Sales Dogs : You Do Not Have to Be an Attack Dog to Be Successful in Sales (Rich Dad's Advisors series)

Sales Dogs : You Do Not Have to Be an Attack Dog to Be Successful in Sales (Rich Dad's Advisors series)
Average customer rating:

From the Novice to the Expert!

Sales Dogs - Sales Adventure Guide - Little Red Book of Selling

Good introductory book... with an analogy taken too far.

Sorry Robert

I'm Going To Be Brief

Sales Dogs : You Do Not Have to Be an Attack Dog to Be Successful in Sales (Rich Dad's Advisors series)
Blair Singer
Manufacturer: Warner Business Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0446678333

Book Description

By knowing the five basic breeds of peoplethe Pit Bull, the Golden Retriever, the Poodle, the Chihuahua, and the Basset Houndreaders will have the necessary insight to improve their selling savvy.

Customer Reviews:

From the Novice to the Expert!.......2006-09-01

This book dispels the myths in salesmanship. I would recommend it for anyone in sales - from the novice to the expert.

Reggie Johnson, Author, "How To Close More Customers"

Sales Dogs - Sales Adventure Guide - Little Red Book of Selling.......2006-03-29

Sales Dogs is a real howl! (Sorry for the pun.) This book is intended to provide basic insight into the sales profession and smooth out a sales person style and/or provide them with a style other than acting like an overly aggressive dog. To the previous point it does a good job! I did find the book a bit idealistic at times compared to my recent sales experience (I've been in sales for the last 2 years)

Another book I just finished reading and highly recommend is the Sales Adventure Guide. (Just purchased 2 weeks ago on Amazon)

The Sales Adventure Guide fills in where Sales Dogs leaves off. It outlines how to sell effectively, identify a lucrative sales/marketing/business opportunity, stay employed, earn a ton of money, and negotiate a severance package once it's time leave and pursue your other goals (Has any one ever had a college class in severance negotiation??? Seems to me gray haired folks know ALL about it...but the young guns get left in the dark.) The Sales Adventure Guide book will teach you the ropes with unbiased information.

Another good reality based read is The Little Red Book of Selling.

Best of luck everybody. Sell! Sell! Sell!

Tim J.

Good introductory book... with an analogy taken too far........2006-01-08

"Sales Dogs" is a part of the "Rich Dad Advisors" series on sales and selling techniques. I was interested to read this book as Robert Kiyosaki encourages sales a whole lot.

"Sales Dogs" is a good introductory book. It breaks people up into different categories or "breeds" based on each person's strengths. I liked this approach because it's tailored towards each person strengths instead of taking the "1 size fits all" approach. I also really liked that it showed how you can be a successful salesperson without being a "pit bull".

"Sales Dogs" is typical "Rich Dad" material meaning it is written for the beginner. This makes the book easy to read but it isn't full of a lot of substance. Also, the dog analogy is just taken WAY too far! Here's an excerpt.... "Don't steal food off the table or counters or out of the refrigerator. Be honest and operate with integrity in all matters. Full disclosure in all cases." WTF??? Going from stealing food from the counter to integrity is quite a jump! I want to read about sales.... not try and interpret every dog analogy ever made!!!

If you are new to sales, then this book is probably for you. If you have any experience whatsoever, you probably won't find much use for this book. 3 out of 5 stars.

Sorry Robert.......2005-12-28

I truly enjoyed all of the other Rich Dad Poor Dad books, but this one is awful. I have recommended all of the books to a number of my close friends and family. I will have to warn them all of this book. You know, you can knock them all out of the park though. I still will recommend that everyone should read Rich Dad Poor Dad at the very least.

I'm Going To Be Brief.......2005-09-26

Kiosaki has a talent for story telling many of his advisors don't. This book from the advisor series is a big exception. But there's another reason I really liked it. I don't enjoy the idea of aggressive cold calls to someone who doesn't want to talk to me. This book shows how you can make this type of attititude an asset. In other words it explains why you don't always need to be aggresive to close the deal.

How to Have the Wedding You Want (Not the One Everybody Else Wants You to Have)

Average customer rating:

Amazing, fun, down to earth book
Useful, Unique & Well-written
Made me feel better about the whole process
A fantastic surprise!
An entertaining read and generally useful resource.

How to Have the Wedding You Want (Not the One Everybody Else Wants You to Have)
Danielle Claro
Manufacturer: Berkley Trade
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0425145786

Customer Reviews:

Amazing, fun, down to earth book.......2007-06-17

I got this book from the library along with "Weddings for Grownups" and I must say it was a breath of fresh air of sanity and reminded me to laugh at my crazy wedding plans. My only complaint is that it is slightly outdated--there is no email mentioned...no digital cameras...and I would love it if she wrote a 2nd edition. I would buy a copy for a friend or end up buying a copy for a friend.

Useful, Unique & Well-written.......2007-05-09

Despite the slightly-too-fuzzy-pink cover illustration (as others have noted), this book turned out to be a great buy. It's different from other wedding books out there in that:

1) It approaches the wedding as entirely in your hands - there are no lists of "must dos" or of boring suggestions for how to slightly tweak a traditional wedding. It's not a predictable outline of a predictable wedding. It's empowering. It tends more toward guiding the bride (yes, it's written for you, miss) to come up with her own ideas and solutions. There are plenty of creative real-life wedding stories included for inspiration.

