Amazon.com
It is impossible to read Turning to One Another in the wake of the devastating attack on New York City's World Trade Center and not marvel at the book's eerie and moving prescience. Of course Margaret Wheatley has already earned herself a (deserved and legit) reputation as the Oprah of "sensitive" organizational books with such titles as A Simpler Way. But this book--devoted entirely to centrality of conversation in healing everything from personal relationships to organizational dysfunction to world discord--flows so broadly and easily across the borders of genre or topic it's almost as though Wheatley intuited when writing it how the need for its message would soon skyrocket. "The intent of this book is to encourage and support you to begin conversations about things that are important to you and those near you," Wheatley writes right up front in the clean, straightforward voice that always saves her work, unlike that of so many other "New Age" gurus, from cheesiness. "It has no other purpose." She then delivers on that promise, making her points in short, succinct, finely written essays on various aspects of human understanding and connection, invoking the thinking of great humanists like Paolo Friere and Nelson Mandela, peppering her thoughts with encounters with people around the world, and then expanding on 10 "conversation starters" like "Do I feel a 'vocation to be truly human'?" "When have I experienced good listening?" and "When have I experienced working for the common good?"
Suffice to say, those looking for some worksheet-packed, three-step plan for organizational harmony won't find it here. Those willing to take a slower, harder, more thoughtful and likely more rewarding path to better relations on any level--or even those looking for the book equivalent of a cool, tall drink of water (perhaps where all change begins)--will be truly moved and genuinely inspired by Wheatley's practical, timely wisdom. --Timothy Murphy
Book Description
"I believe we can change the world if we start talking to one another again." With this simple declaration, Margaret Wheatley proposes that citizens band together with their colleagues and friends to create the solutions for social change, both locally and globally, that are so badly needed. Such change will not come from governments or corporations but from the ageless process of thinking together in conversation. Turning to One Another encourages this process. Part One explores the power of conversation and the conditions -- simplicity, personal courage, real listening, and diversity -- that support it. Part Two provides ten "conversation starters" -- questions that in Wheatley's experience have led people to share their deepest beliefs, fears, and hopes.
Customer Reviews:
Turning to One Another - Review.......2007-09-10
I enjoyed reading Margaret Wheatley's book, "Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future". This book is easy to read, applicable and possibly life-changing.
Read it and talk about it with a group of friends........2007-06-13
Read this book with a group of your friends, or neighbors, or with a group of the willing. The opening premise simply states: "I believe we can change the world, if we start listening to one another again. Simple, truthful conversation where we each have a chance to speak, we each feel heard and we each listen well." The book encourages us to actually listen to each other, to different perspectives, to our own perspective, with the aim that we are better off when we have genuine connections with others. One of the best parts of the book is "A Prayer for Children" by Ina. J. Hughes; the poem is poignant, humorous and intriguing.
Heart blowing!.......2007-03-08
So simple, and yet such a fresh way of looking at life, leadership, community and conversation. I learned a ton from this book, very helpful in specific situations I am involved in. It teaches me how to become an ever better listener.
If there is one book on changing relationships you must read, this is it!.......2006-10-26
Margaret has created such a powerful book on conversation, learning, and change. I can not imagine a more powerful book telling stories that can transform how we work, play, and learn together. This is a life changing read and one that I highly recommend. And even more importantly, in such a turbulent time, keeping in conversation with others may be the only thing that helps us hold this world together. Therefore, do not only read the book, but put into action conversations that can change the world.
One of the most important books I've read.......2006-06-23
Margaret Wheatley's Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future is one of the most important books I've read.
It is based on the incredibly simple premise that growth, real growth begins with two people having a conversation.
Part 1 discusses a range of subjects: Wheatley's views on conversation and listening, including the importance of staying with conversations that sometimes get "messy" to reveal deeper truths and commonalities; her belief in the importance of being surprised and even shocked by the person(s) with whom she converses, versus seeking people who agree with her, affirm her thoughts, or where the conversation follows either a predictable course, or safe outcomes; the belief that differences between people can lead to deeper commonalities and greater closeness.
Quite frankly, there are simply too many gems of wisdom and insight in this book to do more than recall a handful that particularly struck me.
Part 2 is very short, restating some fundamental principles or concepts explained in greater detail in Part 1.
Part 3 is a list and explanation of 10 possible conversation openers.
This is not per se a "how to" book, as if there is "one way" either to converse, listen or relate to another person. Quite the opposite. She talks, for example, of the reality that various people can have a seemingly unlimited number of interpretations and reactions to a given event to stress (implied) that what matters is the process, the act of conversing and relating.
Wheatley's book is about possibilities, the possibilities that everyone possesses in terms of relating to one another, personal growth, healing oneself and restoring hope in the future, compared to the fragmentation, isolation, pressures of day-to-day life, the impersonality of technology, etc.
It is an exciting book to read, a book that virtually anyone can benefit from no matter where they are in their lives. It is, fundamentally, a gift that those of us fortunate to read this book should be grateful Margaret Wheatley wanted to share.
Book Description
From the age of 7 to the age of 22, Kathie Jordan's deceased brother came to her at nighttime, pulled her from her body, and guided her to Heaven. In these nighttime journeys, she was taught about the purpose of life in the body, the meaning of death, and about the soul's progress in the afterlife. In these moments out of her body, Kathie is taken to higher and higher levels of Heaven, where she meets and learns from spiritual teachers, including Jesus.
