Think about it. A small time variety store retailer out of Bentonville Arkansas creates the most power retailing jaggernaut of all time, and right in the faces of powerhouses like Sears, K-Mart and JC Penny. If you are in any kind of a business with customers, you will benefit from this book, and experiencing the laser like focus Sam had on delivering the absolute best in his stores. Walton is to retailing what Jordon was to basketball, an absolute master of his art. I read this book several years ago, and as a retailer, I still refer to it, as much for the specific business tactics as to remind myself as to how Sam thought about things, and how he managed his people. An absolute classic.

Sam Walton was always competitive. Before building his retail empire he worked at a JC Penney store and then worked at a Ben Franklin Store. He wanted to become the largest retailer in the nation instead his retail store became the largest in the world. At first his store was named Walton 5-10 but he changed it to Wal-Mart. He did have another store as well called Sams wholesale club but was shortened to Sams Club. Sams Club is the largest warehouse store while Wal-Mart is the largest retail store. I wont say anymore about his stores but he had a dream and his dream came true. There is also a Wal-Mart cheer and he has rules for following a business. He followed those rules and it worked for him. The point is he had a dream and it came true. I mean not anyone can build the largest retial opperation in the world. If you really believe in yourself it just might come true. There are eighteen chapters in this book. Here are the chapters in order.
*Contents
*Acknowledgements
*Forward

1 Learning to Value a Dollar
2 Starting on a Dime
3 Bouncing Back
4 Swimming Upstream
5 Raising a Family
6 Recuiting the Team
7 Taking the Company Public
8 Rolling Out the Formula
9 Building the Partnership
10 Stepping Back
11 Creating a Culture
12 Making the Costumer Number One
13 Meeting the Competition
14 Expanding the Circles
15 Thinking Small
16 Giving Something Back
17 Running a Successful Company:Ten Rules That Worked for Me
18 Wanting to Leave a Legacy
* A Prostscript

* Co-Author's Note
* Index
Well those are the 18 chapters that Sam Walton himself and John Huey wrote. Its pretty much all about Sam Waltons life and his success behind it. Its a great book even if you don't like the guy or his stores. It also gives you good advice on making a business. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves Wal-Mart and/or wants to know more about business.

Absolutly a wonderful story! Hard to believe something that started over fifty years ago as a dime store in small town Arkansas has become the world's largest company today. Mr. Walton's down to earth approach in telling his story makes it an easy read. From his humble beginnings in rural Arkansas, Sam was a go "getter" from early childhood.
The sucess of Wal-Mart is actually based a few simple principles. Offering value to the customers, shareholders and associates and managing the business in a common sense way. Are you an entreperneur or want to be one? Invest in this book today! Not only will you gain valuable insight, but Mr. Walton is open about the hardships and obsticles he faced, especially in the early days. After reading this, I don't feel alone in my challenges as a small business man.

I've read every Ian Fleming James Bond novel, and I must say, "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" is an undisputed #1. This is James Bond at his finest. He is at his most resourceful and clever, not relying at all on gadgets. It is a more serious book as well, with the best ending of them all. I would highly reccommend reading many of the other novels first, because before you can really appreciate James Bond doing what he does in this book (I'm not going to say what it is), you should understand his past experiences. It is the most personal and thrilling of all the novels, and it is a very close match to the movie. In conclusion, people may say that "From Russia With Love" is the best, but trust me, nothing can compare to this book.

Without a doubt, Ian Fleming's finest James Bond Novel. Mr. Fleming neatly round out the character of James Bond as the reader sees the complete person behind our favorite government operator. The book begins with Bond begining to becomed bored with his assignment and meeting the love of his life. Due to the nature of his work and the emotional scars from previous relationships, Bond is always reluctant to engage in a serious romance with a woman. However, this time, Bond is willing to take his chances to find someone to fill the void in his life. Aside from the romance, Bond also has a job to do. Reinvigorated by progress in his once moribund assignment, Bond tackles his arch enemy Ernst Stavro Blofled through Fleming's engaing narrative. References to Bond's childhood memories, past assignments, and his dreams are particularly effective. Fleming's rich imagination transports the reader from Bond's old haunts on the Northern French coast to the Swiss Alps, where 007 once again takes his licks for "Queen and Country." Hats off to Fleming for his gutsy ending, which unfortunately for Bond, underlines the fact that 007 will always belong to "Her Majesty's Secret Service."

