Heart-Shaped Box: A Novel

Amazon.com

Do you sleep with the light on? Are you in the habit of checking your doors and windows before you go to bed? Maybe even checking under your bed? If you are about to crack open Joe Hill's chilling thriller Heart-Shaped Box, you might want to rethink your nighttime habits--Hill's story about an aging rock star (with a penchant for macabre artifacts) who buys a haunted suit online will scare you silly. But don't take our word for it. We asked bestselling authors (and masters of dark terror tales themselves) Scott Smith, and Harlan Coben to read Heart-Shaped Box and give us their take. Check out their reviews below, and you might want to pick up a nightlight while you're at it. --Daphne Durham

Guest Reviewer: Scott Smith

In 1993, Scott Smith wowed readers with his stunning debut thriller, A Simple Plan. Thirteen years later, he spooked us again with The Ruins, a horror-thriller about four Americans traveling in Mexico who stumble across a nightmare in the jungle.

The set-up for Joe Hill's novel, Heart-Shaped Box, is appealingly simple. Jude Coyne, an aging rock star, buys himself a dead man's suit. He acquires it online, lured by the promise that the dead man's ghost will be included in his purchase. Jude thinks this is a joke, of course. He also assumes the seller is a stranger. We soon discover that he's wrong on both counts, however, and from this point on the story moves with an exhilarating urgency. Jude wants the ghost gone; the ghost wants Jude dead. We watch, chapter-by-chapter, as they battle for survival. "Watch" is the appropriate word, too, because this is an extremely visual book. Hill's prose is lean and precise, and he renders Jude's world with impressive confidence. It feels solid, every detail both correct and fresh. And this physicality provides a firm platform for the book's otherworldly happenings, which seem all the more frightening for being so securely grounded.

Hill has a flawless sense of pacing. His narrative never flags, nor does it ever move so quickly as to outrun itself. And one can sense his literary ambition pushing at the margins of the genre. There are times when his writing, for all its spare efficiency, seems to jump away from him, stopping one small step short of poetry. An e-mail to Jude from the ghost (trust me, it's not as absurd as it sounds) could even pass for something ee cummings might've written, in an especially morbid mood. And toward the end of the book, when Hill describes a trip down death's "night road" in a '65 Mustang, the passage has a startlingly lyrical beauty.

The story's horror ultimately has as much to do with Jude Coyne's past--his mistakes, abandonments and betrayals--as with anything supernatural. Jude has caused a lot of pain over the years, moving through life with a carelessness that verges on the callous. His battle with the ghost brings this behavior into sharp relief, forcing him to reflect upon his own capacity for cruelty. This dawning self-awareness leavens the book's bleakness and gore (and it is delightfully gory in places) with an unexpected sweetness. Despite our initial impression, Jude is gradually revealed--both to himself and the reader--as an essentially decent, even kind man. It's this kindness, this fledgling ability to love and be loved, that will ultimately be of crucial consequence in his death struggle with the ghost. And it's what makes Hill's debut not only well-written and terrifying, but also--as it draws to its close--surprisingly moving. So go ahead, take a chance, and open his Heart-Shaped Box. I think you'll be happy you did. --Scott Smith

Guest Reviewer: Harlan Coben

Harlan Coben is the author of the beloved Myron Bolitar series about a wisecracking sports agent, as well as stunning stand-alone novels like The Innocent and his breakout thriller Tell No One. His new novel The Woods releases on April 17, 2007.

You, dear reader, are obviously somewhat versed in making online purchases, so today, immediately after you click on the yellow "Add to Shopping Cart" on the top right hand corner of this page, why not do an online search and buy something totally unique?

Like, say, a vengeful ghost.

That is what rock-star Judas Coyne does, thinking it will be a laugh, fun for his "sick-o" collection of such things. It seems a random buy, but Judas soon learns that it is anything but. This particular ghost is one Craddock McDermott, step-father to recent suicide victim and boy, is he cranky. He demands revenge for his step-daughter's death, which he blames on Judas's shabby treatment of her.

Or is he after something else?

There are Amazon readers who will give you a better plot summary. Don't read them too closely because Joe Hill provides plenty of fun surprises. Heart-Shaped Box is a true spine-tingler. I don't use that hyphenated word much anymore. We have seen and read it all, haven't we? But right away, in the first chapter, there was a subtle line that made the hairs on the back of my neck go up in a way I haven't experienced since I first discovered great horror as a teenager.

Hill writes with a sure hand. The prose is compelling. Like most memorable tales of horror, this book is more about redemption than scary moments--though Heart-Shaped Box has plenty of scares. They are visceral, shocking and very well done. The characters are flawed and real. The father-son relationship adds texture and surprising poignancy.

So here's the thing. My guess is, you won't find a ghost to buy online, but if you read the Heart-Shaped Box, you will be getting something that will haunt you and startle you and stay with you and yes, visit you in your dreams.

Sleep well, dear reader. --Harlan Coben

Book Description

Judas Coyne is a collector of the macabre: a cookbook for cannibals . . . a used hangman's noose . . . a snuff film. An aging death-metal rock god, his taste for the unnatural is as widely known to his legions of fans as the notorious excesses of his youth. But nothing he possesses is as unlikely or as dreadful as his latest discovery, an item for sale on the Internet, a thing so terribly strange, Jude can't help but reach for his wallet.

I will "sell" my stepfather's ghost to the highest bidder. . . .

For a thousand dollars, Jude will become the proud owner of a dead man's suit, said to be haunted by a restless spirit. He isn't afraid. He has spent a lifetime coping with ghosts—of an abusive father, of the lovers he callously abandoned, of the bandmates he betrayed. What's one more?