Customer Reviews:
Can't verify her information at Korean War vets site.......2007-06-28
I ordered this book and received it this week. I have read tons or stories about Near-Death Experiences. This doesn't even come close to anything I have ever seen. I could not find her brother Troy William Swain listed as a casuality from the Korean war vetern's web sight.
I do not believe a 1/000 of the stuff in her book. And there are mistakes at every turn. It says she see's her brother at age 3. But the book jacket & blurp say age 7. I don't believe in reincarnation. Her extravagant exits & returns are far beyond my wild imagination to even believe. I have over 40 books of this subject ( Near Dear) & none of them are as goofy as this one. I am 1/2 finished reading the book. I
doubt I'll even bother finishing it. It is to far-fetched!
I don't believe for one minute spirits sleep from 1 day to 100 years! They are not bound to the physical forces as humans are. I think this is all made up jumbo-jumble. And I was trying so hard to believe in this book.
The book, The Birth Called Death.......2007-05-13
I so enjoyed reading this book. I did a lot of crying because it touched me so deeply. Having experienced some of the things the author talks about, I found her completely believable. I highly recommend this book, and I have encouraged my grown children to read the book. If one has any fears of the next realm, they should lose those fears while reading this book.
Flights of Fancy.......2007-04-01
Kathie Jordan's intriguing tale recounting her nightly red-eye flights to Heaven while remaining on permanent stand-by in the hellish humdrum of daily accountancy is a reassuring validation of the old saying; out-of-body, out-of-mind.
it seems false.......2007-03-04
I have read 12 books on Near Death Experiences and a couple of unpublished manuscripts on the subject, from people of various religious beliefs. My heart and mind were expanded and trully blessed by the knowledge and spritual enlightment those people brought to us from heaven. This one book however, has been so far the only one that gave a feeling it is a fabricated story. Maybe not entirely, perhaps Kathie had some true experiences. I understand those experiences are very individual, "taylor made" to each person, but there are many commonalities. Yet, some aspects of Kathie's story are completely at odds with everything else we read of NDEs and the information they give about the nature of the spiritual world. More than that, it just doesn't feel true. Also, she would rather try to bring too much attention to herself with this "Little One" story.
A Heavenly Visit.......2007-02-16
This is the remarkable story of a young girl named Katie,who is visited by her brother who has passed on. Her brother takes her on a journey to Heaven,where she learns what happens to souls after they leave Earth.
During her visits, Katie finds that, contrary to what a lot of people think, the afterlife is a progression of learning experiences where our souls continue the everlasting process of growth. Not only are with reunited with our loved ones, we share in their everlasting happiness.
Amazon.com
What will life be like after mass marketing? Today, technology allows us to sell more goods to fewer people, which is far more efficient than selling fewer goods to more people. Peppers, an advertising executive, and Rogers, a marketing scholar, set out their new marketing paradigm in detail. A one-to-one competitor focuses on "share of customer" rather than the mass-marketer's "share of market." Learn to collaborate with the customer to build loyalty and build your opportunities for future profit. The strategies in this book work as well -- maybe even better -- for small companies as for the blue-chippers.
Book Description
The One to One Future revolutionized marketing when it was first published. Then considered a radical rethinking of marketing basics, this bestselling book has become today's bible for marketers. Now finally available in paperback, this completely revised and updated edition--with an all-new User's Guide--takes readers step-by-step through the latest strategies needed for any business to compete, and succeed, in the Interactive Age.
Most businesses follow time-honored mass-marketing rules of pitching their products to the greatest number of people. However, selling more goods to fewer people is not only more efficient but far more profitable. The One to One Future is a radically innovative business paradigm focusing on the share of customer--one customer at a time--rather than just the share of market.
Authors Don Peppers and Martha Rogers reveal one to one strategies to:
* Find the 20 percent--or 2 percent--of your own customers and prospects who are the most loyal and who offer the biggest opportunities for future profit;
* Collaborate with each customer, one at a time, just as you now work with individual suppliers or marketing partners;
* Nurture your relationships with each customer by relying on new one to one media vehicles--not just the mail, but the fax machine, the touch-tone phone, voice mail, cell phones, and interactive television.
Leading-edge companies such as MCI, Lexus, Levi Strauss, and Nissan Canada, and thousands of smaller enterprises, have already adopted the one-to-one perspective. The strategies outlined in this book work just as well--often even better--for small companies, from two-person accounting firms to flower shops to furniture stores.
Download Description
Consultants and authors, Don Peppers and Martha Rogers pioneered the end of mass marketing rules and created the one dictum that is carrying marketing into the 21st century--sell more products to fewer customers. By following their groundbreaking "One to One" approach, readers learn how to find their customer base and how to keep those customers loyal, no matter what product.
Customer Reviews:
A prophetic message at the time, still right on today.......2006-12-22
Mass marketing believes in making one product for everyone, then shouting it's features over the thousands of competing products. An alternative to this approach is customizing your product for individuals, based on their needs and preferences.
When Don Peppers and Martha Rogers wrote The One to One Future in 1993, their message was very prophetic. The Internet and individual customization were not yet popular, yet the authors foresaw the effects technology would have on marketing.
The book focuses on three foundational ideas.
1. Aim for share of customer, not share of market
Instead of selling to as many customers as possible, ensure each person that buys your product buys only your product, and is completely happy with it. This way, you don't sell to people that will buy the competition's product half of the time.