One of the last of the original Bond Books, On Her Majesty's Secret Service is also one of the best. Picking up a year after the end of Thunderball, this book finds James Bond again battling the nefarious schemes of Ernest Stavro Blofeld and SPECTRE and, most importantly, falling in love with the beautiful, resourceful, and ultimately tragic Tracy. Though the usual intrigue is well-presented by Fleming, he also makes it clear that Blofeld's plan is hardly meant to be taken all that seriously. (Without ruining it for those who might never have read the book or seen the surprisingly faithful film adaption, it all comes down to Blofeld hidden away in Switzerland, pretending to be an allergist, and brainwashing English farm girls. No, it doesn't make a lot of sense but Fleming obviously had so much fun presenting it that most readers won't take offense.) The heart of this book -- and this Fleming treats with an admirable seriousness that should take his critics by surprise -- is the love story between Bond and Tracy. In Tracy, Fleming has created perhaps his most fully realized "Bond girl." Vulnerable yet resourseful and more than capable of taking care of herself (and, at times, perhaps even more so than Bond himself), its hard not to fall in love with this character and when Bond finally does decide to reject all others for her, its impossible to disagree with his logic. Its a compelling, rather touching love story and, even though most Bond films know how its going to end, the ending still packs a heavy impact.

As for Bond himself, after being a rather predictable presence in Thunderball, he's back in full form as a full realized, interesting character in this novel. On Her Majesty's Secret Service was written after the release of Dr. No (Ursula Andress even makes a cameo appearance at the time) and one can sense that, with this book, Fleming is reestablishing his claim on the character. From the intentionally ludicrous evil scheme to the frequent excursions into Bond's head (revealing him hardly to be the ruthless, unflappable killer that filmgoers though him to be), Fleming comes across as a reenergized writer in this book -- determind to let all the new Bond fans out there know who is really in charge of their favorite secret agent's destiny. The result is one of the best of the original Bond books and one of the best spy thrillers I've read in a long time.

Fleming seemed to have used his first four novels (Casino Royale, Live and Let Die, Moonraker, and Diamonds are Forever) to warm us up to the Bond character and used the same plot style for the first four novels. In From Russia, With Love, Fleming takes Bond and his writing style to a higher, more intellectual level. Fleming is masterful in setting the scenes without being too boring. Bond doesn't appear until the second part of the book (Part II-The Plan) and you hardly even notice. Another interesting note is that of the James Bond movies, From Russia, With Love the movie follows the novel pretty well, even in lesser scenes such as the gypsy fight. This, perhaps, is due to the fact that Fleming was alive only for the filming and release of Dr. No and From Russia, With Love. This book is clearly Fleming at the top of his game and an outstanding entry to the series.

By far the most realistic of the Bond books. Fleming's description of the MGB (later KGB) headquarters in Moscow's Dzherzinsky Square, where the plot to lure British agent James Bond to his death is first revealed, is reputedly based on information to which he was privy in his capacity as a WWII officer in British Naval Intelligence -- likewise the recruitment and training of the psychopathic killer Red Grant, one of the most formidable of Bond's enemies (and the only one in the films who looked for a while about to kill Bond for sure! 007 meets his match in Grant!) This is the book behind what in my opinion is the best of the Bond movies, steeped in the atmosphere of the Cold War into which the Bond series was born. 007 travels to Istanbul in pursuit of the bait, a Lektor decoder which can read top secret Soviet military and intelligence signal traffic. Another form of bait is the beautiful Tatiana Romanova, an MGB cipher clerk allegedly in love with Bond, willing to defect with the Lektor if only 007 will come and fetch her. (Fleming takes yet another jab at the Reds by choosing this name for Bond's love interest -- Romanov was the family name of the last Czar of old imperial Russia, the family doomed to extinction by the Russian revolution.) Kerim Bey adds a bit of panache, mischief and mystery as "Our man in Istanbul," Head of Station T (for Turkey). A truly great and suspenseful plot!

