This book covers the profession for a job not a business. I assumed this book would help you in starting a Concierge Business, but basically it should be purchased if you are thinking about becoming a Hotel Concierge for some of the Hotels that offer this kind of employment.

This book is great. It presents the concierge as a proffesion and gives insights and valuable tips to the many activities and roles that a concierge executes. I would reccomend this book to anyone who is starting a job within a hotel or service position.

This book gave a nice overall of the functions of the concierge and the many duties that one might face. This book is a great start for those starting out in the hospitality industry and want to increase and build service in their hotel. Also, the stories of the concierge are quite enjoyable and help to create an understandment of the job.

Palm Springs Modern provides a superb photo tour of a handful of landmark homes that defined the 'modern' style in the 1950s and '60s. Because wealthy businessmen and celebrities could afford edgier architecture, the authors focus on these homes -- with a welcome chapter on the talented William Cody in between. If you want a scholarly treatise on modernism in architecture, buy another book. If you want a tantalizing sample of some of the best work, PSM is fine. By the time modernism made its way into mass production homes, it lost much of its inventiveness and aesthetic. Those familiar with the Palm Springs area will notice that the Alexanders' ubiquitous 'butterfly' rooflines have become almost cliche, while the Loewy house and most of the PSM subjects remain exotic.

Do you need to own PSM before buying or designing a home for the California desert? Clearly the answer is NO. But if you want a virtual tour of some of the most inspired homes of the genre, PSM belongs on your coffee table. And yes, if you live in the Midwest or Northeast you would do yourself a service by putting this away in a closet somewhere during the winter.

Palm Springs Modern illustrates (in photos) a collection of homes by designers who tested design concepts in the harsh desert environment that complimented, and indeed enhanced the outcome. Those of us who seek inspiration and documentation of the modernist period will find this volumn satisfying. It is not a scholarly book, nor is the text particularly deep in theory of architectural modernism. And it doesn't matter that some of the homeowners were celebrities. What really matters is that there are so many fine examples of modernist architecture and in such close proximity.

A classic. If you've never been to Palm Springs, you'll be catching the next flight after leafing thru this fine book. Gorgeous photos of simply incredible buildings. Palm Springs has a quality and character unlike any other "resort" town. The fabulous architecture of the mid-century building boom and a renewed appreciation of the designs of that period has revitalized (again) the Palm Springs area. If you can't visit Palm Springs personally, then pour a martini, sit back and enjoy this book. It's almost like being there!

A mystery story involving, of course, dead bodies.

The spirit of the novel is best contained in the statistician's remarks on gravity. The word "Gravity" doesn't really explain anything, rather it gives a name to the tendency of objects to fall toward the center of the earth. If something like that happens every day, we give it a name of some sort and accept it as normal. If something like that seldom happens, then it's exceptional and warrants investigation.

Although I was dissatisfied with the ending, the reasoning employed along the way there is pretty engrossing. The story is also strange enough in places to be bleakly humorous. Maybe an extra half-star, for being different.

As every detective and scientist should know, objectively there are facts and relationships between facts. Sometimes there are causal relationships between facts, and the facts are correlated; sometimes there are no causal connections between facts, and the facts may or may not show some statistical correlation. The situation where the facts display at least chance correlations but may not be linked causally provides the leitmotiv for Stanislaw Lem's "The Investigation" (and his "Chain of Chance" for that matter).

Correlated facts are suggestive, but when the number of facts does not amount to a meaningful statistical sample the correlation may be an artifact, and then sound inductive reasoning often gives way to wild speculation. In "The Investigation", lieutenant Gregory of Scotland Yard desperately tries to puzzle out a consistent explanation for a bizarre series of disappearing corpses while receiving input from a scientist, a doctor, and fellow detectives --- each with his own ideas. The problem is that there doesn't seem to be enough solid evidence to decide whether the facts of the case have causal structure or whether they simply form "fortuitous patterns". Hmmm.

The category of "science fiction" is usually reserved for whimsical flights of fancy, but here we have a book that breathes fictional life into part of the intellectual apparatus that is at the very heart of science --- the empirical, or scientific, method. No pedantic statement is made about the empirical method, it's darker corners simply serve as a compelling thematic backdrop for a detective story. "The Investigation" is not a detective novel in the traditional sense though, and the ending will throw Agatha Christie enthusiasts for a disconcerting loop...but, an enjoyable one.

The narrative style is pleasingly "cinematic" in that, with few exceptions, only things that can be seen and heard are described --- it reads something like a well-written screenplay. This narrative approach is nothing new, though, and its lack of originality kept me from getting too excited; but, my fetish for stylistic originality is probably not shared by most readers. The book is also intellectually provocative without being didactic in that the story conjures up a small whirlwind of intriguing questions, not a parade of dubious and facile answers. Most importantly, it's a fun and engaging story. I really liked this one.

