I suppose I am prejudiced about this book. I have known the author since childhood and also many of the people she writes about in each little "patch of joy". I think it's a great little book and would recommend it to anyone. The copy I have is my second copy which I purchased in order than a friend might have an opportunity to read Patches of Joy. I suppose my first copy, in hard cover, is sitting on someone else's book shelf.

this book is on sale for .01 of a cent. That is less then a penny. meaning, that you could by ten of these books for a penny.

This book is a must read if you have read REENGINEERING THE CORPORATION, plan to do any reengineering, or are considering making any useful change in your organization. Although ostensibly about how to do reengineering better, this book is really about making successful change. I found it to be a helpful and accurate perspective on organizational change, and far superior to REENGINEERING THE CORPORATION. That book promised too much, as sometimes happens with books that are heavily rewritten by others (one business book writer pointed out that 9 out of 10 best selling business books are ghost written by one of two people in the last 10 years, and that REENGINEERING THE CORPORATION was one of them). If you are thinking of reading REENGINEERING THE CORPORATION, I recommend that you read REENGINEERING MANAGEMENT instead. This book deals with people, while REENGINEERING THE CORPORATION seems at times to be dealing with a broken pocket watch instead. If you are in a change project, I recommend that you pull this book out weekly and check to see if you are following its principles.

James Champy explains very easily why many worlwide companies fail in their business ventures, some companies fail eventhough they had excellent and hard working "OPERATIONAL" managers, but they were not very good ADMINISTRATIVE (strategic) managers. This book should be a required MBA textbook , because it mentions the essential fundamentals of management, and it explains why managers fail when they re-design the work of their co-workers, BUT they do NOT re-design their own administrative work. This book also mentions the real job of the manager as a trainer , leader and strategic planner, trying to anticipate the moves of the world economy in order to be prepare and to have his people (co-associates) ready for the tremendous changes in the world economy. Most of the MBA's should read this book to avoid making too many mistakes (by thinking that they already know it all), this book will be quite an eyeopener for everybody (junior and senior management).. We must movilize, empower, define , measure , communcate and ACT to modify our business style and our personalities to be able to be more FLEXIBLE to roll with the punches. We must also form strategic alliances with our co-associates (co-workers), customers, clients, suppliers and all our friends to be able to succeed in this turbulent times, good luck and see you at the top

This book is a nice overview of the work and life of Matisse. There are many beautiful and brilliantly described colorplates. It is a complete overview of his work. It also makes a beautiful coffee table piece that may inspire conversation.

I reasoned that because the author choose to feature a later piece by Matisse on the cover the book might emphasize his later work. But when I got the book his later work was only briefly talked about and only 2 of the colorplates were after 1940s.

Overall it is a nice book to get a sense of Matisse, his work and his life.

I noticed that this is coming back into print in November 2002, so I figured I'd write this review. If you are a fan of Matisse, you should snap up this book. It is an awesome achievement by Mr. Schneider. There is a tremendous amount of biographical data here, as well as a wealth of reproductions- both color and black and white. One caveat, though. This is definitely not for the casual reader! There is a lot of detailed analysis of the paintings included- such things as Matisse's theories on the use of color and shape; the tremendous amount of work and thought that went into each work in order to create color harmony and a balance of all the pictorial elements, etc. Mr. Schneider respects the reader, so some of this stuff can be a real challenge! But I found it very worthwhile! Matisse's paintings are deceptive, at least to the layperson. They seem soothing and simple. Well, I can promise you that after reading this wonderful book you may still find the paintings soothing, but when you realize what went into the process of creating them you will never again think of them as being simple! This is one of those rare books that opens your eyes and makes you look at something in a completely new way.Reviewer Note: Please be aware that the book I am reviewing is the over 700 page book written by Pierre Schneider, NOT the much shorter book written by Mr. Jacobus and only translated by Mr. Schneider!