This book is like a "Call Centers for Dummies" meets "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Call Center Management But Were Afraid to Ask!". This is an educational to that can lay the ground work for an aspiring call center manager or hone the skills of the most experienced call center manager. Very well written and comprehensive book that almost acts as a call center efficiency consultant. I have put together presentations for senior management based on material in this book that made jaws drop. Thanks to this point of reference I have been able to make many positive changes in my call center's reporting, forecsting, and performance measurement tactics. If you are thinking about dishing out a couple grand a head for offsite training I would highly recommend trying this book first and saving your budget!

I am writing this review from the perspective of an IT consultant who sets up processes and procedures for service delivery. A call center and an IT help desk are two very different animals. This book is written for call center managers, yet should be required reading for IT help desk managers and staff.

As someone who has set up IT help desks and has also provided application support to call centers I often wondered why typical call centers were so well managed and IT help desks, for the most part, are not. This book goes a long way towards explaining the dichotomy by showing how call center professionals approach service. It contains a wealth of information that should be carefully read by IT help desk professionals who want to implement a world-class operation.

The planning and management framework section of this book starts on the right note: service levels. This is followed by clear explanations of quantitative factors such as call load forecasting, staffing and service level metrics.

Some things that set this book apart are the sections on quality and productivity, and new technologies. The authors go well beyond how to effectively manage call centers by discussing how to integrate new technologies and exploit technology to provide the best possible service. I also liked the section on characteristics of best managed call centers - the information provides an effective roadmap to excellence and benchmarking tool.

Although I am not familiar with the entire body of technical literature on call center management I have to believe that this is one of the most complete books on the subject. I am familiar with the body of literature on IT help desks and can attest that this book needs to be included in the libraries and required reading lists of all IT help desk professionals.

A great book for anyone who works in the inbound call center environment! It's takes the science of call center and transforms it into an easy to read guide. This book will help everyone from senior management to front line service reps gain a better understanding and appreciation of the dynamic call center environment. In the call center world, we often get caught up in the technology and lose site of the fundamentals - this book puts is all back in perspective. Good Luck.

I used this book to study for my second year pharm class, and it has to be one of the best medical texts I have used so fair. It is an excellent balance between not enough info, aka ridiculously simple, and sweet jesus Katzung! It is concise, well organized, and has helpful pictures. I can't stress enough that if you are in the market for a pharm book THIS IS THE ONE!!!!!!!!! You will thank me later as you get your H in pharm!

This book is really superb. I've been using it since the second medical year. One of the best features of this book is its black-and-white illustrations which make your life easy. The info are presented in an outline format for quick reading. It's concise and excellent for review (and for the first time) study! It contains some questions at the end of each chapter. Actually, this is what you need to know for examination purposes.

This is a good book for every one. I am a high school student with a job as a pharmacy tech. I am most of the way though my Bio H class of sophmore year but with a dictionary and online websites for little help this book can teach you everything
most chapers include:
a slight review on the body system that the drug affects such as the first few chapter have to do with cholinergic drugs on the nervous system followed by a few paragraphs about each drug what it does, what is used for theriputically and adverse affects, also there is some times an antidote. if you are looking for a good book stop because this is easy to undersand and has a ton of information
-Andrew

Winner of the Earth's Hero Award, THE TREE is the book form of the song of the Douglas fir tree. Native American's know that everything has a song -- I only wish that Dana Lyons had included the actual notes within ...

What is included are rich illustrations and some valuable teaching information. Julia Butterfly Hill (Legacy of Luna) has written one of the forewords and the author has included his personal story of THE TREE in the back. It is there that you will also find some information about the Pacific Rain Forest.

Proceeds from the book go to the Jane Goodall Insitute and the Circle of Life Foundation. (You can find them on the web or via the book) Readers are also encouraged to find all the species that have been included within the illustrations from a short list at the end. If you have a kid that is constantly up in the branches (like I was) or are interested in teaching your kids about the value of a tree or conservation then this book would be one of the places you might start.

***** Wow! Looking at the cover of this new book from Illumination Arts is like standing at the base of a giant tree, tilting your head backward, and looking toward the heavens. The scope is powerful and compelling, and the colors are breath-taking.

