The technologies described in this book have been around for years. Most, if not all, fortune 500 companies have implemented the principles describe in this book. (Telecommuting, data warehouses, the Internet, client/server,...). I would like to know what the future has to offer.

Provides a wide range of case examples of the way in which leading US companies have used new technology to improve their competitive advantage. Separate chapters cover product development; operations; purchasing; marketing; sales; customer service; personnel; finance; organisation; implementation of technology; and organisational transformation. The Chapter on marketing focuses on the revolutionary effect of technology in gathering customer information and conducting market research. Efficient use of new technology transforms the mass marketing of the past into to-days highly focused marketing where narrow niches, even individuals, can get personalised attention. The key to this is data warehousing.

If you have a great deal of time to waste or a horrible case of insomnia then this book is for you. Unless you have no idea how to spell Windows (even when spotted the w, i, n, d, o, and w) then you probably know or can figure out everything in this book. More an advertisement for Veritas products (that are marginally functional in the real world), this is not the work the world needed.

If you want the real world, go out and live it and don't believe the advertising (which is all this book cracks up to be).

This book gives you every conceivable example you would ever need to deal with managing on-line storage. It's obvious the author has had a lot of experience working out volume management issues with Windows servers.

Sangren begins the book with an account of the market town of Ta Ch'i in relation to its cachement area (that is, the area from which people came to market there) from the 18th century onward. He then describes levels of religious participation, including cross-island pilgrimages to the Mazho (Matsu in the old romanizaiton he uses) temple at Peikang. As much as he can, Sangre obscures that his data comes from Taiwan, not from China.

Sangren criticizes overly schematic categorizations of spirits into the traditional tricohotomy gods, ghosts, and ancestors and questions the idea that the pantheons is modeled on an authoritarian central government (either the Kuomingtang dicatorship that ruled Taiwan at the time Sangred did his fieldwork or imperial Chinese governments that never had effective control of Taiwan before ceding the island to Japan in 1895). However, Sangred substitutes an equally a priori and rigidly schematic yin/yang contrasts to various phenomena and generalizes his structural analysis to all of China translating the terms Taiwanese used from Hokkien terms into Beijinghua "Mandarin" throughout. It is obvious that Sangren is far more interested in theorizing about a singular Chinese civilization than in observing and talking to the people he supposesdly was studying (Taiwanese). His work in general is long on theory, short on experience-near ethnography and individuals living in Taiwan.

Writing anthropology presents many tactical problems. Your data covers vast expanses of life, you can go in many directions. Should you include ethnographic detail or should you go for the big picture ? Should you try to depict what you want to say through the lives of a few individuals or should you remain general ? Some writers avoid discussion of theory and write descriptive ethnographies, others weave complex webs that connect numerous theories and famous authors of the past, trying to steer a course towards some and away from others. Often anthropologists fall through one of the many cracks that gape along the path towards a successful book, usually by trying to do everything at once. Not so Sangren's interesting work on Taiwan. The description is rich, with excellent maps and photographs, but he strongly connects his work to theory. I would say HISTORY AND MAGICAL POWER... is worth reading, not because the author introduces interesting individuals or amusing descriptions of events, but because he "bounces off" many writers of the older school, i.e. those of structuralist-functionalist ideas such as Dumont, Durkheim, Freedman, Leach, Levi-Strauss, Sahlins, Skinner, and Turner. Though the book was published in 1987, it does not engage in the post-structuralist, literary criticism-based anthropology of these last years. I, for one, find both schools equally challenging.

The writer states that he wants to investigate how categories of thought are reproduced in Chinese institutions and how Chinese institutions reproduce categories of Chinese thought. He consciously rejects the old oppositions of "elite/folk", "text/ritual" or "great tradition/little tradition" saying that all these categories are found in each Chinese institution. He prefers to set up an objectivist perspective, though I am not sure that that is possible. In any case, Sangren then guides the reader through a discussion of the ritual construction of social space, dealing with folk religion, cults and pilgrimages associated with a particular geographic area, south of Taipei and connected ritual actions, bringing in a description of the economic and administrative systems as well. Further on, he connects the concept of yin and yang to ideas of order and disorder, then talks of orthodoxy and heterodoxy, pilgrimage, spirits and social identity. Finally there is a section on the social construction of power.