But what UPS delivers to his door in a black heart-shaped box is no imaginary or metaphorical ghost, no benign conversation piece. It's the real thing.

And suddenly the suit's previous owner is everywhere: behind the bedroom door . . . seated in Jude's restored vintage Mustang . . . standing outside his window . . . staring out from his widescreen TV. Waiting—with a gleaming razor blade on a chain dangling from one bony hand. . . .

A multiple-award winner for his short fiction, author Joe Hill immediately vaults into the top echelon of dark fantasists with a blood-chilling roller-coaster ride of a novel, a masterwork brimming with relentless thrills and acid terror.

Customer Reviews:

Not Bad But I Expected More Somehow.......2007-10-09

Many people have already spoken about Heart-Shaped Box, so I won't go into enormous detail in my review. I can say that in general I did enjoy the book, yet I felt somehow disappointed. I know Joe Hill was King's son before I read the book and for me that did not necessarily add any appeal, but it built some expectation in me that the book would be perhaps in the tightly-crafted vein of Stephen King's youthful work. It was and it wasn't.

In the first section of the book, in the initial discovery of the ghost and subsequent run from it, I felt the suspense and characterization was fairly well done. Jude was an aging rock jerk with too much time and money, his girlfriend was attractive, young, and apparently with little self-esteem, his manager was a tool. As the book progressed, however, the reader was clearly meant to see that Jude was undergoing character development and realizing he did indeed love Georgia (and Florida too). But it felt forced to me. Especially **SPOILER**the end, in which Jude and Georgia become a cozy married couple and he is a kindly elder gent. Meh, it did not ring true. Why does Georgia give 2 figs for this guy? Why are they still together? Why does anyone care about him?**SPOILER OVER**

In addition, I can't get over the idea that Jude looks like Lemmy from Motorhead and behaves like Ozzie Osborne (prior to unintelligibility). And frankly, being an unrepentant NIN fan, I just can't imagine, even in fiction, Trent Reznor working with this guy. What would the two possible have in common? And Coldplay references, for heaven's sake?! The cringe-worthy band name dropping Hill does is so like his dad though.

Anyway, a decent read in general. The spirit was there, and I like a little goth in my horror, but the execuion was a little off.

shocker in more ways than one.......2007-09-26

i found this book by reading recommendations months ago. Picked it up out of my "to read" pile of books for plane trip. finished in 2 days.
i thought WHAT A GREAT STORY! i am always intrigued about the author pic.
i kept thinking...gee...who does he look like???
i hand it to my husband and say, "read the first chapter and you will be hooked". he was and finished...last night...i said...wasn't that such a "visual" book...so gooood. he agrees...goes online and looks at me and says....
"you know who the author is don't you?"...i said...no who? he says..
welllllll.....its stephen king's son. my mouth fell open, i got teary eyed for a minute, and said...WOW! genetics!

so read this book and if you get a little ferklempt that stephen king's son is gonna be successful too then all is right in the world.
the bookreader

Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill.......2007-09-19

One thing I admire greatly about Joe Hill King, son of famous bestselling author Stephen King, is that he didn't get a leg up from his father like our President did. While I'm sure he's had plenty of help and advice, Joe Hill has earned his own success through his own writing. Having won a Bram Stoker Award for Best Fiction Collection with his first book 20th Century Ghosts, he now returns with his first novel, Heart-Shaped Box, which was naturally making a tremendous amount of buzz before the book even came out. And the congratulatory quote on the back of the book from Neil Gaiman just made it that more popular.

Our main character, Judas Coyne, is a famous guitarist of a band that was once up there with Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden, but after the sudden deaths of two band members, the guitarist is now a successful solo artist whose eccentricities range into the banal, naturally. His favorite is to collect items and trinkets of the most unusual - the weirder the better! So when Jude sees a ghost for sale on an auction site, he immediately jumps on it, chooses the buy it now option and soon has the package on its way. The single mother is very happy to get rid of the ghost of her grandfather who has been haunting her and her son for so long, and Jude now has his very own ghost.

The package arrives in a large black heart-shaped box and inside he finds an ancient but impeccable suit. Judas is impressed by it, closes the box and soon forgets about it. Then the haunting begins: strange noises and soon they see the ghost, walking around. Then things take a turn for the worse, as the ghost comes after Judas and his friends.

Sadly, when it is revealed where this ghost has come from the story kind of goes downhill. It turns out the ghost is the deceased grandfather of the sister of a former girlfriend of Jude's who killed herself after he dumped her. While the supernatural element of the ghost remains, and it is on their tail trying to catch them, the reasoning behind it is weak and destroys the foundation of the plot. Nevertheless there is a darkness and depth within this novel that reveals a talented writer with a bold future ahead of him. Like Carrie, this is not the best first novel, but with the talent in Hill's genes, we know there will be many more stories for him to tell that will be great and terrifying.

For more book reviews, and other writings, go to www.alexctelander.com

Couldn't put this book down!!.......2007-09-18

I havn't picked up a book in years. This one jumped into my hands at the bookstore. I love a good ghost story, so I said why not. This was the best book I have ever read!! I could not put it down. Two of my friends borrowed the book when I was done, they felt the same way (finished it in 2 days each). The only bad thing is going to be trying to find another great book like it!! Can't wait for the new Joe Hill book to be released!!
I havn't found another book that could captivate me like this one did.
THIS BOOK IS A MUST READ!!
Still not convinced? Check out the web site at www.joehillfiction.com

Don't Start or You Won't Be Able to Stop.......2007-09-17

I just finished this book - I read it in 1 1/2 days, because it was such a fast, exciting read. I thought the idea of buying a ghost on the Internet was novel, although the rest of the book was pretty predictable. Still, it had me hooked. The characters weren't all that likable, but Jude gets more so. I think my favorite characters were Jude's dogs. Anyway...it's also got a lot of profanity and some crude stuff. Basically, it's Stephen King without all the finesse.

