2007 season. In describing the acquisition and first season of Japanese pitching star Daisuke Matsuzaka, he gives us a clear picture of the business decision making process that brought Dice-K to the team and then thoughtfully interweaves vignettes focusing on cultural diversity, team-building, and the road to a World Series championship. The book is far more than an expanded internet column. Even for those of us who follow the Red Sox all season, this book is a nail-biter. It should provide reading pleasure to both baseball lovers and others interested in the interfaces among business, sports, and intercultural challenges.

There are some players who produce seasons that transcend mere success or failure, and Daisuke Matsuzaka was one of them in 2007. Fortunately, Ian Browne was able to expertly chronicle what became a rivoting story within a story. The book is thorough, insightful and entertaining, more than doing justice to a year-long drama no baseball fan will soon forget.

Dinosaurs are a hot topic right now...and A Dinosaur Named Sue: The Find of the Century really teaches young kids about the job of a paleontologist--in a positive light. SUE, the most complete T. rex fossil ever found, is an amazing discovery, both educationally AND on basis of interest, and children should definitely read all they can about this dinosaur. This book approaches SUE on the level of a 3rd grader, yet the language and subject matter are intelligient enough for a parent to find interesting--maybe even to learn from! I definitely did!

I saw SUE in Chicago last week. In this book I learned that SUE was named after Susan who found the fossils. Susan had a dog named Gypsy. They kept on digging up duck-billed dinosaurs. Sue's boned weighed 4 tons!! The Field Museum bought it for over eight million dollars! SUE is a T.rex. I think that SUE did fight with other dinosaurs. SUE is 67 million years old! I was happy to see SUE in Chicago and to read this book!