Book Description
From universally beloved author Alexander McCall Smith, comes this seventh installment in the bestselling No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series featuring Botswana’s best-loved detective.
Life is good for Mma Ramotswe as she sets out with her usual resolve to solve people’s problems, heal their misfortunes, and untangle the mysteries that make life interesting. And life is never dull on Tlokweng Road. A new and rather too brusque advice columnist is appearing in the local paper. Then, a cobra is found in the offices of the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency. Recently, the Mokolodi Game Preserve manager feels an infectious fear spreading among his workers, and a local doctor may be falsifying blood pressure readings. To further complicate matters, Grace Makutsi may have scared off her own fiancé. Mma Ramotswe, however, is always up to the challenge. And Blue Shoes and Happiness will not fail to entertain Alexander McCall Smith’s oldest fans and newest converts with its great wit, charm, and great good will.
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Praise for In the Company of Cheerful Ladies:
• National Bestseller
“Beloved Botswana sleuth Precious Ramotswe is back – and better than ever – in this sixth entry in McCall Smith’s bestselling series. . . . By turns laugh-out-loud funny and quietly profound, these life-affirming mysteries are fine company, indeed.”
–Booklist, starred review
“Like clove oil on a bad tooth, McCall Smith’s fiction acts on cynicism as an effective, old-fashioned balm.”
–The Globe and Mail
“May be the most compelling of the lot. . . . It begins with an incident that crystallizes McCall Smith’s skill. Ultimately it is a matter of petty thievery, but his handling of it dramatizes the moral underpinnings of these books. . . . [Mma Ramotswe’s] strength – and the source of her enormous appeal – is her understanding of the human heart, and her willingness to confront its perfidies.”
–New York Daily News
“These books offer a sunnily lit window into another world, along with a modicum of relief from certain aspects of modern Western culture. They never descend into mere escapism, though. A few hours spent with Precious Ramotswe and her friends is always time well spent.”
–St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“[The] sixth entry in McCall Smith’s consistently delightful series. . . Amid the hilarious scenarios and quiet revelations are luminous descriptions of Botswana, land of wide-open spaces and endless blue skies.”
–Publishers Weekly, starred review
From the Hardcover edition.
Customer Reviews:
Continuing a tradition of great books..........2007-09-20
After a long string of mediocre or uninspiring books, it was such a joy to read Blue Shoes and Happiness by Alexander McCall Smith. I save these books for when I'm in such a rut because I know that they will be wonderful and I'll be able to linger and enjoy them and feel good about reading again. I'll be motivated and excited about reading again. I knew I'd want to pick up my next book right away. Somehow these books reenergize me.
In this installment we have Mma Romatswe solving a blackmailing mystery, she tackles a physician who is committing fraud against his patients, she confronts voodoo, deals with the fact that her traditionally built figure is causing problems. All they while there is an underlying tension between her and Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni. Mma Makutsi deals with feminism and her new fiance and Mr. Polopetsi practices being an assistant to the assistant detective Makutsi...and somehow those apprentices seem to be growing up.
As in his other books, Smith addresses the issues of the traditional Botswana ways and how they are being taken over by newer more modern ways that are eating away at a civilized and logical way of addressing the world. Mma Romatswe as the central figure, always helps everyone see how they have been attracted to shiny inconsequential things and need to be more focused on what is important. I love the way she is able to feel anger or frustration and then think through whether it is worth the energy--and usually it isn't. However, when necessary she confronts people gone bad and manages to help them come around--sometimes. There are those that are "uncurable"--People who are evil--and those she realizes she has to stop.
Smith did a good job of setting up the next book. I'm looking forward to finding out what this tension is between Mma Romatswe and Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni. I can't wait to see how Mma Makutsi's love of pretty shoes develops and how her relationship with Mr. Phuti goes. I'm also looking forward to seeing more of the children as well as the apprenticeships. Was the outburst from Charlie really an expression of his burgeoning maturity. I'm so glad that book #8 is published and on my shelf so I can read it immediately when I'm next in a slump.
Another good book in the series..........2007-08-13
Although these books will never end up on a list of significant fiction, as always they are a quick and enjoyable read. This book continues the delightful story of the Ladies No. 1 Detective Agency.
Blue Shoes and Happiness.......2007-08-13
Not a very exciting story. Not fast moving. Cute, very simplistic story.
The principle of "Less is More".......2007-07-10
One of the oft-heard criticisms of cozy mysteries is that "nothing much happens." If one thinks in terms of high-speed chases and blood-spattered corpses, I can see the point.
The only corpse in this book is a much-maligned bird, but its death brought tears to my eyes.
Alexander McCall Smith has mastered the subtle undertones of gentle conversation, of deftly defined characters, of landscape portraiture. Saying that nothing much happens in his books is like saying that a panther is nothing but a big housecat.
