Knock Em Dead Business Presentations tackles the fundamentals of making a successful business presentation; from researching a presentation and capturing audience attention to using visual aids to make a point, and involving an audience in a presentation. Everything is found within the pages of Knock Em Dead Business Presentations necessary to creating an effective, nuts and bolts presention of a fine business program from scratch.

Career management expert Martin Yate and finance whiz Peter Sander have assembled a dandy handbook on making effective presentations. After pointing out the value of developing this key career skill, they focus on how to prepare a good speech. They go from identifying your audience, to determining how best to deliver information, to being ready to be hot stuff at the podium. Similar books have explained these steps before, but the authors couldn't offer their meatier advice without beginning with the basics. Familiar instructions include researching your audience and topic, being yourself and using effective communications techniques. The more distinctive information covers turning your talk into a kind of conversation with the audience, employing audio visual aids effectively and adopting proper stage dress and manners. Though the material is familiar, we from getAbstract appreciate this well-organized, clear presentation and suggests that beginning speakers might want to walk this way before stepping up to the microphone.

As a teenager in London in the late 1960s I remember the daily ritual of nipping in to Joe Lyons Corner House to sneak a cup of tea and a last cigarette before going to school. Little did I (or any other customer) know what had been going on behind the scenes. This book lets us in on the secret.

It tells how a UK catering company, J. Lyons and Co, got involved in the design, development and building of an electronic computer initially for their own use but subsequently for other customers. Written and edited by many of the people involved, the book is a mix of personal recollection and documentation from the period. It is the story of an extraordinary innovation, conceived and developed by a group of talented and incredibly hard-working people, made possible by the vision of the senior management who in 1949 "resolved to introduce, before anyone else in the world, what it called an 'automatic calculator'"

The book has four parts. Part I, by David Caminer gives a brief description of the successful running on a stored program electronic computer of the world's first regular routine office job in November 1951, and some background on Lyons. The rest of Part I charts the history of the development and use of the Leo computer and its derivatives from its conception in the late 1940s up to the demise of the Leo computers in 1968 by which time some 82 Leo systems had been installed. The last few, located at the Post Office, continued in service until 1981.

The rest of the book consists of personal contributions from many of the individuals who worked for Leo Computers. Part 2 provides an insight into the early task of programming - a non-trivial task in the days before computer languages had been developed. It includes reminiscences of many of the early applications that ran on LEO computers. Part 3 provides some more detailed recollections by those involved of working for specific customers. Part 4 documents the export efforts of LEO computers and later English Electric to gain a foothold in South Africa and the Iron Curtain and ends with an evaluation of the approach behind LEO by John Aris. A small number of appendices provide extra details to events depicted elsewhere in the book.

As well as being a fascinating piece of historical writing the book provides food for thought in the supposedly computer literate world of the 21st Century. Spectacular computer disasters such as the London Stock Exchange's Taurus system have left us with rather jaundiced perceptions about computer projects . Why were Lyons better at implementing computer systems?

One major factor was that before automating business processes the Lyons team ensured that they were well understood and ready for computerisation. Long before the prospect of computers came along, Lyons had established a systems research office with the brief to constantly search out how improvements might be made to the business by changing processes. Consequently, Lyons was more aware of the possible uses of computers and also that the large costs of development could be recouped. Lyons only computerised applications where it could see a clear business benefit. In contrast to much of the rest of the computer industry LEO's sales were based on an application-led approach rather than a technology-led approach. This was partly because LEO could not compete head to head in terms of technology but largely reflected the history of Lyons own innovative approach to business processes. It is clear from the book that Lyons consultants had a harder task implementing systems in their customers businesses than they did with their in-house applications.

Also the standards for good practice set by the management were extremely high. The "six articles of faith" documented in John Aris's evaluation of the LEO approach, which became embedded in the way the LEO teams went about their computerisation projects are another major factor. These can be summarised as follows: 1. The computer system should be thorough and radical. Understand the system as a whole. Re-think the processes rather than simply automate the existing ones. Make the system produce management information as well as transactions. Do a proper job. 2. Check everything. Program errors are a deadly sin, to be eliminated come what may. 3. Design of input and output documents is critical. 4. Detailed systems specifications must be written, agreed and frozen before any programming can begin. 5. Computer time is expensive, programmer time is cheap. Using a lot of human effort and ingenuity to minimise run times is an excellent bargain. 6. Before a computer can be configured enough work has to be done on both specification and detailed design to ensure it will be powerful enough.