I admired this book because the author is widely read and does not hesitate to bring in examples from societies outside East Asia, (many anthropologists blinker themselves to one region, even though their training should promote the opposite). I found that the many theoretical issues taken up and points raised were useful for me in my work, though I am very far from a China specialist. I also admired the book because Sangren thinks broadly, makes many interesting connections, and constantly creates sparks that may light a fire in your own, private anthropological thought. If he didn't, ultimately, reach the goal that he aimed at, he came close, he created a book that should be of great interest to China experts and also to anyone interested in relating institutions and culture. This is not a book you can sit down and read for fun. It requires serious thought, but it is well worth your time. I feel it is a shame that such a book remains relatively unknown, while many lesser books attract more attention.

I purchased this book solely on the strength of Lida A. Churchill being one of the authors. Well, Lida A. Churchill is no where to be found in the book.

I believe that Paul Christian's book is one of the best I have ever read. Though it is sometimes hard to understand and someone may have to reread it a few times. I found it a key element in understanding astrological aspects and the tarot in view. The book is very indepth and helps one to understand. Though it is not a step by step book it will help one to dive into the mystic world a little easier. If one knows how to work the aspects of astrology and the meaning of tarot they can help to become a more spiritual person. But remember it is one thing to read something. It is another thing to actually apply it to real life.

I read his posts on Black Planet and Mi Gente everyday. He is a self serving person who is allways promoting his books. He constantly posts pseudo-history, but then fails to back it up under challenge. He refers to whites as crackers and claims native americans don't have claims in the Americas because Blacks have prior claims. For this reason I allready know this book will be an extreme case of Afrocentrism, and of no historical educational value. Sadly, he might be mentioning some truths, but he mixes it so much with fantasy, that the truth becomes suspect too.