The principle of "less is more" applies here. BLUE SHOES AND HAPPINESS is a perfect title for a very nearly perfect book. I say very nearly perfect because that's how one rates a magnificent diamond.
Excellent Author.......2007-07-05
Keeps your interest all the way through the book, in fact, throughout the whole series.
Book Description
Can modern science tell us what happened to Amelia Earhart? The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) has spent fifteen years searching for the famous lost pilot using everything from archival research and archaeological survey to side-scan sonar and the analysis of radio wave propagation. In this spellbinding book, four of TIGHAR's scholars offer tantalizing evidence that the First Lady of the Air and her navigator Fred Noonan landed on an uninhabited tropical island but perished before they could be rescued. Do they have Amelia's shoe? Parts of her airplane? Are her bones tucked away in a hospital in Fiji? Come join their fascinating expedition and examine the evidence for yourself! The new paperback edition brings the search up to the present, including tantalizing evidence of campfires and charred bones found on remote Nikumaroro.
Customer Reviews:
"The Forensic Search for Amelia Earhart".......2007-09-04
"Amelia Earhart's Shoes: Is the Mystery Solved?", Udated 2004 Ed., Thomas F. King, et al., AltaMira Press, NY 2001, ISBN: 0-7591-0131-0, PB 374 pgs., plus 23 pg. Notes, 9 pg. Biblio., 20 pg. Index, & 104 B & W photos, illus. or maps., 6" x 9".
This is an academic work by a contingent of skilled scientific experts whose writings & basic investigative work was coordinated, in part & on behalf of TIGHAR (Int. Group of Historical Aircraft Recovery) & updated 2004. The 27 chapters describe a forensic approach to solve the mystery of aviatrix AE's disappearance enroute 2,223 miles to Howland Isle from Lae, New Guinea, July 2, 1937.
The book's format & length makes for difficult reading: -- it is based on best available scientific evidences & hypotheses of multiple disciplines of archeology, geophysics, aeronautics, anthropology, and review of both private & governmental archival information in addition to tabulating their search findings on tiny remote South Pacific Phoenix Isle "Gardner", but renamed Nikumaroro, or "Niku". Author was a principle TIGHAR investigator taking part in expeditions to Niku, & he writes with authority, -- having "been there, done that!"
Inclusion of more than 100 photos, illustrations, maps, etc., makes the reading more easily understood & tolerable: -- for it is not a book one picks up and being enchanted 'reads from cover to cover' without pause. For readers who want an up-to-date analysis of AE's disappearance this book is best read after the reader is thoroughly familiar with AE's character, avocations, skills, life experiences's and accolades by the press, politicians & the powerful, -- for Amelia was a complex person living in exciting, changing times on the cutting edge of new technologies.
Many of the chapters begin with stanzas of word parodies to be sung to certain melodies, attributable to TIGHAR but not author King. The parodies I found to be highly irregular, unsettling & not in best taste, so downgraded book from 5* to 4*.
Welcome back, TIGHARs.......2006-10-27
Those persistent TIGHARs are back with more suggestive but inconclusive research about what happened to Amelia Earhart, who disappeared in 1937 -- somewhere.
Every so often, somebody shows up in Hawaii with a kooky theory about Earhart, ranging from shot by the Japanese as a spy to still alive and keeping house in New Jersey.
The International Group for Historical Aircraft Recovery is far from kooky.
For one thing, they appear to have managed the trick of being zealous without becoming zealots. As lead author Thomas King puts it, "Most people have more pressing things to do" than hunt for a lost airplane that, given the odds, would more likely than not be under three miles of water.
The TIGHARs work, for free, in their spare time, on the assumption that, despite the geographical odds, Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan didn't just run out of gas and sink under the ocean. They think Earhart missed her target but may have crash landed on an intermittently inhabited (but in 1937 empty) island named Nikumaroro, where Earhart and Noonan might have either survived for a while or been eaten by crabs.
It's "a mystery that can't be put down," King says.
But hard to pin down.
Since the publication of "Amelia Earhart's Shoes" in 2001, the TIGHARs have run down more physical evidence, including things that look a lot like panels from a Lockheed Electra, but nothing definitive yet. The revised, 2005 edition is preferred over the first edition.
The story of the hunt also reveals a great deal of fascinating information about the South Pacific, which is big, mostly empty and weird.
HOW you solve the mystery is just as important.......2006-09-26
Who says historical research and science have to be boring? In Amelia Earhart's Shoes, Dr. Tom King and others take us on a winding (sometimes loopy, even!) journey that tries to answer the question: What happened to famed aviatrix Amelia Earhart and renowned navigator Fred Noonan in 1937 after they vanished during her around-the-world flight attempt?