This story is told from the perspective of an 800-year-old Douglas fir in the Pacific Rain Forest. The Tree tells of its history and the many things it has seen over its lifetime, as well as the wildlife it has seen and sheltered. Each illustration is so realistic that it feels possible to reach in and touch the rocks or to actually hear the babble of tumbling water, experence the flash of lightning, and tremble at the mighty roar of a bear. Children will also enjoy finding the many tiny surprises hidden within the pictures: A Butterfly, Dragonfly, Spotted Owl, Tree Frog, Mouse, Bald Eagle, Bark Beetle, and many others.

At the end of the story, there is an informative page about the Pacific Rain Forest that impressed me a great deal. After reading that page, I asked several children what country came to mind when they heard the words rain forests. Most of them mentioned Africa and one or two said South America. They envisioned a tropical climate with hot, humid jungles, big broadleaf plants, monkeys, and brightly colored birds. None of them knew that there was such a place as the Pacific Rain Forest right here in the United States. A temperate rain forest that is cool and wet, filled mostly with cone bearing trees, and stretches along the coast from Southern Oregon to the Gulf of Alaska.

I cannot say enough good things about The Tree. I highly recommend it as a book to be treasured and reread for years to come. It entertains the reader while teaching a love for nature's delicate balance and the urgency to act now in order to save our valuable forests from disappearing forever. Read it with a child and enjoy the light in his eyes as he searches its pages for each of the tiny surprises...

***** Wow! Looking at the cover of this new book from Illumination Arts is like standing at the base of a giant tree, tilting your head backward, and looking toward the heavens. The scope is powerful and compelling, and the colors are breath-taking.

This story is told from the perspective of an 800-year-old Douglas fir in the Pacific Rain Forest. The Tree tells of its history and the many things it has seen over its lifetime, as well as the wildlife it has seen and sheltered. Each illustration is so realistic that it feels possible to reach in and touch the rocks or to actually hear the babble of tumbling water, experence the flash of lightning, and tremble at the mighty roar of a bear. Children will also enjoy finding the many tiny surprises hidden within the pictures: A Butterfly, Dragonfly, Spotted Owl, Tree Frog, Mouse, Bald Eagle, Bark Beetle, and many others.

At the end of the story, there is an informative page about the Pacific Rain Forest that impressed me a great deal. After reading that page, I asked several children what country came to mind when they heard the words rain forests. Most of them mentioned Africa and one or two said South America. They envisioned a tropical climate with hot, humid jungles, big broadleaf plants, monkeys, and brightly colored birds. None of them knew that there was such a place as the Pacific Rain Forest right here in the United States. A temperate rain forest that is cool and wet, filled mostly with cone bearing trees, and stretches along the coast from Southern Oregon to the Gulf of Alaska.

I cannot say enough good things about The Tree. I highly recommend it as a book to be treasured and reread for years to come. It entertains the reader while teaching a love for nature's delicate balance and the urgency to act now in order to save our valuable forests from disappearing forever. Read it with a child and enjoy the light in his eyes as he searches its pages for each of the tiny surprises...

My first cookbook was Joy of Cooking, my second, Mastering the Art of French Cooking; both were solid, basic, accessible, world-expanding, indispensable guides for me when I was young and learning to do more in the kitchen than I had grown up with. An appreciation of food and a view toward a larger world started here for me. It is an excellent place still, this set, to start an education in classic French cuisine. Julia Child wrote the recipes with an inexperienced cook and American audience in mind, and 35-40 years ago, probably, so the dishes are imminently do-able. Get all the volumes.

My mom was insistent that we kids learn to cook, and when Julia Child came on public television in the 60's, the whole family was glued to the set. We watched with fascination as she did things with food we Americans didn't know you could do. Mom bought this cookbook then, and I still have it, cover hanging by threads and covered in all kinds of saucy stains. It's still going strong, getting more stains every time I give a dinner party.

We learned how to make omelets, roasts, soups like Vichysoisse (surprisingly simple potato and leek soup), and how to cook the bumper crop of garden green beans in a new and very delectable manner.