2) It's well-written. Meaning: It feels like it was written by an actual person, for an actual person. It's funny. It's down-to-earth. It's so refreshing in this world of repetitive quantity-over-quality wedding jabber.

3) It's a confidence-booster. The main theme of this book is how to identify your ideal wedding and then how to wade through the throngs of relatives and industry salesladies to actually get it. It's not exclusively about saving money, but it's about knowing how to go about your interpersonal interactions if that's what you want.

I think what endears me to this book most is its staunch position that the purpose of your wedding is to publicly celebrate the love and commitment between you & your spouse. This is a thoughtful book designed to bring you closer to that ideal, and the fact that it's a rare find is depressing.

But don't despair. Just order the book.

Made me feel better about the whole process.......2007-05-04

Every time I started reading one of those wedding-planning books, I would feel my anxiety rising quickly to an intolerable level. "The average wedding costs over $25,000." "It is of absolute importance that you make sure no to offend anyone." etc. There were only two out of the many (15 or so) that I read that gave me a relieved feeling and called me to remember that it was really about the love, and all this other stuff was icing. This was one of those two (the other was about eloping!) Some reviewers have said that it does not contain enough information; I would say that brides generally suffer from an overabundance of "information", and most could really use the gentle call to sanity that this book offers.

A fantastic surprise!.......2005-08-19

A friend of a friend loaned me this book and I thought it would be yet another useless book of lists and non-information. Instead, this is a great book that helps you assert what you want for your wedding without becoming a "but it's my day" monster. this was a huge help in preparing for finding out all of our families opinions and then balancing them out with what we really wanted. i plan to buy this for every friend i know before they get married - that and a check for a few good therapy sessions. in fact, that's what this book is - good therapy.

An entertaining read and generally useful resource........2005-02-13

I love this book. One Amazon review trashed it for focusing on all the negative aspects of getting married but I can't see how the reviewer would have come to that conclusion unless she stopped reading after the first chapter. The book shares stories of other weddings--good, bad, and okay but we would have done something different--that serve as inspirations and cautionary tales. Danielle Claro's writing style is very down-to-earth and readable without being insultingly simplistic.

I honestly don't foresee our respective families having a lot of problems with our wedding. That may be naive of me, but time will tell. Despite not considering myself really the target audience for this book, I still got a lot of ideas from the different stories, which were funny, sweet, and entertaining, as well as validation for some of the ideas I already had. The book offers much advice for ways around the wedding industry machine and supports any wedding participant's decision to do things a little differently.

Don't let the pink cover fool you. This is an entertaining and informative read that's useful even if you think you're family won't care that you want to have wedding pie and get married on a pirate ship by your yoga instructor.

It's Not Funny If I Have to Explain It: A Dilbert Treasury

Average customer rating:

A Fantastic Book of Comedy
Good book, but not as insightful as I would have hoped...
Journeying Dilbert's world with Scott Adams
Laugh out loud Funny
It is funny, even though he explains it

It's Not Funny If I Have to Explain It: A Dilbert Treasury
Scott Adams
Manufacturer: Andrews McMeel Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0740746588

Book Description

Jargon-spewing corporate zombies. The sociopath who checks voice mail on his speaker phone. The fascist information systems guy. The sadistic human resources director. The technophobic vice president. The power-mad executive assistant. The pursed-lip sycophant. The big stubborn dumb guy. They're Dilbert's coworkers, and chances are they're yours, too. If you know them, work with them, or dialogue with them about leveraging synergies to maximize shareholder value, then you'll recognize this comic strip as a day at the office, only funnier. Since 1989 Dilbert has lampooned not only the people but also the accepted conventions and practices of the business world. Office politics, management trends, business travel, personnel policies, corporate bureaucracy, irrational strategies, unfathomable accounting practices, unproductive meetings, dysfunctional organizations, oppressive work spaces, silly protocols, and inscrutable jargon are all targets of Adams's darkly goofy satirical pen. Dilbert strikes a deeply resonant chord with fans because it casts such a dead-on reflection of the realities of the white-collar workplace, even with its off-the-wall delivery. Today, Dilbert runs in 2,000 newspapers in 19 languages, reaching 150 million readers in 65 countries. The 24th Dilbert collection, Author's Cut, features Adams's personal all-time favorite selections, along with his own handwritten commentary about the strips.

Customer Reviews:

A Fantastic Book of Comedy.......2007-04-02

I received my Dilbert Treasury and it is even better than I imagined. Not only is it full of some of Scott Adams' best Dilbert cartoons, it also has his own personal comments after each one! Some of his comments are even funnier than the cartoon above it! :-)

I keep mine on my coffee table and people just love to browse through it. It was on sale and I feel an excellent value for the price!

Love it!!!

Good book, but not as insightful as I would have hoped..........2007-03-12

The comics are a good collection of Scott Adams' work over the years. While he has has added some interesting commentary, "as if [he] were looking over [your] shoulder", it seems like it could be more insightful. Some of the comments such as, "Monkey-related punchlines always work," seem a bit lacking, while, comments such as "all success depends on faulty comparisons," reveal some thematic insight into the author's vision of the strip. As a long-time fan of Adams' work, I recommend this, as it is a solid collection, and captures a bit of Adams "behind the scenes" thinking behind his strips.

