RFP Handbook is a great addition to any IT project manager's bookshelf. It is clear that the author is writing based on real-world experience. The book offers a good foundation for creating RFP's and offers practical advice that will keep you from making costly mistakes. It also provides examples and templates for writing an RFP. I wish I had this book ten years ago. I highly recommend this book for anyone who is responsible for, or contributing to, the creating of an RFP.

Any organization that outsources development projects, buys package solutions, or contracts for other services will find "Request for Proposal" valuable. Filling a significant void in the literature, this book provides a wealth of practical guidance to help buyers describe their needs clearly and completely. In turn, these descriptions enable prospective vendors to prepare comprehensive and meaningful responses that will let a buyer get the best solution for its money. The book emphasizes writing RFPs for software-related projects, but the principles and practices apply to any acquisition activity.

The book addresses the process of developing RFPs and evaluating proposals. It also describes in detail the sections of a well-constructed RFP and offers guidance as to how to prepare each section. Instead of presenting a simplistic prescription, the book addresses both sides of issues that are not clear cut, such as whether to include the details of the proposal evaluation criteria in the RFP. These discussions help readers understand the various points of view so they can select for themselves the appropriate course to take in each situation. The book includes many checklists, forms, examples, and practical tips. It is clearly written, easy to read, and comprehensive.

I found this book very helpful as I developed a software subcontract management process recently. Every time I pick it up I spot another tidbit to consider adding to the process. "Request for Proposal" is a gold mine of useful ideas for anyone who has to ask vendors to describe how they propose to satisfy a buyer's requirements.

I found this book exceedingly helpful for someone who knows little about the RFP process. It provided a complete understanding of the contents and rationale behind RFP writing and would be an excellent primer for someone new to this process.

Most authors of this genre of political thriller have trouble reconciling the epic heroism (good or bad) of religious fundamentalists in the former Soviet Central Asia with the image of mobs of AK-47-armed men tossing video tapes and foreign magazines into bonfires. In "The Devil's Garden", set in the region's decaying and polluted oilfields, the tables are turned and the ordered world familiar to us disintegrates under the feet of unlucky Westerners. Though author Peters has dabbled in techno-thriller before ("Red Army" and "War in the Year 2020"), he has also practically created his own subgenre of non-techno centered in and around the fringes of the foremer Soviet empire.

"Devil's Garden" tells the story of a young American kidnapped while working for a relief program in that troubled region. Because Peters' victim is the daughter of a US senator, consequences of the kidnapping go far beyond local problems and feed a growing maelstrom that threatens to destroy order already fragile with the collapse of the USSR. Among the unlucky Yankees caught up in the chaos are the Islamic fundamentalists who carry-out the kidnap, the local chieftains who can't be sure what their own role in the kidanpping is, the American intelligence officer sent to lead the rescue, his lover, her husband, the republic's leaders ready to tear their oil-rich state to shreds and an army willing to battle anybody to the death - if they can just learn how to shoot. As a good indicator of the managed chaos, our hero, the aforementioned intelligence officer, tries to determine who would kidnap the senator's daughter by trying to find who's responsible. Bit with the fate of the tiny asian republic's oil at stake, and the militant forces welling up in the population, it's soon clear that nobody is responsible for anything. Peters manages this chaos well. something I appreciate through all of Peters books is his resolute reluctance to point fingers and lay blame - his charachters do that, but are compensated with well nuanced faults that make their objectivity suspect. The guerrillas are fearsome, but not the murderous, callous warriors of god we've seen in other books (or on CNN for that matter). The region's warlords, despite sparking a war that threatens to explode beyond their own borders, are just greedy and - in a masterful anti-climax occurring when the factions meet - go at each other much as the corporate directors in a hostile buy-out. One wonders how the directors of Time-Warner and Disney would have settled their cable-disputes if they had to fight with guns and soldiers instead of lawyers, bloated stock prices and otherwise empty content. The biggest revelation is the hero himself, who, despite being an expert on the region, is actually more lost than any of his fellow Americans. It's all chaotic, but Peters keeps the novel from falling apart and the chaos only adds scale to a blighted country and those who live there and are set on destroying it.