The Watchman: A Joe Pike Novel (Joe Pike Novels)

Average customer rating:

Righteous Thriller
DIVING INTO ADVENTURE IN THE PIKE POSITION
The Watchman is a remarkable book
Seriously disappointing
Ugh

The Watchman: A Joe Pike Novel (Joe Pike Novels)
Robert Crais
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0743281632

Book Description

The city was hers for a single hour, just the one magic hour, only hers.

Larkin Conner Barkley lives like the City of Angels is hers for the taking. Young and staggeringly rich, she speeds through the city during its loneliest hours, blowing through red after red in her Aston Martin as if running for her life. Until out of nowhere a car appears, and with it the metal-on-metal explosion of a terrible accident. Dazed, Larkin attempts to help the other victims. And finds herself the sole witness in a secret federal investigation.

For maybe the first time in her life, Larkin wants to do the right thing. But by agreeing to cooperate with the authorities, she becomes the target for a relentless team of killers. And when the U.S. Marshals and the finest security money can buy can't protect her, Larkin's wealthy family turns to the one man money can't buy -- Joe Pike.

Pike lives a world away from the palaces of Beverly Hills. He's an ex-cop, ex-Marine, ex-mercenary who owes a bad man a favor, and that favor is to keep Larkin alive. The one upside of the job is reuniting with Bud Flynn, Pike's LAPD training officer, and a man Pike reveres as a father. The downside is Larkin Barkley, who is the uncontrollable cover girl for self-destruction -- and as deeply alone as Pike.

Pike commits himself to protecting the girl, but when they immediately come under fire, he realizes someone is selling them out. In defiance of Bud and the authorities, Pike drops off the grid with the girl and follows his own rules of survival: strike fast, hit hard, hunt down the hunters. With the help of private investigator Elvis Cole, Pike uncovers a web of lies and betrayals, and the stunning revelation that even the cops are not who they seem. As the body count rises, Pike's biggest threat might come from the girl herself, a lost soul in the City of Angels, determined to destroy herself unless Joe Pike can teach her the value of life...and love.

Customer Reviews:

Righteous Thriller.......2007-10-01

The Watchman is a superior thriller that kicks off as if you're in the middle of a tension-filled scene, and doesn't let up on the thrills and suspense until the very last pages. Crais knows how to keep the dialogue light, the action lean, and still sprinkle the whole book with healthy doses of humor.

Read the other reviewers' plot summaries if you want. I'm keeping this review lean, mean, and to the point. Like Joe Pike.

Recommended.

Highly.

DIVING INTO ADVENTURE IN THE PIKE POSITION.......2007-09-22

Joe Pike, silent partner in the Elvis Cole Detective Agency, takes center stage in this well orchestrated offering from Robert Crais, with Elvis Cole stepping into an important albeit "supporting role". For those who have followed the "strong, silent, mysterious Pike" through various Elvis Cole books.....we are finally offered a glimpse at Joe's military experiences, his time as an L.A.P.D. cop, and his relationship with his father. Joe may not be a guy brimming with emotion, but his quiet nature is perfectly fitted for this compelling character.

Recommended by his old police force partner Bud Flynn, Joe is hired to protect Larkin Barkley, the beautiful, spoiled and largely ignored daughter of a real estate tycoon. Joe must utilize all of his accumulated training and experience (as well as his Colt Python and Kimber) to keep both he and Larkin out of the reaches of assassins as well as government agents.

During the first few chapters of the book, I was so aggravated with the shallowness of the Larkin character, that I could have killed her myself.....or at least slapped the daylights out of her. (Crais must have used the antics of Paris Hilton, Lindsey Lohan and Brittany Spears for inspiration when developing this character). As the book progresses, Larkins behaviour is modified and the reader, like Pike and Cole, begins to relate to her. Larkin aside, I loved the pace, plot structure and language of this novel. It's an edgy thriller filled with enough action, plot twists, and body count to satisfy all lovers of suspense and daring exploits. Pike's appeal is his uncanny ability to anticipate the actions of his foes, and then out-plan and out-maneuver them.

Fact of the matter is that Crais talent with the written word creates vivid pictures in your mind that would translate beautifully onto the silver screen. I can see any number of actors as Joe Pike. Bruce, Harrison and Arnold are getting a little "long in the tooth" for this sort of action, but how about Daniel Craig, Gerard Butler, or Clive Owen? Check out The Watchman and see if you don't agree? If not, do your own casting......it's a free country and your entitled to your opinion too.

The Watchman is a remarkable book.......2007-09-21

Robert Crais' The Watchman is a very inventive change from his novel focus on Elvis Cole to a stunningly intense focus on Joe Pike, Elvis Cole's side-kick and chief muscle. By developing a book in which Pike has to protect a young woman who is wanted by a relentless team of criminal killers, the book moves you straight into a world of non-stop violence, steady commitment to survival by doing whatever it takes and the virtues of a highly trained, very skilled person doing what he does best against bad people trying to do the worst they can. If you want an evening of forgetting everything else and going along for the ride, The Watchman is a remarkable book.

