Job seekers and job holders alike tend to think they're National Football League free-agents when it comes to getting and keeping jobs in this low unemployment era. Thus, corporations can find it very tempting to act like football teams - throw money at recruits, throw money at employees with wanderlust - and then throw up their hands when people leave. No need for all that, say authors Jim Harris and Joan Brannick. Finding and keeping great employees isn't about winning the bidding, it's about getting to the source of employee alienation and rebuilding connections among people, their jobs, their lives and your company. We at getAbstract recommend this book to employees, especially unhappy ones, and to human resources professionals of all stripes, from recruiters to compensation analysts to development specialists, and even football coaches.

"This book reflects certain fundamental beliefs. First, we believe in people. In our view, people are the real competitive advantage of any company. Having good people decreases turnover, improves individual performance, attracts a flow of new applicants, and fosters growth in organizational profit...Second, we believe in corporate culture. Employees can find a job anywhere, but they commit to and want to remain with an organization whose culture they connect with...Third, we believe the organizations most successful in their staffing and retention practices are those that leverage their core culture to attract and retain like-valued employees. Although job fit is important, culture fit determines whether someone is highly likely to remain with and be successful with the company...Fourth, we believe in a strategic, more than tactical, approach to finding and keeping great employees...Fifth, we believe in simple, doable concepts and guidance, rather than rambling, esoteric prose...Sixth, we believe that any attempt to find and keep great employees must be flexible...Finally, we believe that this book can make a significant difference in organizations-a difference in performance, in productivity, and in profitability" (from the Preface).

In this context, Jim Harris and Joan Brannick, in Chapter 2, focus on culture. They argue that aligned companies base their staffing and retention processes upon one of four forms of core culture:

1. Customer Service- The underlying purpose of a customer-service culture is to create customer solutions (more detailed discussion see Chapter 3).

2. Innovation- The underlying purpose of an innovation culture is to create the future (more detailed discussion see Chapter 4).

3. Operational Excellence- The underlying purpose of an operationally excellent culture is to create a process that minimizes costs while maximizing productivity and efficiency (more detailed discussion see Chapter 5).

4. Spirit- The underlying purpose of a culture of spirit is to create an environment that inspires employee excellence (more detailed discussion see Chapter 6).

They write that "the four core cultures are separate but equal. No one core culture is superior to another. None is more likely to quarantee outstanding financial performance than another. All are equally powerfull in driving long-term organizational success", and argue that "the key to finding and keeping excellent employees is to align your staffing and retention to the one core culture that best propels your company's succes". Then they list the benefits of alignment as following:

* Alignment is strategic.

* Alignment is simplifies the staffing and retention process.

* Alignment strengthens the core culture.

* Alignment builds strong company connections.

* Alignment builds strong job connections.

* Alignment builds strong personal connections.

* The ultimate benefit is a unique competitive advantage: the ability to consistently find and keep to talent.

Finally, they define three steps to the process of alignment as following:

1. The organization must clearly understand how each core culture uniquely contributes to employee connectedness.

2. The organization must embrace one core culture as its operational driver.

3. Management must then align all staffing and retention strategies to the core culture.

Highly recommended.

In my work with line managers and other HR professionals, the things that are keeping them up at night are directly related to finding good people and keeping them. With labor shortages and knowledge gaps, I believe that this is the number one issue for HR professionals in the next decade. Jim Harris and Joan Brannick address this issue directly in a framework that gives the reader specific, implementable ideas to improve their staffing and retention efforts.

The breakthrough thinking in this book is establishing a clear link between corporate culture and staffing and recruiting efforts. The authors encourage readers to define their culture clearly, then be intentional about matching recruiting efforts and retention programs to the culture. By providing examples of best practices that match each of four basic organizational cultures (operational excellence, customer service, innovation, and spirit), the authors provide readers with practical guidance on how to align staffing and retention efforts with the cultures at their companies.

I found most helpful of all the guidance the authors provide on retention. In 25 years of work as an HR professional, I've found that the topic of retention is a lot like the weather - everyone talks about it, but nobody knows how to make it better! This book is different. The authors describe specific ways to influence retention and build a company where employees will want to stay. Immediately after reading this book, I went to work creating a retention plan built around nine specific management practices that will support my company's culture and foster retention. My counterparts on the company's leadership team are enthusiastic about the plan, and are actively at work implementing the management practices.