Ralph Peters has done it again! He has woven a seductive, intensely captivating plot into an eminently credible narrative, one as enthralling as those of his earlier 'Twilight of Heroes' and 'The War in 2020'. Unlike the plastic incarnations who stumble incredulously across the pages of Tom Clancy, Dale Brown, and Larry Bond, Peters gives us real-life heroes akin to those of Frederick Forsyth -- those ultimately believable, poignantly human men and women who emerge from a crucible of tragedy and pain to make a veridical impact upon the world. As such, many contemporary authors of America's all-too pandemic and facile techno-thrillers could learn something from Peters, an author who underscores the reality that life is a little more prosaic than the inevitable triumph of democracy as secured by some smarmy fighter pilot-fornicator. Overall, Peters' haunting imagery recalls Edmund Burke's warnings about the metaphysical pretensions of the French Revolutionaries, while his human landscapes are as stark and as those of Cormac McCarthy's 'Blood Meridian'. In the end, Peters' works may very well be to our century what Dickens' 'Tale of Two Cities' was to the nineteenth...Herein lies an absolutely ineluctable read which will not disappoint!

Ralph Peters, whom I know professionally, is a modern-day Lawrence of Arabia who has actually walked hundreds of miles through the worst of terrains, and deeply understands--at both a Ph.D. and gutter level, the reality of real war. The Joint Chiefs don't want to face this reality because it bears no resemblance to their nice clean air-conditioned CNN version of war. Devil's Garden is the real thing, and it is also a great novel.

This is an entertaining book, and interesting to read about the whole Monopoly inventor scandal and the ramifications of it, but beyond that, the book is extremely biased and full of opinions. One chapter in particular sets up a supposed meeting between the fake inventor and a Parker Bros. executive, in the eyes of how the author thought it probably happened. Admittedly, the author presents it as his opinion only, but personally I prefer to read facts, and think the book would have been better without that possibly false story.

The entire book is (obviously) very biased. If you want to read an objective book about all of this, this probably isn't the one for you. Furthermore, the author's knowledge of antitrust law (particularly toward the end of the book when talking about Hasbro) is not very good. This is the a David v. Goliath story, and the author never lets you forget it. At times, his obsession with establishing who the real inventors of Monopoly are is a bit creepy.

The end of the book includes a pitch for his new board game and computer games, which completely diminished the book, at least in my opinion. It's a book, not an advertisement!

I have read this book a few times because there is so much in it and I didn't want to forget the details. Ralph Anspach has a gift for telling a story in a way that puts you right in the middle of the action. You get to read about how an Economics Professor invented a board game and all the trials he went through to get it to market. Then you read how Parker Brothers could not stand this harmless little game and did everything they could to ban it from being sold. In self-defense, Ralph Anspach looked into the real history of the game, meeting the people and visiting the places where monopoly was invented years before it's claimed "invention" by Charles Darrow in 1935. The invention fraud pales in comparison to the cover-up that Parker Brothers carried out in order to line their pockets and monopolize the board game industry - and you, the consumer, got to pay for it in higher prices and inferior products. As the battle rages on we find Kenneth Starr in his pre-Lewinski days and some of America's biggest companies gang-up to rid the world of Anti-Monopoly once-and-for-all. How did this immigrant professor become such a threat to big business capitalism? The answers are masterfully revealed in this book that will keep you smiling and reading all through the night. Scandal, money-hungry, bloodthirsty business, a monopoly detective and more...it's all here.

I found this book riveting and very well-written, a startling indictment of not only Parker Brothers (for claiming false invention of a 30-year old folk game and securing a fraudulent patent)but also of the American judicial system, which clearly will roll over and play dead when confronted with an army of corporate lawyers. While the earlier book by Saxon does discuss a precursor to Monopoly, it says nothing about Parker Brothers' underhanded dealings. Nor does it tell the story of how the game fell into the hands of "inventor" Charles Darrow. Another book on the subject by Orbanes (written essentially by and for Parker Bothers/Hasbro) is merely an attempt to whitewash the whole sticky mess so delightfully uncovered by Mr. Anspach. A fine and fascinating read.

I was undecided if I should buy this book after having read the first edition, but I'm happy I did.
The second edition updates many of the concepts contained in the first and includes some new chapters on hot topics like CRM and Telecommunications (which is the most important sector for dw at least here in Italy where I live).
I think that Kimball books are everything that's needed to design good, robust and flexible data warehouses, and this book maintains his high quality standards.

Data Warehousing is more of an art than a science - but then again what isn't?

There isn't a standard blueprint that can come close to solving most data issues. Data Warehousing (DW) involves constant tweaking and the goal of good DW project management is minimizing the associated operational cost.

I have been a fan of Ralph Kimball as he writes as a person who has been through many implementations. With Mr. Kimball there isn't a miracle cure being touted - stay away from publications that claim such a cure.

Mr. Kimball approached the subject with good advices and encourages the readers to watch out for the pitfalls and follow best-practices in design implementation. It is similar to working with a well experienced supervisor.

The core to successful DW implementations is - LISTENING. Listening to the users on their needs and gauging the software resources available at your disposal.