Amelia Earhart's Shoes does not pretend to solve the mystery - it does show that by applying the scientific method to a popular event, you can strip away all the myths and fables and assumptions and come up with relatively simple explanations that can be tested to see if they are true or false. That the scientific method may upset a few of those legendary apple carts along the way is proof that it works - something is either true or not true, provable or not provable. In Earhart's case, the truth may turn out to be much more mundane than some of the more colorful "solutions" to her disappearance would have us believe.
There is a lot of information in Shoes, but it is presented in an easy to read, almost chatty style (think ghost stories around the campfire while making s'mores) that keeps you turning the pages to see what the heck is going to happen next. The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) has now been to the South Pacific eight times to try and prove or disprove their hypothesis that Earhart and Noonan missed their destination, tiny Howland Island, and landed on another deserted island, only to die (or perhaps be completely missed) before the frantic searchers could get to them.
Amelia Earhart's Shoes is a great read that should be on the bookshelf of everyone interested in what really did happen out there in the vastness of the Pacific Ocean almost 70 years ago.
Fantastic, not at all dry!.......2006-05-02
I saw one of the people involved in this project speak at EAA's big national air show in Oshkosh, WI last summer. It was the most popular lecture session I attended while I was there. Interested, I picked up this book expecting a thorough but dry, academic read.
Was I ever wrong! This book is not only fascinating, it's funny! It's written with some dry humor that made me want to keep reading more. And the authors lay out a strong argument, to boot. It does make one wonder...
I Couldn't Put This Book Down!.......2002-05-03
I picked up this book at my library on a lark. I've always been interested in what really happened to Amelia Earhart, but always just assumed that her plane crashed into the ocean. This book, however, completely opened my eyes to a new hypothosis: that Amelia and her navigator managed to land on an island and send out radio signals for help. The information presented in this book isn't just wild guesses and conspiracy theories - the authors make a point of backing up their thoughts with cold, hard evidence. I was hooked from the first page and got so engrossed that I ended up not doing my work at my job just so that I could finish a few more chapters. The book also has a wicked sense of humor and debunks the myth that scientists are just stodgy old guys. I'd reccomend this book to anyone with even an ounce of curosity. I'm holding my breath until Dr. Tom King and the other authors put out another book on Amelia. I can't wait to see what they find!
Book Description
The country bunny attains the exalted position of Easter Bunny in spite of her responsibilities as the mother of twenty-one children.
Customer Reviews:
Absolutely the Best!.......2007-07-06
I found this book in the attic of our old apartment, before I could even read English. I fell in love with the book then, because I guided myself through the book's gorgeous illustrations. When I finally did learn to read in English, it was even more magical. I carried this book (torn pages and all) for 13 years everywhere I moved until one day, I spotted the bookcover's color out of the corner of my eye at a bookstore---I was ecstatic! It was still in print! Since then, I've purchased well over 100 copies to give away to every child or baby I know. If you ever buy a book for a child--boy or girl---this is the one they should have. It's not only utterly beautiful, but it's story is powerful!
A Heartwarming Tale of Courage and Compassion!.......2007-05-17
I've loved this book for nearly 50 years.... my children loved it, too. It's the story of a little "country bunny" who has high aspirations - to be the next Easter Bunny. Despite all odds, and with the help of her little (?!) family, she braves gigantic obstacles to prove that she has what it takes: she's courageous, swift, and kind. It's beautifully written, and the illustrations capture the tenderness of the story. Reading it will affirm that goodness and compassion can provide the strength to achieve what may seem impossible!
The Counntry Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes.......2007-05-13
This was the first book I checked out at the library as a first grader.
I wanted my grannybabies to know a little about Grannymaw; when she was little....
Fabulous!.......2007-04-10
I read this book in the early 70's for the first time and now give it away as gifts. It's a wonderful Easter story that encourages little girls to dream big dreams! The drawings are artful, the colors are memorable and the story is very sweet. I enjoy giving it to others as much as I loved having it read to me as a child.
A True Working Mother.......2007-04-03
A Classic. This book was written prior to the Women's Lib movement but wow, does it ever celebrate women, especially mothers. How refreshing to read and what an unusual perspective on the hard-working
Easter Bunny
Book Description
How would you feel if you visited your financial planners office and saw past-due credit card notices on their desk? Would you trust an auto mechanic whose car backfires and produces black smoke? A dentist with bad teeth? A banker in shabby clothes? An interior designer whose offices are a shambles?
This is the position of the IT capability in many large organizations. The designated custodian of critical business processes and data does not manage its own processes and data reliably. A response in the form of Enterprise Resource Planning for Information Technology is emerging from major companies, research firms, and vendors; they are labeling these offerings "ERP for IT," IT Resource Planning, and related terms.