2. Focus on your best customers
It's the classic Pareto Principle at work here. A small portion of your customers provide the majority of your profits. If you don't focus on these customers and "fire" the rest, the majority of your time and resources will be spent on an unprofitable minority.
3. Encourage customer dialog
To develop customized products and services, it is essential that you maintain communication with your prospects. While some of the techniques the authors suggest are dated, the principles remain true. Technology is the enabler of one to one marketing.
Over the past decade, the concept of customized marketing has become more and more popular. Companies such as Amazon and Dell have become extremely successful using this model, and Peppers and Rogers may well deserve the credit. Reading this book is an excellent way to understand how this movement started, and how your business can profit from it.
The Philosophy and Profitable Practice of Interactivity.......2006-12-02
OK, it's 2006 so this book is a bit dated, but only in examples. The concepts are right on, and the companies that are succeeding today, online especially, are doing so with the strategies outlined in this book.
Basically 1:1 marketing is an interactive endeavor where much is learned from the customer and individualized for the customer. Emphasis is on quality relationships and specific marketing rather than bland bulk mailings that have to please everyone.
Benefits range from increasing customer retention, which can be very profitable, to maximizing ROI on advertising. Lifetime customers are the goal. With the knowledge obtained interactively, focus can be applied and special treatment given to the customers that are making us the most profit.
It will also be found that with this increased interactivity that complaints will be able to be handled effectively. Most who have a problem with a company never tell the company, they just tell their friends. Make it very easy for someone to complain in person, phone, or by survey cards. This feedback can be very revealing for your operations. An upset customer, properly treated, my re-purchase, and may even become an active referrer.
Think of customers as life-long assetts. Offer them a 'membership' in your organization. This will open the doorway for information to pour in that is only obtainable through interactivity.
Develop the feedback loop in your organization. Don't just push out and add to the hundreds of pounds of bulk mail and millions of impersonal emails sent (that nowadays end up in the trash folder). Become effective in this area, become 1:1.
Five Stars
What is a "Relationship?".......2000-05-14
Peppers and Rogers wrote a pioneering work on reaching customers, that taught marketers to look beyond "segments" to the individual people who actually bought their products or services. But they make an essential mistake in confusing the customer's familiarity with a particular business with having a relationship. Relationships exist between people who know one another, and a business relationship is one in which the customer deals with the same provider for each transaction. An example is a personal trainer you go to each time you work out, or a using the same accountant (not just the same accounting firm) for many years at tax time, or going to the same hairstylist, even following her when she moves to a new salon. These are real relationships, but phoning a catalog company and talking to a different person each time, even if that person can check your past orders and already has the billing information, is NOT a relationship.
Using technology to make a transaction more efficient can be a service to customers. People do not always seek a relationship with their provider; sometimes they want anonymity, and the idea that the provider organization "knows" all about them can be scary. Only by distinguishing between real relationships and the kind of "pseudo-relationship" that Peppers and Rogers advocate can you sort out these issues.
To learn more about the concept of "relationship" versus the more common service encounter (between customer and provider who do not know each other and do not expect to interact again), read The Brave New Service Strategy by Dr. Barbara A. Gutek and Theresa Welsh. They postulate a service model that consists of a triangle of Customer, Organization and Provider (COP).
Marketing Strategies for the Future.......2000-01-16
Clear and well-written exploration of market share approach to marketing versus the one-to-one approach to marketing. Explained well, and backed up with solid and very applicable examples.
It's important to remember that this book prepared the way for current Internet-based/personalized approaches to marketing. To a current marketeer, it may feel a bit dated (many of the examples are dependent on using snail mail and fax machines) but it given how many large IT projects are centered around database marketing, it's worthwhile reading for a lot of professionals and technical workers who may be missing part of the point of the systems they're developing.
In Search of Excellence for the Information Age.......1999-11-11
This is revolutionary stuff. Neither you or your business customers have the luxury of sticking your head in the sand on this. When you pull it out, you'll be all alone...and out of business.
Book Description
Vernor Vinge doesnt write novels very quickly, but they are well worth the wait. His last two novels have won the coveted Hugo Award for Best Science Fiction Novel. Rainbows End is set in the same near future as Vinges novella, Fast Times at Fairmont High, which won the Hugo Award for Best Novella in 2002. Set a few decades from now, Rainbows End is an epic adventure that encapsulates in a single extended family the challenges of the technological advances of the first quarter of the twenty-first century. The information revolution of the past thirty years blossoms into a web of conspiracies that could destroy Western civilization. At the center of the action are Robert Gu, a former Alzheimers victim who has regained his mental and physical health through radical new therapies, and his family. His son and daughter-in-law are both in the militarybut not a military we would recognizewhile his middle schoolage granddaughter is involved in perhaps the most dangerous game of all, with people and forces more powerful than she or her parents can imagine. Filled with excitement and Vinges trademark potpourri of fascinating ideas, Rainbows End is another triumphantly entertaining novel by one of the true masters of the field.
Customer Reviews:
...and the Other on a Banana Peel.......2007-10-01
"Rainbow's End" is the story of a reawakening curmudgeon, a madman's plan for world domination, and a not-to-distant future where the equivalent of mental telepathy exists thanks to computing advancements and where books are destroyed to preserve them.
Vinge writes clearly and simply so that the book is almost an easy read. I use almost because there are a few set pieces that the author must have clearly developed in his mind and then not noticed that there were lacuna when he transferred the ideas to paper. The result is that occasionally I understood what was going on, but never quite figured out why it took the form it did.
