David Lean is the greatest filmmaker that ever lived. This book is a great chronicle of his life. A brilliantly detailed account of both his personal and private lives. Many previously unpublished photographs. A stunning achievement by his last wife. A loving devotion to the master. This book is rich with many details of the 'lost years' between Ryan's Daughter and A Passage to India, and the attempts to make the story of Captain Bligh, and Conrad's Nostromo. (What films they would be!) The book explores the many friendships Lean held with those that worked with him, from Robert Bolt to John Box to his closest and most interesting pal, Eddie Fowlie. The book blends terrific photos as well as a very detailed text. A beautifully constructed book made with highgrade materials. A true gift from Lady Lean. Highly recommended! A wonderful companion piece to Brownlow's biography of the master. Buy this book now. Don't wait. Thank you.

The best book on the making of LAWRENCE OF ARABIA. This is really a beautiful book. It contains many color photographs and artwork on David Lean's masterpiece. It covers every aspect of production. I refer to it constantly. Indispensable. A must have.

This book is authoritatively written by two researchers working for Dan Jones at the Lean Enterprise Research Centre in Cardiff University. Dan is co-author of the Machine that Changed the World & Lean Thinking - the books that started the whole lean thing off - and wrote a couple of the chapters. It provides an excellent set of case studies and chapters written by a number of leading academics and practitioners in the lean arena. The book is a great reference aid for a lean practitioner. It is made up of 7 sections - including background to where lean came from and the principles, a section on analysing supply chain performance and identifying waste, examples of improvement activities conducted by the authors and the Cardiff research team, and a section (Towards the Future) looking at new areas of lean research and new lean tools that practitioners will provide thought provoking and really useful. It does a number of things really well: 1. It is a good reference book as it contains manageable chapters that can be read in isolation from one another. There are good summaries of things like the Lean Principles, 7 wastes etc. and a good section on further sources of information on lean. 2. For the practitioner there are some useful tools and techniques that can be taken away and used right away - for example the value stream mapping and demand amplification tool sections are really interesting. 3. It takes lean manufacturing and shows how it is applicable in a number of environments - very thought provoking and quite leading edge. I would say it is a very worthwhile read for anyone interested in lean - student or practitioner.

I greatly enjoyed Kevin Brownlow's earlier book on silent era filmaking "Before the Parade Passes By" but was less enthusiastic with this biography of David Lean. The text was diffult to follow with regard to who says what, when. It all takes on a rather who shot John second-hand quality that seems to distance the reader from the subject rather than draw them in. This biography presents an unclear view while it may accurately reflect the basic nature of the subject.

While overlong, (I could do with less of the many sub-plots behind "Breaking the Sound Barrier" and un-fulfilled projects such as "The Bounty"), we get an interesting glimse behind the scenes at the filmaker and his great works. Lean comes off a thin-skinned combination photographer/artist/editor technocrat and generous melagomaniac. Maybe that's what is needed to make an epic.

In any case, the tidbits about the making of the many classic Lean films including: "Brief Encounter", "Great Expectations", "Summertime", "Bridge on the River Kwai", "Laurence of Arabia", "Doctor Zviago" and "Ryan's Daughter" are entertaining and engaging. Patrick W. Brown

Kevin Brownlow touched all bases of David Lean's life, providing insight into the films and his unconventionally fascinating life, making this one of the finest film biographies I have ever read about a cinema giant about whom I had longed to learn more about. Brownlow divides Lean's career into two distinct phases, 1) the British period in which he worked at home and captured the true essence of his people and, 2) the international phase in which the master film craftsman lived in hotels and moved from one country to another in producing a series of internationally spectacular movies such as "Lawrence of Arabia", "Doctor Zhivago" and "The Bridge on the River Kwai."

Brownlow begins with Lean's roots as a restless youngster in the London suburb of Croydon. His lack of curiosity and penchant for traditional school learning coupled with the stolen hours he spent sitting inside darkened theaters in a state of fascination revealed where his adult years would be spent.

Once that Lean began following his dream he quickly became established as Britain's foremost film editor. In that context Brownlow expunges a canard that was carried all the way to obituaries after the great director's death in 1990 that Noel Coward gave the aspiring director a leg up in teaming up with him to co-direct the brilliantly done war film about the British Navy, "In Which We Serve," in which Coward also starred along with Celia Johnson and John Mills. It turned out that Coward's move proved to his personal benefit as Lean did most of the directing and Coward was concerned mainly about his own scenes, after which he would generally leave the set, entrusting the basic direction of the film to Lean. We also learn that Lean, unlike Sir Carol Reed and other prominent British directors, turned down a chance to begin his directing career on low budget "quota quickies," deciding instead to wait for a major opportunity, which came with "In Which We Serve." Later that same year one of Lean's greatest films, the epic love story "Brief Encounter" with Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson, hit the screens and the young director's career was away in a flourish.