Considered by many to the be the best James Bond 007 book of all time, From Russia With Love delivers the perfect formula for a James Bond novel. Originally, Ian Fleming's tales of 007 were not going so good, so he intended with this book to kill off James Bond once and for all. The end of this novel is quite a surprise to a first time reader.

The book begins by telling of the commanding rule of SMERSH. The leader of this organization is General Grubozaboyschikov. Also working is Colonel Rosa Klebb and director of planning Kronsteen, who treats real people as if they were chess pieces. The muscle of the group is a homicidal madman, who follows orders, and is in practically perfect physical shape, Donovan "Red" Grant. These evil minds have planned the perfect way to destroy the life and reputation of James Bond. Their plan is to lure 007 with the beatiful Tatiana Romanova and a Spektor cipher decoding machine as bait. Then Grant will meet up with them eventually and kill them both. However, SMERSH will take it a step further to lie to the public that Bond and Tatiana were in an affair, and that Bond commits suicide. It's a perfect plan.
Bond indeed does travel to Istanbul, believing that this girl wants to defect, and will give him the Spektor machine only if he personally helps her. 007 meets Darko Kerim, and a wonderful gypsy fight adds to the fun of the story. Bond and Tatiana travel on a train back to Europe, where he meets Red Grant and is told of the plan to kill him. An extremely bvrutal gun and fist fight breakes out between the men with 007 shooting Grant. 007 goes to Paris with Tatiana to catch Rosa Klebb in a meeting. However, Klebb releases a poison knife from her shoe and kicks 007 in the leg, before being taken away by the police. The story ends with 007 lying on the floor of the hotel room...

Perhaps the finest story of Ian Fleming, filled with the excitement and adventure to give this book it's reputation as on of the best 007 novels ever!

Reading this wonderful spiritual book has embedded into my soul all the valuable insights and gifts that these powerful words envelope. I will treasure this book. There are many lessons to be learned about soul and one needs to read over and over again these valuable lessons to digest the depth of this profound celtic wisdom.

I shall use this book as I glide into much celebrated old age and intergrate it's beautiful spiritual power into present moments. Anam Cara states....'Once the soul awakens, the search begins and you can never go back.....the eternal makes your urgent..'

Powerful, insightful and incredibly thought provoking. I have read many books on celtic wisdom and spiritual enlightenment, and have come across nothing like this. It opens the mind and body to the heart and soul, it encourages you to look within, not without, to improve yourself, and although this books does not make you do anything, it almost forces you to take a damn good look at yourself and really assess everything you think you are. You will be surprised at the results you get!
There are so many self help books out there, but none come close to this! Well worth every penny, and please take time to read it, and read it over and over again, each time will show you something new. My copy is full of notes in the margin, underlined phrases or paragraphs, and serves as a useful place to turn when life gets you down!
I think the only thing I didn't like was the slightly Christian accent from the author's point of view, especially as it relates to the Celts. This is not a big deal and can be overlooked for the quality and insight of the writing itself.

Attitude adjustment! Usually people think "Happy Hour" when they hear attitude adjustment mentioned. But, the phrase is turned here to recommend a book on spirituality. John O'Donohue in his Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom beautifully describes the spiritual landscape of Celtic people. Attitudes get adjusted as the reader goes with him through the "Mystery of Friendship;" and "Toward A Spirituality of the Senses;" then moves on through the themes of solitude, work, aging and death. His poetic and powerful writing style, his well-grounded scholarship, and his gentle love of God and people combine to provide a emarkable resource for nurturing daily living. This book is not to be missed nor rushed through. Buy two because you'll want to give a copy to a friend.

This century has seen two comic novels rejected by publishers when they were first written, only to be hailed as masterpieces decades later. These are are 'A Confederacy of Dunces' by Kennedy O'Toole and 'The Third Policeman' by Flann O'Brien. Sadly, rejection led to their author's (respective) suicide and alcoholism, and recognition came only after both writers had died. There isn't room here to explain why I love 'The Third Policeman' so much. It is by far the funniest book I have ever read, yet it is also one of the most chilling, and ultimately one of the most mind-bending. 'Is it about a bicycle?'............ read it and find out!