Journeying Dilbert's world with Scott Adams.......2007-02-03

This book is amazing. I would probably say that of most of Dilbert books, but what I truly appreciate about this strip treasury is the careful selection made by the Author and also the handwritten commments below every stip. Thanks to these add-on you can get much more of the behind the scenes on how the humour of the characters is conceived and on how to draw and compose comics. For me this is an interesting added value while maybe someone just prefer to enjoy the comic stand-alone. I would reccomend buying it mainly if you are already a Dilbert fan although it can be a very insightful introduction to newcomers of Dilbert's world

Laugh out loud Funny.......2006-05-31

This book had me LAUGHING OUT LOUD on the airplane - I am sure everyone was jealous that i was having such a great time with JUST me & my book -- it is VERY funny. Only read this book in public if you won't mind people looking at you because you are laughing so hard!

It is funny, even though he explains it.......2006-02-21

I bought this book anticipating nothing more than a rehash of "Seven Years of Highly Defective People". Instead, however, Adams starts right where "Seven Years" left off, in terms of the comic timeline. The book is very much like "Seven Years" in that Adams provides funny handwritten comments under almost every comic, but unlike "Seven Years", the book is organized chronologically, and not by character. That said, the book is very funny and very enjoyable to those people (like me) who like a bit of a "behind-the-scenes tour" now and then.

Average customer rating:

Disjointed - a story that doesn't really know where it wants to go
NO WHISTLES HERE
Hemingway: An American Literary Icon
------Thank you Mr. Hemingway------
Meeker Review

To Have and Have Not
Ernest Hemingway
Manufacturer: Scribner
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Amazon.com

First things first: readers coming to To Have and Have Not after seeing the Bogart/Bacall film should be forewarned that about the only thing the two have in common is the title. The movie concerns a brave fishing-boat captain in World War II-era Martinique who aids the French Resistance, battles the Nazis, and gets the girl in the end. The novel concerns a broke fishing-boat captain who agrees to carry contraband between Cuba and Florida in order to feed his wife and daughters. Of the two, the novel is by far the darker, more complex work.

The first time we meet Harry Morgan, he is sitting in a Havana bar watching a gun battle raging out in the street. After seeing a Cuban get his head blown off with a Luger, Morgan reacts with typical Hemingway understatement: "I took a quick one out of the first bottle I saw open and I couldn't tell you yet what it was. The whole thing made me feel pretty bad." Still feeling bad, Harry heads out in his boat on a charter fishing expedition for which he is later stiffed by the client. With not even enough money to fill his gas tanks, he is forced to agree to smuggle some illegal Chinese for the mysterious Mr. Sing. From there it's just a small step to carrying liquor--a disastrous run that ends when Harry loses an arm and his boat. Once Harry gets mixed up in the brewing Cuban revolution, however, even those losses seem small compared to what's at stake now: his very life.

Hemingway tells most of this story in the third person, but, significantly, he brackets the whole with a section at the beginning told from Harry's perspective and a short, heart-wrenching chapter at the end narrated by his wife, Marie. In between there is adventure, danger, betrayal, and death, but this novel begins and ends with the tough and tender portrait of a man who plays the cards that are dealt him with courage and dignity, long after hope is gone. --Alix Wilber

Book Description

Hemingway's Classic Novel About Smuggling, Intrigue, and Love

To Have and Have Not is the dramatic story of Harry Morgan, an honest man who is forced into running contraband between Cuba and Key West as a means of keeping his crumbling family financially afloat. His adventures lead him into the world of the wealthy and dissipated yachtsmen who throng the region, and involve him in a strange and unlikely love affair.

Harshly realistic, yet with one of the most subtle and moving relationships in the Hemingway oeuvre, To Have and Have Not is literary high adventure at its finest.

Download Description

"To Have and Have Not is the dramatic, brutal story of Harry Morgan, an honest boat owner who is forced into running contraband between Cuba and Key West as a means of keeping his crumbling family financially afloat. His adventures lead him into the world of the wealthy and dissipated yachtsmen who swarm the region, and involve him in a strange and unlikely love affair. In this harshly realistic, yet oddly tender and wise novel, Hemingway perceptively delineates the personal struggles of both the "haves" and the "have nots" and creates one of the most subtle and moving portraits of a love affair in his oeuvre. In turn funny and tragic, lively and poetic, remarkable in its emotional impact, To Have and Have Not takes literary high adventure to a new level. As the Times Literary Supplement observed, "Hemingway's gift for dialogue, for effective understatement, and for communicating such emotions the tough allow themselves, has never been more conspicuous."

