I would have given this five stars except for its "thrown together" feel. It started as a full-scale biography but the source materials simply were not available. The book that was written consists of some short character sketches and a recapitulation of JO'C's hunting trips and writing career.

The author is a hunter so he does justice to his subject.

In my view, this book has two serious omissions. First, the author repeatedly asserts that O'Connor was the dean of gunwriters in his time. This is true (IMHO) but the book does a poor job showing why this is true and what made JO'C's writing special.

Second, this work does not discuss the feud between Elmer Keith and O'Connor. Ostensibly the point of contention was the effectiveness of small, fast bullets like the 270 Win. But the Keith side (since Elmer's acolytes got in on the fun) made it personal. JO'C, in contrast, showed a sense of humor and charity that reflects favorably on his character.

Jack O'Connor: The Legendary Life Of America's Greatest Gunwriter is the definitive biography of one of twentieth century North America's premier sportsmen, big-game hunters, and gun experts. Biographer Robert Anderson drew upon information provided from interviews with O'Connor's family and friends, as well as O'Connor's own papers, photos, and correspondences. The O'Connor papers from Washington State University were to prove invaluable in presenting a complete portrait of a man who had a great zest for love, despite a concurrent ability to be egotistically and occasionally mean spirited. A superb record of O'Connor's achievements as a hunter, the reader will learn about the early years of hardship in Arizona, the personal family tragedy of losing a son, the post-World War II "glory years" when O'Connor hunted tiger in India, sheep in Iran, buffalo in Tanganyika, and encounters with the ruling class of foreign land, and the corporate moguls of hunting and firearms industries. All of which gave O'Connor a special prestige to the point where his writings could spell success or failure for products and armaments marketed for the sportsman hunter. If you've ever read one of his columns or experienced the thrill of a big game hunt, you will want to read Jack O'Connor!

Graphis has long been a showcase of commercial work in a variety of media. Graphis, via its editiors, drops off the map with this issue as mediocrity, at the very most, is established.

Graphis Nudes is surpassed by the cheesecake of the Pirelli Calendar; at least there are only twelve slices on the calendar.

Graphis has always struggled with its main invention; itself. Setting one's self up as an 'authority' usually takes a little more than Graphis currently brings to the mill.

The problem with Graphis is its appeal to 'collectors'. Advertisers have never really used, or considered, Graphis as an 'index' of talent;

As this edition affirms, there's not a lot of talent out there being shown which should be good news for anyone in art school at the moment: There's a lot of room at the top. But, do we need Graphis to demonstrate it at a cost to us? After all, isn't buying a book of 'commercial' images a validation of the lowered bar?

That leaves Graphis Nudes as a lacking, uneventful, unprovocative, sterile collection of inked images we've all seen somewhere before

Skip this edition in favor of something from Aperture's press.

This book covers a big gamma of nude photography from old to new and from b&w to color. It is not specific in it nature, except for the nudity. If your are looking for a book that cover every topic of nude photography, this is for you. If you are refined to a specific type of photography, pass on this one.

A superb selection of light sculpted nude images from some of the world's best photographers. A must for a quality collection.

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.

This book by Tom Flores is very interesting and informational. It gives a very good overview of the aspects of football and coaching. You can find within its pages almost anything you need to help you to begin formulating your coaching course of action. Although this is a good text, it is best suited for youth and beginning coaches. Coaches at a higher level may desire a more advanced text.

If there is any such thing as a Coaching 101 class, this should be the textbook. A great book for youth and JV coaches as well as people who just want to learn more about the game. This text offers a great overview of nearly every aspect of football on and off the field. Not only does it cover the "Xs and Os", but also addresses strategy, game planning, and parental, family and community involvement with the football program. Coaches working at more advanced levels of football (5A high schools, college, pro) might find this book remedial. However, I think fundamentals are important at any level and this text may prove to be a great refresher for coaches and coordinators bogged down in zone blitzes and rhythm passing. My favorite parts of the book were the explanations of the evolution of offensive and deffensive formations. It's one thing to know how a play works, it's another to know WHY. Other books I've read gave me the fish, this book showed me how to fish. BIG difference.

This is a difficult book to review objectively. Even though it tackles some very difficult subjects, it's not a "downer" book. It's very well written, with an engaging style that holds your interest. Kalili`i Kaleo ("Sugar") grows up in a very difficult social and cultural environment on Kaua`i. One that I suspect is not uncommon to this day. Her life starts out with poverty, domestic violence and child abuse, which of course leads right into being attracted to "no-good" men. Despite all of those obstacles, she becomes elected as the mayor of Kaua`i. In her role as mayor, she takes on some politically powerful adversaries. That, combined with the her husband's greed, lands her in the middle of a very public bribery trial that threatens to take away both her political career and her young son. O'Connor switches between the courtroom drama and flashbacks as a way to fill the reader in on the story of the rest of her life. There is enough plausible action and suspense thrown in to get it into the "hard to put down" category (like blowing up a water aqueduct to a sugar plantation, for example).

There a few things that make this novel a bit less that it could have been. O'Connor is an outsider when it comes to the culture he's writing about. The cover says "A Hawaiian Novel," but it's not - it's a novel ABOUT Hawai`i and I couldn't ever quite shake that feeling while I was reading it. O'Connor throws in some pidgin and some Hawaiian, but not quite enough to make it really work. Each chapter begins with a quotation from a 1930's book about the sugar industry ("King Cane" by John Vandercook), but the quotations don't connect with the contents of the chapters that I can see. I think they are distracting. And there is a really glaring editing error on the back cover. The state motto is written in large lettering but the word "pono" is misspelled "puno."

Given those flaws, it's still a good book; it's just not quite what it claims to be. If you want to learn about Hawaiian culture, read books written by Hawaiians (and check out HawaiiBooks.com, and Amazon affilliate.)

Lili Kaleo endures a horrendous litany of hardships, any one of which could be enough to devastate an individual beyond recovery. However, like a Phoenix, Lili manages to rise from the ashes of trial and tribulation, finding the strength to carry on -- for herself, for her siblings, for her people. In this story, Dan O'Connor maintains an intricate storyline that weaves in and out of Lili's life as child, adolescent, and adult. Like a master craftsman, he unveils each event with perfect timing, maximizing dramatic effect. Also impressive is the level of authenticity which he is able to achieve. The setting is real. The characters are real. The emotions and events are real. Despite a very matter-of-fact tone, the reader is drawn into some very bitter and dark circumstances, and is forced to feel the full gravity of the issue at hand. I enjoyed Dan's story immensely, and would recommend it to anyone interested in Hawaiian culture or in the tale of a woman's will to survive against incredible odds. I'm looking forward to the sequel.