While it may no longer be true that programmers are cheaper than run time, it seems that many of the problems related to software development even now might benefit from a stricter following of the other five articles of faith.

Of course the kinds of applications that LEO was devoted to might be considered routine today and the expectations of what can be done with computers are far greater. As long ago as 1972, Edgar Dikstra, a pioneer of computer science, recognised the problem that this expectation created when he wrote:

"as the power of the available machines grew by a factor or more of a thousand, society's ambition to apply these machines grew in proportion............ [t]he increased power of the hardware, together with the perhaps even more dramatic increase in its reliability, made solutions feasible that a programmer had not dared to dream about a few years before. And now, a few years later he had to dream about them and, even worse, he had to transform such dreams into reality!"

Most people would have thought that the people from Lyons who considered developing an electronic computer in 1947 were dreaming. This book is a fitting tribute to all those involved in daring to bring this particular dream to reality.

Amazon Review 21 January 2000

Professor Dick Nolan of the Harvard University Business School writes in his introduction to the book:

"This story has the best qualities of a Harvard Business School case study: it is an important event in the history of the business.

It is a study about extraordinary people ... As confident executives they look outside their company, in other countries, at universities to discover new ways of doing things and fresh ideas. In their bold actions, trust shows through as a foundation in implementing their vision. Young people are given free reign and do not disappoint. A resulting exiting, challenging 'can-do' culture is heard in the words of the people who were there."

From Dr Terry Gourvish, Director Business History Unit, LSE, in Business History Newssheet,

"This is a major contribution to the history of computing and computers in the UK. A full scale case study of LEO computers, written by members of the team who experienced all its trials and tribulations, it provides a fascinating insight into the development by J. Lyons & Co. of the first business computer in the UK."

From Neil Fitzgerald, editor of CA magazine, in The Scotsman, Business section. .

"Can-do culture, empowerment, user-driven innovation, business process re-engineering, flat organisations, quality, short lines of communications and decision making. We are led to believe that these are radical, modern ideas. However, a book that has come into my hands shows that they were being successfully harnesses almost half a century ago, to create the most significant event ever in business management.

The editors ... tell the story of how they and others built and put to work the world's first business computer. This did not happen in California's Silicon Valley, but at Cadby Hall, the ... west London premises of Lyons.

An important facet was that they felt they should always take a strategic view of the whole function to be computerised and make recommendations for improvements before going to work."

From Dr John Pinkerton, review in ICL Technical Journal

"Telling the story of how the foundations of data processing were laid from 1949 onwards has evidently been a labour of love.

This is a work of scholarship but eminently readable nevertheless. It will be seen as a major contribution to the history of business computing; it is strongly recommended for anyone already working in or studying to enter the field of IT."

From Michael Braithwaite, Deloitte, Touche, European Journal of Information Systems.

"I commend this book to a wide audience. To the general reader it stands as a very well written and exciting account of technological innovation. To the business school student it presents a remarkable story of technological success that, as a commercial venture was flawed, perhaps by factors beyond the control of the players."

From Professor George Mitchell, review published Journal of Operational Research Society..

"This fascinating book tells the life story of LEO. Rather over a third of the book is the historical record, carefully researched and engagingly written up by Caminer. The rest is largely personal memoirs of those involved in the early days, including accounts of several innovative applications. The whole is rounded off by an evaluation by Aris. The book's value is enhanced by the style of writing. Those who worked in LEO, especially in its earlier days, including many of the book's authors, exercised an influence on the development of business computing in the UK quite disproportionate to their numbers.

I found this book a good read and one which exited several strands of thought. Although its main market will be among scholars and students of IT and business studies, it deserves a wide readership in the OR community."

From John Perkins, National Computer Centre Newsletter,

"The book, ...., is a fascinating adventure story in which the dynamics of an extraordinary group of people made the seemingly impossible happen."

From Professor John Ward in the Journal of Strategic Information Systems.

"The story of that first business computer: Leo - Lyons Electronic Office - is told in this book. Whilst it is history, reflection on what was achieved and not achieved and why still has many lessons of relevance to the successful use of IT today - we seem to be learning painfully and slowly!.