Customer Reviews:

Disjointed - a story that doesn't really know where it wants to go.......2007-06-29

I've got to agree with Papa on this one, this is definitely not Hemingway's best work. This novel is actually two short stories and one novella, with the main character Harry Morgan (a smuggler and fisherman going between Cuba and the Florida Keys) linking the three together. The short stories were written well before the rest of the text, then tied together to make a single novel. The first two `sections' (short stories) are fine adventure-type tales about the shady characters of pre-WWII Cuba. The novella starts off as an adventure tale as well in the same vein, but evolves into an introspective story about the value of life, the things the people hold valuable, and what it means to lose them. The latter half of the novella has very little to do with the first half or the other two short sections. I got the impression that EH changed his mind about what he wanted to do with this novel halfway through writing it, but instead of editing the first half for consistency, he just gave up. This makes the overall tale disjointed and puzzling. There are definitely some glimmers of Hemingway at his best in this novel (e.g. the chapter in which Morgan faces the bank robbers on his boat, or the last chapter about what people hold valuable and loss), but EH would have been better served to write to separate, complete tales about each of the threads. I would agree with one of the other reviewer's comments that if this is EH's worst, it is still better than most author's best, but I think that some of the glowing reviews are grossly overstated. This is a flawed work by a great writer in my view, not on the same planet as `For Whom the Bell Tolls' and other EH greats. This is also one of the few cases in which the movie is better than the book.

NO WHISTLES HERE.......2007-06-21

If, like me, your first experience with Hemingway's classic sea tale To Have or To Have Not was the steamy (for the times) Bogie/Bacall movie version where the main character, Captain Morgan, is the put upon object of the local French Resistance in World War II then this the original will surprise you. Actually the only similarity between the two works is the captain's name. That said, this tale is really about a gritty, hard-bitten, down at the heels sea-going man who will try everything to keep his family and himself above water (no pun intended). Starting out with a little illegal, just a little, activity he winds up.... well you can read the rest. Is this a major Hemingway production? I think not but it is also not the `throwaway' that Hemingway in his lifetime considered it. Face it if you want to get an approximation of the life on the sea, the real sea, and the language of the waterfront Hemingway is one of your sources.

Hemingway: An American Literary Icon.......2007-06-11

I am someone who came late to appreciating the literary genius of Hemingway, perhaps because like many in my generation I viewed his literary aura as overly slanted towards man's macho nature.

The story revolves around the doings of a rather shady ex-cop engaged in smuggling in and around Cuba and the southern Keys. Beneath his corrupt veneer, however, rests a loving family man seeking to support an adoring wife and three young daughters. Unfortunately for our protagonist, a band of Cuban Coast Guard officials catch up with him during one of his intrigues, resulting in him being shot and eventually having one of his arms amputated. In the face of bankruptcy, will he find economic salvation in that one last great heist?

This review is but a speck of what could be said in interpreting this fine piece of art. Above all else, upon reading "To Have and Have Not" I found someone, in Hemingway, who could instill an incredible sense of drama with a ringing clarity of purpose in his tersely woven prose.

------Thank you Mr. Hemingway------.......2007-05-19

I listened to the recorded book narrated by Will Patton and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

As a teenager I attempted to read Hemingway's several times, but could never understand why he was considered such a good writer. The problem wasn't Hemingway. It was my immaturity. Now, reading this as an adult, I finally get it. I think you have to experience a little more of life to appreciate Ernest Hemingway.

This is the story of Harry Morgan, a fishing boat captain who has to work hard and really struggle to support his wife, Marie and their two daughters. The story begins with Harry being hired by a rich man on vacation. The man wants to catch some big fish. When the large fish begin to bite, the man ignores Harry's instructions and loses a lot of expensive fishing equipment. The man owes Harry quite a bit of money for the days of boat use and the lost equipment. Unfortunately, the man skips town and Harry is out of his wages and without equipment can't take on fishing parties.

Basically an honest man, circumstances cause Harry to break the law. At first he tries running liquor between Cuba and Key West and then he gets involved in carrying human contraband.

This recorded book only had five CD'S. It went quickly and had several twists to the story.

Meeker Review.......2007-05-12

I love Hemingway. I just like the way he writes. Some people say that he is sexist. I never seen it. All in all though, this was a good book.

You Wouldn't Want to Be a Pyramid Builder: A Hazardous Job You'd Rather Not Have (You Wouldn't Want to...)

Average customer rating:

You Wouldn't Want to Be a Pyramid Builder: A Hazardous Job You'd Rather Not Have (You Wouldn't Want to...)
Jacqueline Morley , and David Salariya
Manufacturer: Franklin Watts
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0531163962

Haves Without Have-Nots: Essays for the 21st Century on Democracy and Socialism

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Haves Without Have-Nots: Essays for the 21st Century on Democracy and Socialism
Mortimer J. Adler
Manufacturer: Macmillan Pub Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Average customer rating:

Character driven Sci-Fi in a near future. Well worth the read.
Beautiful, Elegant, Enigmatic
Didnt get it
Simply Amazing
A remarkable book

Air: Or, Have Not Have
Geoff Ryman
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Camouflage
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Blindsight

ASIN: 0312261217
Release Date: 2004-09-09

Book Description

Chung Mae is the fashion expert of the farming village of Kizuldah, Karzistan. As such, she represents the villagers' con-nection to the culture of the wider world beyond their fields. But Mae's role is about to change drastically. The Net, and unlimited information, has finally come to Kizuldah, and it's soon to be followed by Air, a new communication technology that will connect everyone, everywhere, without wires or computers. But the initial test of Air is a disaster; people are killed by the shock, and Mae ends up imprinted with the memories of a dying old woman. Realizing the changes the future will bring to Kizuldah, Mae struggles to lead her people to prepare themselves, while preserving the values that have always held the village together.