Seriously disappointing.......2007-08-27

After reading all of the Elvis Cole novels I thought a Joe Pike novel would be great fun. It isn't. Rather its about Joe babysitting a stupid society brat who is full of herself. She has to hide, has almost been killed a couple of times and she is still whining that she wants to go home. Joe makes her cut and dye her hair but lets her keep wearing her $500 jeans. Please give me a break. She runs off to dance half naked on a table in a bar showing the dolphin tattoo on her butt. Surely somebody has to recognize the halfwit. Joe however forgives her. This isn't the Joe Pike we have seen in earlier pages. Lastly Joe actually falls in love with this piece of trash. Perhaps Crais thought we wanted to see a kinder gentler dumber Joe. He was wrong. Oh finally the plot is garbage equal to the rest of this disappointing effort.

Ugh.......2007-08-17

I've read all of Mr. Crais's books, and for the most part have been quite happy with the characters and plots. This thing seems to be either the manifestation of writers block or a contractual obligation left too late. So all you Elvis and Joe fans, you have no problem with the fact the the female lead is a fictionalized Paris Hilton? Or what happens with her and the other characters (trying not to be a spoiler here). The whole point of these type of books is to get a couple of inetersting and familiar characters and have them have an adventure. in this one, you can't really believe their actions, and the plot seems to be thrown together around the bad premise. Whatever, the guy has written some really good ones like "Demolition Angel;" this seems completely throwaway.

Ethnicity and Family Therapy, Third Edition

Average customer rating:

Ethnicities and Culture
Ethnicity and Family Therapy, Third Edition
Excellent read
A great way to expand cultural knowledge
Very Relevant

Ethnicity and Family Therapy, Third Edition

Manufacturer: The Guilford Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Family Health | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1593850204

Book Description

This widely used clinical reference and text has now been fully revised and expanded, providing the latest knowledge on culturally sensitive practice with families and individuals from over 40 different ethnic groups. Each chapter demonstrates how ethnocultural factors may influence the assumptions of both clients and therapists, the issues people bring to the clinical context, and their resources for coping and problem solving. Updated throughout with essential new material, the third edition includes chapters on several additional groups. An indispensable new appendix offers a concise guide to weaving cultural information into assessment and intervention planning.

Customer Reviews:

Ethnicities and Culture.......2007-03-27

This book was suggested to me by one of my professor's who happens to teach a family counseling course. She suggested that we buy this book to use in our future practices. Since I have purchased the book, I have already referred to it twice. It is highly detailed and knowledgable. I was able to use if for a presentation and for a resource on a college exit exam. I highly recommend this book to those who seek further knowledge and information on various cultures. It reviews all nationalities and cultures that exist in today's society.

Ethnicity and Family Therapy, Third Edition.......2007-01-09

This is an extremely valuable and important resource for clinicians. It provides cultural overviews that can be used in clinical work and teaching. It is a wonderful desktop resource that can facilitate the essential process of cultural consideration in clinical work with families. Monica McGoldrick's writing is clear and enjoyable.

Excellent read.......2007-01-09

OK, this book wouldn't seem especially fun to read, and I'll admit that a counselor friend had to recommend it to me, but I find it simply fascinating. As I read through the chapters about my family's heritage, I really found it compelling that many of the the behaviors and values that I take for granted are not simply from my family, but are in large measure common to my ethnicity. Then, as I read about the heritage of my fiancee's family, it really put things into perspective for me. Behaviors that I might have found rude or offensive in my cultural framework have a perfectly natural, and honorable, root in thiers. If understanding is the key to acceptance, this book really helped me understand and communicate much better, and begin to accept and live within different cultures. This book gives an excellent framework to explain how different ethnicitys come to value different things. Highly recommended.

A great way to expand cultural knowledge.......2006-11-10

This is a wonderful and easy to read book that attempts to educate the reader about the culture and divesity of various ethnic groups. The book is divided into racial categories, which are subdivided into specific countries to give the reader a flavor of the diversity within these groups. Anyone who works with ethnic minorities should read this book to get a general sense of how cultural similarities and differences within racial and cultural categories impact family dynamics, the theraputic experience, and adjustment into the American culture.

Very Relevant.......2006-08-07

This is a great book for finding out how to bring people of differing race to an understanding. For instance, I remember one example where White students, approximately between the ages of thirteen and sixteen, were, as part of a therapeutic course, required to refer to all Black people in their environment as 'sir'.This simple sign of respect was a great way to dismantle racism.

Average customer rating:

Great book for compensation managers

Strategic Compensation (4th Edition)
Joe Martocchio
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0131868772

Book Description

This book is well suited to a variety of students, including undergraduate and master’s degree students studying compensation. Martocchio provides a framework for understanding strategic compensation that can be used by all business professionals and business majors.

Customer Reviews:

Great book for compensation managers.......2007-09-20

I bought this book as part of a course, am reading it. The text is good for ppl new to this field of compensation and one easily gets the hang of things. The book was much cheaper than if I bought it from the regular store, and it was in great shape, no highlights, no lines, as promised by the seller.

Baseball Prospectus 2007: The Essential Guide to the 2007 Baseball Season (Baseball Prospectus)

Average customer rating:

The best
Baseball Prospectus 2007
Wealth of info for baseball fans.
Another great title from Baseball Prospectus
Great Info, Easy Access

Baseball Prospectus 2007: The Essential Guide to the 2007 Baseball Season (Baseball Prospectus)

Manufacturer: Plume
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Baseball | Sports | Subjects | Books

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Baseball Between the Numbers

ASIN: 0452288258

Book Description

The 2007 edition of the most authoritative guide to professional baseball

America's favorite pastime has never been more popular and, for over a decade, Baseball Prospectus has been the ultimate guide to the game for fantasy players, professionals, and casual fans alike. Baseball Prospectus 2007 continues that tradition, bringing together the top young baseball writers and analysts in the business to provide a definitive look at the season to come. Featuring humorous and incisive essays on all thirty teams and an in-depth look at every major league player and all the top prospects, Baseball Prospectus 2007 offers the cutting-edge analysis that has inspired nearly every major league team to seek the advice of current or former Prospectus writers. Also included are projections of player stats for next year, as determined by the groundbreaking PECOTA system, which Sports Illustrated has called “perhaps the game's most accurate projection model.” The most authoritative and entertaining book of its kind, Baseball Prospectus 2007 is as essential to the baseball- watching experience as hot dogs and cold beer.