For years I'd heard a lot about Stanislaw Lem as a great Polish science fiction writer, maybe one of the world's greats in that field, but I hadn't ever read him. Therefore, when I saw a book of his at a yard sale, I bought it. The price was certainly right. But, I must report that I still haven't read any of his science-fiction because THE INVESTIGATION turns out to be one of his few works in other genres. But what genre is this ? You might say it's a detective novel, but "metaphysical detective fiction" would describe it better. How many other books fit into the same field ? Good question. Here we find bodies removed from graveyards and mortuaries; sometimes they turn up elsewhere, sometimes not. Gregory, a suspicious policeman, is assigned to catch the perpetrator. But is there a perpetrator ? Discussions of statistics and probability, as well as mysterious speculations, pepper this novel, which takes place in cold, foggy, rainy or snowy conditions in England, a country that does not emerge very realistically from the background. I was constantly reminded of Ismail Kadare's novel "Doruntine" by the similar philosophical nature of the writing which marks both books, by the rain and cold, and even by the names of characters-Stres in the Albanian book, and Sciss (the statistician) in Lem's. I can't say that this is a characteristic Lem novel because it's the first I ever read. But a detective novel that asks "what if everything that exists is fragmentary, incomplete, aborted, events with ends but no beginnings, events that only have middles, things that have fronts or rears, but not both, with us constantly making categories..... ?" cannot be considered average. Lem's novel may not be to everyone's taste---especially if you are looking for sex, violence, or lots of action---but it is unusual and well-written.

I used 2 of the rubrics, one for writing, and one for spelling, they are great to use with primary grades, and the students did feel empowered assessing their own writing.

I dont know if I could use it all year, its good for seasonal assessment, i.e. beginning of the year, mid-year, and year-end.

Its the first rubrics book Ive used and purchased so its a great beginner, very easy to use. I wouldve liked to see more in the way of using them regularly.

The content is fine. The reproducible material, however, it not readily accessible. The pages could or should be perforated giving the option for removal. Also, the reproducible pages are mixed in with text such that it serves the organization of the book but not ease of access. These are minor but key if a classroom practitioner is conducting multiple informal assessments. Lastly, the content really serves elementary aged readers. Middle and upper grades may/will find the reproducibles' font size and graphics childishly condescending. This is unfortunate as there are pupils who would benefit from the content.

This book was very nicely illustrated and the directions were well written. Unfortunately, I probably won't make a single project from this book. It was not what I expected. In my opinion, the projects in this book seem very out-dated and very out of style.

I am enjoying the huge bright photos! All of the photos are sharp and show details amazingly well. Many are larger-than-life and remind me of the wonderful photography in the Singer (c) books. This is just the kind of traditional look I like, but with a few fresh twists, like color surprises. There is a darling quilt titled 'Squirrel Quilt' that is offered as for a boy's room and I'm imagining it as a wall hanging in my living room. I hadn't seen the pattern for the 'The Cat's Basket' before I bought the book, it immediately looked like something perfect for my tiny dog!

I very much appreciate the full-size patterns in the back, I don't have time for graph paper!

I have used "Dummies" books before and found them useful; I was therefore disappointed to find I had wasted my money on their "Illustrator 6" volume. There is some helpful information in it, but I encountered errors and omissions in a number of the exercises which forced me to go over them several times before I could extract the information. The "Dummies" books often ridicule software companies for their faulty documentation, but this book shows that IDG may be guilty of the same thing; they don't seem to have tested this book on any "dummies" before springing it on the public.

I thought this book was fairly well done, and I have used it as a reference tool several times. The examples were quite helpful, especially for the occasional user like myself.

The mystery surrounding Adele's mesmerizing sexuality and the decadent secrets of 1930s Paris drew me to this book. Despite witnessing the passions and fears of the book's characters including one of two protagonists, Celia (museum-robbing, sleuthing magazine publisher), the reader never gets to know why these people act as they do. Adele should perhaps remain a mystery, but the fascination behind Celia's relentless search should have been explored. On the other hand, Blanche (Adele's captor/slave/lover) is as fully fleshed as Celia should have been.

Overall, I thought that for such sensual (often grotesquely so) material, the characters seem rather cold. It also seems to be missing a final chapter. Very unsatisfying (but was that the author's intent?).

The characters Blanche, her brother Jonas, and the unexplainable Adele are interesting, but the author never gives us much.

What exactly was Adele? And what caused her to be whatever it was, that she was?

