This book gives a good introduction to the world of Vip protection. It mainly centers on the United Kingdom and the United States, but does touch on a few other countries. More detail on the other countries would have made it an excellent book. For the reader who is looking for specifics on how to conduct Vip protection, this book does not provide that. It gives a history of how the industry has evolved and the types of problems faced. It is written in a style which makes for enjoyable reading.

I m the chief of the security details division of Turkish Presidential Protection Department.

I bought this book from Washington D.C. during the Turkish President's visit to USA for NATO Summit in 1999. This book has so many interesting details and stories about VIP Protection World. I learned to much (Especially about Secret Service). There are very educative details about Secret Service and I think it will give very important lessons to other countries Protection Teams.

I recommend this book to everybody especially who want to learn what is real VIP Protection.

By this chance I would like to thank Richard O'Connor for this beatiful book.

Sincerely

Hasan ALSANCAK

Inspector

Turkish Presidential Protection Department

A book packed with detail on the world of close protection and sure to create much debate. The author takes an independent view and approache's the subject with a view of been impartial. He certainly achieved his objective and I was unable to put the book down and unfortunately finished reading it in three days. His ability of providing information never published before but also using that information so as to give the reader a real view of life as a bodyguard is excellent. If you have ever been interested in the world of close protection or just interested in how VIP's use bodyguards this ais a must get book.

Recently returned from France all "fired up" to make the wonderful treats I had experienced there. Alas, I could find very few recipes for my favorites, then I happened upon this just released book and it is the answer to all my prayers. It has absolutely all of the Parisian classics, from financiers to macaroons complete with fillings! The instructions look simple and easy to read and I am most anxious to get started. I am ordering a copy for my sister tdoay. Thank you Jill O'Connor!

THIS BOOK CONTINUES TO BE MY FAVORITE BOOK OF FRENCH DESERT RECIPES. EVERYONE TURNS OUT AND THE RESULTS ARE ALWAYS FAVORABLE. I HAVE GIVEN THIS BOOK AND BAKING PANS TO ALL MY FRIENDS FOR WEDDING SHOWER GIFTS. IS JILL OCONNOR GOING TO WRITE ANYMORE BOOKS? A FAN FROM CALIFORNIA

I HAVE ALL FOUR OF JILL O'CONNORS BOOKS AND THIS IS MY FAVORITE. ANYONE INTERESTED IN FRENCH DESERTS SHOULD HAVE THIS IN THEIR COOKBOOK COLLECTION. THE INSTRUCTIONS ARE CLEAR AND NOT AT ALL INTIMIDATING. ALL OF THE ADVICE IS PRACTICAL AND THE BOOK IS SO INTERESTING! SO FAR I HAVE HAD THE CAFE AU LAIT POTS DE CREME AND THE ALMOND MADELEINES, BOTH WERE DELICIOUS. I AM MAKING THE BURNISHED ORANGE TART NEXT. GET THIS BOOK, YOU WILL LOVE IT.

Having read this book two thoughts come up:
1. They should have had much more in-depth data, why stick so much to the surface ?
2. Is their overview of ways to deal with radical innovation comprehensive ?

Seen the impressive list of authors and the impressive research they've done the book is disappointing. Maybe because they were limited on what they could disclose, time pressure etc.

To learn more about dealing with radical innovation I recommend the books 'Corporate Venturing, 'Intrapreneuring', 'Webs of Innovation', 'The Innovators Dilemma'.

So should you read 'Radical Innovation ? Well if you're active in the field it should be on your shelves, otherwise I wouldn't spend my dollars on it.

I think this book will have the greatest value if read in combination with Yoffie and Kwak's Judo Strategy. Why? Because the authors of that book correctly stress the importance of maximizing organizational speed, agility, balance, and leverage in any competitive marketplace. What they do not address (except perhaps indirectly or by implication) is the importance of radical innovation which, more often than not, proves to be a decisive competitive advantage. Indeed, the seven authors of the book I am about to review identify "Seven Challenges in Managing Radical Innovation" (see Table 1-1 on page 8) and meeting these challenges effectively indeed requires maximizing organizational speed, agility, balance, and leverage. Obviously, no single volume asks all "the right questions," much less provides "all the right answers." Hence the importance of carefully correlating the ideas from several different sources. I also strongly Michael Hammer's The Agenda which offers a "model" by which decision-makers in any organization (regardless of its size or nature) can determine appropriate priorities and then set appropriate objectives before formulating strategies and tactics by which to achieve those objectives.

The subtitle of this book ("How Mature Companies Can Outsmart Upstarts") reminds me of Jack Welch's comments when explaining why he admires "small and sleek" companies:

"For one, they communicate better. Without the din and prattle of bureaucracy, people listen as well as talk; and since there are fewer of them they generally know and understand each other. Second, small companies move faster. They know the penalties for hesitation in the marketplace. Third, in small companies, with fewer layers and less camouflage, the leaders show up very clearly on the screen. Their performance and its impact are clear to everyone. And, finally, smaller companies waste less. They spend less time in endless reviews and approvals and politics and paper drills. They have fewer people; therefore they can only do the important things. Their people are free to direct their energy and attention toward the marketplace rather than fighting bureaucracy."