I still think that this may be one of the best cookbooks for vegetables that I have on my shelf. I prize it for the meat section, especially a veal ragout that is possibly one of the most luxurious company dishes for a dinner party. It can be made ahead, and in fact, improves if you do. There are a lot of delicious desserts, some complicated (like Creme Bavaroise) and some cakes such as Reine de Saba (Queen of Sheba), a darkly moist and modest looking little chocolate cake. This is easy to make, but so rich and delicious it should be banned by the AMA. What's not in here is French Bread. That's in Volume II.

We made French-style green beans and the Reine de Saba cake one memorable Thanksgiving when we were very young, and even the kids (seven cousins, five of which were BOYS) sat politely glued to the table for the ENTIRE meal instead of getting up and running around halfway through the feast. The food was THAT good.

While I don't make French food every day because I watch my weight, I do use this book for the princples of good food preparation, even if omitting cream or substituting lower fat choices.

I have been a subscriber to high-end food magazines for decades, and have an extensive collection of cookbooks. This is the best cook book in print, without exception. I remember when Julia came on the scene when I was a child. It was, no exaggeration.....innovative. She used words we couldn't pronounce, showed us how to make dishes we were unfamiliar with, and showed us techniques that were unheard of to the American public. Almost 40 years later, the American palette has become more sophisticated and the food options available to us seem endless. This book stills holds up as the best. It is the primer for understanding French cooking, and mastering invaluable techniques in the kitchen.

I love good food and enjoy cooking. The problem is, after twenty something years cooking I still have to admit that I have no natural talent or culinary instinct. EVERYTIME I use this book I am successful. Don't let the title of this book intimidate you. This book was written in large part with the novice in mind.

Sonia Choquette's book, YOUR HEART'S DESIRE, describes nine simple principles we can use successfully to find and follow our heart's true desires. While each idea may appear to be obvious, most of us could use a few reminders on how to: (1) Bring the dream into focus, (2) Gain support of the subconscious mind, (3) Imagine the heart's desire, (4) Eliminate obstacles, (5) Receive Intuitive Guidance, (6) Support the dream with love, (7) Surrender control, (8) Claim the dream, and (9) Stay true to the dream.

Choquette knows that we create reality, and are better off when we don't spend a lot of time and energy contemplating what we're worried or upset about. She advises that our dreams come true more beautifully when we travel lightly, take responsibility for our dreams, and stop being control freaks. Choquette's many years of teaching workshops on this subject are evident in the enjoyable stories and excercises she includes in each section. She also includes a special meditation at the end of each chapter, so readers may better absorb the ideas.

I highly recommend this book for anyone seeking advice from a master of living life true to one's heart -- every page is a joy to read!

I've floundered for so many years, unsure of my path in life and constantly allowing my intellect to overrule my heart. This book has changed me forever! Sonia Choquette's warm, intuitive words and wonderful, effective steps for achieving your heart's desire are the perfect mixture for anyone searching for truth. Of all the "self-help" books I've read---and I've read dozens---this is the first to completely affect me and convince me that I can realize my dreams. The steps are simple though profound, and I promise if you genuinely follow them and commit yourself to them, you WILL discover miracles in your life! Your Heart's Desire is the key to the universe, the answer to finding happiness. Why look anywhere else?

So many "self help" books read like college texts. They rarely inspire you to actually do something (I've got a bookshelf full of them). Sonia Choquette has written a book from the heart to the heart. There's no dogma, psuedo-science, or trickery here. Anybody can use this book, you don't need a guru or have to know some secret. All you need is an open mind and a willing heart. The execises are practical and fun to do! You feel like progress is being made. This is a voyage of self discovery that can actually get you where you want to go!!!

A beautifully written book with complex, sympathetic characters. The basic plot is one of the most hackneyed, overdone plots in the romance genre, but Ms. Ross has managed to bring forth a magical, unique story that does not insult the reader's intelligence and is not formulaic in the least. My only minor complaints are that the love between the two main characters does not seem as well developed as it might have been (they have known each other only for a week, of course), that the villain is a little too unredeemable, and that the characters contain shades of Nigel and Frances's characters/speech patterns from Ms. Ewing's Illusions. I thoroughly enjoyed it, nonetheless, and can't wait for her next effort!

Julia Ross has done it again. Her latest is another great story. Alden, Lord Gracechurch, has lost his fortune at cards and has once chance to redeem his folly. He must make love to a widow chosen by his opponent and bring back her locket as proof.
The lady is not what he expected but he begins his seduction...impossible not to succeed. Impossible not to fall in love either but is the lady who he thinks? Is the villain to be satisified with this task? Who is playing at what game and why?

