Donald Dillman illustrates how inexpensive mail surveys can achieve impressive response rates. I've used the TDM numerous times in Canada, the UK and Australia and also realized response rates over 65%. Response rates of this size significantly reduce the opportunity for a non-response bias. The only people who won't like this book are those who operate expensive telephone or personal interviewing companies!

I used this book when I developed surveys for my research and in developing telephone surveys for agencies. I recommend it to my graduate students when they are struggling with how to do mail or telephone surveys. Don't let the publication date keep you from obtaining this book. It is still applicable today.

Dillman covers everything: how to phrase questions, how and when to mail the surveys, how large to print, even how to fold the paper. An extensive, interesting piece on how to attain representative, valid information from the public. I've heard no one say they've used the TDM and recieved under 60% participation!

most of the others reviewers here have told you all you'll need to know about the story of "Mail Order Bride" so I'll leave those details to them.
I'd like to talk about how good the art is in this 200+ page graphic novel. Mark first got my attention back with a mini-series he did called "Alex" which may or may not be available in trade paperback form. His expressive and economical art made me a fan from that first issue, and I eagerly await each new project.
"MOB" shows his skills with sequential art growing even more precise and detailed. He uses many repeated images and wordless panels to great effect, and captures more emotion in a look from his characters than the dialogue ever could.
I'm a big fan of fellow indie creator Andi Watson, and both he and Mark have an economy of line that is so refreshing in today's comics field. Andi's line is thick and minimalist, while Mark's is thin and detailed, but both pack so much feeling into their work that you'll soon be a fan too.
"MOB" is the best $$ I've spent in a comics shop in some time.

A great piece of graphic storytelling. I'm a lifelong comic fan and take pride in keeping apprised of independent, critically acclaimed works (even if I don't read them all), and I was surprised when I never heard of Mail Order Bride. This book completely flew under many people's radars, I believe, and my opinion is that it would have sold much better with more attention.

The story and artwork are truly beautiful. Mark Kalesniko takes on a subject matter that is rife with stereotypes and cliches, and lends them depth and humanity. The story is moving, the individual panels are rich and emotion-invoking, and Kalesniko makes good use of the sequential panel structure to tell a story without words at many junctures. Most importantly, no character is two-dimensional. True, the premises surrounding each character are stereotypical, but Kalesniko eventually proves that he treasures his creations as individuals and not as plot devices.

Here, the reader is invited into the world of Monty Wheeler, a comic book store owner and lonely man, and Kyung Seo, his mail order bride from Korea. The reader accompanies them from their first meeting through their first awkward months together as husband and wife, observing as they initially try to do nothing but make the other happy. Slowly, their expectations of each other are not met and unhappiness and dissastisfaction results, because their expectations were artificially inflated by preconceived notions of each other.

Ultimately, the star of the book is Kyung, who comes into her own and discovers within herself a strong and independent woman, only to ultimately discover that this is not who she is. A tragic, if curious ending.

The only complaint I had about this book is that the author glosses over details that if included, would lend realism to his story, but inconvenience the plot. For example, Kyung speaks perfect English upon arrival in Canada. She chalks this up to always being good with languages. That's preposterous. Also, there's virtually no culture shock. Although her character is one that is trying to leave her past behind, I don't think that anyone completely can do that without feeling some longing or regret for their home culture. Especially in the case of an immigrant from East Asia to the U.S., the cultural differences are so vast, I don't see anyone adjusting as well as Kyung did. I don't know that the author appreciates this.

However, these small details were easy to overlook because of the touching story and rich characterization.

Complex, believable characters and an unusual, well-conceived plot make this one of my favorite graphic novels. The conflict between the comic book store owner with an Asian fetish and his new Korean mail-order bride is beautifully told in a series of small, telling vignettes, developing slowly as it takes a series of unpredictable turns. Kalesniko's art is, as always, both incisive and gorgeous, and his use of panels and pacing are just brilliant. He obviously has a lot to teach others in the medium of comics. He apparently did work on The Lion King and Mulan, but his wonderfully cinematic storytelling skills have been evident since long before that. I'll admit the ending of the story goes a bit over the top for my taste, but what remains is a dense and fascinating look at a very poignant, very real relationship. I've read it 3 times now and continue to linger over the captivating way Kalesniko tells the story. If you're looking for a graphic novel for people who say they'll never like "comic books," this is one to buy.