Customer Reviews:

Character driven Sci-Fi in a near future. Well worth the read........2007-04-02

Mae is the "Fashion Expert" of a remote village in Central Asia. For her, and the village, life as they know it will be forever changed after a disastrous test of a new form of "internet" called Air, and this is the story of how they all learn to cope with the coming new world.

If you like your Sci-Fi full of action and battles then this book will not appeal to you. Instead you are given a cast of characters who you gradually come to care about. The book starts a little slow till the test of Air occurs and then it settles into itself and easily keeps your attention till the end.

I was glad I read this novel. Its one that'd I'd heard from other people was good - and I was happy to find that the grapevine was right in this case. This is different from most other Sci-Fi novels I've read. It's about people - and in this case the have-nots of society and how a radical change of technology affects their lives. Deprived and uneducated does not necessarily mean stupid and its something that the developers of technology ignore at their peril as this novel clearly illustrates.

Beautiful, Elegant, Enigmatic.......2007-02-06

This is a beautiful, elegant and enigmatic story. Its heroine is Chong Mae, a self-styled fashion consultant in what may be the remotest village in Kyrgyzstan in the year 2020. The book is concerned with what happens to Mae and the other people in her village when an attempt is made to test a new form of communications system, Air, which will link all of the people in the world in a kind of mental internet.

Although Air is the speculative fiction device that seems to drive the novel, the book is really about sociological phenomena including social organization, the place of the individual in society, the acceptance and rejection of technological change, rural versus urban society, the elements in society that are first to capitalize on technological change, and the role of early adapters. That broad range sounds quite daunting. But when told from the perspective of Mae, it is also about more basic human elements like family, love, friendship and responsibility.

By incorporating forces unleashed by the test of Air, we are also able to examine the relationship of the past to the present and the present to the future.

With all these elements one might expect Air to be a gigantic sprawling novel, but in fact it operates on an intimate scale, following Mae around while she performs her daily activities, aimed at furthering her own life as well as preparing her village for inevitable technological change. Some of the elements are exceedingly simple and commonplace, yet reflect larger social forces. For example, Mae is attuned to the traditional activities of her village, and, as her vision of the world becomes expanded, can see how there might be a market for the decorative collars handmade by the women in her village. She ends up in internet contact with a fashionista in New York, who helps to make the collars a cutting-edge fashion and political statement. At the same time, Mae develops a relationship with her New York contact that will eventually allow one of her neighbors to preserve her oppositional beliefs to the national government. And yet, this political scale develops in an organic way so naturally from village life that one scarcely notices the transition to national politics.

Two elements make the book enigmatic. The first is the appearance of unexpected phenomena that we might find easier to accept in a more technologically developed world at a later date. The second is the author's reason for introducing these phenomena. One expects that they have some purpose in the author's scheme, especially since the author explores a society substantially different from the reader's, to illuminate our understanding. And yet the author is so skillful in his writing that even though we may not immediately understand his purpose, we accept the phenomena. Finally, even the secondary title "Have Not Have" remains an enigma.

Don't read this book if you are looking for high adventure amidst titanic events. But if you are looking for an examination of the life of a dynamic individual in a small society, you are sure to enjoy this book.

Didnt get it.......2006-09-23

This book started out entertaining but then it really dragged on.

Maybe I didnt understand something, but I felt the second half of the book was really a waste of my time. I had a really hard time finishing it.

Simply Amazing.......2006-03-31

Air is not only one of the best sci-fi novels I have read in a long time, but one of the best novels as well. Ryman's characters are portrayed so convincingly, and their world is so vivid that the reader is completely enveloped in their strange and all-too-human story. It's a book that I finished with great regret, for I will never be able to visit a world like this again, and that's what makes a great piece of fiction. Chung Mae takes her place among fiction's great heroines. A superb and satisfying read with every page. I simply loved it.

A remarkable book.......2006-01-26

Air is a brilliantly conceived book that- at its very core- is a damning indictment of the "civilized" world's immoral disregard of cultures considered "primitive" and therefore inferior, even expendable. At the same time, it's also a novel about hope, and the remarkable resiliency of the human spirit. These messages shine brightly together in Ryman's clever story, where a Karzistan village- filled with people living meaningful, dignified lives in their own way- is disrupted and change forever when the villagers are selected as guinea pigs in an ill-fated United Nations experiment involving Air, a quantum device intended to transmit a flood of worldwide information directly into their targeted brains- in essence, "westernizing" them in an instantaneous and overwhelming fashion. The result is chaos for the villagers, even death, and the beginning of a strange, almost magical journey for Chung Mae, a village elder who becomes a seer of sorts, and a warrior for survival of her people. Although very different from those of us in the west, Ryman's characters are not only believable, but universal and immediately familiar. As intriguing as the book's premise is, it's these sharply defined characters that keep the pages turning, as we weep for what they lost forever and cheer them on to victory. I can't recommend this book highly enough, especially for those who "hate" science fiction because they have no idea what it's capable of. Air will change their minds.

Another science fiction novel that touches on the themes of dignity and resiliency of the human spirit is An Audience for Einstein, an intelligent young adult title. I'm far too old to wear that young adult label myself, but still found it enjoyable and highly worthwhile.