Finally, I recommend this book because it is well written. The authors avoid jargon and buzzwords. They speak from the heart about HR practices that will engage the soul and generate employee commitment.

I found this book to be very well written, and at the beginning I had high hopes that I would like it very much. However, I found that as the book went on, I was less and less sure what point the author was trying to make and just what the focus of the book was supposed to be. What the author's son Ned went through with two unrelated and severe medical problems was compelling to read about, but not really enough to carry the book. The math history parts of the book often seemed quite unrelated to the main tale. Perhaps the book was a way to expose the many uncaring or distant medical professionals the author encountered, but this was not tied together into a real message. Or perhaps the author was telling her story to justify her decision not to return to the States with her son once he ran into medical troubles in Germany---which in my eyes didn't really need justifying---I would not see Germany as having less competant medical care than the US. In any case, I found the ending a bit unfinished---I didn't really see how all of a sudden Ned's elbow was fixed, and we were not told much about the final outcome of his seizures or his brain surgery, although the book was published at least 3 years after these problems started. I feel there could have been a much better book here with more focus and more of a unified point. However, I did finish the book and am still thinking about it--a sign of something worth reading.

I just spent the past Saturday afternoon reading _Angles of Reflection_ by Joan L. Richards and was quite moved by it. For anyone who has had to grapple with balancing work and family -- including in academics where one's schedule is flexible but at times consuming and unpredictable -- this book is a must read along with other similar volumes, such as _Divided Lives_ and _True North_. Richards's depictions of "mother's time" and "professional time", as well as the conflict between the two, could very well have been a chapter in Alan Lightman's _Einstein's Dreams_. German culture is not a very hospitable environment for working mothers, but Richards navigates skillfully through maternal care, professional meetings, and daily annoyances like sharply abbreviated hours for grocery shopping. Her depiction of the German medical system, a form of socialized medicine, might be looked upon as idiosyncratic and Byzantine by all except those of us who have to deal with American HMO's on a regular basis. Past and present, as well as life and art, overlap in this deliciously engrossing volume: as she cares for her son, Richards works through the intricacies of her biographies of Augustus and Sophia De Morgan and finds in their child, Alice, a parallel story of parental concern. Richards's story reminded me of a statement attributed to Jackie Kennedy Onassis: when asked about raising her children, she is supposed to have said, "If I fail at this, nothing else matters." Above all else, Richards's love and care for her two boys shine through this volume, even on pages dense with Newton, the De Morgans, and probability theory. This book, written in the tradition of Jill Ker Conway, is required reading for anyone, but especially for those curious about how the thinking lives of academics intersects with the practical and emotional lives of the everyday world. Highly recommended.

I have read this book twice, and recommended it to several friends, and find it a most complex and multi-faceted tale. On the one hand a poignant account of a sick child,and an examination of the difficult decisions everyone has to make under uncertainty, it is much more than that as it weaves Newton, Leibniz and Augustus de Morgan and the choices they made into the story. It was in many ways a brave decision of Joan Richards to write and publish this book, and those who read it can judge for themselves her success--I found it riveting, and even better on the second reading.

Although it does have minor flaws, such as no real connection between some parts of the book, "Astrid" is a wonderful book to read, written by a Norwegian woman born and living in the States. The most important observation that should be made, is that the atmosphere of the book is real, you do not have the impression that it is written from today's perspective. Given the incompleteness of original sagas, Henriksen did a decent job, having managed to keep the story consistent and as full as possible. Who knows, maybe the detachment of some parts of the book were intended. If so, there is nothing that should prevent you from reading this book. You should not have an impression that the book is for children. Having read the book, I may assure you, that it is not suitable for kids. On the contrary, some events are either drastic, or have sexual content. Nevertheless, it was written with taste and you will enjoy the book throughout. The book is very Norwegian, if that may be stated by a person that has never been there... Very recommended.

After recently finishing Stephen Lawhead's "Byzantium", I felt slightly disappointed in that thiS STORY should have incorporated a much more elaborate tale. Do try "Byzantium" if you find "Astrid" enjoyable.