Trade-offs in design versus cost/performance are a must. You will never have all the resources you need to implement the DW of your dreams. And if you did, chances are very high that once the DW is ready for use the business cases have changed making the design redundant.

Mr. Kimball will help in passing these information and much more. It also goes in good technical detail for suggested modeling of data.

I hope this review is helpful, please let me know if you have any questions or suggestions.

If you want to understand data warehouse design either as user, architect or developer, you need to read this book cover to cover.

Things I like about this book:

* Coverage of all core principles in dimensional data modeling using examples. Ralph does not just lecture to you -- he shows you how to put it into practice

* Coverage of a vast variety of domains. This alone makes the book a must-read

* Recap of major principles at the end of the book to bring it all together

* Excellent writing -- Ralph does not treat you like a dummy; neither does he assume that you have an IQ north of 200

* When you purchase this book, you are in effect purchasing a sliver of the combined knowledge of both authors in the data warehousing field. Highly recommended

I implemented a data warehouse using some of these principles back in 1999. The project was a resounding success and is the most popular application in the financial services firm that I implemented it in. (Infact when I lost my job at an Internet company, they immediately offered me a job based on this implementation). The only sad part to the whole story is that we made a few mistakes in implementation that are now very difficult to correct because the data warehouse has become core to the business -- we have too many end-user applications riding on it!

Told with deadpan humor, Suzy Parker relates the story of her life after her husband's near-fatal bike accident. While it is Ralph's accident that is the catalyst for the change in their lives, this is the story of Susan Parker.

After the accident, the plans for an athletic retirement are replaced with endless trips to doctors, pharmacies, and the never-ending routine of caring for a quadriplegic. Many of their old friends offer advice but not much else, other fade away entirely. As the family being to sink into despair, new friends and associates come to help her adjust to the new lifestyle. Susan freely admits that many of these people are not the type of people she has ever known much about before nor would she have ever chosen to associate with had she not left the privileged world of the white upper-classes.

I found this book to be full of funny anecdotes that were well told. Ms. Parker tells her story with as much humor as possible and a great deal of candor. It is a quick read and well worth your time.

Susan Parker's memoir of her husband, Ralph's accident and it's aftermath is the best thing I've read this year. It's funny, sad, shocking, and completly compelling. This is a book I couldn't put down and continue to think about. I want to know more about these people!

Tumbling After is the story of how a woman copes after her husband suffers a devastating injury. But it's also the story of a remarkable woman who builds a remarkable family and not only lives on, but thrives. This book is proof: we all have strength and creativity within us that may not make itself evident until we need it. It's also proof that Susan Parker is a gifted writer. The pages sing with laughter as well as pathos. The book will make you rejoice in Susan's humanity, and your own.

As a professor of management I have searched for many years to find a book, that would be useful to my students and seminar participants, on how to innovate and be creative in organizations. Farson and Keyes have written a "handbook" on organizational innovation that instructs us not be afraid to take risks in our corporate lives and encourages us to do so to achieve effective outcomes.

The book is not only written for practicing managers. It is a welcome classroom supplement for professors of management, entreprenuership, and research and development who want to provide their students with real-world examples about risk-taking and innovation in organizations.

This merry and practical book is written for anyone trying to manage a company, a career, a family or a life. It would be a mistake not to buy it. The authors show a rare ability to inspire, advise and teach while addressing their readers as adults who can make their own evaluations and draw their own conclusions. People are encouraged to looks at their own life stories to decide whether their apparent failures didn't bring unexpected blessings and whether their apparent successes were all they were made up to be.

The book is lively with stories of people like the Wright brothers, Steve Jobs, Winston Churchill, Charles Kettering and Harry Truman, who were, at least for a while, doing the wrong thing in the wrong place before their best contributions. Of course, it also describes the times in which IBM, Xerox, Railway Express and some Olympic athletes were behaving perfectly under perfect conditions and missed out on the real possibilities of their positions.

Of course one is in good hands reading a book by Richard Farson, author of Management of the Absurd and Ralph Keyes, author of Is There Life After High School? and Chancing It. Both have an eye for the really interesting story such as Bill Russell so caught up in playing basketball well with others playing at their highest level that he stops caring, for a time, about who wins or loses. They also have the ability to find images such as Samurai warrior and his complete absorption in the moment at hand which can add a touch of magic to the everyday predicaments in which the reader lives and works.

The mistakes honored in this book are not those of carelessness, laziness and inattention. On the contrary, it is people who care, who put in work independent of prospect of reward, and who pay such attention to what they are doing that they ignore their immediate benefit who are the heroes of this book. One puts down this book as a person more willing to go towards the important things of life than to live with the fantasy that we can live well without moving out of our area of comfort.

