I was truly blown away by THE SEASONS OF CHANGE. I have read many self help books but nothing that has come so close to my true feelings and fears about change and transitions in life. It reallly hit home and help me see that I was going thru all the "normal" phases. CArol McClelland knows what she is talking about because she too has been in the transitional state. It really made me feel better, and I even called her to schedule a session. Dynamic book...I really reccommend it!!!

This book is truly wonderful! Each page has such deep yet simple wisdom that is easy to apply to any of life's changes. Honoring nature's (and Ms McClelland's) wisdom makes life so much less stressful. This book is a jewel!

Reading this book and practicing the principles have changed my life. I used to work 9-5 in a boring office job. As a result of Carol's wisdom and training, I now am a gainfully self-employed computer consultant loving every minute of my work. READ THIS BOOK. You'll be happy you did!

In the competitve world, you have to retain your customers and attract new customers if you want to success in your industry. But, what can you do in order to success? The answer is that we have to learn what is customer loyalty. After understand it, you can let your marketing strategies to be more meaningful. Thus, this book can help you a lot.

In this book, it can give out seven strategies to build the customer loyalty. It states that you are not only to satisfy your customers, but also give the extra benfit to them in a positve way. Thus, customers can get over what they want. Hence, they will be more willing to keep business with your company. Although you think that it has succeed, it is not enough. The think you have to do is to build the world-of-mouth. In this book, it can also tells you how to build the word-of-mouth.

Besides, the book also tells you how your frontline can do in order to satisfy your customers, such as their outlook, their espression and their technique etc.

If you buy the book, you can learn much more about how to build customer loyalty and how it is important for you to success.

From the Department of Marketing, City University of Hong Kong.
Nowadays service providers put more emphasis on customer satisfaction and loyalty. This book is about to tell you how to build customer loyalty by 7 strategies.
It first told about the importance of customer loyalty and the problems of disconnection between service intentions and reality such as ambiguous goals.
Then the 1st strategy was ¡¥Identify Customer Turnoffs¡¦, to identify whether customer turnoffs are value (e.g. quality not as good as expected), systems (e.g. slow service), or people (e.g. employees not helpful). It was the best advertising with decline of customer turnoffs and the cost of a lost customer was so great (there is a formula to calculate the loss in the book). The 2nd strategy was ¡¥Recover Dissatisfied Customers¡¦, after knowing the causes of customer turnoffs, service providers should try to recover dissatisfied customers by paying more attention to receiving complaints and getting feedbacks. The 3rd strategy was ¡¥Create Positive Imbalance with Customers¡¦, satisfied did not represent motivated to be a loyal customer. Therefore, service providers should try to give more than what customers expected so that customers would be more loyal once upon they thought they received more than paid. The 4th strategy was ¡¥Give Customers A-Plus Value¡¦, service providers should try to build A-plus value with packaging, guarantee and warranty, goodness of product fit, memorable experiences, uniqueness and shared values, credibility, as well as other aspects so that customers could receive more than they expected. The 5th strategy was ¡¥Give Customers A-Plus Information¡¦, the information given to customers should be more timely, clearer, or more useful than they anticipate. The 6th strategy was ¡¥Show Customers A-Plus Personality¡¦, developing own personality could be a kind of communication to customers from service providers. The 7t strategy was ¡¥Give Customers A-Plus Convenience¡¦, it could be delivered in several ways, for example, telling customers how long things will take and giving more signage to customers.
After understanding these 7 strategies, it was time to actualize them. First was planning an A-Plus strategy. Next was organizing and staffing. Third is leading and motivating. Fourth was controlling and evaluating results. Fifth was harvesting A-Plus ideas. Final was initiating and sustaining A-Plus customer loyalty strategy.
All in all, you are recommended to read this book first if you want to build customer loyalty.