What follows is a part of the informational flyer the publisher has sent out to bookstores, newspapers, etc.

"In the days before Christianity brought the written word to the Viking lands of far Northern Europe, history was a spoken rhythmical saga. These sagas sang of kings and heroes. Only occasionally did a storyteller mention, in passing, the women involved. One such was Astrid...

Astrid's story is told from the time she is fifteen years old, in 955 A.D., the year she chooses a husband and begins accompanying him on raiding and trading expeditions in France and England. In just a short time she would become mother to one of Norway's future kings [Olav Trygveson], while fighting for her own son's life as well as her own. In a rare account of one Viking woman's chronicle, "Astrid: A Viking Saga" traces Astrid's journey as she becomes a mother, a widow and a slave, while attempting to preserve her freedom and make a life for herself and her family.

Based on the recorded events of Astrid's life, "Astrid: A Viking Saga" not only depicts a slice of Viking and women's history, it fills in the unknown gaps with adventure and suspense, bringing to the page a vivid illustration of this tumultuous era. Written by Joan Felicia Henriksen, this grand epic captures all the magnificence and coarseness of the Viking culture and explores the complexity of one young woman's struggle to maintain her independence, strength and dignity. Henriksen blends adventure, romance and history in this riveting page-turner and reveals some little-known facts about a fascinating era. Not only does "Astrid: A Viking Saga" represent years of meticulous research and unwavering interest in the Viking culture, it also reveals Henriksen's fervent desire that the stories of strong and independent women be passed along and preserved."

Arguably, this is one of a handful of great modern american novels from the last quarter of the 20th century. from its remarkable opening chapter, it weaves a hypnotic spell, with didion's characteristic romanticizing of despair and existential angst. this is a novel of sentences. sentences to be savored, and read aloud. sentences without one extraneous word; as balanced as poetry, and utterly perfect from the first syllable to the last. didion remains one of the few writers who can comment on a scene by way of description. the details she focusses upon serve to illustrate her vision in a manner only a small handful of authors can manage. it is the mark of a master, and this is, without question, her masterpiece. it is didion's reportage and essays that have made her reputation, but this very challenging and utterly flawless novel is the equal to her non fiction prose. it is not a novel for the casual reader. however, for any student of delusion, and any admirer of serious literature of the highest order, a book of common prayer is an essential text.

Didion's opening line ... "I shall be her witness" says it all.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. As with all of Ms. Didion's books, I take my time with them, to truly cherish her writing style. I am a huge fan of her use of characterization, as well as her use of grammer. (Besides this book, I regularly recommend Play It As It Lays and Miami, two other great books by Ms. Didion.) Everytime I think of this book, I think of how the brave narrator, in the course of the developments of the novel, regrets, with the last line in the book, the opening statement she made in the book's lead. One of the all-time best books I've ever read, you have got to give this book a read, too.

Good stories but not my kind of endings. I like something
a bit more concrete. My impression is he doesn't know
how to. My fav is still HPL's Charles D Ward.
(I have used two of Benson's stories at Cubscouts. Gets
verrrrry quiet in the darkened art room. oOOOooOOO.)
Good read. I recommend.

e.f.benson could twist and turn the ghost story as nobody else. his stories are the most original and inventive you can find. as montague rhodes james he had great descriptions and wrote very well. however, efb was more macabre in the way he let the story build, not to mention: end. investing in the plot, creating unease by keeping the treath's strength and how it would work unclear, his stories are truly horrible. in some stories you must realize there may not really be a "point"(mysterious strangers or treaths not being revealed) or a straight-forward climax (like "and the dead spake"). efb had his reasons, and the reason is this: if you are treathened by the supernatural: do you think it will explain to you why it may harm you. efb's starting point is somewhere in someone's LIFE, and how the treath enters this. would that really always be that straightforward. but don't misunderstand, it is easy to get into the stories and get your own ideas about what's going on. itæs not obscure, just some uneasy unclearity at times (which is enjoyable). there are some horror stories here too, more along the pulpish line. great collection. some are too traditional for my taste (though not to people who like lefanu, nesbit and that crowd) but there are some truly morbid tales carried out extremely well, like The face. this is a great collection for us who like the morbid, AND for people liking the old victorian ghost story, having enough stories and excellence to satisfy both parties

