This book changed my life completely especially on time management and setting priorities including annual goals and objectives.

It is easy to read, practical and lists easily and clearly on how to work on improving yourself. You will be amazed at the resuts proven ideas. Till today, I still believe in the adage, "Ask Lakein's Question" whenever you are not sure on what would be the next best course of action and priority.

This book was sitting around the house for quite some time until I fortunately picked it up to look through it! This book SPOKE TO ME! There are 2 types of perfectionists: those who do everything, and those who do nothing.. I'm the latter. Through the straight-forward, tell-it-how-it-is approach, I felt like somebody else related to me! I've read time management books before, but it's no wonder this is a national best-seller. Honestly, I haven't read it all the way through, since it motivates me to get going, but I enjoy reading it! Also, it doesn't get old like most things do for me! That's because "I" get to decide what my priorities are. These last few weeks since I've found this book have been so sweet. It's not the kind of book that makes you feel you're not doing what's the most important thing (and what you WANT to do! ). Also, the swiss cheese idea really stuck to me. It says to just spend 5 min. on your A-1. There were goals I had, but never recognized them as such or gave them the attention they deserved. Just last week, I was so thrilled and felt so alive to not just worry about a particualar goal I had, but instead, to take action. Um, the BEST part (or one of the best parts! ) about this book is coming up with your A-1, A-2, A-3... goals! I had my mom do it, as I read off from the book how to, and she was so thankful. It was just amazing! This book has changed my life from the moment I picked it up. I used to feel like doing Homework and Projects and such at the very last minute, since I knew it would get done, and I'd be forced to turn it in as is. Now, I see that I've changed in such simple, but helpful ways! I actually started on a project a week before it was due! Simply amazing. My life was a constant running from one crisis to the next (all-nighters common). I'm almost dumbfounded at how NORMALIZED it is. I never knew this bliss..

I have been reading this book for many years. I used to be a business consultant for a large stock broker firm and I alway purchased a copy of this book for any salesperson who needed to tighten up their lost time. You can open this book at any page and learn something even after you have read it for years. I just ordered another copy after giving away my present copy. I suggest you buy more than one because you will want to share the wealth with your friends. It doesn't make any sense to say anything about time management other than what Alan Lakein has already said.

While on business in Cartagena, Columbia, American businessman Matthew Rey is kidnapped and a $3 million ransom is demanded for his safe return. His son Nick is a novice attorney who attempts to free him. Nick is thwarted in his efforts by a lawsuit originating from his own firm against his family. It seems that his father had taken out a $3 million kidnapping insurance policy, and it looks as if the whole kidnapping is a set up by Matthew Rey to commit fraud. Worse yet, the FBI won't help because they believe Matthew is a drug smuggler and is somehow in cahoots with his Nicaraguan business partner. Since Nick cannot raise the money or negotiate his father's release through the usual methods, he enlists the help of a beautiful hostage negotiator, Alex Cabrera, as well as his former fiancee Jenna, who still has feelings for him.

A KING'S RANSOM is a taunt, intelligent addition to the genre. Grippando has written a hot thriller, filled with plenty of action and plot twists. This is an author I would not hesitate to read again.

This is my first time reading Grippando, and I thought A King's Ransom was a definite cut above the average thriller out there today, especially anything written by Grisham and his many clones. Its attraction lies in its combination of the legal thriller with a pure action story set against the exotic locales of Columbia and Nicaragua.

Its a story of Nick Rey, a young Florida lawyer, whose father, Matthew, has been kidnapped by a sadistic band of Columbian geurillas. The ransom demand (3,000,000.00) is the exact amount of Matthew's recent "K & R" (kidnap and ranson) insurance policy and the insurance company, who happens to be a client of Nick's law firm, suspects fraud and denies coverage. Nick fights battles on all fronts, with the insurance company, with his former firm (from which he's been fired),with his former mentor and, of course, with the kidnappers.

The prose is brisk and the plot develops nicely, but Grippando seems to want to cover too many bases here (and, in the process, uses too many cliches), from Nick's past rift with his father that needs fixing, to his father's suspicious (and undeveloped) business partner, to Nick's rift with his ex-finance, who's the only lawyer in town who will represent him in the legal fight with the insurance company, to the sexy and exotic "Alex," the hostage negotiator with, what else, a past.

I found the parallel story of Nick's father's experiences at the hands of the kidnappers more compelling than Nick's maneuverings at home. All in all, despite its cliches and more than passing resemblances to The Firm and the recent movie, Proof of Life, A King's Ransom is a very satisfying and enjoyable read. I am looking forward to reading other works by this author.

I've only read a couple of James Grippando's books, but all of them have been totally awesome. "A King's Ransom" may be the best one yet.

Nick Rey is a young attorney working at an enormous law firm in Miami. His law firm has connections all over the country and the world, so it appears he's fast on his way to moving up the ladder. That all changes when his father, Matthew, is kidnapped while in Colombia on business. Nick finds out that his father had a secret kidnapping insurance policy, but then the insurance comapny won't pay up. Something's going on, but Nick has no idea what. He immediately goes to work trying to track down answers and get his father back to the states safely, but someone powerful may be holding him back.

This book was an incredible read. It kept my mind moving a hundred miles an hour. It's full of suspense and the mystery keeps getting bigger. It provides a glimpse into the world of Colombian revolutionaries and what happens when they act. Grippando did an excellent job researching this book. He realy seemed to know all about what happens when an American is kidnapped in South America. The descriptions are vividly realistic, and I just couldn't put this book down. I would highly recommend this book to anyone.