Be Not Afraid, for You Have Sons in America: How a Brooklyn Roofer Helped Lure the U.S. into the Kosovo War

Average customer rating:

A must for those wanting to know Kosovo from the inside
Excellent history of the UCK side
Excellent
Informative
A tale of our times..

Be Not Afraid, for You Have Sons in America: How a Brooklyn Roofer Helped Lure the U.S. into the Kosovo War
Stacy Sullivan
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0312285582

Book Description

or the past ten years, a family of Albanian activists has directed a network of Albanian emigres across the U.S., raising money and running illicit guns into Albania and Kosovo. When the war in Kosovo began in earnest, they organized shipments of guns and American volunteers, some of whom left schools and colleges in the New York area to fight for a homeland they hardly knew. From Brooklyn to Kosovo with Love and AK47s tells the remarkable stories of these activists, as well as those of their homelandits divisions, its profound loyalties, and its war-torn history.

Customer Reviews:

A must for those wanting to know Kosovo from the inside.......2007-03-27

Having lived many years in Kosovo after the war, I found many people who have not lived here think the KLA and the revolutionary movement did not exist, or that they are terrorists of the worst kind. This book shreds those misconceptions and illustrates how love of one's country will lead any person on a similar path to ensure his country and countrymen's freedoms. Any westerner will question his or her own patriotism - how far would you go to save your country from oppression? I bet many would hide and run away, not find ways to make a different path for so many!

Excellent history of the UCK side.......2005-12-17

Sullivan's book recounts the Kosovo conflict as seen by participants and supporters of the Kosovo Liberation Army (UCK). Despite this focus on one side of the conflict, it is remarkably even-handed, and does not gloss over misconduct by the UCK and Kosovo Albanians during and after the war. It is not (and does not claim to be) a complete history of the conflict, but it's an important contribution to that history.

Excellent.......2005-12-05

This is a well-written, readable account of the guerrilla war in Kosovo. The author spent years in and around Kosovo, and is clearly in command of her topic.

If you're not familiar with the Kosovo conflict, this is a very solid introduction to it. If you are, it's still very much worth reading. This is the first book examining in detail how Albanian-Americans supported the KLA guerrilla movement, and it adds a lot to any discussion of the Kosovo issue.

Stacy Sullivan's writing is light and very readable, but she has done her homework, and the tone never lapses into sentimentality or self-indulgence. There is a clear pro-Albanian bias, but this is hardly surprising... she spent most of her time on the Albanian side of things.

(This has definitely affected the book's reviews. You may notice that several reviewers have said "it's great" and then given it low reviews, because it didn't agree with their own opinions about the war. This is unfortunate, because it's a book well worth reading whether think the Kosovo intervention was a good idea or not.)

I have some quibbles with the book. She really doesn't give enough time to KLA atrocities, including the ones that have caused KLA members to be indicted to the Hague. She largely ignores the strange cross-currents in the province, like the killings of "collaborators" (who may or may not have been such). And some of the numbers in the final chapter are a bit iffy.

But these are quibbles. There are a lot of wonderful pieces in here: her Albanian-American protagonist shopping for Stinger missiles in a Pakistani arms bazaar, young Americans in a disorganized KLA "boot camp", Geraldo Rivera setting off an artillery strike. And the general quality of the writing is high, and the book takes a complicated subject and boils it down into a clear narrative.

Highly recommended to anyone who's interested in this still-controversial topic.

Doug Muir

Informative.......2005-07-18

The book is very informative for someone that is unfamiliar with the Balkans. The only mixed feeling I got from this book that I didn't quite get the position of the author. When I finished reading the book, I had one question in my mind, was Stacy Sullivan thinking that braking the law in unjustifiable even in the face of murder? Time has shown in the previous wars the barbarism of the Serbian army. The time has also shown the tolerance of the Albanian people as a nation.

Over 200,000 Bosnians were musdered by the Serbian army, and 10,000 Albanians. Over 1.5 million Albanians were forced to leave their homes. Their homes were burned, their people were raped, shot, burned alive, crossified, including children, women, and old people. What the Serbians were doing in Kosovo was unacceptable by any standards. The only choice for them who had lost everything was to fight for the land that was passed on for milleniums from our ancestors.

If the authors house was burned, with her family inside, and the very same thing happened to most of people that she new, I am absolutely positive that she would try in anyway posible to destroy them who destroyed the lives of her loved ones. Anyone would do the same thing in their situation.

I agree that crimes of war have occurred from the Albanian side, but it must be understood that 10 or 100 or 1,000 Albanian racist do not represent the nation. A murderer is a murderer, whether he is Albanian, Greek, Serbian, Bulgarian, French, Russian or American. Albanians guilty of war crimes must be charged and punished for their actions, but please do not punish the whole nation of Kosovo.

What about the Serbian people, are they guilty. At some extent, yes; THEY NEVER PROTESTED TO THEIR GOVERMENT TO STOP THE ETHNIC CLEANSING. It is everyones duty as human beings to protect life, justice, and help the neighbor. Well Serbians saw the crimes being comitted and dind't even care.