I had read E.F. Benson's "The Horror Horn" to start with (a collection of 13 of his best ghost stories), after seeing that it was considered one of the Top 100 Horror Books of all time in Newman & Jones' excellent overview volume. Each of those 13 stories was so good that I just had to have more, and so picked up this collection of every single one of Benson's spooky tales, 54 in all. This collection certainly did not disappoint; I loved every single one of these ghost stories, and was riveted for the full 640-page length of this generous book.
The tales in this volume are extremely varied. Most deal with ghosts of the conventional kind: the spirits of the deceased with grudges against the living or unfinished business here on the material plane. Unlike the ghosts of Oliver Onions--another great English supernatural writer of the early 20th century, whose ghosts can often be seen more as the mental aberrations of the protagonist--the ghosts of E.F. Benson are decidedly and objectively REAL. There's no question that these occult manifestations are really happening, and not just in the mind of the main character. This--for me, anyway--makes for a more chilling experience. Other tales in this volume deal with vampires, cancer-inducing caterpillars, devil worship, elementals, ghostly slugs, witches and seances. The fact that a character is sympathetic is no guarantee of his or her survival in these Benson stories; anyone is capable of being offed! Indeed, in "The Face," one of the scarier stories of the bunch, a kindly woman, a mother of two and a good wife, meets a pretty horrible end for no particular reason. Benson never married, and may have been something of a misogynist; the women in his stories, anyway, are usually given a rough time, or are presented as rather repellent creatures. Take the levitating lead character in "Mrs. Amworth," a nice English biddy who just happens to be a blood-sucking vampire; or the bloated and horrible husband killer of "The Corner House"; or the female, yetilike creature of "The Horror Horn"; or the sadistic Sybil Rorke of "Inscrutable Decrees"; or Bertha Acres of "The Outcast," a woman so vile that the very earth spits out her coffin. Then there are the dueling witches of "The Wishing-Well" and the vampire witch of "The Room in the Tower." Yes, Mr. Benson surely didn't have too much use for the ladies. However, in the bulk of these stories, the main characters are single, unattached, scholarly, middle-aged men--like Benson himself--who go on long summer holidays to Cornwall, Norfolk or Sussex, rent homes and get involved with all sorts of ghostly mishegas. (Modern-day readers will no doubt feel twinges of envy at the extended summer vacations that all these characters seem able to take!) Of course, space doesn't permit me to rave about each of the wonderful 54 tales in this volume, but I would like to single out for special mention a few of my favorites. "Pirates," for example, is an incredibly beautifully written tale of a man who is haunted by the spirits of his youth when he revisits his old home. "Mr. Tilly's Seance" is a very unique story, in that it is a seance tale told from the point of view of the spirit. I've never read another one like it. "The Man Who Went Too Far" tells of a man who gets just a wee bit too close to Mother Nature; fans of Algernon Blackwood should especially like this one. "And the Dead Spake--" deals with a scientist who invents a device that enables him to play the brain cells of a corpse like a phonograph! It's a story that H. G. Wells himself might have written. And then there's "How Fear Departed From the Long Gallery," Benson's favorite tale of the bunch, and one of mine, too. In this one, a house is haunted by the spirits of three-year-old twins; just to see these ghostly children spells sickness and death for the viewer. It is a lovely story, actually, well told and suspenseful. But then again, all the tales herein are well told and suspenseful, and elegantly written. Benson certainly deserves his place in that pantheon of great English supernaturalists that includes M.R. James, Sheridan LeFanu, Oliver Onions and Algernon Blackwood. Read this book, and you'll see that he was indeed one of the greats.

I was first hooked on Byzantine history after picking up a copy of John Julius Norwich's abridged History of Byzantium. This led to an abiding interest in the second half of the Roman Empire.

Psellus' turn of phrase and genuine storytelling ability make this book a pleasure to read. I only regret I cannot read it in its original Greek, for I think it would be even better. Despite the bias against his female compatriots (only to be expected in that era) Psellus remains fresh, authoritative, winning, and as balanced as can be expected. I love the Penguin editions of classic works- I rarely buy anything else- and my copy of the Chronographia is already dog-eared and underlined.