After achieving prominent worldwide status as a great international director, Lean's sensitivity resulted in overreacting to the criticism of tart New Yorkers at a Round Table session at the Algonquin Hotel. Lean was sharply criticized for "Ryan's Daughter," which American critics such as Richard Schickel and Pauline Kael believed was well below the high standard he established with "Brief Encounter" and continued with other films. According to Brownlow, Lean was sufficiently wounded to take a sabbatical before doing his last film, the highly acclaimed Indian epic "Passage to India" based on the E.M. Forster literary classic.

Brownlow does a superb job of depicting the period and the films from Lean's prolific career. Lean's was a mastery of style and entertainment, enriching story telling with beautiful visual imagery and word economy in the best sense, making the language all the more meaningful. This book does his career justice while enhancing our knowledge of a great man.

Kevin Brownlow has written an interesting and detailed account of David Lean, director. I loved the behind the scenes stories. You will learn a lot about the intensity and weakness in this driven man. He loved films and the making of films. Film producers and film critics had a direct effect on this man. Read it if you are at all interested in David Lean.

April 24, 2003 - I still refer to this book. Often re-read sections of it. It is still 5 out of 5

This book is written in a lean manner. It is simple, common and easy to read. It describes ordinary things and ideas very clearly and with one purpose. This book provides all the roadmap, tools and insight needed to allow plants to achieve excellence. The authors take great pains to address common failures issues. They provide a single source handbook that any plant can understand and use, a source with example metrics and tools, with logic and simple ideas to prevent and overcome the daily issues faced by the team that implements Lean.

This is not a book that deals much about soft issues. It is not a fuzzy warm feeling book about the people side, nor is it a motivational "you can do it" book. It is a frank easy to read book about simple steps and simple ideas that make plants great. It explains the people issues and the fact that unless working teams make the decisions and changes Lean will not happen. It is a long book, more of handbook length, but much easier to read.

Lean Manufacturing: A Plant Floor Guide fills the space between a detailed "How To" text and an overview. It provides coverage of every key issue in moving to Lean Manufacturing, offering rationale, plans and encouragement.

From understanding your customers needs, metrics, building a solid business case and launching a methodical process, this book has all the tools necessary for a sound lean transition.
Perhaps most importantly, it offers reliable advice on overcoming resistance and building an effective team.

I purchased Lean Bodies, Swimsuit Lean, and Lean Bodies Cookbook all at the same time. Swimsuit Lean had no new information, it's more like cliff notes for the Lean Bodies book. The only difference besides having a lot less information is that it has lots of before and after pictures that aren't even very convincing. The pictures take up almost 1/3 of the already short book. If you have money burning a hole in your pocket and aren't going to read it anyway, this is the book for you.

Here I am again on the plan. Two years ago, I lost 10 pounds and one size on the 30 day plan. But I went back to my old habits, became sedentary, and gained back that weight plus some. I started a couple of months ago with exercise, no dietary modifications. No luck! I have been on this plan again for a week and I can feel it working already. This is the only plan that works for me, personally. I just hope I can stick with it for longer than 30 days!

I did the book, the first leanbodies book, back when it was very new and I lost 10 pds in the first 3 weeks. I was very excited, yes, the prep-arations are time consuming, but if you pre-cook, soups and stews, and chicken, fish etc, and freeze, you do save the hassle of last minute preparation, as cliff does suggest. I know i have tried numerous other programs without this quick success.I would like to hear from some more positive e-mails. You can contact me personally.

Prejudiced and unobjective account of the CAMI joint venture in Ontario. The authors, (two sociology professors and a union bureaucrat) are guilty of sloppy research and pro-union bias. Their much emphasized "unlimited access to the shop floor" was apparently wasted. This book is a golden example of a wasted opportunity. Still, it serves as an example of why transplants usually stay non-union.

Excellent book, very informative and readable consideration of CAMI Automotive and the implementation of "Japanese" style management. Clearly considers the worker responses over several years while describing the basics of the management approaches used. This is a a very solid and informative work.