In this book Vinge often tries to be slyly humorous, and often succeeds, whether it is in the subtitle ("a novel with one foot in the future" which must surely be meant to be followed by "and the other on a banana peel") to a character taking the form of a rabbit who, like the Energizer Bunny, just keeps "coming and coming and coming".
Although I gladly devoured the book, I must confess that I really dislike one of Vinge's recurring plot devices, which is the use of adolescents as major characters. With the possible exception of Cleopatra, I've seldom found such an important role for teenagers in history. It's almost as if Vinge was trying to lure teenagers into an interest in his books by giving them such an important role.
It's obvious from the beginning that the main character will be transformed by his experience in the book, but I never quite understood the reason for his transformation. I also found the ending an attempt to wrap up things too nicely, while at the same time leaving a few strings untied, perhaps in anticipation of a sequel.
"Rainbow's End" won the 2007 Hugo Award, although two other nominees "Blindsight" and "Glasshouse" seemed more interesting to me. On the other hand, despite my criticism, the book was am enjoyable read.
Unlikeable.......2007-09-08
I am normally a great fan of Vernor Vinge. This story, however, did not do much for me. It is well written enough that, despite my dislike, I continued and finished it but I cannot really say I enjoyed it.
The story takes place in the not too distant future. Terrorism is a fact of life as is the availability of weapons of mass destruction. The goal of governmental agencies is to be on the lookout for the "next bad thing" and hope that it does not become the "final bad thing". When some non-US intelligence services get a whiff of a project that has the potential to be "very bad indeed", they find reason to believe it is being developed near San Diego in a biolab. What most of them do not know is that the project itself is being mounted by one of their own. They conceive a plan to investigate, not knowing whether this is an independent effort or one of the US government.
Technology has, of course, progressed a great deal. Much of this progress has been in the area of information technology. People can "wear" their computers and have access to information almost anywhere. Another area of advance in is medicine. Many things are curable now and that bring in the protagonist.
He was been withering away from Alzheimer's disease. Now, a cure has been found tailored to his own genetic code. Along with it, his body has been rejuvenated. His first problem is that he is now woefully unprepared to live in the modern world and must go back to remedial training in a local high school. The second is that he is not a very nice person.
What he does have going for him is an extremely intelligent granddaughter who loves him despite his character failings, a son who is a high military official tasked with responding to terror threats and a daughter in law who is also military and who has access to the biolabs. This makes him the chosen agent for the foreign agents.
As I said, the story was well written, it just did not capture my interest very well.
Not Free SF Reader.......2007-09-07
The Fast Times are at UCSD, not Fairmont High.
This book starts well, with some seriously technlogical espionage and security problems beeing looked at. You could call it an 'S' start, Strossian, or Stephensonian perhaps.
Unfortunately, after that, when the major part of view character, the recovered Alzheimer's patient is introduced, things slow down. He basically has to go back to school after years of being no compos mentis. His son and wife are involved in the security industry mentioned previously.
In the middle of this, a conspiracy about lowish level mind control lurks.
In earlier life he was a spiteful acclaimed poet, and now has to learn basic stuff like new computer operating systems. This part drags on a bit too, or more than a bit too long.
There are some entertaining references to be fond - a homage to Border Guards with kids playing 'Egan soccer', and major Pratchett gameworlds, etc., including a failed game 'Zones of Thought', so happy to poke fun at himself, too.
The part of the book that has the most important consequences doesn't generally get enough time, so that prevents this rising above the level of average to be good.
Interesting Concepts, but...........2007-08-11
A 4 rating for the ideas behind the novel, especially how our networked society will continue to (d)evolve ... unfortunately it is written like a teen novel and I gave up on it half way through ...
vinge never disappoints.......2007-08-07
While this book didn't blow me over in the way that A Deepness in the Sky or A Fire Upon the Deep did, and seems perhaps a bit lighter than either of those two books, it nevertheless engaged me greatly-- both on the plot-action-page-turning level and on the intriguing-ideas-about-the-future level.
Amazon.com
Sometimes our parents plant weird ideas in our heads, such as "You shouldn't be selfish," when the subject of buying something nice arises. As an adult, that often translates into "I don't deserve to have money." Or maybe we feel so good about the money we make that we can't resist spending it on whatever catches our eye: a new pair of shoes, a titanium mountain bike, a leather love seat to go with the leather sofa we couldn't afford last month.
Financial planner Brooke Stephens has heard every excuse for not making, saving, and investing money; she also knows that no matter what attitude a person starts with, he or she can change it. So Wealth Happens starts with baby steps--tiny exercises to change your mind about money, and to increase your knowledge about what it can do. Then she shows the basics of investing, building wealth, protecting what you've built, and, finally, retiring on that wealth.
Sprinkled among the chunks of concrete advice are quotes and proverbs ("Save money and money will save you"), inspirational anecdotes (John D. Rockefeller built an incredible fortune while tithing 10 percent to his church), and real-life scenarios showing how a decent income can get gobbled up with foolish purchases and the resultant credit-card interest. Wealth Happens is about as beginner-friendly as personal-finance guides can possibly be. Because of that, it probably won't be very useful to the person who's already paying off credit-card balances each month and saving for retirement. But for the person who wonders how people who own homes got them, or how anyone can actually afford to retire at 65, this is the book to buy. --Lou Schuler
Book Description
Does a secure financial life seem to difficult to imagine let alone achieve? Does wealth strike you as an impossible dream? Whether you're living from paycheck to paycheck, or simply confused by the world of stocks, bonds, and brokers, it's never too late to change your situation. All you need is a little help.