What experiments DID Jonas perform? What did he learn about Adele? And what is the connection between Marcel and Adele?

Adele's story is a sad one, as is Blanche's.

The author never comveys any true compassionate for Adele or Blanche, although they are plainly badly treated.

There is no understanding on the author's part regarding Adele. The author seems to regard her as no more than a creature, a freak--as does Jonas.

Even Blanche and Adele's love is strange, twisted, voyueristic, actually more lust than love. Although eventually we do witness Blanche's devotion, which goes beyond lust.

Over all, however, the book is disappointing because it supplies no real answers; and the author's view seems like that of an objective scientist reporting what she sees through the microscope.

An excellent maiden effort. I was enthralled by how the author held the reins to the story. Her pace, sense of mood and atmosphere is magnificent. But towards the end, it seems difficult to make the present live up to the past. Looking at things from another angle, we might say the author is trying to convey a sense of how the past was just as twisted in its treatment of sexuality as today's society is.

I was disgusted with this book from about page 3 on. I forced myself to read it, since I had already paid for it after all, but it was such a waste of my time that I wish I hadn't bothered. Mimi is a self-centered, scheming little witch. She claims to be sympathetic to poor Nathan who has watched his entire career fall apart, but her actions tell a whole different story. Also, all the characters keep saying Nathan is arrogant. Where did this come from? The fact that the man recognizes that he is very good at his job makes him arrogant? Intelligence are arrogance aren't the same thing. I honestly think Nathan would be so much better off without her, which makes this one [bad] "romance" novel. My advice is to skip this one.

I was so thrilled to get this book and so disappointed when I read it. I think that Adele Ashworth's prior books are some of the finest examples of historical romance, and this book just isn't up to par with them. I found the plot to be tedious and slow while the secondary characters were colorless and uninteresting. The bright spot to this book was the romance between Mimi and Nathan. I loved the way Mimi went after what she wanted so honestly, but it wasn't enough to make me stop yearning for the Adele Ashworth of old.

I don't often write reviews of books, but I felt I should on this on this book. I have read all of Ms Ashworth's books and loved all of them. Although this book is not like her other books. The primary characters are not into spying the premise of the book is still good. You have two people that have suffered loneliness and separation. But, they can't seem to trust each other even though they care for each other. Their working out their problems makes a wonderful book. I applaud Ms. Ashworth willing to break with the tradition that she has had in her other books and writing about something different.

I am just entering the paralegal field and was looking for an advantage while job searching; I purchased this book with that hope in mind. When this book was published in 1986, I am sure it was a good reference. Laws regarding employment questions have changed, and the examples given in this book are very out of date. I found the book, "How to Land Your First Paralegal Job," to be an excellent resource. I would recommend that book over this one. I think this book should be revised or taken off the market.

I loved this book, it helped me get some great jobs! David Saltman's brilliant work has touched me dearly, therefore I have become a better person. I have learned more about attorney resumes and endored it greatly. Thank you for enlightening me with this book which gives a true sense to the depths of writing a successful resume.

"Confessions of a Sociopathic Social Climber" by Adele Lang was about half a dozen good chuckles above the level of an outright stinker.

The book, which could have been hilarious but missed, can best be described as "The Evil Anti-Bridget Jones' Diary". Katya Livingston, like Bridget Jones, is a single thirtyish Englishwoman -- but unlike Bridget, who is sweet and earnest despite her dysfunctional qualities, Katya is conniving, vindictive, egomaniacal -- and too often, just plain nasty.

For an example of how this sort of character/story is supposed to be done, read Dorothy Parker's short story, "Diary of a New York Lady". Then read it again. Go ahead, I'll wait.

La-de-da, dum-de-dum [taps foot, buffs fingernails].

Oh, good, you're back. Now do you see how a witty, clever, insightful story about a neurotic, pea-brained, self-absorbed social climber *should* read? Note the light, subtle touch, the deft use of language, the compassion that makes the character human rather than a two-dimensional cartoon? Now flip through a few pages of "Confessions".

Even worse than you'd originally thought, isn't it?

"Confessions" suffers -- first, foremost, and always -- from an unsympathetic and unconvincingly portrayed protagonist (I can hardly call Katya the "heroine"). Despite the fact that everybody has an inner brat that's greedy for too much of everything, it was impossible to identify with Katya. I didn't like her. I didn't feel sorry for her, although it was clear that she had a pretty pathetic life despite her bluff and bravado. I didn't enjoy her escapades in a scandalous, guilty-pleasure, "I wish I could get away with that" sort of way. She's evidently supposed to be charmingly naughty a la "Absolutely Fabulous" -- she did everything but wink at the audience and smirk, "Ain't I something?" -- but I found her simultaneously obnoxious and dull.