FINALLY, THE BOOKS THAT PRESENTS THE HISTORY OF THE FORGOTTEN AND HIDDEN BLACK AFRICAN-AMERICAN CIVILIZATIONS OF AMERICA BEFORE COLUMBUSThis book has sent shockwaves around the world. It has been written about in hundreds of journals, newspapers, magazines and books. The book History of the African-Olmecs is a must-have particularly for African-Americans in the U.S. and Blacks in other parts of the Americas as well as West Africa. The reason for having this book and passing it down to future generations is because it reveals a history of Black America that was and still is deliberately hidden as part of a great mistake made during the 1400's. That mistake was the belief that "descendants of Ham," found in the "New Lands," were to be enslaved. The first Blacks to be enslaved in the Americas were Africans who had lived in parts of the Caribbean and South America for thousands of years. Their enslavement was sunctioned by the Church and was preplanned during the mid 1400's. Another little known fact is that some of the first slaves were also American Indians and they were shipped to West Africa's Portugese plantations as well as to parts of the Caribbean.THE GREAT ANCESTORS OF AFRICAN-AMERICANSThe Olmecs are the highlight of this book, although many other civilizations and nations are discussed. The book takes a thorough look at who the Olmecs were and presents Olmec civilization as coming from West Africa, Egypt and Nubia as early as 3000 years Before Christ. In fact, the book sees a very ancient cultural connection between these areas and the transfer of people and technology to the Americas from Africa and the building of a relationship with the American Indians of Mexico. The African-Olmecs belonged to the Mende linguistic group of West Africans and were known as the "Xi" (Shee) People. The book also presents Olmec culture and its facinating and great similarities with West African, Nubian and Egyptian civilizations. In fact, the chapter dealing with religions presents with one of the most compelling pieces of evidence. That evidence is the describing of religious artifacts being held by the statuette of an Oni or Priest-King in West Africa (Nigeria) in ancient times and the same identical artifacts found held by a statue from the San Agustin Culture of Columbia as well an Olmec statuette found in Mexico. How could these artefacts, used for religious practice be held in the same way unless they were created by the same people, who practiced the same religion. That religion was thunder worship, according to the book. The religion still practiced by those who practice the Yoruba religions in Nigeria, Cuba, Brazil, the Southern U.S., Shango in Trinidad and Tobago, and elsewhere. In fact, the finding of many axes in Olmec sites as well as figurines of small children very closely connects with African religious practices. The chapter on this connection is one that must be read and understood, for even today, the Yoruba religion is one of the most important religions on earth.One gets goosebumps when this type of very important information is presented with a large variety of references. The book also examines some of the very ancient peoples whose remnants existed in the U.S. before the Westward expansion. According to the text, Lewis and Clark met some Black Nation in the Mississippi Region before it was sold at three cents an acre to the U.S. by the French, who were leasing lands belonging to the Black Washitaw Nation, the ancient, tall Black "giants" of African originsmentioned by the Indians. The Washitaw (Ouchita) or Washo still live in the Louisiana area to this day.The books also mentions the naturalist Rafinesque and his list of many Black nations he encountered in the West. The Yamassee of Florida are mentioned in the book, "A History of the African-Olmecs." The wars fought by the Yamassee against both American Indian and European slave raiders in the Carolinas is discussed. This will be shocking evidence to many African-Americans, who are not aware that there was a very large Black population of free Africans who had existed and built culture in the South for thousands of years. Yet, due to the Pontifax of the mid 1400's the European powers did not recognize them as nothing but eligible for enslavemtnt. The plight of the Black Californians is mentioned in this book. These are people of African origins who existed in California long before the Spaniards or some of the American Indians. They were targeted for enslavement, according to the book and those who enslaved them were the Californios and other Spanish ranchers. Yet, their fought a long war with Spain, Mexico and the U.S. until the mid 1800's.These pre-Columbian African peoples existed all over the region of North America, Central and South America as well as the Caribbean, as the book reveals.The book, "A History of the African-Olmecs," discusses the great prehistoric trade routes that led to the African establishment of centers of culture from West Africa and the then fertile Sahara to the Americas and from Egypt, Nubia, Ethiopia, East Africa to China in prehistoric times. The books also examines the ancient Chinese dynasty of Africoids and Black Oceanic Negroids, called the Shang Dynasty. Their connection with Olmec Mexico is also discussed in this great book. In fact, the Black Olmecs who originated in West Africa were called the "Xi" (Shi) and one Chinese Dynasty that had a significant Black presence in China was called the "Xia," (Shia) In the book, the connection is also made between the prehistoric African connection with ancient China, the great Black dynasties and the presence of Blacks in China, and the calamity that led to the migrations of a combination of Blacks and Mongoloids from China to Mexico after the fall of the Shang Dyasty. Researchers such as Sitchin, points out that the Olmecs established the first calendar directly from an ancient Egyptian type about 3113 B.C. and that by that period, they were already in the process of building culture in Mexico.A History of the African-Olmecs will bring about enlightenment to those who have had a cloud in their path. It will open the eyes of those who always felt that something was missing and that the truth had been kept hidden. It will show that some of the very people who were brought to the Americas as slaves, their relatives had been established in the Americas for thousands of years. In the case of African-Americans, Africans in the rest of the Americas, Africans on the Continent and Africoids in the Indian Ocean/Pacific region, the book "A History of the African-Olmecs," will show that they much historical amnesia exists but now, the truth can be regained. The book, "A History of the African-Olmecs," is surely one of the greatest books of the last fifty years. Any book that uplifts and inspires as well as reveals what has been a long hidden and lost chapter of the history of a people deserves to be classified as among the greatest pieces of literature.John Shakespere

This book deserves no stars. This is the worst guidebook I have ever used! The information is inconsistent and not organized well. It lacks a language section. I found the references to "clubs for men" offensive. In addition, this book included inaccurate generalizations of the women in Honduras. Although this book is in its fifth edition, there are still several errors in it. I would have been better off using the Rough Guide to Central America.

