Some books show you the text, some books show you illustration. "The Race" is an illustration of "The Goal (Goldratt)". Some people may like the Novel style of the goal but some people may need more illustration of it and The Race is what you're looking for. I see The Race is not only a good companion of The Goal, but it can be used as "Class material" as well. The DBR illustration is clearly stated and I don't think I can see any illustration of The Goal production system better than this book. Goldratt may consider to put some figures from The Race in the new edition of The Goal to make the Goal the perfect book of production system novel.

Business is back to usual. Tough days are here again. Organizations need to excel to be competitive in whatever they do in the race to retain customers and profits. The last decade of the last century was perhaps an exception to this rule. Now it makes sense to revisit books that show us the means to achieve excellence in operations; books written by Eliyahu Goldratt.

This is a book with a difference from Goldratt. The focus is on getting the concepts straight through illustrations and not in the form of a novel.

The goal of all businesses is to make money in the present as well as in the future. We have measurements like Net Profits, ROI, and Cash Flow to assess bottom line performance. We use the cost concept as a bridge to arrive at these measures. The book challenges the cost concept and looks at using Throughput, Inventory and Operating Expenses as the bridges that will lead us in the right direction. These terms or 'Global Operational Measures" are defined in a way that is different from conventional.

-Throughput - The rate at which the system generates money through sales.
-Inventory- All the money the system invests in purchasing things the system intends to sell.
-Operating Expense- All the money the system spends in turning inventory into throughput.

In order to succeed in the market place, six competitive edge issues are identified - Product (Quality and Engineering), Price (Higher Margins and Lower Investment per unit), Responsiveness (Due-date Performance and Shorter quoted lead-time).

Having defined these measures, the book looks at the critical role of inventory (at all stages). The high inventory syndrome leads to a lower performance in all the competitive edges. The manufacturing system then should get into the mode of "Synchronized Manufacturing". This is a unique combination of concepts like JIT, zero-defect and Drum-Buffer-Rope (DBR) approach. In fact I found that this is the best among all of Goldratt's books to understand the DBR concept. It helps in identifying the Capacity Constraint Resources (CCRs) and balances the entire manufacturing system to towards the globally optimal solution that can achieve our overall goal.

The book contains some interesting exercises at the end to ensue that the concepts are well understood.

A must read for all managers to achieve break through improvements in operations - manufacturing and service. The race is on and is getting hotter than ever. We need to keep pace to remain in this race. The second best may not survive to have another chance.

The Race is the most accessible presentation of the Theory of Constraints as applied to production. All the key concepts are right here with a handful of presentation slides on the right hand pages and talking points on the left hand pages. You'll even have plenty of room for notes. As an added bonus, there are five simple exercises which let you test how well you understand what you read.

There is a best way to read this book! Read it this way ...

- Get about 10-20 sheets of paper and a pencil.
- On 5-10 sheets of paper, work the five exercises in the back.
- DO NOT mark on the exercise pages.
- DO NOT check your answers, yet.
- Read the book.
- On 5-10 more sheets of paper, work the exercises, AGAIN.
  Yes, do them over, really. Do not let your first try
  influence the second attempt.
- DO NOT mark on the exercise pages.
- Check all your answers against the official answers.
- Think about what you learned.
- Share these instructions and The Race with a colleague.

Failing to exploit the exercises makes it too easy to convince yourself that you already knew all that obvious stuff. If you lead or manage an organization, you should get at least four of these quick and easy exercises right on the first try. If you believe what you think you learned during your MBA, you will probably miss most of them the first time through.

No exercise is difficult. Each is a microcosim of a typical business situation. None requires math more complex than arithmetic. None requires special business knowledge. Yet, if you think conventionally without considering the barriers to success, you will miss all five of them.

This book should be used as firewood not to entertain or educate kids. How did the author get it published.

This book is NOT for babies and pre-schoolers! This creative story shows children how to use a puzzle set of math manipulatives called Tangrams to create pictures. It could be used in ANY grade to improve children's comprehension of spatial relations. A pattern for the tangrams is included in the back of the book to make teaching easier. Any child would love to play with these picture puzzles!

I use this book annually to introduce tangrams into my geometryunit. The information from the back of the book adds a multiculturaland historical dimension to the lesson while the relationship between grandfather and granddaughter offers an intergenerational link. Reading the book in an interactive mode, I use my own renditions of Grandfather Tang's animals mounted on poster boards and flipped over to be uncovered as the story progresses. The kids are completely engaged trying to guess what the next fairy transformation will be before it's revealed. By the end of the book, they are excited to create their own tangram pictures to form into a class book. The soft watercolor illustrations are a balanced contrast to the energy and enthusiasm Grandfather Tang's Story generates with my class.

The vast majority of the book has no relation to the title. There are great passages, but they are largely buried under dozens of pages of yammering prelude, silly bickering, and attempts at drunken humor. James Morrow's Blameless in Abaddon covers the same theme with much greater depth and breadth.