Undoubtedly one of the finest books I have ever read, a sentiment echoed by the several people I distributed the book to after reading it myself. After a relatively straightforward opening chapter the plot just takes off, leaving you asking yourself what the hell is going on. The atomic theory, DeSelby, bicycles - it's hard to believe this book is a product of pre-war Ireland. And it ends well too. A book that you will want to tell your friends about in the pub. By the way, the Poor Mouth is great too, although it's aimed much more directly at an Irish audience.

Any book involving atomic theories, bicycles, council conspiricies and very small boxes has got to be worth a look. Confusing, hilarious and, despite appearances to the contrary, a plot. Published posthumously, I think - O'Brien was clearly fond of it as large portions appear in The Dalkey Archive. But if you've read that, don't let it put you off, The Third Policeman is better. Damn fine read, heartily recommended (reviewers are required to say this by law I believe).

I am an AGR/SSG, Organizer of the Headquarters Special Reaction Team, and RVN Vet: 11B/71L/92Y. I aquired this book in early 1997, read it from cover to cover twice and referred back to seperate chapters more often than I can calculate. Currently I can recommend no other manual with such a wide variety of accurate information on most aspects of precission shooting and tactics. I can make only a few minor criticisms. (1) I found only one error in the text- i.e.: "...do not..." vs "...do...". The error however should be obvious to even a neophite shooter so I have ignored it - but it does rattel me a bit every time I run across it. (2) Some of the Photos seem a bit pretentious - like they came out of an old issue of SOF. (3) Point of contention: MAJ Plaster opens the door to calibers such as 223, and 243, and provides fine tables for their accurate engagement. He may have been rushed to reach a publishing date, but I was hoping to find complete tables on all current match grade (high accuracy/long range)factory munitions. Especially windage tables. I hope the author will produce a supplement later. I reciently entered my first paper target state level competition which reinstilled my confidence in my abilities. With the help of his fine machinery, this manual provided my SRT team member and I valuable information leading to our ability to quickly and consistantly place comfortable hits in the x ring and engage moving targets at 600yds with a 5-7mph wind. I have given up my allegiance to "The Accurate Rifle" for "The Ultimate Sniper". Other than philosophical or theological treatises this is my favorite reading. I only need to convince my commanders of the importance of QRT and SRT programs.

I really enjoyed this book. I pick it up and at least glance at it every other day. Many aspects of sniping is covered. I spoke to a United States Marine Sniper about this book and he really emphasized that this book is very basic. I happen to agree for many reasons. The ghillie suit instructions could have been done much better. Even a civilian like me know that ghillie suits can be much better than what is written in the book.

This book covers BASIC marksmanship very well. Even the stuff that is labelled "advanced" is still very basic. There are many helpful bits in this book. I thought that the camouflage section was covered in not enough depth. The counter-sniper section was a pretty good introduction.

Major Plaster has done a very good job at presenting the world of the sniper through this book. Though this book won't make the "Ultimate Sniper" it will educate people pretty well. Let's face it, if you aren't an active military/police sniper this book won't be very practical for you.

Keep in mind that snipercraft is a very deadly art where people can get killed. This book give many bits of information about how police and military snipers are trained. This book will not give you enough training to be a sniper, as no book on the market will. Make sure you know the laws and regulations about wearing ghillie suits and weapons because you can break the law by using some of the techniques that this book teaches. Remember that this book is for information purposes or at the most a helful guide at the shooting range (though that is not authorized by the author).

This book is a valuable resource for the novice to intermediate level rifleman or sniper. I found a credible amount of useful information within it. The ballistics tables are real-world--unlike the dry, theoretical tables found in reloading manuals. Major Plaster sticks to the heart of the subject matter; he doesn't go off on those lame, sorry "soldier of 'fiction'" tangents that many authors do. He even authorizes the reader to photocopy range cards, practice targets, etc..., as long as the credit line is not removed. You can't get much fairer than that. If I mentioned every good thing about this book, I would exceed the 1,000 word maximum that Amazon has limited me to.