By spending just ten to fifteen minutes a day with this immensely helpful book, you'll discover that financial security is just steps away. Filled with the wisdom and advice of a seasoned expert, this year-old program for success shows you how to:
- change your attitude and change your life
- break out of debt and control your spending
- choose investments and make your money grow
- protect your gains and prepare for a comfortable retirement
- give your children or grandchildren a secure start in life and much more!
Customer Reviews:
The Best Book of Finances I've Ever Read.......2006-05-10
This book truly changed my life. Ms. Stephen's down to earth, friend-to-friend approach spoke to me like no other financial advice book ever had. As everyone here has said, the daily devotional style makes it easy to digest and the quotes are truly inspirational. My thanks to Ms. Stephen's for this fabulous book.
Best of it's kind.......2003-09-05
Wonderful book for those who want to learn how to learn how to gain control of your money and invest.
Incredibly Informative..........2002-02-13
I recommend this book to anyone who needs to gain control of their finances and set up their future.
Easy to follow....straightforward....tons of great advice!
This book is wonderful.......2002-02-12
I feel that my review should be first! This book is great. Not only is it a daily financial devotional, but it is also a down-to-earth NIV financial bible. I bought this book on a clearance rack in Crown and never read it until last week(note, I bought the book a year ago!). However, buy it, read it, use it, and read it again......
excellent book and as easy to read as a novel.......2000-06-04
Like the other people who reviewed this book, I just love it. I first borrowed it from the library and then purchased it for myself. I like the way it is made up, in tiny steps and really easy to read and follow. It truly inspired me to take a new look at money and I found out that you can save money in more ways than I ever thought possible. I highly recommend it. It is well worth the price.
Book Description
The mysterious death of Ron Brown has caused much controversy and suspicion, and in this investigative book, Cashill takes a close look at Brown's checkered career as Clinton fund-raiser and commerce secretary and consequently exposes the Clintons' dirty, relentless practices for getting financial backing. Cashill answers the most trenchant questions surrounding Brown's rise and fall: Why did his plane crash? Why did the White House suppress an investigation? What was the purpose of Brown's trade missions? And what larger forces caused the Clintons to seek international cash? Using the case of Ron Brown's untimely death as a touchstone for the Clintons' unseemly and unsavory practices in the White House, Cashill explores the seedy depths of the most corrupt adminstration in American history during its two most desperate years and focuses directly on the machinations of the direst threat to today's political scene, Hillary Clinton.
Customer Reviews:
Not just the sausage making, but the whole abattoir.......2006-11-23
Nearly flawless telling of another unreported tale. When a nitwit like Cindy Sheehan can get on TV any time she wants by uttering inanities and lies, while this book gets ignored, we know a lot about the press in this country. This is some serious "truth to power" folks.....Read the tale of Clinton's creation of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and tell me how this wasn't a payback.
There is little point refuting the ad hominem attacks. These folks have not read the book, or suffer from that common disease of the left, "one-drop" thinking. In other words, one drop of evil, sin, or error permanently removes the sufferer from all future discussion. Therefore, it is vital to never be tainted with that drop. This is why the left feels they can shut up critics by smugly calling them racists, assuming no one else will listen again to one so thoroughly discredited. This effective way of disposing of opponents goes way back; Lenin said, "Why should we bother to reply to Kautski? He would reply to us, and we would have to reply to his reply. There's no end to that. It will be quite well enough for us to announce that Kautski is a traitor to the working class, and everyone will understand everything."
Thus the desperation to avoid any taint on either Clinton, even when the evidence is spelled out in names, dates and places. Once besmirched, they would be removed from all future thought. Only pure candidates can represent the left, and so they must define their candidates as pure and fight to the death those who propose otherwise. Just as only thugs, loonies, hypocrites, religious cranks, racists, Fascists or other nitwits could possibly question or criticize those saintly members of the pantheon. (And they think I operate on a foolish faith???)
Anyway, to the topic at hand. Jack Cashill (Clintonesque full disclosure: Jack and I go way back, having grown up near each other in New Jersey and still maintaining a close and deep friendship; honest full disclosure: I've met him at a book signing and e-mailed him a couple of times) is a smart man with a fire in his belly to expose corruption and decay wherever he finds it. That makes investigating the 8 years of Clinton a full-time job. No friend of Big Business, no lackey of any label that could not be defined, Jack evaluates and exposes whatever he turns up. For as this book amply, consistently, and with extensive footnotes and as much corroboration from folks who would never be in anyone's VRWC (except Hillary's, who defines all those who question as such) demonstrates, the Clinton years would require a lot of scouring to rise to the level of cesspool. For 4 years the only apparent purpose of the Department of Commerce was to raise money for the Clinton campaigns, and Ron Brown was the designated hustler. From chaperoning business executives to Asia, strong-arming reluctant foreigners, or promulgating policies designed to pay back those contributors, the Clintons and their increasingly reluctant bagboy Ron Brown spent years hawking whatever they had to sell. And raising buckets of money doing so.