Ross uses the artifice and glamour of the Georgian period to great effect. Under the paint, the lace, the silk the Georgian gentlemen is a deadly machine well versed in swordplay and deceipt. Ladies ply their fans with hidden messages, invite men to their bedchambers to help them dress yet protest their virtue. Who is the cheat and who is true?
The plot is complex and weaves the characters into situations where all is stripped and all revealed and all risked.
This book is fun and bold; well written and well plotted. One of Ross' triumphs.

I picked up this book on a whim... and found absolutely one of the most enjoyable reading experiences I've had in a long time. I can't remember the last time I read a historical romance that merged character, plot and emotion into such a pleasing melange of a story.

I'm a longtime romance reader, but I've never purposely sought out historicals that take place in the Georgian period. I'm a little unused to heroes who tramp around in full lace and silk, with a sword at their side, looking prettier than the heroine... but Julia Ross points out the delightful contradiction between the hero's outer shell and the man inside.

At first, the sheer number of recipes in this cookbook will overwhelm you. Then, flipping to the index in the back you will find that you are able to look up dishes based upon their main ingredient (e.g. chicken, zucchini, potatoes).

We use this cookbook far more than any other book in the kitchen. Of all the dishes we have made, I can only recall not liking one.

It's naturally heavy on breakfast and brunch foods, but it has something to satisfy anyone's tastes - desserts, main courses, appetizers, beverages.

The biggest pain with this book is that it is separated by bed and breakfast rather than by kind of dish. This makes it rather time consuming to find a recipe. One has to turn to the index and then go down through the list flipping to various pages to find the "perfect" chicken dish, for example.

Separating the recipes out by type would have saved the recipe searcher a fair amount of time.

Still, it's a wonderful cookbook. I'm glad we have a copy. WARNING: This cookbook contains absolutely no photos of the food, so those who like seeing what the dish will look like will not enjoy this book.

This cookbook is great !!!! i borrowed it from a friend and never gave it back (bad!!!) but it really is a great source for entertaining. Fanstastic and easy recipes. A good way to impress your friends with your cooking. Also what i like is they usually have serveral recipes for similar dishes so lets say you want to make scalloped potatoes - you can look at them all and then kind of use the info to make your own variation with the pieces of the recipes you think sound good. Also it is good if you are doing theme parties. I love asian cooking we were having a party where i needed to bring an asian salad - they have like 5 different types. and they arent what you would expect. Note this is just not breakfast foods - all types of cooking are in this book and from all types of us regions.

My husband just surprised me with a weekend at one of the B&B's in this book. We were getting away for our 8th year wedding anniversary. And he bought me a copy of this cookbook he wants me to make some of the same dishes that we were treated to during our stay. This is something that is such a special treat. I LOVE to make dishes for our family when they come to visit. I like to see the looks on their faces when they are treated to dishes that are simply out of this world. There are just no other words to explain the recipes in this cookbook. You'll always want to keep it handy. You won't find any recipes in here that require alot of hard work or foods that most of us don't have in our kitchens everyday.

Julia Sweeney manages to do what seems impossible: to find hope and humour in a devastating situation, as she supports her brother's ultimately unsuccessful battle with cancer, then faces her own experience with cancer. This book is witty and frank, and it brought both tears and laughter as I read it. For anyone facing cancer, or struggling to cope with the disease in someone they love, this book will provide a cheering diversion. It's a great "waiting-room" read, too, and should be a staple in every cancer clinic and hospital library.

Julia Sweeney's God Said Ha! is a marvel of a book. The book is about Sweeney's life, and her struggles. One minte it's funny, the next is heartbreaking and touching. The real beauty of the book, and Sweeney's wonderful writing, is that the book can be heartbreaking AND funny at the same time. The book deals with her brother Michael's bout of cancer. He moved in and she took care of him, while maintaining her sucessful career. Then, in a horrib;e twist of fate, Julia learns that she has cervical cancer. The same kind of cancer that claimed the life of Sweeney's SNL peer Gilda Radner. Luckily, Julia survived. The book also touches on her parents, who are told about in a truly hysterical way. How many parents are like this?. The book is a swift read. It's very easy to get into and read in almost one sitting. I actually got to meet Ms. Sweeney on a few ocassions. My family babysat her niece and nephew. She came to my house as well. We were also lucky enough to be invited to the premiere of her 'Pat' movie, as well as a reading from the book by Sweeney herself. She is a sweet, lovely person. This book is sweet as well. A good read. Trust me.