This is a great administrator's book, it walks you through every step of Exchange Server. I can literally start from the beginning and set up an Exchange environment. I would, however, not recommend it to those unfamiliar with NT or networking.

For an introduction (and a very solid one at that..) to the workings of Exchange Server 5.5 - then look no further. This book has it all. Exchange 5.5 is legendary for the amount of configuration that can be done (the volume of property sheets in this product can be staggering) - this book guides you through the quagmire and leaves you feeling all the more confident about managing an exchange 5.5 environment. Indeed - after spending some time with this book and 5.5 managing exchange 2000 is a breeze...

When I took over as the Network Manager I was given the responsibility of all the applications, and with little experience working with Exchange Server I was in a position of not knowing enough to support the end users.

As the Network Manager I am the person the end-users turn to to fix whatever is broken and with Exchange there is so many things and options you have to worry about I had to find a book that would help me. Since this is a Microsoft Application I turned to the source for the answers and I am very glad I did.

Within the 950 page manual I found information on the planning, installation, managing, administration and using public folders. I found answers to protocols questions, how to setup and work with security and answers to my questions about client and client software.

There is also information about OWA and outlook, backups, recovery, troubleshooting, using forms and active server. The book is filled with diagrams, tables, figures and screen shots to make sure you have a look at what happens before you start the process.

Included in this book is a cd-rom with utilities for Exchange, overall this is by far on the most important books I have obtained so far and I am using it regularly in my everyday work.

This book was a pretty good book. It gives lots of examples as what to do, and what I learned from, what not to do. Very informative and the information can be used to look back on. Lots of examples to writing classified ads as well as sales letter that will get you the responses you are aiming for.

This book is a good book to start off with. Im starting my own home based business and I felt like I was about ready to start after reading this. He gives you good examples of classfied ads that he has used and shows you how to write sales letters that will pull responses. He tells you what you should and shouldnt do. I will probably always refer to this book. You should also try Melvin Powers mail order books but dont try 101 Great Mail Order Businesses by Tyler Hicks.

experienced writer, philospher, adult, creative, thoughtful, kind, generouse, genius, lazy, reliable, acgive, energi

When installing a GW system in 1998 and linking it to a 100+ domain GW 4x/5x system I found this book to very very usefull. I used the book extensively along with Novell's guides from support.novell.com. This book is well worth the money. On the down side the book could include more about some of the difficulties in GW but you can only get so much in one book. Also Novell probabaly had some say on content.

I purchased this book after comparing it to the Novell book. I am glad I bought this book as it is very detailed and informative. There are good examples and illustrations. The authors definitely know what they are talking about!

A very good overall book on GroupWise 5.2. I used it to help setup a GroupWise 5.2 system and found it to be a good reference. I did wish that the book covered more in-depth information about the internet use/strategies of GroupWise. WebPublisher is not mentioned in the book

This book may be useful for the e-mail newcomers or for native English speakers who are not very skilled in the formal writing.

The book consists of two parts: "How to make e-mail work for you" and "How to write for business". The first part covers basic usage of e-mail, and can be helpful for e-mail newbies. However, if you've sent ten thousand messages so far, it is unlikely that you find anything useful there.

The author has dedicated the second chapter of the book to business writing. It is mostly a set of dos and don'ts, without deeper analysis. I recommend separate, deep books on business writing and correct use of English. The author, has also given a list of references that include "The American Heritage Book of English Usage" by Editors of The American Heritage Dictionaries, "The American heritage Dictionary of the English Language" by Editors of The American Heritage Dictionaries, "Alphabet to Email" by Naomi S. Baron, "Email in the Workplace" by Cristina Cavanagh, "The Chicago Manual of Style" by John Grossman, "Grammar for Grownups" by Val Dumond, "Cliffsquickreview Writing" by Jean Eggenschwiller and "E-What?" by Editors of EEI Press.