Well Ron had second thoughts, reluctantly departed on a poorly organized, hastily arranged trip, and died in a most mysterious manner. Those are facts. How he ended up on that hillside is the story Jack tells, and though all explanations are indeed merely conjecture, since those who know are either dead or not speaking, he makes a mighty convincing case. Read this to see how your welfare and safety have been sold, and how you got nothing from the sale but a degraded and cheesy President.
I'd dock a half-star for the incessant phony suspense "This is something Ron would only learn much later, when it was too late." Organ wheeze! The writing is corny in the beginning, but once Jack gets rolling, it is a freight-train of power as its sordid and miserable story unfolds. And photos. Two pictures? That's all? With so many characters, a few photos (or none) would have been nice. Minor quibbles in an otherwise gripping, serious book.
Great book, read it........2006-06-29
Very well written, never a dull moment. Interesting to connect the dots with other topical issues during the same presidency. A little research by the readers will show some interesting "occurrences".
the criticism lacks merit.......2005-12-28
Some critics committed an Ad Hominem fallacy by accusing Cashill of political and financial motivations.
A critic committed a Guilt By Association fallacy by associating the book with some supposedly dubious, unrelated theories. Another critic used the term "conspiracy theory" as a code word for that same fallacy.
A critic said the book has limited or no proof. We must pass judgment based on limited proof everyday as you can see in the courts, which have standards of "preponderance of evidence" and "beyond a reasonable doubt." Because of strong proof, Jesse Jackson called for a new investigation two years after Brown's death, as reported in the AP on 1/5/98. Since then the proof has only grown stronger, with this book as a watershed for completeness and new evidence. For starters, see page 274.
A critic said "the author relies just a tad bit too much on one of Brown's companions." The book shows how Nolanda Hill demonstrated her credibility and how she came to know what she does. She makes a valuable source. ABC agreed when they interviewed her on Prime Time Live. You can find the transcript easily. And the book draws on a lot of other good sources.
A critic said the book "overdoes it with the melodramatic foreshadowing. We all know what happened to Brown so there's no need to harp on what's coming in each chapter." Readers know that Brown died but they do not know how, a primary focus of the book. New and important facts await them throughout the book, including the later chapters. The book builds suspense and, in the end, delivers impressively.
Lower than a snake's belly in a wagon rut.......2005-12-23
How low does a man have to stoop before he uses another's death-and the deaths of 34 others in a horrific plane crash-for a political hatchet job?
"Have you no decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?"
The audience for this book will best be found among unreconstructed McCarthyites, folks so utterly convinced of their essential rightness on every point that they are willing to abandon all decency in pursuit of their goals. Those who feel comfortable misdirecting voters on election day, ripping out others' yard signs, and perhaps even falsifying an electronic ballot memory card or two (for a higher cause, no doubt!) should feel just fine reading a book that confirms their dearly held prejudices.
Others may wish to shower thoroughly after reading how Jack Cashill proposes to cash in on the dead, pushing the political agendas of the same folks who tried so hard to smear honored veterans like McCain and Kerry.
ron brown's body:how one man's death saved..........2005-10-04
I thought the book sounded thorough and authentic and was well written.
Book Description
Marketing in the early 21st century is dominated by two approaches, neither of which is visible to the naked eye: the use of data to define and shape human affairs into machine-readable form and the effort to create and sustain ongoing two-way relationships with customers. The former is one way human life is being subjugated to the regime of the machine; the latter is one way the individual may one day emerge from within the datascape. A post-modern perspective is used to reveal both the "kaleidoroscope" of data and the "raw immaterials" of relationships in two companion essays.
Customer Reviews:
Rebecca Nailed It.......2007-03-18
Rebecca's review is spot-on. I could read this book several times and get something new out of it each time. Ellis succinctly captures the changes in consumer-marketer interaction and the new 21st century value exchange and does a great job of putting it in historical and philosophical context.
Big Thoughts on Marketing .......2007-03-09
Most books on business (particularly those by self-proclaimed "gurus") seize on a single idea. With terrier-like tenacity they explain it, illustrate it, present case studies of it, then explain it yet again, until a readers feels she's entered some sort of textual version of "Groundhog's Day."
"Marketing in the In-Between," takes the opposite approach. It packs so many clusters of thought, ideas, revelations and connections on every page, the reader will need to repeatedly dip in to glean all the thoughts. It challenges readers to truly ponder and to question the basic precepts and practices upon which marketing is based.
Average customer rating:
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The Georgia One-Day Trip Book: A New Way to Explore the State's Romantic Past, Vibrant Present, and Olympian Future
Jane Ockershausen
Manufacturer: EPM Publications
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Book Description
Experience the majestic natural beauty of the Northern Mountains, the gentility of the classic South, and the charm of the Colonial Coast's fishing villages with the help of this book. Far more than plantations and peanuts, dynamic Georgia has a multitude of museums, nature centers, wineries, famous golf courses, hunting preserves, and more.
Customer Reviews:
day travel aid.......2007-05-12
I've had this book since I moved to Georgia, and I couldn't get along without it. The only reason I didn't give five stars is that it's just not new. Some things change. But this book certainly steers you right, shows possibilities, suggests some good places not to miss.