Since I've had cancer, lots of people give me books on the topic. It's not often I actually read one all the way through, and the only one I really LOVED was "Bald in the Land of Big Hair" by Joni Rodgers, because it's really hilarious and not about cancer so much as it's about the rollercoaster of life. This book is a close second to "Bald" -- funny and able to be really cool about life and death issues. I couldn't stand that Pat skit on SNL, but Julia is a wonderful writer!

I love cooking shows and often read cookbooks for pleasure, picking up tips from each author and pondering what recipes I'd like t try, but I have to admit that I've never been a part of the cooking cult that worships Julia Child. I do remember watching her shows as a child, with my mother, and know she pioneered the genre, but the meals she made rarely appealed to me--too time consuming, too "fussy" and just too "strange" for every day taste. (If I have to visit eight different shops and peruse three mail order catalogs to make a dish, I'm probably not going to try it.)

Recently, I picked up "Julia's Kitchen Wisdom" at the library and was quickly sold. I am now ordering a copy to keep. The book is filled with useful basic recipes and techniques, as well as lots of helpful time-saving tips that Child has picked up over the years. It's not really a recipe book per se, though tried-and-true formulas for things like Hollandaise sauce and pastry dough do appear, it's more of a kitchen guide. It's full of ingredient substitutions, serving suggestions and definitions of terms you may come across. More useful to experienced cooks, it's also a helpful guide for the best technique, according to Child, for things like braising, searing, roasting and folding. Child's years in the kitchen have made here at master and I was pleasantly surprised to find many time-saving techniques and places were Child says the "easy" way is actually better.

This slim volume really packs a wallop of cooking information and I think it would make a nice addition to any cook's bookshelf.

This brilliant little book distills all of Julia Child's years of experience into just over 100 pages. But instead of scratching the surface of cooking and its techniques, Ms. Child tells you everything you need to know. Whether you're an expert in the kitchen or a beginner with only three favorite recipes, this book will help you expand your repertoire. Its quick reference structure makes it a snap to check the best way to cook, say, a pork chop, or how to make your vegetables tastier than ever. And interspersed among the chapters are Julia's "Master Recipes" for those classic dishes that never go out of style. A real gem.

After 40 years of cooking with fellow chefs and friends, Julia Child has developed a refined method for cooking her master recipes. In this cute little cookbook, she has also included variations to many of the recipes to show us all how creative cooking can be, yet how essential it is to follow the basic cooking truths. Julia was born in Pasadena, California. She then moved to Paris with her husband Paul and studied at the Cordon Bleu. After writing her first cookbook "Mastering the Art of French Cooking," in 1961, she appeared on many public television cooking shows.

Judith Jones can be credited for discovering Julia Child, she is the best editor Julia Child could have ever found. She is very wise and once wrote me a nice letter to explain why my instructions in my own cookbook were too truncated. She loves the cookbooks she edits to have a personality and an easy flowing writing style. I took her advice very seriously and she has in fact improved my writing by her one small comment. It is with that said, that I can say that her influence on this book has only made Julia's writing even more wonderful.

I love the fact that Julia gives her editor so much credit in the Acknowledgments section. Without great editors, most cookbooks would never make it to the publishing stage. David Nussbaum was also very influential in the writing of this particular cookbook as he was with "Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home." He helped to gather information needed for this book from Julia's books and shows. He also spent time with Julia in Judith Jones's Vermont kitchen, working out the details of some recipes.

The book I am reviewing is only 127 pages, but there is also a 288 page large print edition which I applaud Julia for considering and publishing. In both books, Julia presents soups, sauces, salads, dressings, vegetables, meats, poultry, fish, eggs, breads, crepes, tarts, cakes and cookies. The index is delightfully easy to use and I love the headings, e.g., Almond(s) is in a different color than the list following it. In that way, you can find the basic categories of Apples, Crab, Soup, Cookies, etc.