What about Albanian tolerance? They have proven their tolerance as people thru the years. In 1943, in the Republic of Albania(not Kosovo), 40,000 Italian soldiers took refuge in the Albanian homes after Musolini's excecution. They came there as invadors, they were not welcome, they comitted crimes, yet the Albanians opened their doors for those who were innocent.
In the Republic of Albania there are Serbian, Macedonian, and Greek minorities, and I can proudly say that discriminations do not exist. Greeks just like Serbians, have murdered Albanians for centuries, and yet in Albania, Greeks are not discriminated.

Let the people of Kosovo continue to live where they have been doing so for the past 3,000 years. We are the oldest people of the Balkan, direct ancestors of Illyrians, the true owners of that land. As for Serbs, I respect their right to live there where they have lived since 900 AD when their barbarian ancestors reached Kosovo. They have their own heritage is Kosovo, and we have ours. We were there first, always majority, and never gave it up; this must be accepted by all Serbians.

LET THE RESIDENDS OF KOSOVO DECIDE THEIR FUTURE WITH THEIR OWN FREE VOTE IN A REFERENDUM.

I also wanted to thank the U.S. for putting in risk the lives of their own solders to defend the innocent children of Kosovo. Their effort was priceless, and will always be remembered and appreciated, beacuse of the lives they saved.

A tale of our times.........2005-02-25

Having just finished Stacy Sullivan's "Be Not Afraid, For You Have Sons In America," I can only say that it an extraordinarily undervalued gem. Not unlike Chuck Sudetic's "Blood and Vengeance," Sullivan takes a complex international disaster and makes it intelligible by weaving "big picture" historical, stategic and political facts into the lives of the ordinary people who always make history.

Anyone can find the history of the Balkans in general and Kosovo in particular by perusing the recent texts that focus on the governmental players, but this book sees the tragedy in the lives of those who experienced it and make it ever so real.

The book is also highly relevant to our post-Sept. 11 world. It depicts how Albanian-Americans were able to use the openness of our society and gulibility of our leaders to subvert American foreign policy in ways that were totally legal. Her chilling message for today is clear. If blue collar expats in Brooklyn can fund and arm an insurgency across the world, how much easier it would be for weapons of destruction to be acquired and utilized right here at home? Sullivan's book makes the Oklahoma City bombing - much less the continuing threat of Al Qaeda - very close indeed.

Did Sullivan get every just right? As someone who has travelled to Albania and the rest of the Balkans and read more than a little, there are some facts she missed (such as the role of the Berisha family), but not much. I learned a great deal from this book.

Finally, even if the reader has no interest in the intricacies of the Balkans, this book should be purchased and read. It is one great tale.

Social Problems for the Twenty-first Century with Free Making the Grade Student CD-ROM and PowerWeb

Average customer rating:

Great book

Social Problems for the Twenty-first Century with Free Making the Grade Student CD-ROM and PowerWeb
J. John Palen
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0072431598

Book Description

Social Problems for the Twenty-First Century is an exciting and contemporary new text that reflects the concerns and problems of the new century and the new millennium. J. John Palen presents the latest sociological data, knowledge and opinions as accurately and as fairly as possible so that any instructor, regardless of his or her theoretical orientation, will have a trustworthy base from which to elaborate, disagree or discuss. This text builds on students’ natural interest in social problems and encourages them to develop both a sociological perspective and a sociological imagination that will allow them to examine social problems in a critical fashion.

Customer Reviews:

Great book.......2007-04-03

Explains perfectly what sociology is... and was very easy but not dumb downed to follow

Personal Village, How to Have People in Your Life by Choice, Not Chance

Average customer rating:

Makes me realize how fortunate I am
This book will make the world a better place
The Skinny on Schmoozing
2005 Writers Notes Book Award Winner
Solutions for a Fragmented Society

Personal Village, How to Have People in Your Life by Choice, Not Chance
Marvin Thomas
Manufacturer: Hara Publising Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Five Good Minutes: 100 Morning Practices To Help You Stay Calm & Focused All Day Long
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ASIN: 1887542086

Book Description

Your most valuable asset is the people in your life. Does this sound familiar? You are so busy you don't have time for your friends. You get sick and no one shows up to help or express concern. You want someone in your life who really cares and knows who you are. You experience quick encounters as exciting, but at the end of the day you are still lonely.

From your family to members of your congregation, to the people who deliver your mail or serve your coffee each morning, every person you know, every person you see is a part of your Personal Village. With this insightful, funny and approachable book as your guide, you can master the skills of getting closer with the people around you, of having people in your life "by choice, not by chance."

"Too much is written about how to make money …too little is written about how to strengthen our personal communities," according to respected relationship therapist, Marv Thomas. To combat the many dehumanizing effects of 21st century life, he has created the everyman's guide to enriching our lives by establishing deeper connections with the people around us. In this groundbreaking book, PERSONAL VILLAGE, HOW TO HAVE PEOPLE IN YOUR LIFE BY CHOICEE, NOT CHANCE, Thomas explains how to add real value to your life by forming deeper, more meaningful relationships with the people in your life that matter most.

Customer Reviews:

Makes me realize how fortunate I am.......2007-09-26

This is an excellent book. It woke me up to the importance of having people in your life. I am not a particularly outgoing person by nature, but after having read the book, I realized I already had a group of people around me that I can call my "personal village". The book made me realize how lucky I am to have these people in my life and to try harder to maintain these friendships, but also to be open to making connections with new people.