Customer Reviews:

The best.......2007-08-16

For fantasy baseball players, especially those in keeper leagues, there is nothing better. If there's nothing better, why only four stars? Because the "deadly accurate" PECOTA evaluations, though probably at least a little better than most forecasting models, can still be completely off target. No guide will be "deadly accurate."

The best feature is the extent to which this guide covers top minor leaguers. And they also translate stats from the minor leagues, (including the Mexican league), and to some extent from the Japanese league.

Another great feature is the extended review they give to each front office in the majors during the previous year. Here, the criticism really is, almost always, "deadly accurate."

Baseball Prospectus 2007.......2007-06-11

The latest in a long series of insightful, analytical reviews of major league baseball players and teams utilizing statistical analysis and other analytical techniques (e.g., econometrics). New for the 2007 edition is an analytical review of the 2006 manager for each team. Baseball Prospectus is the essential baseball reference.

Wealth of info for baseball fans........2007-05-29

This book must be kept near the TV for ready reference on all Major League players.

Another great title from Baseball Prospectus.......2007-05-07

Baseball Prospectus is the gold standard for baseball analysis. The stats are helpful, but I am especially enamored of the PECOTA projection system. This edition is much less plagued by typos than previous editions have been.

Great Info, Easy Access.......2007-04-14

Awesome information, but should include win/loss predictions for each team. Player info is in-depth. A baseball/stats fan's dream come true.

Flipping Houses For Dummies (For Dummies (Business & Personal Finance))

Average customer rating:

Great book
superb technique in detailed explanations
Good Arrival
Good advice
Flipping Houses for Dummies

Flipping Houses For Dummies (For Dummies (Business & Personal Finance))
Ralph R. Roberts , and Joe Kraynak
Manufacturer: For Dummies
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0470043458

Book Description

"This book is designed for realty investors who want to profit from buying below market, making cosmetic improvements to add value, and then quickly reselling. But real estate agents and home buyers should also study it because of the valuable insights offered by a longtime, very successful real estate broker. On my scale of one to 10, this superb book rates an off-the-chart 12."
— Robert Bruss

You've probably seen TV shows like Flip This House and Flip That House, in which Real estate investors buy, renovate, and sell a house in a matter of weeks for tens of thousands of dollars in profit. They make flipping houses look so easy that you want to jump out of your recliner (during the next commercial, of course), run down the street, find a house for sale, flip it for a 50 percent profit, and run back home to continue watching the show.

I, Ralph Roberts, have flipped hundreds of houses, and it's never as easy as it looks on TV. People don't generally line up at your front door begging you to buy their house for 30-50 percent below market value. Renovation expenses always exceed estimates. And you can't always sell a house for what you think it's worth.

Flipping houses for a profit requires time, money, and what I like to call sticktoitism—dogged determination in the face of overwhelming uncertainty.

Not just another house flipping book

You can find plenty of books about flipping houses that claim "anyone can do it" and make flipping look easy and risk-free. Flipping Houses For Dummies takes a different approach—honesty. We don't claim that flipping houses is "easy" or "simple" or "risk-free," because, quite frankly, it isn't.

Flipping Houses For Dummies reveals the risks and rewards of flipping properties; helps you determine whether you have the time, energy, cash, and other resources to be successful; and then conveys the expert knowledge that those who wish to pursue house flipping need in order to minimize risk and maximize potential profits in a very competitive market. Did you know?

Most books on flipping houses gloss over the key factors that that make or break the novice house flipper. These are the very items we focus on in Flipping Houses For Dummies. For example, did you know:

You should secure financing before you look at houses.
As a flipper, you want dontwanners—houses that the owners obviously don't want.
You make your profit when you buy the property. You realize your profit when you sell.
Always plan on earning at least 20 percent after your total investment—purchase price, repairs and renovations, real estate agent commissions, and holding costs (monthly mortgage payments, insurance, property taxes, and utilities).
Working with a top-notch real estate agent can save you thousands of dollars more than what you pay in commissions.
You should choose a limited geographical area to work and then become an expert on the houses and property values in that area.
Your goal when renovating a home should be to bring the property up to market standards, not exceed them.

A flipping book for real people

Flipping Houses For Dummies speaks to the mom and pop investor, steering you clear of the gray areas, which tend to carry high-risks and low-returns, into safer, more potentially profitable areas. We encourage you invest in your comfort zone and take on bigger, riskier projects with higher profit potential only when you're ready.

In Flipping Houses For Dummies we stress that the first flip is the most important one, and we take the guesswork out of the first transaction, to lead you through a positive first experience on which to build a promising real estate investment portfolio.

Flipping Houses For Dummies provides plenty of examples of successful and not-so-successful property flips, presenting the total investment (in time and money), the work involved, and the net profit. Before-and-after photos visually illustrate the positive transformations from run-down-shacks to showcase homes.