..........................................

Filled with tips for old hands as well as for those who are new

to e-mail, this book is sure to help everyone write better

business messages on the job. Part 1 is specifically about how to

use e-mail at work. Part 2 is a useful guide to the nitty-gritty

of business writing for e-mail and on hard copy - how to get the

words and punctuation right so that you sound and look

professional.

The book is a great resource. I keep it on the shelf above my
computer so I can refer to it often. It's full of helpful
examples that show the wrong way and the right way to use words.
The complete index makes it easy to find things. You won't have
to wonder about whether to use lie or lay, which or that, fewer
or less, I or myself. You won't have to wonder about how to
address a new client or whether to send an urgent message. The
answers are all there in this one handy book.

Expertly and knowledgeably written by educational film maker and business communications expert Lisa A. Smith, Business E-Mail: How To Make It Professional And Effective is a solid, "user friendly" guide to making the best use and utilization of Internet email for business related purposes. From learning to phrase messages that are alert, easily understandable, direct, useful, and appropriate, to keeping one's messages within company guidelines, Business E-Mail is a superbly organized, practical, accessible "how-to" guide and very highly recommended reading for every business organization from a one-man shop to an international conglomerate with e-mail as an integral part of their daily operations in today's computer age.

This interesting little book is a collection of short homilies designed to provide a pick-me-up to a teen. With titles such as "You won't miss out," and "Learn to be a love receiver," the homilies are short and easy to read, and give a mental boost at the right moment. Each one of these begins with a Bible verse (NIV translation), and appears to be non-denominational, which means that this is a good book for any believer. So, if you want to give a teen in your life a handy resource, then I would recommend this book to you.

Attractive and modern outlay of single page devotional/message. done in computer screen style on every page. Messages are relevant to teens. they contain questions to make them think and message is not very long. i believe this is good for some/alot of teens who don't have a very long attention span for wordy messages. Author gets point across and signs off differently each time which is very creative and personal. Strong message of God's love for them comes through each page.

This book is awesome! I myself am a 14 year old girl whodoesn't particularly like to read anything but magazines. My mombought this book for me and I decided to try it out. I am so glad I did! It is a great book for anyone who doesn't necessarily want to sit down and read for long periods of time. This book is one that you can read a few pages at a time, and then be able to pick it up later and not have to re-read some of the pages to get the idea. I also like it because it truly does relate to me and my life. It really makes you think and I have reccommended it to all of my friends.

Heroine: Very tall, full-figured

Kristina Simmons, bright, dependable, no-nonsense Montessori teacher never takes chances like this. Yet she's packed all her things, moved out of her home, and is now hovering on the doorstep of her fiancé's Chicago mansion. It sounds like the perfectly natural thing to do, except for the fact that Kristina has never laid eyes on the man, nor even heard his voice over the phone. She accepted his surprising proposal only after a flurry of email exchanges!

Handsome Drew Connelly is a success at everything. Except relationships. He hasn't managed to connect with a woman since he lost his wife years earlier. The only light in his life is his family, especially the young daughter who adores him. Feeling guilty about his frequent business trips and revolving door nannies, he swears to find her a mother, never dreaming that his daughter has taken things into her own hands . . . with a little help from her great-grandmother and the internet!

Drew meant to straighten things out between himself and the stranger on his doorstep, he truly did. But he never expected to feel attracted to her, let alone fall in love with her! Yet no matter how afraid he is of losing his new romance with Kristina, his conscience can't let them live out a lie. How can he break it to her that he never actually proposed marriage, but wishes with all his heart that he had?

What worked for me:

I liked Drew and Christina as individuals as well as together. I was really rooting for things to work out for them.

Size-wise, thanks to a mother who can't pass up telling her daughter about the latest diet fads, Kristina really disliked her appearance at the start of the story. But with Drew's support she was able to begin her journey towards appreciating her ample curves.