There are dozens of excellent books which discuss the subject of "customer satisfaction" and/or "customer loyalty." This is among the best of them. Many of those who read my reviews already know that, whenever appropriate, I recommend that several books on the same general subject be consulted. One of the greatest challenges now facing companies is to attract, hire, develop, and then keep the workers they need. A comparable challenge involves customers as well as the additional need to recapture those lost. Timm has much of value to say about that need in Chapter 3 when he discusses Strategy 2: Recover Dissatisfied Customers. (Jill Griffin and her co-authors focus on this same need in Customer WinBack. I also recommend Jac Fitz-enz's recently published The E-Aligned Enterprise in which he offers some excellent strategies re customer recapture.) As Timm skillfully explains, building customer loyalty means building human relationships and that requires constant and committed effort. He introduces twhat he calls the "A-Plus" standard, recommending specific strategies and tactics to achieve and maintain it in terms of value (Chapter 5), information (Chapter 6), personality (Chapter 7), and convenience (Chapter 8). He then concentrates on "Actualizing the A-Plus Customer Loyalty Strategy" in Chapter 9, the final chapter. Along the way, Timm includes a series of ingenious "Worksheets" for the reader to complete. These serve two important functions: They stress key points and they enable the reader to measure (with reasonable if not precise) accuracy the gap between customers' expectations and customers' perceptions of performance relative to their expectations. (We all know that customer perceptions ARE realities.) Appendix A provides a "Sample Generic Consulting Proposal" (well-done but probably not of much interest to some readers) and Appendix B provides "A Quick Review of the Seven Power Strategies" which is also well-done and will be useful to those who wish to review key concepts later.

Timm's approach is intentionally practical. His insights and recommendations are obviously based on a wealth of real-world experience. As with any other book in which there is also an abundance of check lists, do's and don's, mini-case studies, assessment mechanisms, self-audits, reminders, etc., it remains for each reader of this book to select, correlate, and then integrate whatever is most appropriate to her or his own needs and interests. With all due respect to Covey, there really isn't anything magical (at least in the secular world) about the number seven. Timm could have just as easily recommended anywhere from five to 25 specific strategies worthy of careful consideration. Those he does suggest are as good as any but will be effective only if they are implemented with sufficient passion, precision, prudence, focus, tenacity, and (yes) patience. Only such sustained effort can activate the "power" to which this book's title refers.

When concluding these brief remarks, I presume to offer one (probably obvious) caveat: At a time when change is the only constant, no matter which specific strategies you select, be prepared to revise or abandon those which prove inadequate. Extensive research reveals that, on average, U.S. companies lose half their customers within five years. Given the assistance available from Timm and other experts, you and your organization can certainly improve on that.

The photos are fantastic,the comments much more interesting,worth buying it.You can really understand why it is more than what you see at first in the movie.I loved it.

This is a must-have coffee-table book (it's also available in paperback) for all fans of Paul Verhoeven's brilliant, moving epic; it comes close to capturing the lush beauty of the movie itself. Anyone with taste, style, and/or half a brain will cherish both the gorgeous book and the inspiring, elegant movie. Thank you to the publishers of the book as well as the filmmakers.

What can I say about Showgirls that hasn't been said? I am sure I echo the sentiments of anyone who's seen this film when I say it's the best movie ever made. This book is also amazing. It features an in depth look at the talent that made this movie happen. Verhoven helps us to understand the seedy underworld of Las Vegas and why this movie is truly the story of a girl in search of herself. Where, oh where, is the sequel to this stunning masterpeice?

I wrote a similar review for Steven Schnur's "Summer; an Alphabet Acrostic", and much of what I said applies here. I love to see writers take a tired old language arts exercise, or old poetry style, and spice it up a bit, or at least make it a little more interesting. These are fine, clever acrostics, yet simple enough for everyone to enjoy. The artwork is soft, yet colorful, with large, up close images, and there is a peacefulness to the overall feel of the book. I recommend this one to the kids with whom I work, and to adults! A nice book!

I saw this book displayed in a book store & I was with my kids. They both ran up to it, sat on the floor and spent the next hour glued to it. I took a curious look to find it was beautiful, educational and inspiring. I bought the book for my kids, my nieces, my nephews & my friend's kids. More books of beauty, hope & inspiration should be available for my children. Maybe these authors should consider a Silver Seeds two!

I liked this book a lot. I liked the drawings and the words. I learned alot about nature. I'm glad my mom bought this book for me. Someday I want to work in the outdoors.