This groundbreaking, practitioner-authored book provides an independent examination of and response to these developments. An analysis of the large scale IT capability, with specific attention to business processes, structured data, and enabling systems, it is essentially a comprehensive systems architecture, not for the business capabilities IT supports, but for IT itself.
Features
The book presents on-the-ground coverage of enabling IT governance in architectural detail, which you can use to define a strategy and start executing. It fills the gap between high-level guidance on IT governance, and detailed discussions about specific vendor technologies. It is a next-step book that answers the question: OK, we need to improve the way we run IT now what? It does this through:
* A unique value chain approach to integrating the COBIT, ITIL, and CMM frameworks into a coherent, unified whole
* A field-tested, detailed conceptual information model with definitions and usage scenarios, mapped to both the process and system architectures
* Analysis of current system types in the IT governance and enablement domains: integration opportunities, challenges, and evolutionary trends
* Patterns for integrating the process, data, and systems views to support specific problems of IT management.
* Specific attention throughout to issues of building a business case and real-world implementation.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Charles Betz is a Senior Enterprise Architect, and chief architect for IT Service Management strategy for a US-based Fortune 50 enterprise.
He has held consultant and architect positions for Best Buy, Target, and Accenture, specializing in metadata, configuration management, IT governance, enterprise application integration, and ERP systems. He holds a summa B.A. in Political Science and a Master of Science in Software Engineering, both from the University of Minnesota. Charlie is an active member of the professional community, belonging to the IT Service Management Forum, IEEE, ACM, and Data Management Association (DAMA). He presents frequently both locally and nationally to professional associations and conferences.
He is the sole author of the popular www.erp4it.com weblog.
Are you in the thick of sorting out how to make ITIL and COBIT work, and trying to make sense of the dozens of vendors clamoring to help?
Are you puzzled over how the ITIL vision for Change Management fits into the reality of your current processes? And how it relates to Enterprise Architecture and Portfolio Management?
Is the concept of configuration management and the CMDB giving off more heat than light for you? How can you make it real?
Have you found yourself wondering whether you really need an IT portfolio management tool, an enterprise architecture repository, a metadata repository, a service management tool, and a configuration management database (CMDB)? And if you have them, are you wondering if they should be related somehow?
The book presents on-the-ground coverage of enabling IT governance in architectural detail, which you can use to define a strategy and start executing. It fills the gap between high-level guidance on IT governance, and detailed discussions about specific vendor technologies. It is a next-step book that answers the question: OK, we need to improve the way we run IT - now what? It does this through:
* A unique value chain approach to integrating the COBIT, ITIL, and CMM frameworks into a coherent, unified whole
* A field-tested, detailed conceptual information model with definitions and usage scenarios, mapped to both the process and system architectures
* Analysis of current system types in the IT governance and enablement domains: integration opportunities, challenges, and evolutionary trends
* Patterns for integrating the process, data, and systems views to support specific problems of IT management.
* Specific attention throughout to issues of building a business case and real-world implementation.
Among the specific topics addressed are:
* ITIL recommendations from a practical systems implementation point of view
* Configuration management: challenges, misconceptions, myths, and realities. Business justification for. Support for compliance and regulatory goals.
* Interrelationships between IT portfolio planning, solutions development, and IT operations
* The relationship between application development and hosting (infrastructure) organizations
* Business intelligence, performance management, and metrics for the IT capability itself
* Detailed, actionable clarification of the vague concept of "IT Service" and all its permutations and implications
* IT portfolio degradation through complexity
* Detailed models of IT information
* The various classes of systems used internally by large scale IT organizations
* The concept of "repository" and its relationship to the Configuration Management Database (CMDB)
* Process roles and responsibilities. Closed-loop, self-reinforcing processes for IT data management.
* Application as critical control point and portfolio entry. Clarifying relationship between "application" and "IT service." Application portfolio management: process, data structures, and systems.
Customer Reviews:
THE ITIL/ITSM Desk Reference! .......2007-06-28
Anyone who has worked with ITIL and CobIT will recognize how difficult it can be to find reference material that is both detailed enough to show the true depth and complexity of IT governance solutions and yet stay eminently readable.
There are quite a few online resources (Charles Betz's own blog being a sterling example) and many high priced tool kits and process outlines detailed to the nth degree, but this book is the best value out there.
It could easily have been packaged as most ITIL/ITSM resources are and sold for hundreds more, but Charles Betz has been one of the most outspoken and generous contributors to the IT governance community for many years.
I've been working with various ITSM implementations for the past 7-8 years and this has quickly become the book I travel with, refer to anyone who works in IT operations, and purchase as a professional gift.
Excellent description of the IT Value Chain.......2007-06-09
This is the best book on I've seen on depicting IT as a business.