Customer Reviews:

Great book.......2007-10-03

I have not finished the book but what I have read makes since and points you in the right direction. I'm looking forward to finishing the book and flipping my first house.

superb technique in detailed explanations.......2007-09-12

The writers of this book do everything for you except the actual manual labor. They make what seems scary and overwhelming seem normal,what to expect and how to even deal with it, smart tips, locating investors, the works, its all inside this book.

Good Arrival.......2007-08-31

My husband was waiting for this and it came just before the weekend, It gave him all the details he needs in order to start up this new venture in understandable terms. We love books "for dummies".

Good advice.......2007-07-25

I read this book after getting caught up in the TV frenzy of house flipping. I soon realized that I do not have the time required to put into house flipping for now. There is a lot of other good advice in this book that will better prepare for flipping(or not in my case). Very worthy purchase.

Flipping Houses for Dummies.......2007-05-09

I have started reading this and it seems to have some very helpful hints. I have not read it all the way through yet, but this is something that I plan to do in the future, so the book will be a reference guide when I get ready to invest.

Average customer rating:

A Shy Man With Inner Strength of Iron
I came away with More Respect for the man...
A "Not-So-Common" Common Man's Journey!
The Secret of Inner Strength
Inner look at a remarkable human being

The Secret of Inner Strength: My Story
Chuck Norris , and Joe Hyams
Manufacturer: Jove Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1557731756

Customer Reviews:

A Shy Man With Inner Strength of Iron.......2005-06-26

I have seen Chuck Norris interviewed on several TV shows and he comes across as a very soft spoken shy man, yet you can tell he has a very powerful inner strength. In his career he has helped countless young people who doubted themselves to pick themselves up from despair and a feeling of uselessness and to believe in themselves and to do something great with their lives. He cares for his fellow man and has given of himself when he didn't have to. This book allows you to see inside his heart and to see and feel the struggles he has gone through and conquered. Chuck Norris is a Winner and so is this book. It is definitely a must read. Someone should do a movie on his life! He started at the bottom (he failed his first black belt test) and came out on top.

I came away with More Respect for the man..........2004-08-05

I like action movies, and TV. Chuck Norris is reliable and delivers in his films. But this book reveals a depth of character that seems to be depressiongly rare in the entertainment business.

In the end, Mr. Norris is an optimist.

He thinks that things will eventually work out OK.
He thinks that people can overcome adversity.
H thinks that people can succeed if they really apply thmeselves.

But he notes that success is rarely easy. Persistence and attitude are everything, and that strong character is essential. What are the elements of a strong character? According to Chuck Norris, they include the same qualities that The Boy Scouts and other institutions which claim to build character stress: Honesty, bravery, humility, humor, loyalty, commitment to truth, learning, duty, assissting others, etc.

If this book has a cental falw, it is the long (and often tedious) sections detailing some of Mr. Norris' films. But woven in wiht the narratives are some excellent insights into the value of strong character.

In the value free world of entertainment and media, Chuck Norris is not afraid or ashamed to state that "right" and "wrong" are valid and applicable concepts. He gives several concreate examples to express his life philosophy and the validity thereof. Being didactic and judgemental are often frowned upon in media, entertainment, and publishing. But Norris makes a case 9with anecdotes and examples) that sound judgements premised or rooted upon well-formed values, are a positive thing.

In the end, a portrait emerges of a man shaped by his values, not his past. And Chuck Norris had a very hard start in life. But he decided that he would not fall into despair; instead, he would rise above expectations, and succeed.

I can recommend this book for many reasons. THe two main reasons I do so are that it dispels the cyncial belief that honesty and good values are no longer worth anything. And in the end, Chuck Norris' life story serves as an inspirational motivator; to go out and make something of oneself.

This is a very positive book, and one I highly recommend.

A "Not-So-Common" Common Man's Journey!.......2003-08-30

Martial arts and film buffs will enjoy this book, which is a straightforward autobiography (written with the assistance of Joe Hyams). Be forwarned that this book was published in 1988 (at least my hardcover version), so the filmography doesn't cover his more recent works.

Norris describes his experiences from childhood, to the time spent in the armed forces, where he originally took up the matrial art of Tang Soo Do under Jae-chul Shin (who today runs the World Tang Soo Do Association).

This volume describes Norris's tournament days, including quite a bit about his competition experiences. There is also information about his family life, his entry into film making during his time as a karate (Tang Soo Do) instructor, and his experiences as a self-made actor in Hollywood. Throughout, he is honest as he describes his triumphs and mistakes.

Chuck Norris is the quintessential all-American guy who worked his tail off, took a big gamble, and came out on top. This book describes his journey from average joe, to martial arts instructor, to professional film star. This book includes two sections of photographs which show Norris from childhood, with family, in the services, in karate competition, and during the filming of his movies.

The Secret of Inner Strength.......2002-11-28

I thought I knew Chuck Norris before buying this book. But what I found was nothing that I ever expected. Chuck had a hard life and had health problems that he had to over come, talk about bad luck, nothing came easy for him, not even being born! If you are into self improvement or want a really inspiring story, buy this book and read it over and over again, the knowledge contained is great. It has a whole system of self development contained within, I have so much to say on this book, but read it for yourself, it's worth every penny!

Inner look at a remarkable human being.......2001-08-21

This book is a must for all people of all ages. Whether your a Chuck Norris fan or not. As one review put it, he lays his emotions and home life on the table. I found it so intriguing that I couldn't put the book down for long periods of time, because I wanted to know more. This book has begun to open my eyes to look inside myself. I'm so motivated that I am going to get his second inner strength book about ZEN! This book is easy to read and he is an inspiring teacher. It's so good that I don't want to give the book up!