A good anthology, but flawed by "The Bodyguard," which seemed cobbled together, and suffers from an absolutely terrible ending that had my mouth falling open in disbelief. Not what I expect from the series, at all!
"An Act of Love" is entertaining and steamy, a good contemporary romance that apparently picks up a character from a previous volume. Made me want to get the original!
"Enslaved" was OK, but the heroine annoyed me, which wrecked the story. That's more personal bias than any fault of the author - I need a really strong female protagonist in period romances.
"The Love Slave" was AMAZING, the best story I've read in the Secrets anthologies. I read it twice through in two sittings. The sci-fi premise is similar to another novel I read by a different author but the characterization and romance are so much stronger I found myself thinking, "This is the book the other author was trying to write." Terrible, I know, but honest!
Steamy, steamy, hot erotica - heart-tugging romance - Emma Holly is my new hero. lol I'd recommend this volume on the strength of this one story alone.

Anyone who had read the Black Lace books will recognize Emma Holly's name. She is one of the best writers of erotica that I've come across. On my quest to collect everything ever written by her, I found Secrets vol. 4. Let me say that I was pleasantly surprised by the other stories in this collection.

Each story is based on a romantic premise, so readers of romance novels will enjoy this book. The "steam" factor has been pumped up, so readers who don't like graphic love scenes should avoid these stories. However, people looking for one-handed reading would do well to remember that these stories have PLOTS. That said, I enjoyed every one - but especially Emma Holly's.

Others have done a wonderful job reviewing the contents of this book, so I won't rehash. This review is just to emphasize how much you will NOT regret purchasing Secrets vol. 4. :-)

Romance Comm says, "In ENSLAVED Lindsey adds a unique twist to a classic plot creating a passionate story of love lost and found. Her characters live and breathe in this appealing tale producing a powerful impact not soon forgotten. Exquisite, erotic love scenes sear the senses. ENSLAVED will take your breath away. Hot! Hot! Hot! ~

Passable, but not meaty enough; the section on the integrity of 2 Cor. is especially weak. Buy Martin's (Word) commentary instead.

Paul Barnett has soaked himself in 2 Corinthians for more than 30 years. The commentary is not only the result of his keen mind and scholarly ability, it comes from his love for this great epistle.

2 Corinthians is a NT book that has many purple (oft-quoted) passages but is rarely studied as a whole. A lengthy defence of Paul's apostleship (marked not so much by success as by suffering, which Paul considers the true mark of apostleship), the letter and commentary make for essential reading for pastors, who often find their pastorships often under attack for the same reasons Paul had his apostleship under attack.

Barnett is a true and wise guide into this must debated letter.

Paul Barnett is a gifted exegete and this commentary is an excellent addition to the NICNT series. This is the most thorough and edifying treatment of 2 Corinthians that I have read. Barnett has spent many years in this epistle and it shows in his knowledge of background details and in the exegesis. His regular interaction with Victor Furnish was very helpful, since Furnish's expertise is Greco-Roman background. I found Barnett's defense of the unity of the epistle to be very convincing.

However, I found the need to look to other commentators at a couple of points in the text of 2 Corinthians for a fuller explanation. The most notable is 5:18-21, where I think Barnett falls short on a thorough explanation of that marvelous passage. I also thought that Barnett could have dealt with the differences in the Arminian and Calvinist interpretation of 5:14-21. Having said that, I should say that this work is by no means short on theology. It is a masterpiece of Biblical Theology.

There is a pastoral warmth to this commentary that is missing in others. I think that this is especially helpful in dealing with a large part of 2 Corinthians, since Paul is struggling with issues related to his beloved congregation in Corinth and with the hardships he faced as one called by God to the work of ministry.

Barnett really helped me to better understand the full-orbed meaning of the epistle and its relation to 1 Corinthians. Overall, this is a great work. Dr. Barnett's work should be appreciated by all who love God's Word.

Tillich is by no means the most accessible of contemporary theologians. However, this collection of his sermons speaks immediately to everyman. He speaks perceptively of the dilemmas and anxieties of human existence, pointing emphatically to God as the source of salvation from human frustration and guilt. He delivers poignant critiques of modernistic attitudes, distancing himself firmly from the old liberal school of the 19th century and destroying the enlightenment illusion of progress, directing our hopes to God instead.