Many people spend years in IT focusing on what IT does, and not on the value its customers get from IT. This book does an excellent job of describing the IT value chain and demonstrates how most IT shops optimize functionally and not across the value chain.
The best part of the book is the description of the limitations of the various "cottage industry" frameworks, such as ITIL and COBIT. I've never found any of them really meeting IT's needs and this book identifies why they don't.
If you are considering building a service catalog for your IT organization, read this first.
A seminal work that pinpoints a solution for many IT woes.......2007-05-24
This book should be mandatory reading for CEOs of software companies and CIOs. Charles Betz is clearly intelligent, analytical and creative. He has pinpointed the issue of HOW IT needs to manage itself. He clearly illustrates the shallowness of hackneyed phrases such as 'run IT like a business'. Betz strikes the right note on the application of Enterprise Architecture to IT (or software development companies). He provides a perceptive Value Chain model and supporting material. Charles Betz addresses the need for an ERP for IT - correctly pointing out the risks and dangers. He deals with the contribution ITIL, COBIT and to a lesser extent CMM can make to the structuring of that 'Target Architecture' and where the gaps lie. His analysis of the ITIL framework is outstanding and should be mandatory reading for all ITIL practitioners. If you are about to implement a CMDB, you will find Charlie has provided an excellent dissertation on the challenging issue of granularity and scope. All in all a brilliant book. I wish I'd written it myself!! Rob Aalders (The IT Outsourcing Guide, The IT Manager's Survival Guide).
Great Book, but addresses the (now six year) old version of ITIL (v2).......2007-05-12
Charles Betz wrote a great book. Betz's structuring of everything around the IT Value Chain and its support is excellent.
In fact, I would have easily given this book five stars if it were released a year or two ago. However, for all of his discourse on, and mapping to, ITIL, he choses to address ITIL version 2--the now six year old version of ITSM best practices.
Given that the third version of ITIL is due for publication at the end of this month (May 30, 2007), I think the book's release was poorly timed.
As one of the (non-paid) editors of the ITIL version 3 Service Transition volume (and one who is privy to the general contents and scope of the rest of the books, I fear this book's relevance in many of those areas which address ITIL will be short-lived. ITIL v3 represents a major rework for ITSM best practices and integrates them within the IT lifecycle.
Having said all that, Mr. Betz has put together a very engaging book, and is someone who is heavily involved in "the conversation" on these topics...but I would enjoy an update to this book which addresses ITIL version 3 instead of version 2.
Making it Real.........2007-04-22
One of the problems I have witnessed organizations encounter when trying to implement best -practices IT management frameworks is that they don't always do a rigorous enough job of mapping senior management prognostications and decrees into the kind of empowering roadmap that can help people understand what their individual roles and responsibilities are in what is often a significant organizational change effort. Charlie's book does a great job of constructing a relevant model with his IT Value Chain concept that is familiar to business leaders worldwide. Lastly, he provides great insight into methods even smaller organizations can deploy successfully by fully leveraging the IT Enablement model through vendor tool automation - once the appropriate data models are put into place.
Steve Gerick
President
IT Propartners
Customer Reviews:
Excellent!.......2007-07-26
The Inner workings on Steve Martin's mind are put to page in this book, and it's brilliant. Most of the stories in this book are perfect, in humor, especially "Cruel Shoes" and "The Smokers" He even includes a drawn diagram of what he thought of a certain art museum showing and certain period artists, which is hilarious. True fans will enjoy this and even more will be surprised that Steve is not only good at comic acting, but also writing. I was pleasantly surprised that this is a book I want to keep in my collection to read again and chuckle at, in the future.
Pictures of Martin and text written in the typical absurd style of Steve Martin.......2006-06-28
This book contains a lot of pictures of Martin at a typewriter looking sad, disillusioned and suffering from a creative crisis. It also contains a series of short pieces written in the usual absurd Martin style. The title comes from a clerk at a shoe store who coaxes people into buying "cruel shoes", shoes so bad that they make your feet bleed.
Sometimes even the titles are absurd, as in "Sex Crazed Love Goddesses" which is a story about a boy going to the store to buy stamps. There is nothing other than that in the story. "The Boring Leading the Bored" is about a meeting of logicians and metaphysicists where things go extremely wrong. Absurd and occasionally hilarious in the Martin style, this is a comedy book unlike any other.
early zaniness.......2006-06-12
As a literary gem, this first Steve Martin book stands out for its ability to provoke many reactions--belly laughs, quiet smiles, wistful ponderings... Sit down in your favorite chair and prepare to satisfy your Inner Child!