Robert, 11B/EIB, U.S. Army, 1981-1984

If you've read the book, then you know exactly what I'm talking about and are probably doubled over in laughter just at the mention of it . . . if you haven't, well there's just one more reason to start reading this. Widely considered Barth's best novel (I'm very much a novice with him, this being only my second book so I'm no man to judge) I can easily see why it deserves such a status. A parody of historical novels, Barth writes the story in the style of that time so it seems like all those books your teachers made you read in high school, but better. The book is massive and concerns the various adventures of would-be poet Ebenezer Cooke, writer of the poem "The Sot-Weed Factor" as he becomes involved, willingly or otherwise, in more situations than any man should reasonably have to undertake. An attempts to summarize the plot are useless, it's too sprawling, people who want instant gratification will be at a loss here, this is a book you have to absorb over the course of a few days and get used to the style before it sinks in just how much fun it is. The characters play everything seriously, making the jokes (and there are plenty, with the funniest of a vulgar nature and often involving the story of Captain John Smith of Pocohantus fame) come off as utterly hilarious, but at the same time Barth manages to make you care just a little bit about them, as quirky as they are, they still come across as typically flawed human beings. Probably the best thing about the book is its sheer unpredictability, not shackled by the morals of the 16th century, anything and everything does happen, nobody is what they seem and situations shift gears so rapidly that it'll make your head spin even as you can't stop laughing. A truimph on nearly every level, this is something a lesser writer would have only managed to turn into a stale stylistic genre exercise, something to wow the kids in the creative writing workshop . . . what Barth creates here is something lasting and no matter what century it was written in or evokes, will probably wind up being timeless.

Perhaps most impressive of all of John Barth's picaresque classic is the fact that it succeeds on many levels. It is quite difficult to imagine anyone taking this novel completely seriously, however it can be read as an epic. Most likely it will be enjoyed as a brilliant satire providing most readers with innumerable passages that will have them laughing out loud. However one senses many philosophical statements and themes communicated through the characters' preposterous actions and attitudes. It was the characters, in fact, that impressed me the most about "The Sot-Weed Factor," while appearing at times ridiculous to the point of being hilarious, most readers will likely find a little bit of themselves in characters like Ebenezer Cooke, Henry Burlingame, etc. My favorite character was Ebenezer's servant whose name eludes me at this time. Barth has coined himself a "smiling nihilist" and this book is a fine example of this sentiment, though most readers will likely spend less time smiling and more time doubled over in laughter. A must-read!

I know it's supposed to spoof historical novels, but I didn't read "The Sot-Weed Factor" that way at all. To me it read like a darkly comic epic, reminiscent of "Water Music" by T. Coraghessan Boyle. I loved the characters, especially the main protagonist, Ebeneezer Cooke, the wannabe Poet Laureate of colonial Maryland. He starts out as a prim, officious twit, but his character is befouled almost continuously from the outset, so that by the end of the book he is a resigned (if not wholly self ironic) and nearly sympathetic character. And I guess that is what makes this book work for me: it follows all the rules for successful story telling. There is a central conflict (and a thousand hilarious ancillary conflicts), a crisis of spectacular proportion, believable resolution, and character transformation. The story is riddled with deception, fraud, betrayal, mistaken identity, errant bravado, sex, scatalogical humor, and enough action and adventure to hold the attention of almost any reader. At 750+ pages, it took me a month to read it (if you travel cross-country, it's perfect for those four-hour plane trips), and now that I'm finished, I'd have to say it was one of the finest months I've ever spent reading. I wish I was starting it all over again for the first time. Haply I'll read it again.

John Ortberg, who serves as teaching pastor at Willow Creek Community Church, is a gifted teacher. His goal in writing this book was to offer new christians (or those exploring christianity) an accessible guide to christian practices that foster spiritual growth: prayer, reading scripture, and so on. Ortberg's story-telling, humor, and breezy writing style are appealing. He succeeds in motivating the reader to practice spiritual disciplines, but is less successful at telling the reader how to pray, how to read the bible, etc. For a more in-depth guide to the practice of spiritual disciplines, the reader would be better served by Richard Foster's "Celebration of Discipline" or Donald Whitney's "Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life", for example. Moreover, he spends little time explaining the interplay of spiritual disciplines and grace. If we are saved by grace through faith, are spiritual disciplines merely "works"? For such a discussion, Dallas Willard's "Spirit of the Disciplines" is invaluable. However, Ortberg is a great place for many christians, particularly new christians to begin to explore spiritual disciplines.