I must confess that it was against my better judgment that I allowed this little collection of sermons to affect me: I am an evangelical, whereas Tillich belongs to a decidedly more liberal stream of theology to say the least! This is not to say he does not speak like an evangelical, just that I couldn't escape the feeling of intellectual dishonesty as I enjoyed Tillich's writings with the nagging suspicion that he didn't mean anything like the same thing by his use of particular theological terms as I mean. A read of Tillich's far less digestable Systematic Theology will enlighten you as to his philosophy of symbolism in religious language. He clearly maintains that the Christian faith alone can exclusively lay claim to truth; yet the language of Christian doctrine, whilst irreplaceable, is only symbolic, participating in what it represents yet, nevertheless, incapable of objectively describing what it represents. The evangelical might well benefit from reading 'Shaking of the Foundations' if he can overlook this tension; the non-conservative will not need to.

Tillich was a bundle of contradictions, in a sense. He argues passionately for the truth of the Christian gospel, yet he was hardly ever known to go to church, except to preach, perhaps. He is also reputed to have had a string of affairs. I suppose the greatest comfort one can draw from that is that Tillich certainly knew what he was talking about when, along with St. Paul, he affirmed the pervading despair and tension that characterizes human existence.

The most impressing sermons contained in the book are: 'Shaking of the Foundations' in which the preacher lambasts the naive optimism of the enlightenment and prophetically challenges modernism with the warning of a 'shaking of the foundations' which will expose the bankruptcy of confidence in modern progress, leaving the (E)ternal standing; 'The Witness of the Spirit to the Spirit' on the subject of the Christian's assurance; and 'You Are Accepted', a life-giving exposition of Paul's thought on sin and grace in Romans 5:20: here also is Tillich at his most perceptive and penetrating.

It really is a tragedy that this slender book is out of print. What we have here is not another volume of Tillich's dry and somewhat dated academic theology, but fine devotional writing that should challenge and inpire Christians of every and any persuasion.

I came to this as an evangelical conservative with my barriers firmly in place expecting it to be just more of the vague liberal wash of mid-20th century liberal theology. And indeed, Tillich does understress the unique atoning work of Christ and the reality of his resurrection and second coming.

However, that is not what this book is about, and to be fair to Tillich his sins are those of ommission rather than commission. In other words, he says little that a conservative theologian would take exception to; he simply doesn't go there.

Of course some conservatives from both evangelical and catholic backgrounds would regard this as an offence in itself, but I am not so sure they would be right. The more I go through life, the more convinced I am that we need to take and hold in creative tension the best insights that each Christian tradition can give us, while retaining the discretion to reject the unhelpful shibboleths and cultural baggage of all of them.

And what we ultimately have here is a collection of profound and relevant insights from a man who, however controversial some of his theories may have been, was not just another supercilious academic theologian. Indeed, he was one of the two or three greatest thinkers of his time, and a man who combined considerable literary gifts with the priestly and prophetic charismata of a true spirit-filled Christian.

In particular, this book includes the world-famous sermon, "You Are Accepted", which justifies the price all by itself.

Highly recommended (with a plea to publishers to re-print it).

I picked up this book by the great Twentieth-Century philosophical theologian Paul Tillich and was pleasantly suprised. Being familiar with Tillich's rather dry systematic theology, I was expecting more of the same. However, I was greeted by an immensely readable collection of sermons which I found both inspirational, thought-provoking and masterful. If Tillich's dogmatic theology is now regarded as out-moded, this sample of his devotional literature marks him out as insightful and relevant: he speaks as much to our generation as to the one he was speaking to.

While the opening sermon 'The Shaking of the Foundations' is a little anachronistic in that it is couched in the terms of a by-gone debate (critiqueing mid-Twentieth-Century liberal theology)its message is an enduring one: that humanity must recognise its dependence on God and trust in him rather than in humanity's own inadequate ability. What follows this sermon is pure delight. The remainder of the collection testifies to Tillich's honesty and profound insight into the human heart and the tensions of human existence. 'You are accepted' is probably the best of the rest, expounding on the frustrations of life, and being unable to live up to your own expectations, let alone God's. Furthermore, it sounds a confident note of grace. It certainly stirred up a few emotions in me, I can tell you.

On the negative side, those of a more conservative Christian persuasion may be troubled by the implications of Tillich's Christology. The question I was left asking, however, concerned Tillich's eschatology (the 'last things'). It seemed to me that Tillich either didn't believe in an ultimate overcoming of evil, or he simply wanted to emphasise the present reality of God's victory over it. I suspect there is some truth in both alternatives: Tillich was a complicated man, with an ambiguous relationship to the Christian faith, almost, it seems, of a love-hate quality.