While interred in Auschwitz, Elie Wiesel witnessed a trial. While such things are not unusual, this trial was. It was unusual because of the defendant: God. God was tried for violating the covenant by turning his back in silence on the Jewish people in their greatest hour of need. God was tried in absentia, without anyone present being willing to take on the role of God's defense attorney. God was declared guilty, after which the "court" prayed. Contradiction? Perhaps. But this incident, which served as the inspiration for *The Trial of God*, is part of the long Jewish tradition of arguing with God. While Job is God's most famous interlocuter, we cannot forget the dispute the founder of the Jewish people, Abraham, had with God over the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. The trial of God is really a trial of faith; this is why the "court" prayed. They are torn between their devotion to God and their complete disappointment in God's silence. This struggle of faith is the story of *The Trial of God*, in which it is the least faithful of all, Satan, that comes to God's defense. Wiesel is fond of retelling a story about two Holocaust survivors, one a rabbi, who meet after liberation. The survivor asks the rabbi how, after all that has happened, he can continue to believe in God. The rabbi retorts by asking how, after all that has happened, can the other *not* believe in God. Wiesel has often echoed this paradox in his own sentiments. This is the paradox which *the Trial of God* presents us; it is a story of doubting trust and trusting doubt which, as Wiesel suggests, might be reconcilable only in protest. Perhaps *The Trial of God* is Wiesel's act of faith; perhaps it is an act of condemnation. I suspect that for Wiesel it is both. Anyone who pays careful attention to this work will be highly rewarded by it, not because of the answers it gives (for it gives none), but (in good Wieselian style) for the questions it raises.

The trial of god by Elie Wiesel is a stunning play about mans relationship to God and trying to understand him. The book deals a lot with the subject of faith and the trials of the Jewish people. It is a play worth reading more than once.

Bass is a good storyteller; unfortunatley he is not as good of a researcher. Overall this book is an easily readable retelling of the life and Revolutionary War campaigns of Francis Marion. There's nothing new or particularly insightful here, and unfortunatley Bass gets several military details wrong (such as the numeric designations of British regiments) and provides a one dimensional portrait of Tarleton and other British leaders.

The book "The Swamp Fox" is a easy-to-read account of General Francis Marion. The detail presented is fascinating as it describes the intense struggle in the South during the Revolutionary War. Against all odds, Marion and his ragged forces keep the spirit of the revolution alive when fighting the British and their allies the Tories. In the end the irregular forces of Marion and the conventional forces of Gen. Nathaniel Greene succeed in a series of brilliant victories. (Drew Shifley/Historian)

Continues the traditon of Bentley Publishers. It's the most complete manual available for this vehicle, and is the factory approved service manual. Helps to have a fair level of techinical knowledge, book is intended for mechanics, but the procedures are thourogh, w/ plenty of pictures, and full information on year to year updates. Well worth premium price, worth far more than other manuals.

Unlike many books of this style, the emphasis is on the text rather than the art. The art is a marvelous collection of Marian works by Ann Rayme, Leonardo da Vinci, Henry Ossawa Tanner, anonymous "folk" art, J. Michael Walker, Fra Filippo Lippi etc.

The text ranges from Biblical to contemporary; they are longer than is often the case in similar books - some are memories, some philosophical or theological reflections. The works are selected from individuals such as Robert Sullivan (in Life magazine), Patricia Pfeiffer, Uta Ranke Heinemann, Fr. Robert Bullock, Jaroslav Pelikan, Terrance Simien (zydeco musician). The volume gives short descriptions - just a few words - to identify the authors.

An excellent book for individual devoted to our BVM.

If anyone has ever read, NELLIE, THE LIGHTHOUSE DOG, you'll be equally thrilled with GOOD GOLLY MISS MOLLY, the story of a sweet pup who adds some fun and excitement to the towns 4th of July parade. The illustrations are wonderful, sure to make it a classic and could be sold as prints. My family had the pleasure of meeting Miss Molly herself (along with the gracious author) at the famous Marshall Point Lighthouse at Port Clyde Maine (Forrest Gump ended here on his long run). Kids and adults who like dogs will love it.

Four stars because it's been a few years since I read this book, but I remember that I liked it!

What I enjoyed about this book was that the author twisted what we do know to create a great "what if" story. What if Anne Boleyn did this or that? What if Elizabeth I had to do something drastic to protect her position as queen?

Who knows what really happened? Will we ever understand what motivated peoples' behaviour? The fun of it is that we probably ever will!

There are items in this book that a historian could use to make a good argument for as being true, but of course, because the events took place so long ago, there is no way to test their veracity. But supposition is something we historians love to do. Hey, people may not read our journal articles about the truth, but they will read the historical fiction!

At a medical student level, "Obstetrics and Gynaecology: A Problem-Solving Approach" is a winner. It's concise, it's well set-out and it contains information in easily-understood diagrams, tables and charts. After a general introduction to obstetrics and gynaecology furnishes the reader with requisite information, the book devotes a chapter to one important clinical problem. Both obstetrics and gynaecology are covered to a depth that does not swamp the medical student but does not leave large knowledge deficits. For ease of reference, differential diagnoses and their probabilities are highlighted in red boxes at the beginning of each chapter. Critical information throughout the chapter is likewise summarised with a list of "golden points" at the end of each problem.

This is a book aimed squarely at medical students and it succeeds in providing information in the problem-solving sequential fashion sought by clinical teachers. It's packed with good statistics to trot out, if you remember them, for the "gold standard" answer. An appendix contains tips for passing final examinations (unlike human appendices, which are full of...). I'd recommend the book. It's readable enough to do a couple of chapters a night, and it's portable enough to carry to school with you. It's clear and simplifies what can be an unnecessarily difficult subject. 4 out of 5.

As a Canadian I find that this book is an excellant example of what can be achieved through exploring our multi-culturalism. The children's artwork, coupled with the text make this book very informative to others so they can understand a little about other cultures, and see the differences and similarities. What I find to be an added bonus is that the text is written both in English, and the writers native language! An excellent read for children mostly, but still enjoyable to adults.