For those who seek radical innovation in so-called "mature" companies, the challenges which the authors of this book identify are obviously much greater than they are for those in the "small and sleek" companies which Welch admires. A majority of upstarts pursue a "judo strategy" (in one form or another) because they lack the resources of their much larger competitors. (David had no chance if he wrestled Goliath.) For that reason, they cannot afford incremental innovation. They must take bold, decisive action when and where it will have the greatest impact.

When explaining what they call an "imperative," the authors of this book make a critically important distinction: "...incremental innovation usually emphasizes cost or feature improvements in existing products or services and is dependent on exploitation competencies. In contrast, radical innovation concerns the development of new businesses or product lines -- based on new ideas or technologies or substantial cost reductions -- that transform the economics of a business, and therefore require exploration competencies." This is indeed a key distinction.

Much of the material in this book was generated by the authors' research over a period of five years (1995-2000) which followed the development and commercialization activities of 12 radical innovation projects in 10 large, established ("mature") firms. For the authors, a radical innovation project must have the potential to produce one or more of these results: an entirely new set of performance features, improvements in known performance features of five times or greater, and/or a significant (i.e. 30% or more) reduction in cost. What the authors learned from the research serves as the foundation of their conclusions; also of what they recommend to those who seek radical innovation in their own organization. All of the ideas presented are anchored in an abundance of real-world experience. Although this brilliant book's greatest value may be derived by decision-makers in "mature" companies, I think substantial value can also be derived by decision-makers in the "upstarts" with which such companies as DuPont, General Electric, General Motors, IBM, and Texas Instruments will continue to compete. One final point: All of the "mature" companies discussed in this book were once "upstarts" themselves. How revealing that all of them are now so hard at work on regaining or preserving certain competitive advantages which once served them so well.

Very succinct yet comprehensive. It has key advice on the marketing, finance, and people skills necessary to see a new idea advance to a great new product. This book should be required reading for all MBA students, managers, and anyone who has the dream of a great new idea but is unsure as to how to make it come real. Although the title states that the book focuses on how more established companies can create environments to promote radical innovations, the information can readily be applied to any firm regardless of length of operations - and yes, to individuals.

The authors present a list of 7 challenges that face the radical innovator and then they provide the competencies, or skills, that are necessary to meet these challenges. Throughout the text, real-life examples from well-known firms help the reader to understand how these challenges come about, and to even recognize a challenge should it present itself. The examples do tend to focus on radical innovations that are new technological products, but the recommendations could also be applied to other new ideas such as new management systems or organizational structures.

I am not a fan of soap operas but the life of Baby Doe Tabor reads something like one and I found it fascinating. A rags to riches to rags true story that draws you in from start to finish. There is something about the person of Baby Doe that just draws you in and leaves you thinking about her long after the book is finished. I bought this book in 1993 on a trip to Colorado and I still pick it up from time to time and re-read it. The story of Horace and Baby Doe Tabor would make a great movie, and one was made in 1932 called Silver Dollar, sadly it is not available for home video. A good read.

The story of Baby Doe is worth reading. This well written account dramatically tells the story of her rise and fall in wealth and her personal and public lives. Anyone who appreciates stories of the American power mongers of the late 19th century will enjoy this insightful biography

This is an easy read about an oft-villified, robber barron who was in reality a Donald Trump of his time. As a stock analyst and portfolio manager, I found this history of Jay Gould does much factually to dispell a century of populist slander. Gould was no saint, but corporate moralizing gets knocked on it's can by this insightful and sometimes humorous look at his complex dealings. Check out how similar the bare-knuckles tactics of Gould are to today's Wall Street. If you like unapologetic individuals more than groups, you'll enjoy Gould's Millions.

This is NOT a book for beginners who wish to learn JSP/servlets and EJBs and the techniques of J2EE. On the other hand, if you already have some knowledge with these techniques, the book may help to improve your background of J2EE and its components.

1.The strong points of the book are:

- the book does a wonderful job in explaining different key points of J2EE techniques especially at the beginning of each chapter; although the discussion sometimes becomes pretty vague and less clear at the end.

- the book's code examples use j2sdkee1.2.1, orion and jboss which are available for you free with unlimited time.

- the book looks quite impressive, 1600 plus pp. hardcovered.

2.The weak points of the book:

- all the code examples are fairly easy. In fact, too easy to do much help to the readers who need a better workout to pay attention to some key points of the techniques.

- Since only half of the book is devoted to really J2ee techniques, people who already experienced with jsp/servlet may find the other half of the book unecessary.

In conclusion, you may want to check this book out if you alread know jsp/servlet and j2ee( through the Sun's tutorials and examples and wish to have a better understand of this popular but pretty complex technique.

This is one of the earliest J2EE 1.2 book that hit the market and it does a decent job. Coverage on individual topics such as servlets, JSP's, and EJB's are good and coherent. I especially like the EJB topic which spans 6 chapters that gives a lot of details and guidance in architecting your apps using EJB's. Other J2EE topics like JDBC, JNDI, RMI, XML, JMS, and JavaMail also received adequate coverage in the book. Compared with the book by Perrone et al. (Sams), this one is more focused and more in depth.