It's more than funny, it's Steve Martin!.......2005-12-30
"Cruel Shoes" by Steve Martin is one of the funniest books I have ever read, and I've read hundreds, maybe thousands of books. Highlights include the title piece, actually about cruel shoes, which are both left feet, one of them is too short, and the other is curved inwards with razorblades to hold the feet in place (I think this is right, it's been awhile since I've read it...), the story of the women without bones (Humanus de filet), the story of the Diarrhea Gardens of El Camino Real (self-explanitory), and the acknowledgements page (yakkity yak yak yakkity yak yakkity). The only downside is the poems, which seem to be totally random and aren't really humorous at all.
If you lie wacky, goofy humor, and remember the year winter lasted nine minutes, this book is for you. At whatever price, it's a steal!
Cruelly funny.......2005-09-19
A very funny classic Steve Martin! A work of comic genius! Steve Martin's short stories are definately a way to kick back on the weekend and have a good laugh. In one memorable story
"some of tubbies flesh flew off and nourished a sunflower."
You cannot beat Steve, on the cover of the book he looks pensive in a fedora and tan suit, with a specter smoke cloud above a carefully tilted cigarette, a crooked smile,and reflective sunglasses glinting in the light. You just have to know that it is going to be completely hilarious.
If ever you were unsure of soup-folding proceedure, or needed some cruel shoes, or were not knowledgeable on what to do if you call a wrong number...this book is for you.
If you have been missing insightful stories on Poodles, shopping men, cows or anything else that's seemingly arbitrary pick up this book. Relax sit back in your chair and pick this up. It's got humor, is well written and lighthearted.
Book Description
The revolutionary handbook that's actually two books in one! Break down "we vs. they" beliefs and behaviors while encouraging new levels of understanding, empathy, and cooperation. Use this popular one-of-a-kind book to help everyone as they focus on achieving the organizations mission in a values-based way.
Customer Reviews:
Book "Walk Awhile In My Shoes".......2007-08-24
The book is a great business perspective from managers to direct reports and vice versa. Books were purchased for my Sales Reps.
The shipping was less than desireable. The box was saturated (delivered by USPS)and one of the 9 books was water damaged. This could have been avoided if the books were wrapped in plastic. I would have pursued a replacement but I did not know who to contact at Amazon.com.
Helps foster understanding between employees & management........1999-01-05
The goal of this book and its companion 2-volume videotape is to encourage communication between employees and management. Read one way, the book addresses managers; turn it upside down, and it presents the employee's point of view. This clever format helps to illustrate the main point of the short volume: that employees and managers have a lot of common ground if they make the effort to improve their understanding and empathy of one another by seeing the other's point of view.The book raises important issues that occur between the two organizational groups, in a manner that is thought provoking, not finger-pointing. Prepared as a training manual, it may be most effective when used with groups interested in reducing polarization between management and employees.
Average customer rating:
- Blahnik by Boman
- ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!!!!!
- Good creation to show you Manolo Blahnik shoe art.
- shoes...no odor
- Wacky, Wonderful, Weird World!
|
Blahnik by Boman: Shoes, Photographs, Conversation
Eric Boman
Manufacturer: Chronicle Books
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ASIN: 0811851168 |
Book Description
Long before their supporting role in Sex and the City, Manolo Blahnik's shoes were legendary—exquisitely detailed, unabashedly luxurious, and impossibly sexy. The epitome of sophistication and taste, they have graced the feet of royalty, supermodels, and movie stars. In these breathtaking pictures by Blahnik's longtime friend, photographer Eric Boman, the shoes take center stage in a dazzling array of intriguing and often lighthearted scenes and settings. A white leather stiletto plays an incriminating role in a suggested crime worthy of Hitchcock. A pale green mule nestles among ferns in homage to Blahnik's recurring botanical themes. The straps of a sandal echo the strands of spaghetti in which it lays entwined. Boman's unerring eye and oddly keen understanding of Blahnik's creations make for spellbinding pictures, full of wit, playfulness, and sole. Elegant allusions to Blahnik's eclectic influences abound—from the cinema to history, from the natural world to art and literature. As covetable as a pair of Manolos, this is a book of consummate creativity, addictive power, and unrivaled individuality: a cult object on a cult designer.
Customer Reviews:
Blahnik by Boman.......2006-07-18
I just happened to be in Selfridges/London last year, coinciding with Eric Boman and Manolo Blahnik's book launch. There were queues and queues of eager fans lining up to get their newly purchased books autographed by the fashionable duo. It was all very civilised, even though security guards were holding back the frenzied mob, while Boman and Blahnik relentlessly signed with tireless good humour and charm.
Blahnik has been the ultimate cobbler to the stars since the Seventies, and Boman is a veteran, top photographer who's been photographing beautiful women for years (his most recent book, "Dames" show-cases his portrait-photogaphy). It's fortunate for Manolo that Eric came up with the novel idea of photographing his old friend's shoes. It was also conducive for the book that he supplied the witty 'photographic conversation,' for although Manolo's shoes are the most exquisite in the world, a book would have been pretty one dimensional with pedestrian sole snap-shots of his pumps without Eric's creative input.