This book will make the world a better place.......2007-01-29

This is the kind of book I want to share with everyone I know. A "where have you been all my life?" book. It speaks to my heart in countless ways.

Two weeks ago I was struggling with the winter blues/cabin fever. It was bitter cold out, and I felt housebound and lonely. I told my partner "I have to get out." He's said "Let's go walk around Green Lake." We bundled up and drove all the way from Kirkland and began to walk. Within 5 minutes we ran into some dear friends, who had also been feeling housebound (she said she'd woken up crying that morning, and her husband had said "Let's walk around Green Lake!"). Three miles flew by, and before we knew it we were hugging goodbye. I drove home feeling a warm sense of contentment.

When we got home, I opened up Personal Village to my bookmark and began to read. It was the chapter that discusses limbic resonance. It was as if it had been written just for me on that day, as it spoke to exactly how I was feeling: I had needed a people fix!

I have spent my whole life looking for, and being a part of, communities, and feeling frustrated when I'm not involved in any that are currently working well for me. This book is inspiring me to put more effort into finding what I want. I have often wished I lived in Paris during the salons. This book is inspiring me to create one!

I am extremely involved in my neighborhood, and I love what Marv says about why there is value in picking up trash and caring about the people and place where we live.

His lists of books, films, and other resources are fantastic.

If you have longed for a greater sense of community in your life, or if you have felt that something is missing, read this book.

The Skinny on Schmoozing.......2006-12-31

Most books about networking, dating, and making friends start at the point of contact: They assume that the user knows where to go to make friends. Thomas starts with the basics, from roaming your neighborhood to meet folks to the handy rule of thumb that it takes 7 visits to a new group for others to feel that you're one of the crowd.

I teach interpersonal communication, and this book has the best pointers I've yet read on how and how much to personally disclose to a new acquaintance, as one tests the waters and works toward building stronger ties and friendship.

Thomas avoids jargon and writes fluently in a down-to-earth, easy to read style. The book is well-organized. The chapter summaries and resources are a plus. Marvin Thomas has performed a much-needed service in offering this book to as a how-to manual for meeting and making friends in our fragmented society.

2005 Writers Notes Book Award Winner.......2005-05-18

Choosing the people in your life is as much karma as it is choice. The people with whom you work, associate, and love are more than warm bodies that share your space. They form your personal village, and they affect your vitality and happiness. Thomas asserts that too many of us leave this essential aspect to chance. In Personal Village, he maps the human propensity for socialization and provides checklists and thought-provoking questions toward ways that we can create positive change, embrace circumstance, and, if need be, reconstruct our core families. No longer leave your support system to luck. Learn how to build one through commitment and trust.

Solutions for a Fragmented Society.......2004-07-17

"To achieve intimacy with another, we have to begin by listening." ~Marvin Thomas

Marvin Thomas has written a fascinating book on friendship in the modern world. He is a Seattle author who earned his Master's in Social Work at the University of Washington. Through his life he has experienced the beauty of friendship and observed patterns that feed our genetically encoded desires to find relationships. He has also seen the damage of isolation and explains how we can use the "Principal of Seven" to fill our world with friends.

While we continue to be enamored with technology, we have become more and more isolated and yet the desire for friendship is still a force that drives us to seek companionship in our environments. While Marvin Thomas agrees that computers amplify the mind, he believes we cannot thrive when isolated. He also explains:

The basic universal needs
The essential ingredients of a healthy community
Why relationships need to be tended to on a regular basis
How you can find friends with similar interests
What to ask someone new when you first meet
How to keep a friendship for life

Most of us seem to keep connected with friends and family through e-mails. Marvin explores this idea and explains how e-mail can be like a journal that talks back to you. While e-mail may encourage deeper contemplation because you have time to consider what you want to say, Marvin Thomas encourages real-life relationships where you can nourish your soul through face-to-face intimate relationships.

Throughout "Personal Village" I had quite a few good laughs and many moments of enlightenment. The reading resources and movie suggestions looked tantalizing. Each chapter ends with a summary and a resource section. I loved the mention of the "Mostly Martha" movie, one of my all-time favorite chef movies.

Since I have just moved to a new community, this book was a comfort to me in a time when I felt everything was new and I didn't know a soul. After reading this book, I found myself venturing out more into my community and unlike other times in the past, I actually ventured out early and with a sense of determination. The girls at Pier 1 were discussing Josh Groban (so we talked about the concert I reviewed), the lady at the post office gave me directions on how to get back home and everyone seemed most helpful. I met a neighbor after going out for a walk and the community I'm living in seems to be much more geared towards common areas where people can meet or walk.

The advice in this book works and will encourage you to participate more fully in your community. I learned so much about basic human interaction that I'd never considered before. Marvin Thomas has filled "Personal Village" with a lifetime of wisdom and a collection of interesting and inspirational ideas to enable you to live a fuller, more enjoyable life no matter where you live. After reading his book, you may even want to start a cozy coterie or salon. My heart is dreaming of a Mystic Beach mentioned in this book. Our hearts want to find a place where we are loved, needed and appreciated.

~TheRebeccaReview.com

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