This book gives me almost of I wanna know about International Hotel English. I suggest this book for students in hotel department. This gives you much

As a staff of international hotel, this book tough me how to speak English more professional.

If you are serious about understanding the JFK assassination then you need to get all ten volumes of Bruce Adamson's works on the Dallas assassination. The deep and wide research in Mr. Adamson's volumes allows one to see the inportant people surrounding the mysterious Lee Harvey Oswald. You can learn about someone by knowing a persons friends . These volumes contain valuable info on George DeMohrenschildt== self proclaimed == best friend of Lee Harvey Oswald. Knowing who DeMohrenschildt was helps to understand the important question --Who was Lee Harvey Oswald ? Words to the wise ....get these volumes !

Superb. My first try at Balzac and I'll definitely be reading more. He makes you want to reach into the book and strangle those two horrible daughters.

I thought that this was a superb novel, containing an intriguing plot, rounded characters, along with an examination of thought-provoking issues.

Despite the title, "Old Goriot" is really the story of the law student Rastignac's attempts to make it in Parisian society. Rastignac is living at a run-down boarding house, the inhabitants of which include Old Goriot. There's a mystery surrounding Goriot and his connection with a couple of young women. The key phase of the novel, however, is when Rastignac comes under the influence of the cynical Vautrin.

There are echoes of other works in the novel - Old Goriot could be seen as a Lear-like figure, Vautrin as a kind of Mephistopheles. The main theme, however, is the ruinous effect of the pursuit of money and position for their own sakes: other more decent and human values are sacrificed on the altar of personal gain. Vautrin tempts Rastignac with a means of advancing his place in society, a method totally founded upon an amoral view of the world.

At the end of the novel, it's up to the reader to decide which of the characters was right all along. Was it Vautrin?

Balzac's "Old Goriot" both celebrates and satirizes early 19th Century Parisian society and its idiosyncrasies. In terms of the variety of characters it introduces and the themes covered, it is a novel of incredibly wide scope, written with efficiency and some of the most beautiful prose, at least via Marion Crawford's English translation.

Goriot is an elderly gentleman living in a Paris boardinghouse in 1819. He used to be a prosperous vermicelli merchant, but hard times of late have forced him to pawn off his remaining precious possessions and move into the cheapest room available in the house. Since running afoul of the landlady Madame Vauquer, whose romantic attentions he once spurned, he has become an object of ridicule to the other boarders, due to his shabby clothes and apparent senility.

Most of the novel's action, however, centers around another of the boarders, a law student named Eugene de Rastignac who comes from a modest family. Rastignac's situation and motives are easy for any urban young man to identify with: He is eager to climb into the upper echelons of Paris society, but he finds to his dismay that the fashionable Parisian women are not interested in paupers. His wealthy cousin, Madame de Beauseant, advises him that he must be ruthless to make it in high society. With his cousin's help, Rastignac acquaints himself with two young society matrons, Anastasie, the Countess de Restaud, and Delphine, the Baroness de Nucingen, who happen to be Goriot's daughters.

Goriot's relationship to his daughters provides the basis for the novel. He spoiled them rotten as little girls; consequently, they grew up irresponsible, greedy, and ungrateful. Having married wealthy men, they both seek consolation from their unhappy marriages through reckless spending and extramarital beaus. Despite their faults, Goriot loves and cares for his daughters with something more like a neurotic obsession than warm, paternal devotion. You can't help feel sorry for the guy, suffering from his delusions, selling everything he owns, and living in squalor so that his daughters, who are unable or unwilling to fend for themselves or fight their own battles, can stay financially solvent.

There is an interesting subplot involving another boarder at Madame Vauquer's house, a devilish, unscrupulous fellow named Vautrin who may not be what he initially appears to be. Vautrin knows Rastignac is trying to get his foot in the door of Parisian society and he knows he needs money to do it. He proposes this scheme: Rastignac will marry a poor girl dwelling at the boardinghouse named Victorine; Vautrin will have Victorine's brother killed so that she'll inherit the whole of her father's fortune, which will bring Rastignac into big money and high society, and he can pay Vautrin for collusion. The way Balzac plays out this scenario without letting it become an interference with the main story line of Rastignac's relationship to Goriot's daughters is quite a deft feat of plotting.

The edition of this book that I read is part of the 'Sixty -Minute Training Series' published by the National Press Publications, a division of the Rockhurst College Continuing Education Center, Inc. It's the type of book that is handed out at two-day training seminars for new supervisors, i.e. heavy on bulleted lists and self-assessment quizzes, and somewhat light on content.

What does it mean to be a supervisor at a large to medium-size corporation, trapped as we are between the rock of upper management and the hard place inhabited by the people we are supposed to supervise? For one thing, it means we don't get much respect. Here is a direct quotation from the feedback section of my company's March newsletter:

"I see little contribution to our company's success when it comes to any employee in a supervisory/area leader role!"

Supervisors also don't get very much training (my company is a refreshing exception to this rule-although I'm not sure it helped in my case). Many of us come up through the technical ranks without a clue as to how to manage people instead of computers or warehouse stock or company finances. Therefore books like "How to Supervise People" can play an important role. This particular book, written by Donald P. Ladew, has valuable (although terse) guidelines in areas such as demonstrating leadership, handling people, team-building, and communication. At the beginning of each chapter, the author tells us what we're going to learn. Then the bullets and summaries come flying at us. We are given a brief pause to write up a plan, or reflect on the qualities of a supervisor we admire, or take a self-assessment quiz. The chapter then ends with yet another summary of what we should have learned. Biff. Bam. Boom. The End---an example of what the back cover calls an 'interactive format'.

I think books like "How to Supervise People" are particularly valuable for a quick review when I'm trying to solve a stressful, possibly long-term problem. It gives me a chance to organize my thoughts, come up with a plan to achieve a positive outcome (instead of giving in to my natural tendency to strangle the person who is causing the problem), and reflect on what I'm really trying to accomplish. Here is a list of the basic qualities that this book feels a supervisor should possess. I think it's a good one:

"1. Be an advocate for the people who report to you. 2. Be fair without playing favorites or being a 'pal.' 3. Create an environment where work can be accomplished. 4. Provide stability during times of change. 5. You must have courage."

Maybe I should post the above list on the wall of my cubicle, for those times when someone else claims that we supervisors make "little contribution"!

Donald P. Ladew's book is exactly the sort of manual that all supervisors should have. While the ideas are not generally new, they are effective. The book concisely presents many tools for supervisors. You don't need to sort through jargon - just turn to the thorough, step-by-step lists and scan them for quick reference. The simple and easy-to-follow techniques provide all of a supervisor's essential tools. Experienced supervisors can use this book to refine their skills and improve any weak areas, while neophytes can use it to supplement their knowledge as they gain experience. We at getAbstract recommend this book to supervisors at all levels and to employees hoping to be promoted to supervisory roles. If you keep this straightforward guide in your top desk drawer and refer to it regularly, you can sound like an expert anytime.