In short, I truly recomment this edition for any serious or leisurely student of Byzantium. Psellus gives us a window into a sorely misunderstood time and age- as well as being able to tell a ripping good story when the mood takes him.

I always like to read the original texts that historians tend to paraphrase.

This is definitely not one of those antique histories written by a forgotten author. Instead, Psellos writes across a range of topics: psychology of leadership, geography, Orthodox Christianity, statecraft, and let's not forget philosophy. This historical work is a tribute to the power of the Medieval empire of the Greeks, the high extent of its culture, and its heritage.

I completely recommend Michael Psellus to anyone who wants to understand a bit more about the Byzantines and this very harsh period of time in their history. Psellus is fun to read, his commentaries are often humorous, and he seems genuinely interested in preserving this period of time as more of a memoir that tries to place together the good and the bad aspects of life. Before his commentary on Constantine IX, he notes that the position of historian, just as the position of emperor, is a very complex one -- you can try your hardest to do it as accurately as possible, but, in the end, one realizes that most people are complex and cannot be quantified in words or even pages, particularly via using the words of other subjective humans. The reviewer at the bottom concerns himself with Western pipedreams; Psellus' (or Psellos') account is a memoir from events that happened in his life, it is *not* a play-by-play logbook.

Potboiler; passes the time when there was nothing more interesting at the library. The cop boyfriend is a really cardboard character. A bunch of weird excentics. Won't check out any more. Try Ann Cranger or Deborah Crombie for a GOOD read.

this was a fun book to read & it kept you guessing.

Claire sure knows how to get around a question when the police ask her something. She kept everyone guessing through the whole book & the ending is a surprise.

Another wonderful book by Joan Hess

Claire Malloy, bookseller and amateur sleuth, is a person I would love to have living next door. She is wickedly funny and incredibly sharp. With a cast of supporting characters who weave in and out of the main storyline, her neighborhood seems the most interesting in Farberville, Arkansas. Humor and an intriguing storyline make this a welcome addition to the Claire Malloy series which seems refreshed with every entry. I recommend them all for fun reading.

Well selected collection of quotations, excellent drawings; however the author has got a restricted and ego-centric view of life, people and the world. The example she gives to a stressful situation being a woman getting jealous of a friend who gets a diamond bracelet from her husband as a Valentine day present is the limit!

Joan Lunden's book is very enjoyable. I read it in one seating. It is a collection of inspiring, humorous and life appreciating quotes from many different people including Joan Rivers to the Dali Lama. I found a rekindled appreciation of how great life can be after reading this book.

I highly recommend this book as well as these other great books:

Working On Yourself Doesn't Work written by Ariel & Shya Kane

Life Strategies written by Phil McGraw

Healing Society written by Dr. Seung-Heun Lee

I am an individual that loves to read motivating material. One day while in a book store I saw this familiar face looking back up at me from the shelf and automatically new that this was a book that I needed to read. I found the qoutes to be inspiring and even motivating. This not only effected me at work it also help shed some light on other bleak areas of my personal life as well. I love to collect qoutes and since this book is choc full of them it helped to increase my collection. I would buy this book for any person that I know.

As part of the 5 series volume, this series contains some updates. From my previous reviews of the collection series, I've mentioned that if you are beginner, a keen buyer/seller, or an experienced collector/trader of Nippon items, then you need to have this book, along with the other series. Like the previous series, this book contains information on Nippon porcelains. It provides actual photos, and price ranges for each items featured. Nippon porcelains have their disctinctive mark, based on the year and place they were manufactured, so this book gives you what to look and watch out for, in order to identify the authencity of the item.

Like the series 2 book, this is part of the 5 series volume. If you are beginner, a keen buyer/seller, or an experienced collector/trader of Nippon items, then you ought to get this book, along with the other series. The book contains a lot of information on Nippon porcelain collections. It provides nice photos, and price ranges on each items featured. It also gives you the marks to look and watch out for, in order to identify the authencity of the item.

Joan Van Patten's Nippon Porcelain focuses on Japanese porcelain, from painted vases and stamps to plates and smoking pieces. Gorgeous color photos abound.