The Attractor Factor: 5 Easy Steps for Creating Wealth (or Anything Else) from the Inside Out

Average customer rating:

The Attractor Factor
Great Book
Attactor Factor
100% Recomended
Attractor Factor by Joe Vitale

The Attractor Factor: 5 Easy Steps for Creating Wealth (or Anything Else) from the Inside Out
Joe Vitale
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Motivation & Self-Improvement | Business Life | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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The Secret (Extended Edition)

ASIN: 0471706043

Book Description

In The Attractor Factor, Joe Vitale combines principles of spiritual self-discovery with proven marketing concepts to show how anyone can live a happy life in and outside of business. He shares his own quest for wealth and success while leading you through the five simple steps that will make all your aspirations, professional and personal, a reality.

Download Description

A breakthrough practical spiritual guide to achieving all your goals

For the first time ever, one of the rarely discussed formulas for building wealth and achieving success in all areas is revealed in The Attractor Factor. Popular marketing and spirituality guru Joe Vitale argues that those who try hard and fail need to remake their inner beings in order to easily attract success, wealth, and happiness. Many people do the right things but get the wrong results; it's not so much what they do, as what they are inside. The problem for most people is self-sabotage. In five easy steps, Vitale shows anyone how to become happier and more successful by doing a few simple things differently every day. Part wealth-creation guide, part spiritual road map, part autobiography, The Attractor Factor offers inspiring, effective answers for anyone who wants to feel better, be happier, get wealthier, and get ahead in life.

Joe Vitale (Wimberley, TX) is President of Hypnotic Marketing, Inc., a marketing consulting firm. He has been called "the Buddha of the Internet" for his combination of spirituality and marketing acumen. His articles are widely read and his professional clients include The Red Cross, PBS, Hermann Children's Hospital, and many other small and large international businesses. His past books include There's a Customer Born Every Minute and The AMA Complete Guide to Small Business Advertising.

Customer Reviews:

The Attractor Factor.......2007-10-08

Joe spells out his 5 steps easily with plenty of examples for the reader to relate to. I highly recommend this easy read for anyone looking to change where they are or to move closer to where they want to be in any area of their life.

Great Book.......2007-10-04

The Attractor Factor" by Joe Vitale presents a clear five step process for prosperity. The book contains insights into how to manifest what you really want in life. We are reminded that our thoughts are always within our control, however there are some aspects of life that are truely unchangeable.

This book has the potential to be life transforming.

Some more great New Age Transformative books are;

The Secret

Nexus: A Neo Novel

Attactor Factor.......2007-09-24

This Book in incredible for keeping you on track and focused on positive thinking on all levels.

100% Recomended.......2007-09-17

This book changed my life forever. Specially the chapter "Be Happy Right Now". My change started with this chapter. I love Joe Vitale's job. This book is very easy to read and easy ti apply. 100% recomended to every human beign. Thanks again Joe Vitale for changing my life. God bless you always. Thanks!

Attractor Factor by Joe Vitale.......2007-09-15

I found the Attractor Factor, easy to understand and read. The concept
provided is well presented and significant in personal development.

All I Need to Know About Manufacturing I Learned in Joe's Garage: World Class Manufacturing Made Simple

Average customer rating:

Heere we go again...
Best Primer on Lean Manufacturing
Keep It Simple Stupid
Useful book
Simplistic but True

All I Need to Know About Manufacturing I Learned in Joe's Garage: World Class Manufacturing Made Simple
William B. Miller
Manufacturer: Bayrock Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0963043935

Product Description

ALL I NEED TO KNOW ABOUT MANUFACTURING I LEARNED IN JOE S GARAGE explains basic principles of customer focused, high quality, low cost, on-time business management. This international bestseller is endorsed by reviewers from Business Week and other publications, and by numerous business and educational leaders.

ALL I NEED TO KNOW ABOUT MANUFACTURING I LEARNED IN JOE S GARAGE is used by thousands of companies, large and small throughout the world, to improve profitability, performance, and employee satisfaction. The book uses a lighthearted short story that explains in easily understandable terms the concepts and techniques of 21st-century business management. It illustrates clearly how to forge a strategy for the future that will lead to outstanding personal and professional achievement.

...JOE'S GARAGE is a classic teaching fable valuable in all business functions. It is essential reading for anybody who wishes to understand how to succeed in today s environment of increasingly tough global competition. An annotated reading list and comprehensive glossary are provided.

Countless business leaders, educators, and publications agree that ...JOE's GARAGE is simply the best, and most cost-effective, roadmap for attainment of world class results.

Customer Reviews:

Heere we go again..........2007-01-14

Another book fawning all over Toyota and the Japanese as being the absolute masters of production. No one but them can possibly produce anything properly. Oh, wait, did this book mention that it was AMERICANS who showed the Japanese modern production methods immediately after WWII? By golly, they left out that little detail.. you probably don't hear that too much, but look it up if you don't believe me. For all of the 1950's and most of the 1960's, "Made in Japan" was not a good thing to see on a product. Only in the past 30 years have they gotten good. I won't deny that American companies have gotten sloppy, and they need a cold hard slap to wake them up. But, I think that some of these books go a little overboard heaping praise on Japanese methods.

Best Primer on Lean Manufacturing.......2007-01-14

This easy to read book outlines all the concepts of lean manufacturing in an entertaining and understandable manner. I make it required reading for all my Manufacturing Engineers, Department Managers and Supervisors.

Keep It Simple Stupid.......2007-01-12

Many books on lean manufacturing today try to over complicate things by adding in a lot of jargon and so called smarts. This book doesn't do that, and the the beauty is the reader really gets to the heart and soul of lean manufacturing with being bogged down by some academic trying to tell you how smart he is about it.