Where was this book when I started my career. Ralph Keyes & Richard Farson have created a path that needs to be followed. I remember begging for forgiveness on a regular basis waiting for the hatchet to fall. The insight and clairity of this book is inspiring. If you find yourself standing on the "razors edge" and you need that little push, pick up this book and devour it. You will ask yourself why you didn't jump years ago. A true "must read" for all managers and executives who want to survive in todays economy. You are your own worst enemy if you walk the path that is worn thin, find the alternative paths that makes you heart pound with energy and you will find excitement and true fulfillment. Ralph and Richard have given us that push.

I read this book in one day. It is an easy read and has a great deal of information regarding sales. I haven't read "Walk like a Giant, Sell like a Madman" yet but now I can't wait to order it. Ralph Roberts is amazing. I am in my second year of real estate and have come away with many great ideas to put in practice with my business. Thank you Ralph for sharing your knowledge and experience!!

I'm been in sales for seven years now, and I consider myself successful. But once I read this book, I found a number of elements that I didn't focus on daily. That's the key to success - to retain the focus and Ralph Roberts showed me how to achieve my greatest potential.

I sold Real Estate in the Detroit Metro area back in 1978, it was a tough market back then, left Real Estate for an Engineering position after two years. I have worked for this company that follows every business fad that comes along. Seven years ago we re-engineered and we Engineers had to be jacks and/or jills of all professions (Marketing, Accounting, Engineering, Administration etc....). At first many of us were scared and afraid to sell or market anything. It had been 20 years since I sold Real Estate but I looked at my old selling manuals and nothing seemed to help. I read about Ralph Roberts in a local paper here in Macomb County and went right to his office and purchased his book. This book has helped me sell over a Million dollars worth of Product and I am the No. # 1 Salesperson for our Company. This book is not only about about selling Real Estate but about preparing and being mentally ready to make sales, I've fallen in love with selling again. Thank You Ralph - Someday I would like to meet you and buy your lunch.

This is a very good book by a very good author. It contains elements of suspense, mystery, intrigue, and romance. It is one of the best novels I've read about the plight of regugees at the outbreak of WWII (with similarities with the first part of Traven's "The Death Ship"). It is the tale told by one refugee to another over the course of a night in Lisbon (hence the title). The narrator is the listener and the story he is told builds into a very good romance that reminded me a lot of the movie "Casablanca". While an endless and exciting series of arrests, escapes and near-misses is going on, we discover a special kind of love between a man who returns to his wife after a number of years of exile. In the topsy-turvy world of Europe at the outbreak of WWII, the standards for conventional romance and fidelity are lost in the need for something more flexible. The reader may question many aspects of the love that is expressed in these pages but not the love itself. I was impressed as I have been with other books by this author. Remarque portrays the chaos of life during WWI as well as Heinrich Boll portrays it in post-war Germany. This is a novel with terrific insight to the times in which it takes place and the capacity for love to prevail against overwelming odds. I'd rate it a 4.5.

Remarque has a gift with words, he can paint a scene so clearly--that it will be forever etched in memory. This novel is a tragic love story that takes place in the beginnings of WWII, and the dialogue has a sense of Hemingway in it. What a beautiful novel to read, my eyes would well up with tears because it was so utterly moving. The novel tackles themes like love, survival, justice, war, identity, and the meanings of life--the two narrators of the story come alive, and I almost felt like I could hear all the emotions and inflections of their voices. But, Remarque has always had a talent--All Quiet..was also a brilliant novel. The back cover of this novel describes the story very very well. The Night in Lisbon is a novel that moves quickly amd brushes you up in its wings; it is a book that can be finished in 2 or 3 days. I highly recommend it to anyone that has discovered Remarque or would want a taste in spellbinding literature. The Night in Lisbon, is a night that I won't forget.

We've all been in the situation of being in a restaurant or a bar and overhearing a conversation that has peaked our interest. We strain to hear the whole conversation, the story being woven, perhaps to live vicariously through the narrator or simply because being curious is human nature. Imagine being in that situation only in a different time: the very early stages of World War II, and a different place: Lisbon, Portugal. And, imagine that the person you are listening to is telling his story during this tumultuous time, from a perspective that is often forgotten, from that of a refugee.

This work of fiction is an intriguing tale of a man's struggle to re-enter Germany to find his wife after fleeing for his life about a year prior and then their flight to Portugal to obtain passage on a ship to the United States.

