Teams Books

I'm addicted to BJ Killeen's Build Books! This one is no exception. Tons of full-colour, detailed photographs show you how the Ringbrothers built up 'Reactor', from the ground up. They found a near-perfect '67 Mustang, stripped it and got to work. Reactor is fitted with lots of CNC-machined parts, which are photographed and described in detail. The Build Book experience is something no webzine or print magazine article can replicate. As always, Build Book #5 will show you behind the scenes fabrication, and how dedicated craftsmen shape metal, chop, grind, fabricate and paint to create a truly amazing work of (kinetic) art. In addition, the vendors are mentioned and advertise their products and services should you have ideas of building your own dream ride. Very inspirational, two thumbs up!

If I had a daughter
I'd dress her up in green
And send her over to Baylor
To coach the football team.

Just kidding. The original is, I think, a Georgia Tech song.

Anyway, the Baylor football team? Not the Women's basketball team? Or the Men's tennis team? Or the 4x400 team?

In any case, I never got sent off to Baylor. And I don't know much about football. But when my son comes to visit, he sometimes watches football, and I read this book so that I would "know a quick kick from a winged-T." It isn't about the Baylor Bears, but it is by "Bear" Bryant, a truly great football coach. This book was written in 1960, so it is a little dated. For example, it does not discuss the "wishbone" offense that Bryant used in the 1970s. It does not even mention the two-point conversion.

The author, Paul Bryant graduated from the University of Alabama in 1936, having played on the Crimson Tide's 1934 national championship team. As head coach at the University of Kentucky, he led the 1950 team to a victory over the Oklahoma Sooners. As Bryant related in this book, his team made a dramatic goal-line stand in that game and wound up winning 13-7. The voting for the national championship was held prior to the game rather than afterwards, so Oklahoma was awarded the national championship rather than Kentucky, but in 2005 the surviving Kentucky players were honored as national champions.

At Texas A&M, as he mentions in the book, Bryant led the 1954 team through an infamous pre-season training camp at Junction, Texas. 76 of his 111 players quit within ten days. The rest of the team basically, um, left it in the training camp and went 1-9 during the actual season, Bryant's only losing season as a head coach. Two years later, his team, including several of those who had been at Junction, was undefeated, won the Southwest Conference championship, and failed to go to a bowl game only due to, um, being on probation.

At Alabama, Bryant's teams won the Associated Press national championship in 1961, 1964 and 1965, and finished third (although undefeated and untied) in 1966. The fine 1973 team (UPI national champions) missed the AP national championship by one point in the bowl game. After a third place finish in 1975 and second in 1977, his teams won two more Associated Press national championships, in 1978 and 1979. Bryant retired after the 1982 season and died a month later.

Bryant was nicknamed "Bear" because he wrestled a bear at a carnival once when he was just barely a teen-ager. And he often wore a distinctive checkered "houndstooth" hat.

The book itself is interesting and teaches many fundamentals. It shows the importance of being organized. Bryant also makes the point that there is a big difference between being willing to put in the work it takes to become good and wanting to do that work.

There are a number of anecdotes that Bryant uses to make his points. He discusses how a long punt made late in a game went further than the coverage and was returned against his team for the winning touchdown. Not only did that show the problems with such kicks, it also led him to adopt a "spread" punt formation.

He showed that while preparation is a good idea, it does not always work. His team prepared carefully on how to recover an opponent's onside kick. When Cincinnati tried one, his best-handed eleven players were there and ready. But Cincinnati still recovered their kick. Before a game against Houston, his quarterback was warned that if the team were ahead by less than a touchdown with first and ten from its own territory late in the game, a sideline pass would be a very bad idea. Such a pass seriously risked an interception and game-losing touchdown. But his quarterback got into exactly that situation and tried such a pass, getting it intercepted. Luckily, Houston did not score.

There is an interesting discussion of Bryant's "prevent defense" which he calls the "victory defense." These defenses often fail, but Bryant had good success with it, and he used his best player in it to be the only one not to go after the ball, but to stay back to guard against some tipped ball or other "unlikely" eventuality.