Nevertheless, don't let this, or anything else you might hear of Tillich, deter you from reading The Shaking of the Foundations. It truly deserves to be regarded as a modern classic of devotional literature.

Positives: the authors provide a fairly clear distinction between various types of "applications" of movement sequences in kata (bunkai, oyo, henka, and kakushi), as well as strong arguments for the importance of classical (as opposed to sport and performance) kata

Negatives: this book needed a really good editor. Poor grammar, typos, unnecessary repetitive passages, descriptions and diagrams that don't match up... all detracted from the message of this book.

In summary, there are some wonderful conceptual gems in here, but they are obscured by the flaws. Still an informative book and one I found useful for its concepts, but could have been so much better!

Watching people on tv showing off with various kicks and jumps can be very impressing, and you can enjoy it like watching a dance. However, in real life, few of these "dances" have much value, and the real "dance" is something you rarely see anymore.
The real "dances" I am referring to, are the ancient kata's which are the basic foundation in martial arts. They do not show those on tv, because they are not about impressing flying kicks and other entertaining movements, but can seem borring to the audience who do not understand the meaning of them.

Darrell Craig does a very good job making you understand what a kata is, and why it is so extremly important that every martial art teacher should teach their students the ancient kata's and their bunkai's.

This is one book that I am glad I bought.

I appreciate that the authors have gone deeper into the meaning of Kata; it gives the reader something to think about. Craig also gives some "goodies" not given in other books like it. It is a must read for martial artists.

This is a well-written book about technical and practical aspects of commercial shiitake growing. If you are seriously considering commercial production of shiitake it is a must-have book.

Its subtitle, "The Art and Science of Mushroom Growing" is misleading. Far more accurate would be "The Science and Practice of Commercial Shiitake Production". Except for a phylogenetic references, it has nothing to say about mushrooms other than shiitake. I had set out to learn enough about mushrooms in general and shiitake in particular to grow a few for friends and family. Unfortunately, the shiitake is native to Southeast Asia and likes a steadily warm humid environment. Based on what I gathered from this book, neither amateur nor commercial shiitake production is practical where I live, so I'm still looking for a good book on small-scale mushroom cultivation in a temperate climate

I'm sorry, but I don't writte good in english. I will be writte in espanish about book.
Yo soy Colombiana y vivo en la ciudad de Manizales, Colombia; cultivo hongos de varias especies hace alrededor de 10 años, llevo un año cultivando shiitake, me interesa todo lo que se refiere a los hongos, este libro me parece interesante, porque se dedica únicamente al shiitake, los demás libros que tengo hablan de varias especies, los autores son conocidos en el mundo de los hongos y el precio del libro es sumamente accequible. Con respecto al servicio les expreso que me pareció muy buena la acogida por parte de ustedes, espero que podamos tener buenas relaciones y que nos volvamos socios comerciales. Espero que el escribirles en español no sea una limitación para nuestra futura relación.

Que tengan un buen día

Please, try to do something!

We ordered this handbook 7 January 2002 already and we weren't recieve it until now.
Please, inform me where could it be or let me know about that you'd need something to get it.

It would be so urgent and necessary...

Contact me by e-mail or on my cell phone. (Number is: +36-209-391306)

Thanks a help before!

Best regards,

Szilvia Almasi

All right, I have to admit that this book may be a plain old detective story throughout the book, but if you just be patient it gets better towards the end, such as Nancy's daring attempts (and close ones) to catch the criminals. Also, in one way this book can be sort of hilarious near the middle. It's where Senor Segovia says, "I'm sure I know where Carson Drew is, because of a source of information I have." Yeah right, like they can get him that easily! But still, it's funny and later Segovia is correct. So it's a good book, even though that part may have been the author's big mistake.

This book was neat because of the two strange cases, and just why would theives not take anything. Still, it became clear of the story. I surely knew who was suspicous. However I didn't know what the outcome was and I was glad I didn't know. It was also surprising that there are these "sink holes" in Florida! I'm just glad that I read this book and that it is so good.

Nancy and friends work on two mysteries while in Florida. One an elderly lady claims her house is frequently burglarized and her home ransacked but nothing is ever taken. The other, Nancy must find a way to stop an international ring of stamp forgers and smugglers.