The other huge, insurmountable problem is that, as everyone who has ever watched "Saturday Night Live" knows, a joke that was basically good to begin with, and then is run into the ground, eventually invokes the law of diminishing returns to the point where you're moaning, "Please, someone, make it stop!". The characters and events that make an entertaining 10-page story cannot, take my word for it, adequately sustain a 200-page book.

The net result is that of the same 10-page story repeated 20 times, with minor differences; and becoming increasingly more shrill, labored, and thuddingly unfunny with each successive repetition. Katya is hideously rude. Katya treats everybody like dirt. Katya abuses alcohol and/or other drugs. Katya spends a ton of money she doesn't have on yet another shopping binge of extravagant designer clothes. Katya goofs off at work. Katya makes a play for somebody completely inappropriate, demonstrating in the process that she ridiculously overestimates her attractiveness to men. Katya exploits her long-suffering doormat friends, whom she seems to actively dislike, but who nonetheless never seem to wise up to her... over and over, and on and on.

For the first fifty pages, I was -- I admit it -- often chuckling, and occasionally guffawing out loud. By page 100, I was muttering, "Okay, already -- I get the idea". By page 150, "Confessions" had become more a source of frustration than anything else. I'd pretty much given up hope that the rest of the book would be anything but still more variations on the same theme, and probably not even particularly interesting variations. Although there were still a few widely scattered snickers, I had an unpleasant suspicion that any hope of anything resembling a good wholehearted belly laugh, let alone character development or a plot, was pure wishful thinking. PS, I was right.

There are at least a dozen authors who do wicked humor better. Cynthia Heimel, S.J. Perelman, and Bill Bryson spring immediately to mind. In addition to the many humor books that succeed where this book tries and fails, there are at least another dozen "girl power" and "bad girl" books on the shelves of any bookstore in any town that succeed where this book tries and fails. "Confessions" does have a few good laughs, but unless you can pick up a thrift-store copy for a quarter (which ought to be sometime next week), it's not worth bothering with.

Katya Livingston is my new hero. But not in the way you think. She's more of an anti-hero, the sort of the woman we all wish we could be, but would never actually dare to become. And she definitely makes Bridget Jones look sane. Speaking of Bridget Jones, there are the obvious similarities in the writing style. Both are written in diary form, and evoke the same choppy, sassy writing form. But with that said, this book is delicious fun. A very fast-paced and quick read. You will be left rooting for Katya, even though you know you shouldn't be.

The novel starts out as a financial diary Katya is forced to keep after the tax man questions her work-related expense claims. Soon, "Confessions" evolves into a brutally poetic diatribe against her boss, putting up with loser friends, mortal enemies, substandard restaurants, a completely candid account of her love life (might be tax-deductible) and anything else Katya can think of to "confess" to her shocked readers. This same financial diary ends up turning into a weekly column in the trendy and gossipy "London Goss" newspaper. What begins as this little expense record-keeping diary becomes blown out of proportion, thanks to Katya's wildly bold and grandiose imagination. . Lang has created a character who's bitchy, nasty and mean, ostentatious, pompous, flamboyant, brazen, bold, shameless and pretentious, but thankfully that only makes her all the more entertaining.

Maybe it was easier for me to love this book because I never read Bridget Jones, and everyone seems to compare the two.

Katya Livingston is over the top! Mean, lazy, spiteful, and mercenary. She never lets up. I laughed out loud--a lot!

The book chronicles Katya's journey from overpaid copywriter to overpaid gossip columnist to overpaid tell-all book author to unemployed homeless person, and back to overpaid TV writer and ultimately, star of a Hollywood B movie. Behind her is a path of destruction, and no one is safe: not her friends, not her family, not even small furry animals.

Realistic? Nah. Not meant to be. Though I have to admit some chastity-belt nonsense went too far, this is *meant* to be outlandish.

It does take a while to fall into the rhythm of the book, to realize that Katya won't be redeeming herself anytime soon, and the laughs will be continuous. I kept trying to think of the word that describes this kind of humor. There's sarcasm and irony in it, but neither is quite right. Dry? Droll? Absurd? I'm still not sure, but it's *not* goofy or obvious humor. Maybe I should just say it's hilarious!

The reader, Josephine Bailey, nailed this audiobook performance. Her deadpan delivery was perfect for this preposterous tale. I don't think I would've enjoyed reading this book on the page as much as I did hearing it in her wonderful English accent.

If you're ready for something different, get this audiobook, sit back, and enjoy the wicked, wild ride!