However, I am somewhat disappointed by the lack of substances (i.e., code, code, code to a developer like myself!) in the later chapters that deal with design strategies. It will have been a lot better if the book used an integrated sample to illustrate how to implement the design principles layed out in chapters 24 and 25. Instead, we have a chapter (30) which basically borrows a canned sample from Orion Server release, which in itself is OK but is not tightly related to earlier chapters. So if you already have servlets and JSP experience and would like to add EJB/JMS to the mix, I wouldn't recommend this book. Pick up the new book from Wrox on BEA WebLogic Server instead.

This book is one the most comprehensive ones that I've bought. It provides you with most of the possible technologies that you could use in a basic J2EE application. I love the section on the J2EE architecture. For newbies I typcially request that they read that section first. It does justice to basic topics like JDBC & Servlets & tag libraries, and the concepts about them. As well as introduces EJBs and other technologies. I am a long time java developer and I use it as a constant reference. Great job WROX!

The author knows a lot about the accounting principles mentioned in the book, but he has forgotton that he is writing a textbook, not a novel. He has written too much and has failed to make good use of diagrams or tables to illustrate some concepts which are too difficult to grasp when expressed only in words.

This book is a learning book for accounting principles but it isn't for the novice student. This book looks at the settings for reports that all accountants need to learn and looks at them closely. In going through this book you see the various items that need to be reported in financial statements, how certain calculations are made in the accounting principles and provides a good base for any accounting student.

This is he quintisential goto book for all you accounting needs. Quite well written and an excellent refernce.

Goldstone is a skillful lawyer and a dedicated human rights activist. He played a central role in South Africa's transition to democracy and in the purusit of justice in the former Yugoslavia. He has a sharp eye for bureaucratic absurdity (especially in the UN). He knows world leaders and could have written a fascinating "inside" history. Instead, he produced this short, lightweight book comprised of little more than anecdotes and name-dropping. It's incredible that Yale University Press saw fit to publish it. We can only hope that Goldstone will turn to writing a serious autobiography after he steps down from the South African Constitutional Court.

I was looking for the specifics of the South African problem and reconciliation. Goldstone focuses on the logistics of his position as judge/prosecutor, rather than on specific crimes and prosecutions. O'Connor's introduction is the most interesting part of the book.

Makes you appreciate the success of the Nuremberg trila and how it was put togather in the days witout modern cominications and it uniting of the world in the quest for international justice against perpetrators of war crimes

Hickok is neither romanced nor ridiculed by the author, who shows on every page an intense interest to portray his subject as he was: a tough, hard-fisted lawman, but cool under fire; a man with an eye to the ladies and the table; a private individual, not anxious to stir up a fight; a giving, generous soul to good friends and trusted associates.

O'Connor does a good job in weighing between sources, in providing alternative interpretations to longstanding legends, though his conclusions and literary glitter sometimes spoil his credibility. Nevertheless, the author shows his subject's faults and favors with equal ease, and his reasoning is neither absurd nor apologetic. Strong casework appears throughout the book, but sometimes peppered with too much comic relief.

An enjoyable and easy read about a very interesting man, a tragic figure, the victim of his own legend.

"The Boxer Rebellion" by Richard O'Connor is a history of, what else, the Boxer Rebellion of 1900. The Boxer Rebellion was an uprising which occurred in imperial China at the beginning of the 20th century that attempted to oust all foreign influence from China.

O'Connor gives a good account of the uprising itself. He relates the various events and personages of the episode with clarity and fairness. O'Connor doesn't play favorites with one nationality over another; he roundly condemns all parties to this rebellion.

O'Connor is especially critical of those in charge on both sides of the confrontation. To the dowager empress of China, Tzu Hsi, he heaps the criticism of mystical beliefs and the inability to accept good counsel. To the western diplomats he places the blame of ignorance to what was really happening in China at the time. He also accuses them of having a pig-headed arrogance about their supposed racial superiority. On all accounts these criticisms are warranted.

Where O'Connor falters is in his pre- and post-rebellion analyses. This may have been by choice; but, it leaves a gaping whole in the history nonetheless. His description of the causes of the rebellion are at least adequate. Mostly he puts it on both sides' belief that the other was no better than barbarians. O'Connor's description of the near-term fallout of the rebellion is, again, adequate at best. He recounts the punishments inflicted on China, both official and unofficial, after the rebellion is squashed. However, any long-term ramifications are glossed over with the obligatory "it paved the way for the downfall of the Ch'ing Dynasty and the eventual rise of Chairman Mao." This is hardly adequate for an event which is claimed by the Chinese to have had such an important effect on their nation.

O'Connor's writing is slightly above average. This is the saving grace of "The Boxer Rebellion" which keeps it from being a dry recitation of historical facts. O'Connor brings the personalities of the various actors to life with several stories of actions taken during the conflict.

"The Boxer Rebellion" is an adequate description of this period-in-time of Chinese history. It is not, however, going to give you a good idea of what led up to it and what resulted from it. As self-contained history it is fine, as a means of gaining a greater understanding of China it is not.