When you read the text in this cookbook, you will almost feel that Julia Child is reading to you. I can hear her voice and that is what makes this book so wonderful. Each chapter begins with a fun note (or what you might call a headnote) from Julia. The first chapter is "Soups and Two Mother Sauces." There is a recipe for "Leek and Potato Soup." Julia explains the master recipe and then gives variations of "Onion and Potato Soup," "Cream of Leek and Potato," and "Watercress Soup." What you will learn from this book is "techniques." This allows you to create your own recipes. In cooking there are certain proven cooking methods and that is what I believe Julia is trying to show you. You learn to make a white sauce and a hollandaise sauce in the first chapter. The style of the master recipes is similar throughout the book. Each one has a nice heading of a different color, ingredients are listed in the order they will be used and the instructions are easy-to-read, yet do not have numbers. The Variations for the recipes are in a paragraph style, but also have nice headings in a different color. Each page has two columns of text.

In the second chapter, you will enjoy learning to make a "Basic Vinaigrette Dressing." The variations sound just delicious and there is also advice in a small block which explains how to keep your vinaigrette fresh for several days. Throughout the book you will find little blocks of text with a pink background. These must be some of Julia's secrets. This is a book you will want to read and absorb.

In the third chapter, Julia has charts for blanching and boiling vegetables. She says: "When you serve fine, fresh green vegetables, you want them to show off their color." She gives some sage advice on how to accomplish this. The chapter on "Meats, Poultry and Fish" is an introduction into sautéing, broiling, roasting, stewing, braising, poaching and steaming.

Then, onto French Omelets and dreamy soufflés. You will enjoy learning how to make molded dessert custards or as we know them to be, "Caramel Custards". She makes a "Classic Custard Sauce," a "Pastry Cream" and finishes the chapter on eggs with a "Classic Chocolate Mousse."

Julia Child knows that you could just use a ready-made pie shell, but thinks it is a shame if you can't make one yourself. With that, I can agree. So, in her Bread Chapter, she not only explains how to make basic bread dough, she shows us how to make an all-purpose pie dough. "Cakes and Cookies" follow this chapter. This will soon become one of your favorite chapters. Now, there is one thing you will want to know when making Julia's recipes. She uses a different method for measuring flour than I do. She sifts the flour into the cups and then sweeps off the excess. That will be key to your success where noted. I personally only use that method when making pie crusts, because I create my recipes by the dip and sweep method, which is the lazy way! You will notice that in her directions, she will say 1/2 cup cake flour (sifted and measured as per the box on page 97.) I was delighted to find a recipe for "Cat's Tongues." While I had heard of these finger-shaped sugar cookies, I had no idea what they tasted like.

I recommend this book to new cooks, especially because these are the master recipes I learned when I was learning to cook as a teenager in cooking class. For experienced cooks, you will enjoy the variations. This is a book of Kitchen Wisdom from American's favorite teacher of French home cooking.

This is my first Karen Robards book, but it won't be my last. Sebastian was a great hero. He was strict (not abusive) but caring. Julia was innocent yet mature, not the "smart and witty heroine because she does what she pleases and doesn't care about anyone else, so therefore she is strong." I truly loved this book. The only problem I had with this book is that it seemed to have finished too quick.

This is a beautiful novel. It is about a street waif named Jewel, who gets mixed up into some kind of scheme concocted by a rich dying man to make trouble for his wealthy family. She meets Sebastian, the wealthy relative, and he decides to turn her into a lady to spite his evil mother. Over the course of their relationship, in which Sebastian trys to turn Julia (her new name) into a lady (reminisant of My Fair Lady), he falls in love with the stunning beauty she becomes. There are many entertaining plots that occur throughout, just as there are heartwrenching ones. I throughly enjoyed this book. The characters and plots are extremely well written, Ms. Robards has outdone herself with this one. If you love passionate love stories that will make you laugh and cry, then this one is for you!

I could not put this book down, as with all of Ms. Robards stories. I am really hooked on her books. Loving Julia is definately one of the best. Sebastian is one of the most romantic and handsome men that Karen Robards has written.Even though he seems to be cold and heartless, Julia brings out the love inside of him. I loved the way that he teaches Julia to be a lady, and I laughed many times. I will definately be reading this one again and again.