. . .The Bible and Mere Christianity were #1 and #2, by the way:) Once you get past the Baby-Boom-marketing-gimmick title, there's good stuff here. There is a time and place for retreat and contemplation--which he discusses in Chapter 5--but John Ortberg doesn't live in a monastery, and he realizes the average person reading this book isn't, either. His message is that we can live a deeper, more spiritual life right where we are, even with mortgages and kids and dogs and laundry. (He even says that, approached in the right way, our everyday responsibilities are spiritual training ground. That may not be revolutionary to some of you--but it is for me:) This work is immensely readable and laugh-out-loud funny in places--but I've had it two months and am still not finished studying it. It's deep:) What he says about studying Scripture--that our goal is not to get through the Scriptures, rather to get them through US--is also true of his book. My Christian walk is never going to be the same again. I'm giving this to every believer--new and mature--on my Christmas list this year.

John Ortberg reads widely and that's evident in his book. He especially enjoyed the books by Dallas Willard and Richard Foster on spiritufl discplines. He calls this book "Dallas for Dummies". But it is far from stating the obvious or dumbing down the essential truths of spiritual disicplines.

Before reading this book, I read Ortberg's latest book "If you Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get out of the Boat" - I really enjoy the author's conversational style. He tells stories about other people and about his own life, which really serve to drive home the point he's trying to convey.

John makes himself vulnerable and transparent in discussing his own sin and failings, which makes him more credible!

The three chapters that impaced me the most are #3 about the truth of spiritual disciplines, #4 about "the practice of celebration". The last chapter is entitled "The Experience of Suffering". I will definitely be re-reading these chapters.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in growing in their faith.

You might be interested in checking out my reviews of other Christian books.

This book is one of four indispensable basic, general texts on the subject of survival that anyone interested in the subject should have for reference. The others are Janowsky and Janowsky, the US Army FM 21-76, US Air Force Reg 64-4. My version is the 1986 Survive Safely Anywhere: The SAS Survival Manual. The most important characteristic of a really useful book on this subject is not just the kind and quantity of information available, but the real usefulness and authenticity of the information. Wiseman's book has that, and it's greatest asset beyond that sine qua non is the generally excellent quality of illustration. It covers much of the same ground as other texts, expands nicely on some areas, and has some discussion that is generally not discussed in other books. It has quite a bit in the areas of camp craft/improvised equipment, plants, first aid, and natural disasters. The bit on vehicle operation is not the same old information, and benefits from military experience such as that of SAS Mobility Troop. This book, with the other three, is a superb general reference and a starting point for further investigations for those interested in the subject.

The British Special Air Service (SAS) is an elite military unit trained for long range patrols,sabatoge and covert operations far behind enemy lines. The U.S. Navy SEAL teams are trained on principles developed by the SAS nearly fifty years ago. SAS troops are deployed to some of the most remote regions on the planet and for this reason, must be experts in outdoor survival. John Wiseman is a former SAS survival instructor, so you can rest assured that you are receiving the best available information. The techniques desribed in this book are simple, functional and extremely clever, all hallmarks of SAS operations. The section on traps and snares is spectacular! All drawings are clear and easy to understand and the book is organized into specific geographic regions according to climate(i.e. deserts, jungles, etc.). I have spent most of my professional career in the woods (I'm a biologist by trade)and I use the information in this book on a daily basis, including training fellow employees in the basics of land navigation, improvised direction finding, and basic "woodsmanship". Additionally, I apply the SAS mindset to daily problem solving and find that it serves me well. The book comes in two sizes and I can highly recommend the pocket sized version for your pack or field bag. I can not say enough good things about this book. I have over fifty survival books in my personal library and this is the one I use as my bible. I can also highly recommend the SAS Escape,Evasion and Survival Manual by Barry Davies. It contains the same high quality info. as this book plus some additional goodies!

I teach hunter education for the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish and base many parts of my lecture dealing with survival on parts of this book. I find it to the point, with great illustrations and directions. I recommend it to anyone with an interest in the outdoors.