Joe's gets all the major points of the Toyota manufcaturing, and the way it puts in context makes it clear and easy to understand.

Useful book.......2007-01-05

This is a really simple, easy to read book for people who want to know things about manufacturing.

Simplistic but True.......2006-05-07

This book is simplistic in its approach, but it illustrates very well our society's tendency to overcomplicate processes to the point the original objective becomes almost unattainable.

The Data Warehouse ETL Toolkit: Practical Techniques for Extracting, Cleanin

Average customer rating:

Good for anyone who wants to Learn ETL
Another tool in the shed
A field manual for the professional
A handy tool on the desk of any ETL Developer.
Great coverage of the ETL building blocks

The Data Warehouse ETL Toolkit: Practical Techniques for Extracting, Cleanin
Ralph Kimball , and Joe Caserta
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Data Warehousing | Databases | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

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The Data Warehouse Toolkit: The Complete Guide to Dimensional Modeling (Second Edition)
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Building the Data Warehouse
Business Intelligence Roadmap: The Complete Project Lifecycle for Decision-Support Applications

ASIN: 0764567578

Book Description

Cowritten by Ralph Kimball, the world's leading data warehousing authority, whose previous books have sold more than 150,000 copies
Delivers real-world solutions for the most time- and labor-intensive portion of data warehousing-data staging, or the extract, transform, load (ETL) process
Delineates best practices for extracting data from scattered sources, removing redundant and inaccurate data, transforming the remaining data into correctly formatted data structures, and then loading the end product into the data warehouse
Offers proven time-saving ETL techniques, comprehensive guidance on building dimensional structures, and crucial advice on ensuring data quality

Customer Reviews:

Good for anyone who wants to Learn ETL.......2007-10-05

This book gives practical guidelines to follow through the ETL cycle, it does not matter if you are using an Industry Standard ETL tool or writing your own ETL process from scratch, this book will be useful for both. I found it very useful. Definitely worth a read for anyone who is new to ETL.

Another tool in the shed.......2007-08-01

This is a very good book from the Data Warehouse toolkit series by Ralph Kimball et al. This one is all about ETL - extract, transform and load, although the authors may put it a little bit different sometime:

[quote]
We expand the traditional ETL steps of extract, transform, and load into the more actionable steps of extract, clean, conform, and deliver, although we resist the temptation to change ETL into ECCD!
[/quote]

Anyhow, ETL or ECCD, it's the same thing - fetching the data from your live operational systems and putting it in your data warehouse.

The book thoroughly covers the entire ETL process. Believe me, I tried to squeeze a digest here. A few times. It goes out of hand. A lot, a huge lot of all sorts of information. Useful, extensive, clear and interesting to read.

Having read the first (?) book in the series - The Complete Guide to Dimensional Modeling -
helps greatly in understanding, because this book uses the same (standard) terminology - dimensions, facts, and so on.

Probably the only thing to whine about is the pictures. They could have definitely been better. Some of them are cryptic and some of them have no real value. Let's put it this way - some of the pictures do not help.

Anyhow, great book.

A field manual for the professional .......2007-05-13

I've been doing this for 9 years, and this is the best book I've seen on ETL procesing and its role in data warehousing. Before you start your data warehouse effort have your team read this book. Not just the ETL members...both the front/back room technicians will benefit from understanding the clear presentation of what can be in scope (dare I say, "best practice" yikes!) for ETL processing. The ideas for capturing highly valuable data quality and cleansing processes is no less helpful than the emphasis on loading the data unless it is misleading enmasse or so obviously flawed. The bias toward driving the data to the front room for presentation forces data quality issues to the surface where they must be dealt with and the loop to operational systems (or perhaps even flawed ETL transforms!) closed. Illustrates alternatives for dealing with the messy reality of suspended data, late arriving facts and dimensions. Use it as a guide for your ETL efforts. Buy this book, read it and then buy a few more for your team if you agree.

A handy tool on the desk of any ETL Developer........2006-06-27

I am currently working as an ETL Developer at a company
Fourier Approach, Centurion, South Africa.

Most of the time this is a fairly hot seat -
because so many business requirements are dependant on the
Quality of Information produced by the ETL process.

I always asked myself,

* Am I doing the right thing?
* Is this the best solution?
* How would other developers do this?

A while ago I attended the course

"ETL Architecture and Design Workshop"

presented by Joe Caserta, and hosted by Alicornio Africa in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Before the presentation we received a copy of the book
"The Data Warehouse ETL Toolkit".

This changed my whole perspective.
The book adressed all my ETL questions,
with examples from real-world situations.
It covers the whole ETL process and gives answers
to almost every question you will ever think of asking.

I must say this is a very handy tool on the desk of any serious ETL Developer.

Regards,

André Ackermann
ETL Developer

Great coverage of the ETL building blocks.......2005-12-19

This is one of the few references out there providing the building blocks of good ETL design. There is plenty of technical documentation and forums out there that are specific to one ETL tool or DBMS but this is a better starting place for ETL developers. It is required reading as ETL projects often take short cuts in design, data quality and metadata management and reporting. This leads to very expensive Data Warehouse administration costs and often a complete rebuild of load jobs.

The book is relevent for people using most ETL or ELT tools and it will remain relevent for years even as the ETL products continue to advance and mature. It is targeted at DW but the basic flow of Extract, Clean, Conform and Deliver is suitable for most types of data loads.

Good coverage of the alternatives to traditional overnight bulk loads in the section on real-time ETL systems (also describes Microbatch) as the businesses and the major ETL vendors shift to SOA.

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