Book Description
"Here, between the covers of one book, you can find out about the major problems facing the world today, and how to fix them. It all comes sprinkled with the deliciously surprising examples, and wrapped in the alternately gripping and humorous prose, for which Paul and Anne Ehrlich have long been famous. This is a book to savor and from which to learn."-JARED DIAMOND, AUTHOR OF COLLAPSE: HOW SOCIETIES CHOOSE TO FAIL OR SUCCEED AND GUNS, GERMS, AND STEEL
"Provocative and eminently readable...this is a direct and levelheaded presentation that should get, and deserves, wide readership."-PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"The Ehrlichs have often been called the ultimate pessimists, but their book is, frankly, heartening. . . . The book is decidedly new and different."-NORMAN MYERS, NATURE
"If you simply want a great book, written by smart, forthright scientists, read One with Nineveh by Paul and Anne Ehrlich." -BOSTON GLOBE
"An urgent warning full of suggestions as to how things could be made better if individuals and businesses and nations cooperated."-THE WASHINGTON POST
"The Ehrlichs manage to be both meticulous and witty as they suggest reforms and remind us that ours is an astoundingly adaptive species capable of making radical change once we're motivated." -BOOKLIST
Named a Notable Book for 2005 by the American Library Association, One with Nineveh is a fresh synthesis of the major issues of our time, now brought up to date with an afterword for the paperback edition. Through lucid explanations, telling anecdotes, and incisive analysis, the book spotlights the three elephants in our global living room-rising consumption, still-growing world population, and unchecked political and economic inequity-that together are increasingly shaping today's politics and humankind's future. One with Nineveh brilliantly puts today's political and environmental debates in a larger context and offers some bold proposals for improving our future prospect.
Customer Reviews:
Come Nineveh, Come Tyre; Come "Hell and High Water".......2007-07-25
This is an outstandingly wide-ranging intro to every aspect of the subject. If that's what you seek, this is your book. If you feel fairly well-informed about the bad news, perhaps you want instead Joseph Romm's book, "Hell and High Water" (subtitled "Global Warming -- the solution and the politics -- and what we should do").
A scan of Romm's intro and chapter one will let you know what you're in for. While the Ehrlichs' book ends on a downer and resists hopeful prescriptions -- and I respect such pessimism -- "Hell and High Water" springs from the conviction that now is the time to act and that enough renewed minds can spur action that will make a difference, perhaps even leading to more drastic action that will make more of a difference.
But for a truly amazing reference list and research that won't quit -- including scores of sources that are gold mines in themselves -- Ehrlichs' is a trove of solid data.
We're In Deep Doo Doo.......2006-07-09
Wow. What a ride. This book had me on the edge of my seat. I can see why other reviewers might find fault in this grand overview of ecological,socio-economic and political problems as not offering enough new information or covering too much ground. However, I personaly am thankful for such a comprehesive collection of troubles. "High Noon: Twenty Global Problems and Twenty Years to Solve Them" by J.F. Rischard is another fine book with similar intensity. There seems to be anumber of "oh boy are we in trouble look at what global doom is looming" kinds of books these days. Fact is however, these are scientists and if we can get all excited about new science that can make a quick buck and promises booming new industries, then we ought to also get motivated when scientists tell us we have some problems least we become a society of hypocrits. Many scientists these days are comparing our present era to Europe in the early 1930's, soothing and waiting for a period of consequences. Can humanity be smart and avoid these catastrophies (in this case ecological meltdown as global warming is just one super-disaster in a world of desertification, gross overpopulation, disease, resource wars, militerized gated communities for the wealthy and so on and on) or do we have to learn the hard way and just see who and what other plants and animals are still alive by 2100? Stressful indeed as I haven't even payed $100 yet on my student loan. I try to see books like this as a battle cry. We fought slavery once, we fought fascism once and now we must fight unsustainable, polluting and ..dare I say ignorant social orders. Perhaps that really is the enemy of Nineveh...ignorance, narrow self interests...and....a reluctance to change because of vested interests in the status quo. The unsustainable status quo must go.
Excellent book.
One With Nineveh:More Bad News and Nothing Concrete to do about It.......2006-04-01
One With Nineveh would be a good read for someone who hasn't heard about global warming or other problems encompassing the planet. The first chapter was interesting...the comparison between the lost civilization of Nineveh with today's world, but there was really no new information that hasn't been talked about since the early 1970's.
The biggest disapointment was that there were no clear suggestions for people to do to live a simpler life, cut back on consumption, and in general quit being a pain in the back to the planet earth.
One very good chapter towards the end talked about economics.....why societies do not have to have growing economies (production increasing every year, consumption increasing every year ect.). That chapter needs to be explored in greater detail by the authors as it was the most compelling idea in the book.
An expert summarizes a critical subject in a humane manner.......2005-12-11
Paul Ehrlich has had more than 40 years of experience researching and writing about the environment. This experience is obvious in his latest book, which provides a concise summary of today's state of the environment. I don't understand how it could be labeled "alarmist" since it is backed by the author's experience and substantial academic research. This is a renown Stanford professor, not just a pundit perpetuating his personal views.
It is true that the information presented in the first half of the book may sound repetitive to those well-versed in environmental issues. However, the summary of issues like climate change, carrying capacity, and consumption was well written and flowed smoothly. The most substantial part of this book was Ehrlich's recommendations to help reverse or change trends that negatively affect the environment. These recommendations were realistic - integrating the social and political aspects to the science.
Readable, entertaining, and important is how I would describe this book. It belongs on the the required reading list for anyone who believes the environment is worth preserving.