One other Bryant anecdote showed that it is important for players to be reminded of some of the rules in a few relatively unusual situations. What if one has the ball at one's own one-yard line? And suppose it is very late in the game and one is clinging to a one-point lead. Suppose it is third down, so after an incomplete pass there is still a chance to punt. What should one be particularly aware of? Right. The risk of giving up a safety. That might lose the game on the spot. Well, how does one give up a safety? Get tackled behind the line of scrimmage. Lateral the ball out of the end zone. Get called for holding (did you all realize that this is not a yardage penalty but a safety?). Get called for intentional grounding. And so on. What if you throw the ball into the stands, but it goes out of bounds when it is still in the end zone? Is that a safety?

By the way, you might want to ask yourself if you know how a team can lose by a score of, say, 14-1. Right again. You get one point if you score a safety against the team that is trying to score an extra point after a touchdown. You probably need to block or intercept their extra point try, return it, lose the ball, and then tackle their player in the other end zone. Bryant does not give this example, but it is just one more obscure rule that even a football player may forget.

I recommend this book.

Truell breaks down how groups work together. He points out what can lead to arguments and ultimately cause a team break down. This book is a great idea for anyone who needs to work with a team of people.

I have read all of Robert Wysocki's books and this is by far his best. He's written a book that every Project Manager--rookie or seasoned pro--needs to read in order to improve his projects' success rates. As a PM with over 15 years of experience, I've had my share of projects derail or blow up and in many cases, poor alignment of the project team to the project was a significant cause. This book shows how to assemble the ideal team based on thinking styles and personality types for any given project. The chapters that covered problem solving and conflict management were especially insightful.

A new title; a new format for the book and the individual chapters; and lower price, all intended to make the book more readily and easily accessible to the physician, dietitians, nurses, and other professional that provide care to burned patient.

From shared decision-making to organizing more effective meetings through adjusting programs and structure, Eli Mina's THE BUSINESS MEETINGS SURCEBOOK provides business managers with important insights on efficiently managing meetings. Introductory chapters provide learners with the ideas to form a business meeting foundation, while experienced managers will want to turn to the later chapters on converting dysfunctional groups and handling more complex group issues. An essential executive's guide.

This book is an excellent and clear guide to those who want to learn in great detail how buyouts work, it provides several examples and definitions of related terms across all chapters. The book could serve as a text for a course in private equity or i-banking.

Highly recommended.

This is one of the greatest books I have ever read. The plot is that a dog gets stolen from his owner and is forced to pull sleds that weigh much more with all the items. It is full of emotion and action. YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK!

Cecil Harris is a beat writer for a Westchester County NY paper who recollects about his journalistic days covering the Yankees in the mid 90s, including the '96 season, as well as his past in living in a household filled with Met and Brooklyn Dodger fans. He describes about the time he became interested in the Yankees and shares his beliefs as to who are the 'true' Yankees today and in the past, as well as his favorite of all-time: Horace Clarke, a second baseman from the 60s-70s. Harris also offers a clear picture of how race plays a role in the game even today and what effect players have used the race card in interviews with Harris. Overall, I could not put this book down and I recommend it to anyone whose a true baseball fan, not even a Yankee fan per-say (but it does help if you are a Yankee fan!) Not only is the book a fun read, but your emotions will get the best of you when he recalls his immediate family and the memories he has of them through the sport of baseball. An excellent book overall - thanks Cecil Harris for your thoughts and wisdom.

This is a paperbound edition of the History of the University of
Miami's Football program from its beginnings up to the start of
the 1993 season. If you are a Hurricane fanatic, (and you should
be) this is a must have. Great color photos galore and the true
story of this dynasty period in one of the greatest college
football programs of all time. The championship games, the
coaches and the players are all covered here. It's out of print
now and is extremely hard to find, but very much worth the effort. If you can get one, you will not be disapointed. There
is also a VHS tape by the same name as well and it is a great
item to have for a visual document for this period as well. It's
out of print as well, but still available from a few dealers
when last I checked here on Amazon. If not, put this item on you wish list or pending purchase list when available ASAP.

This book is nirvana for Canes lovers everywhere. Canes haters,
spare yourselves the misery. Skip this and go back to your coloring books. The CANES Dominate and this is the proof.