What didn't work for me:

Yet another late-blooming virgin. (Truly, I have nothing against folks who choose to wait. But it just seems like there's been a high number of plump, older virgins in the contemporary stories I've read lately.)

Aside from a sketchy history, we really aren't given much information on Kristina's background. On the other hand, there's an overload of confusing information on Drew's wealthy, aristocratic family because this story falls smack dab in the middle of the Connelly Dynasty series.

The plotline is a bit far-fetched, but I was willing to overlook it since I do like surprise encounters in my stories.

Overall:

A fast, solid read. Fans of category novels and family series should enjoy this one.

Be aware that there are some steamy scenes toward the end.

If you liked "His E-mail Order Wife" you might also enjoy "The Bridesmaid's Reward", "His Seductive Revenge", "Carried Away", "Dear Cupid", "Looking for Laura", or "Sweet Memories".

A great story of the self conscious heroine and the confident hero. Kristen took a chance on a man she has been emailing, only it is not Drew, it is a set up by his grandmother! Now, Kristen is moving in for a trial engagement and Drew does not know what to do, especially when she arouses feelings and desires he long thought dead. Sparks start to fly from the moment these two meet, but even more so when he takes the chance and kisses her. How can he ever tell her those emails were not from him? How can he drive her away when he desires her body close to his?

Ms. Gold pens a passionate love story that will live in the reader's memory long after the book is closed.

Reviewed by Miriam van Veen

High-powered executive Drew Connelly returns from a business trip bone-tired and anxious to see his young daughter, Amanda. But Drew gets the shock of his life when little Amanda reveals she and his eighty-three-year-old grandmother have ordered him the perfect gift from the Internet: a fiancée, courtesy of Singlemania.
Drew has been down the marriage path before and knows he's still too wounded to marry again, let alone a woman Grandma Lilly found on the Internet. When Kristina arrives, he's determined to convince her that he's not husband material, but Kristina is not like any woman he's ever met. She's smart, practical, nurturing, and down-right gorgeous. As a result, Drew struggles to keep his hands off her, but she insists they need to get to know one another - in person.
Kristina is surprised to find that the darkly handsome Drew considers her gorgeous. All her life, her mom has pestered her with advice about dieting and how important it is to be a size six to get a man. But Kristina long ago made peace with her natural voluptuousness. The one area she won't compromise on is that it's what's inside a man that counts. Naturally, she's reluctant about her blossoming e-mail courtship, but after having Drew's credential's investigated, she's determined to give it a try. She feels compelled because she's already falling in love with Amanda and can't forget the little girl's wish for a mommy.
Although Kristina and Drew have initial misgivings, the chemistry that sizzles between them soon draws them together. In this case, Grandma was right. Kristina is the perfect wife for Drew.
This latest title in the Dynasties: The Connelly's series is a tender love story with plenty of humor and loads of sensuality. His E-Mail Order Wife is another can't-put-it-down Desire from Ms. Goldberg.

This is an okay book if you've already figured out the business side of building a catalog business, which I would argue is actually extremely important. This book is more implementation oriented with good color examples of other catalogs. It's more about the production of the catalog which I think is more intuitive. The challenge is finding a new business area that can be profitable.

I learned more about designing catalogs from this book than I learned from my entire college education. It's not so much a graphic design book as it is a formula for content. You'll how to design photos (or articulate your ideas to a professional photographer), how to lay out our front and back covers, how to design an effective order blank, etc.

There are two things I REALLY like about this book. First, it cites good, solid research to back up its recommendations. Second, it doesn't have the "I-know-it-all-and-if-you-don't-follow-me-you'll-fail" attitude that so many do-it-yourself business books have.

You'll also appreciate the abundance of real-life examples the book gives you--you'll look at catalog pages from well-knwon companies like Lands' End, Viking, and Brookstone.

Keep in mind, too, that many of the concepts you'll learn here will carry over into both web site and brochure design.

If you are thinking of putting together a mail order catalog, this should be one of your first investments.