I only read this book after reading Remarque's "All Quite on the Western Front". I was quite disappointed with that work and was left wondering why it is considered to be such a great story. Wondering if Remarque was overrated or truly the great author that I failed to see, I went to the library and checked out what would become my favorite work of fiction. I have since read the book three times and enjoy it as much as the first read each time through it. There are, to me, three elements of "The Night in Lisbon" that make this a great work: the plot, the characters and the style.

When one imagines the plot of a story set in or around WWII, the first thing to come to mind is probably something along the lines of a heroic tale from the front lines or a valiant struggle for survival in the skies over Germany in a crippled bomber. While these tales often lead to great stories, a completely different spin on WWII makes "The Night In Lisbon" unique and intriguing. Remarque's plot revolves around a German refugee not trying to escape because of his religious affiliation but purely for his political beliefs. While it is never clearly explained why our hero is an enemy of the Reich, the reader is able to draw some conclusions from the dialog. It is this man's struggle to re-enter his homeland from which he was exiled to find his young wife and take her back to Portugal with him is what exists as the core of the plot. His journeys through Switzerland, Austria, France and Spain alone and with his wife pull the reader into the book, hoping he and his wife survive French prisons, encounters with German soldiers, border guards and a particularly deadly enemy that cannot be seen. This is truly an involving story that leaves the reader wishing for more once the book is finished.

As with plot, characters and their emotions provide substance to a story. With weak characters and unrelatable emotions, the plot can often become moot. Remarque masters both in "The Night In Lisbon" providing a protagonist (Schwarz) for whom we hope for the best and a tale of love that shows just how strong this emotion can be. The reader can understand how Schwarz feels and his motivation for his actions. Through Remarque's simple character portrayals, he is able to invoke sympathy from the reader towards Schwarz and his wife giving him motivation to see the story through.

Remarque's style in "The Night In Lisbon" is as important to the story as the plot or characters. Simple first-person narrative allows this story to seem more real. Switching between Schwarz's account of his journey and that night in Lisbon in which the story telling takes place makes the reader feel as if he is seated next to Schwarz in the dimly lit bar at 3:00am listening to his account. It is Remarque's mastery of this simplicity and realistic narration that makes this a truly relatable tale.

I cannot recommend this book enough but I fear I am overstating it, as I feel "All Quiet on the Western Front" has been. The only way to know is to find a copy of this book at your local bookstore or city library and read through it at your first available opportunity. I feel you won't be disappointed and I believe this simple tale of love in a complicated time will become an instant favorite. 5 stars out of 5.

I was personally quite disapointed in this book. The statement 'Ram Dass's famous "Be Here Now," is a prelude to "The Psychedelic Experience,"' is beyond misleading. Be here now had so much to say, but this book adds nothing to the already huge body of liturature written on the topic. If you are interested in this text, get the html version off the net and spend your money on something serious, like the Tibeten book of Living and Dying.

The funny thing about this is, thousands of copies of "the Tibetan Book of the Dead," found there way on to the shelves of hippie homes, because people thought they were getting Tim's "Psychedelic Experience."

We were seeking one thing and being confused with another.

The Psychedelic Experience is a manual where many, many people who I have met; claim to have been enlightened just by following Tim's directions.

We know the Beatles, The Grateful Dead, The Rolling Stones; The Moody Blues were all exposed to these teachings, before they became really big stars.

"When you've seen beyond yourself, then you may find peace of mind is waiting there." George

The Beatles did a song about The Psychedelic Experience; they called it "The Void." You may remember it!

"Turn off your mind, relax, and float down stream,"

"Lay down all thoughts, surrender to the void,"

"I'll play the game "existence" to the end of the beginning,"

"The Psychedelic Experience," is about life before death, The Tibetan Book is about life after death.

Ram Dass's famous "Be Here Now," is a prelude to "The Psychedelic Experience," but few people read that far.

There are three introductions in the Experience. Skip two and just read the one by lama Govinda. Tim was a researcher at Harvard University, those other introductions were written for people long dead.

The rest of the experience is quite simple (once you have had the experience that is.)

Leary's Psychedelic Experience do it now!!

This is undoubtedly Learys definitive work.This guide book is absolutely essential if you are going to take a psychedelic drug.It really makes sense of the visions and sensations you will encounter in the different stages,or Bardos of the trip.To put it simply and to the point,Lennon said of this book,"Learys method is the only way to trip".It really is a great guide book that should send you in the right direction. PRICELESS.
P.S:All the negative reviews of this book all seem to miss the point...its a GUIDEBOOK in the truest sense of the word,an internal 'roadmap'.Its not meant to preach to you a certain point,its there to be used as a manual-to memorize and if need be,to read during your trip.You will need to get beyond the sometimes 'poetic' style and get to the essence of the message.