Boman has not only managed to produce imaginative photographs of the beautiful shoes, but has elevated Manolo's footwear to museum status. Thanks to his original and highly imaginative photographic compositions, the elegant pumps have been transformed into classical portraits.
Boman and Blahnik's old friend Paloma Picasso has supplied the foreword, helping make this beautifully produced book a must have gift, especially for people with tasteful shoe fetishes and aficionados of superior glossy art books, the kind which are too exquisite to grace coffee tables.
ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!!!!!.......2006-02-24
The genius design combined with amazing photography and styling make for a journey of beauty.A must have for the collector of fashion and photgraphy books.
Good creation to show you Manolo Blahnik shoe art........2006-01-17
I am a photographer and also a high heels collector. There is a project in my mind since one year ago, I want to creat a book to present the art of high heel design, just like this book. I have many ideals. However when I saw this book, I think I need new ideals, or my friend will think that my work is just a copy.
I will rate 4 to 4.5 stars to this book.
shoes...no odor.......2005-12-24
like shoes? photos of shoes? buy this book!
Wacky, Wonderful, Weird World!.......2005-12-23
I have a huge collection of fashion books - both artistic and historical. A friend just gave this to me for our holiday gift-exchange at work, and I am absolutely overwhelmed!
The images are completely striking - strange, beautiful, odd, a little disturbing, and usually quite witty. Some have made me laugh out loud, while others send a chill down my spine.
Of course, Blahnik's shoes speak from themselves as works of art, however the way that Boman has juxtaposed them will the different set-ups or mise-en-scene is truly wonderful. If only we could have such still lifes in the odd spaces of our homes! This book will be a great addition for any fashionista/art lover, and will be the most talked-about *objet* at your next gathering...ENJOY!!!
Average customer rating:
- wife loves it
- The Best Shoe Book
- Yum!
- tiny package, HUGE fun
- Enchanting!
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Shoes: A Celebration of Pumps, Sandals, Slippers & More
Linda O'Keeffe
Manufacturer: Workman Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Handbags: The Power of the Purse
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ASIN: 0761101144 |
Book Description
The Marabou Mule. The Chanel toe. Jackie O's pump. Marilyn's stiletto. And lotus shoes and fetish shoes, shoes made for coronations and inaugurations, Cinderella's slipper, shoes of tulle, brocade, rhinestone, python, fish scales, and feathers, and much, much, more, including the two-foot-high wooden chopines of the 16th century and their resurgence as the platform shoes of the 1960s and 1970s.
Shoes, now with over 357,000 copies in print, is an obsessive, over-the-top extravaganza-chunky, full-color, and irresistible, it contains page after page of seductive photographs and information about women's shoes.
Created for the woman who's a passionate shoe lover-and what woman isn't?--Shoes features over 1,000 glorious photographs, most of them taken for the book. Includes Footnotes (fascinating facts about shoes); Foot Soldiers (profiles of master shoemakers from David Little to Andrea Pfister); and The Shoe that Left an Imprint, focusing on one shoe that changed history-remember Courrage's futuristic go-go boot? Shoes is, as they say, to die for.
262,000 copies in print.
Customer Reviews:
wife loves it.......2007-01-14
Got my shoe junkie wife a picture book fix. Saving me money? Not sure yet!
The book seems nice though; take that with a grain of salt. This is a husband who owns 4 pairs of shoes.
The Best Shoe Book.......2006-03-14
I've owned this book for a couple years now and am looking through it again. I've given this book as gifts and I show it to a lot of the people who pass through my life. It's just too much fun. As a wee "coffee table book" it has sparked countless conversations and has even helped settle a bet.
The photography is incredible and the book is a real stomp through history's closet. If you have a passion for shoes (the book says that the average American woman owns 30 pairs), then you'll love this book. Fun, fun, fun!
Yum!.......2003-04-14
Sandals,platforms,heels.A real feast of footwear is shown within the pages of this compact(but quite thick)book. Great fun to flip through and a great resource for research as well..!
tiny package, HUGE fun.......2002-11-26
This book contains fluent, erudite words about shoes, but who cares? The point of the book is the luscious photography -- beautiful, enticing images of a large number of shoes.
If you have friends who also love shoes, get a copy for each one and you can sit around for hours saying "omigosh, look at page 501!" and "wow, Carly Jane, page 347 is just what you need!" This is a whole lot more fun than it sounds, actually.
And you can always place the book on your coffee table where it will (a) take up very little physical space and (b) end up enticing everyone who sits down in your living room into developing a shoe fetish.
Seriously, this is a well-researched, beautifully photographed, elegantly written gem of a book. If you happen to like shoes, you really owe it to yourself to obtain a copy of it.