I brought two guidebooks with me on my recent trip to Honduras, which is an amazing country to visit by the way, and this book was the better resource by far. (The other book was Lonely Planet's Central America on a Shoestring.) J.P. Panet writes about Honduras with sincere affection for its people and a sensitivity to their culture. Hotel and restaurant listings are comprehensive, phone numbers are accurate (not so with Lonely Planet's book), and descriptions are useful. I almost didn't buy this book because of another review on (...) site, but I'm glad I ignored it!

As with most of Bruce Weber's books, his style is the same from the beginning and had not changed a bit. Though I admire many of his good works (and in fact had purchased a lot of his expensive books), a good 70% of images in his books were the same type of images we discard at photo school developing labs and the same type of images our instructors at Photo 1 asked us to improve. Reasons: out of focus, bad composition, low quality grainy and muddy images. Well, it's the name that sells, you know. It takes a lot to be Bruce Weber. Honestly, his works for Abercrombie and Fitch were much better than the books. If I were to make a name like my idol, my works will sell, as well. And I am not kidding.

As a photographer who really looks up to and loves the work of Bruce Weber, I know I have a strong bias for anything he does. However, this book is a great look inside Weber's world and is godo with the interviews as well. My only problem is the price, ... there are probably better books for those that really get into Weber photography and are looking to maybe buy just one book, such as the out of print Chop Suey Club, etc., that even cover his work with Abercrombie and Fitch, and are cheaper at the same time. I would only recommend this book for someone who wants to know more than your basics about what Weber is about, and price is not an issue, otherwise go for it!

I bought this book last week and will be returning it shortly. Phil Rea jumbles together a few thoughts on how to overcome objections in the remodeling sales process and packages it into a 138 page (32 chapter?!?) book.

If you have never sold anything in your life, you may get some insights from this book -- but this book falls short of it's title simply because it never discusses any of the other aspects besides the actual sales call that provides the mechanism for making your fortune in remodeling.

My advice? If you already know how to truly listen to your customer and offer them real solutions, skip this book. You won't learn much at all.

If you're a contractor who doesn't like to sell and/or hasn't had much experience selling, you may find some gems in the average 4.3 page-long chapters of this book.

Bottom Line - with a title that promises so much, I was expecting some ideas on how to build your business. Key elements like lead generation, advertising/PR, referral business, and general customer management were never mentioned in this book.

If you're looking for information on how to build your business into a million dollar business, go somewhere else.

Upon reading this book my confidence in sales have grown tremendously. I applaud Phil Rea for writing this book not only for the remodeling salesperson, but also for any person in the sales industry. I highly reccomend this book. As far as becoming a millionaire, that depends on the individuals initiative and commitment.This book however, can be the base upon which you can build a sucessful career in sales.

Thank you, Kenneth Upshaw Camco Builders Inc. Gary, Indiana

This book is not a very good book on shuffleboard. Top shuflers ignore it. The book by Haslam is much beter.

Great little book, Good diagrams. Rules well stated. I bought several and gave to my friends...

Why would anyone waste their time and the publishers time to print such garbage. I know that everyone is entitled to their opinion, and I being an A&M student do not particulary like Texas, but I would not go as far as to say I hate it and could give you 300 reasons why....

After watching my country get torn apart by the bastards running the oil companies, looking at the pathetic president and his disgusting lack of foreign policy, and beginning to realize that we're all probably gonna get nuked by "Dubya's" retaliation to an attack we had nothing to even do with, I doubt you can truly measure the unbridled hatred I feel towards the "yeeha state". This book - I didn't purchase it from here, but I have it nonetheless - just allows me to sink into the rage that I have to supress in front of my (70% Texan) schoolmates everyday.