No new information.......2005-05-30
This book offers nothing to someone remotely familiar with environmental issues. It might be a mediocre read for a beginner, but if you're already familiar with overpopulation, mismanagement of resources, etc, you will get NOTHING out of this book. It is incredibly repetitive and it lacks insight and depth. Don't waste your time.
Book Description
Must children born with socially challenging anatomies have their bodies changed because others cannot be expected to change their minds? One of Us views conjoined twinning and other "abnormalities" from the point of view of people living with such anatomies, and considers these issues within the larger historical context of anatomical politics. Anatomy matters, Alice Domurat Dreger tells us, because the senses we possess, the muscles we control, and the resources we require to keep our bodies alive limit and guide what we experience in any given context. Her deeply thought-provoking and compassionate work exposes the breadth and depth of that context--the extent of the social frame upon which we construct the "normal." In doing so, the book calls into question assumptions about anatomy and normality, and transforms our understanding of how we are all intricately and inextricably joined.
Customer Reviews:
More PC than analytical.......2006-10-26
More of a celebration of political correctness than
a well thought out study of conjoined twins.
If you follow the author's ideology through, any body
modification--including braces for teeth or body-- is
damaging to a child's psychological health.
If you want facts--give this one a miss.
Thought-provoking.......2006-06-22
This book raises questions about peoples' reactions to conjoined twins that may have important implications for many other unusual traits. It eloquently questions common assumptions about the desire to seem normal. It has led me to wonder about the extent to which healthcare is used to make people more normal at the cost of making them less healthy.
The book presents strong evidence that conjoined twins who remain conjoined are at least as well off as those who are separated, and some evidence that separations reduce the twins' life expectancy, possibly by a significant amount.
Remarkably, of the twins who remained conjoined to adulthood, only one pair requested separation (they didn't survive it), and among those whose refused separation are a number whose twin had just died (which meant that separation appeared to offer the only chance for the remaining twin to survive).
This doesn't mean conjoined twins are better off that way (those who have been separated seem equally satisfied with their status), but it strongly suggests that decisions to perform separations are motivated by something other than concern over the twins wellbeing. And it suggests that people who claim things like "The proposed operation would give these children's bodies the integrity that nature denied them" are imposing their values on others in ways which would be considered unacceptable if the victims had a little political power.
The book reports a fair number of statements by doctors (and occasionally parents) which suggest they consider a normal appearance worth risking health to achieve. The book also theorizes that having a normal child is an important enough part of parents' identity to override their interest in their children's' wellbeing. The book also reports some indications that surgeons are biased toward surgery for unusual problems by the fame if can bring them.
Unfortunately, there isn't as much evidence as there ought to be about the health effects of separations. The book claims (plausibly, but without supporting references), that "most medicine is not yet evidence-based", with most surgical decisions being based on storytelling rather than careful studies.
The book raises some important questions about cases where doctors think the only way to save one twin is to kill the other. The author points out some strong similarities between the medical killing that is done in some of these cases and a hypothetical case where a heart is taken from a live singleton (i.e. not conjoined) donor to save another (which all would agree is wrong). One difference that she fails to consider is that if you consider the heart property, it looks like jointly owned property in one case and individually owned property in the other, and we should expect some differences to result from that (although doctors may still be more willing to kill one twin than that perspective would justify).
One interesting example that the book provides of medicalizing a difference is the attempt to get doctors to recognize
Drapetomania, a "disease" which causes slaves to run away.
How widespread is the practice of impairing health to make people more normal? Surgeries on intersex children probably create modest health risks. Commonly used medicines to deal with ordinary colds suppress annoying symptoms that are tools the body uses to fight the disease, and tend to make the disease last longer (see the book Why We Get Sick : The New Science of Darwinian Medicine by Randolph Nesse). A child with 3 arms makes doctors want to
chop it off, presumably at some risk.
Are these part of a wider pattern that would help explain why increased healthcare spending doesn't seem to make us healthier?
An analysis of children born with anatomical abnormalities.......2004-09-10
Conjoined twins, ambiguous genitalia, and birth defects are some of the issues considered in Alice Domurat Dreger's One Of Us: Conjoined Twins And The Future Of Normal, a hard-hitting analysis of children born with anatomical abnormalities, and the lives they lead. Unusual here is the viewpoint of those living with these anatomies, as well as the larger social and political perspective of what Dreger terms 'anatomical politics'. Chapters consider the results of separation on the hearts and minds of kids, and the elements which make for 'normalicy' in their lives in the intriguing study One Of Us, recommended especially for college-level collections strong in health and sociology.
From a Descendent of Conjoined Twins.......2004-05-18
As a descendent of Eng Bunker (1/2 of the Original Siamese Twins), I was thrilled to read this well thought out and compassionate book. I would highly recommend this book to anyone striving to understand the issues that are faced with conjoinment and "singletons" need for privacy and individuality. An important book that helps "de-freak" the humans that are born with unique anatomy. Thank you!
Books:
- Unconventional Success: A Fundamental Approach to Personal Investment
- Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies, Fourth Edition
- Web-Based Training: Designing e-Learning Experiences (With CD-ROM)
- Weekend Knitting: 50 Unique Projects and Ideas
- Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything
- A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, Third Edition (PMBOK Guides)
- A Practical Guide to Information Systems Process Improvement
- Ageless Marketing: Strategies for Reaching the Hearts and Minds of the New Customer Majority
- Analysis of Financial Time Series, 2nd Edition (Wiley Series in Probability and Statistics)
- Art of Seduction
Books Index
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