Enchanting!.......2002-07-19
This book is worth the purchase just for the forward! It features wonderful comments and quotes like, "When it comes to shoes, practicality and comfort are beside the point." And, "...You look down at your feet and wink at yourself." But the photos are stunning and the information delightful! Terrific fun for the footwear fancier.
Average customer rating:
- the worst book I've ever read in my life!
- Differences are beautiful
- Favorite Childhood Book
- A wonderful and charming story!
- Ballet Shoes--Life before Social Benefits
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Ballet Shoes
Noel Streatfeild
Manufacturer: Random House Books for Young Readers
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ASIN: 0679847596
Release Date: 1993-11-23 |
Book Description
In the tradition of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Little Princess come Noel Streatfeild’s tales of triumph. In this story, three orphan girls vow to make a name for themselves and find their own special talents. With hard work, fame just may be in the stars! Originally published in 1937.
Customer Reviews:
the worst book I've ever read in my life! .......2007-02-28
This book is very confusing and mis leading. The author first went wrong with charicters with names like underware or perfume brands enough said. Please consider this reveiw and buy a different book please the last thing this book needs is five stars. :( ;( 8(
Differences are beautiful.......2007-02-23
What I love the most about this book is that it reminds all of us, especially young girls, that being different is beautiful and special. Some of us may be actors, others dancers, etc. In the end the most important thing is to follow our hearts. This is a great book for girls today- growing up in a time when the media continues to suggest that we should all "follow the crowd".
Favorite Childhood Book.......2006-06-21
This was my favorite book growing up; I read it over and over and over again. Whether it was because I was one of three sisters, or because I loved dancing, or simply because of the incredible world Streatfeild created, I don't know. I wanted to have the magical life that Pauline, Petrova, and Posy shared. This is a great read for any young girl, and might even be appreciated by not-so-young girls as well. I'm sure I'll keep rereading it throughout my life. I loved that it got the recognition it deserved in "You've Got Mail."
Also good: Children on the Top Floor. Not strictly a "shoe" book like the others, but just as good.
A wonderful and charming story!.......2006-04-04
I loved this book! It is the story of three orphans, Pauline, Petrova, and Posy, who are adopted by an older man who is gone during most of the book. After going through most of the money that he has left for their care until his return, the three sisters attend a special school of the arts. There they can learn to act, dance, and sing; then they can get jobs in different performances making money. Pauline falls in love with acting, Posy is a natural dancer, and poor Petrova would rather fix cars and learn to fly planes than be on stage. All the characters are wonderful and a joy to read about, the story is unique and charming. I simply didn't want it to end. The sisters are fun characters that children will love to read about. Adults will enjoy this story just as much.
Ballet Shoes--Life before Social Benefits.......2005-09-15
For any aspiring young dancer, this book is a must read. This series of "shoe" books is the one mentioned in You've Got Mail>Set in England around 1913, it details the lives of three adopted children, Pauline, Petrova, and Posy Fossil who learn to dance and act in order to help out their guardian's niece who is looking after them while GUM (Great Uncle Mathew) is away looking for more fossils. They attend the Children's Academy of Dance in London, but are trained in acting, mime, and dance. Posy's mother was a famous ballerina and Posy, the youngest will stop at nothing to get the best training. Petrova's mother was Russian, but Petrova loves machinery of all kinds, especially cars and airplane (aeroplanes in England). Pauline is a natural actress and achieves fame in Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream. This book is great for all girls who want to become famous and make their name known.
Book Description
40 Easy-to-Make, Fun-to-Use Centers With Instant Reproducibles & Activities That Help Kids Practice Important Math SkillsIndependently!
Meets the NCTM standards!
Enrich your center time and promote independent learning with these easy-to-store math "kits"!
Customer Reviews:
shoe box math learning centers.......2007-06-08
This is a great product. the activities are appropiate for kindegarten and some skills that are appropiate for advaned learners. A great tool for my work stations. These shoe box activities are also great for extra activities for early finishers.
Independent Math Centers Challenge Kids!.......2007-05-23
As a teacher, I find that challenging kids to work on their own or in a small group is a great learning experience. Shoe Box Math is the answer to the teacher's dilemma of how to set up a math center. This book provides reproducibles, easy to follow instructions and meets the standards being taught. My students love the projects!
All Around Easy.......2006-05-02
These learning centers are easy to put together and maintain. I purchased several plastic shoe boxes from one of the dollar stores in the area to use. As a 4th grade teacher, some of the games were excellent for building up basic skills. I'll be teaching 2nd grade next year, and have already gotten some of the other games ready for use.
Great!.......2002-05-22
This book is great for instant independent centers during workshop time! The boxes are easy to use, and can take as much time as you need them to.
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