.... a review by John Aris of what of what he calls the 'LEO approach' - an integrated combination of technology innovation, application and consultancy designed to enable significant business improvements from computer use in a range of situation. Many of these applications would be called 'business process redesign' in the 1990s!

The wide range of contributors provide many different perspectives on what happened and views on why things evolved the way they did. It is a set of memoirs - often very personal ones - of a time when Britain could be said to have led the world in the application of this new technology.

... it is a book that we should all be grateful the authors took the time and trouble to get together and write. It is a story of extraordinary achievements , by a talented team..."

From I. A. Lovelock in Management Accounting.

"This book is a first-hand account of how this astounding innovation came about. It is a flesh and blood, warts and all story related by the participants, brimming over with the same enthusiasm that enabled the unlikeliest of organisations to lead the way into the future that we are all familiar with today.

It concludes with different strands coming together to provide the essence of the LEO credo of comprehensive, integrated, secure, action stimulated implementations.

My almost-four-year-old loves all things space: Star Trek, space shuttles, Apollo 13, etc. I've tried to impress upon him that space isn't just "in the movies," but that someday, he, too, could be an astronaut...that people, have in fact, already "boldly gon where no one has gone before." This book proved an excellent vehicle for helping him understand that. While the language is too complicated for a four-year-old, he enjoys the meticulous paintings of the space shuttle's journey, from the Vehicle Assembly Building to the launch pad, then to space and back. An added bonus: He had seen paintings of the space shuttle in the exhibit halls at Kennedy Space Center, and wanted to "take them home." With the paintings in this book...he can do just that.

I really liked this book because it gave a lot of detail about the actual launch of the space shuttle, but not in technical terms, so kids could understand it

I saw Magic for Grandparents in an early self-published version before it found a publisher. What amazed me was that it was so well written. Fun to go through. And very quickly I was able to master a few tricks - made me feel like a professional magician. And, believe me, I am a klutz!You don't have to be a grandparent to like this book.

This is a great gift book for granddad and grandma because it shows them a bunch of simple real magic tricks that can be done,even with arthritic fingers! East to understand and well illustrated.

If you have trouble understanding and particularly visualizing what mathematical formulae mean. If you have a belief that all mathematical concepts CAN be visualized if only mathematicians tried hard enough. If you like math books but wish there were more pictures. If you wish there were instructions on things to do in Math books other than write out formulae and solutions. If you want hope that there's new and exciting stuff out there that you can find by doing things with paper other than writing on it. THIS IS THE BOOK FOR YOU. A particularly interesting section on how to generate the Cantor Set by Geometric iteration using the tent map and a good explanation of sets related to the Cantor set and the general relationship of things like the Cantor Set to more complicated fractals. One of the most interesting books I have eever read vastly increased my understanding and provided me with valuable ideas to furthur my own creative efforts. Well done HHandP I look forward to the new book.

"Mathematical Reflections" can be enjoyed by anyone with a high school level of mathematical education but will also interst the more advanced reader. Topics from tiling of the plane to paper folding to Fibonacci numbers are presented in a clear and interesting manner along with problems and solutions. If you ever wondered why the ratio of consecutive Fibonacci numbers converges to the "golden ratio", this book is worth the purchase price

Tom Fischer, et al, do a nice job explaining the basics design patterns with the newly object-oriented Visual Basic (VB.NET): which pattern is used against what type of problem. This book is great for people migrating from VB6 who have never dealt with objects and it's a good introduction to the topic.

The book covers most of the original Gang of Four (GoF) models in a very readable, pragmatic way.

For those of you that hears about Design Patterns but don't know C/C++ and are having issues finding good ressources to adapt Design Patterns in the VB area, this is the book for you.

Rather than attempting to compete with 'Design Patterns : elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software', from Addison-Wesley, they extend it so that VB developers can learn how to understand design Patterns and apply them inside our applications.

The book covers the following common patterns :
Singleton, Abstract Factory, Factory, Adapter, Facade, Bridge, Composite, Decorator, Proxy, Observer, State, Strategy,Template.

I've been a cyclist for about twenty five years and in that time I've managed to accumulate a library of books on cycling. Books on everything from custom frames to offroad riding technique. But by far the most enjoyable to read has been this and several others by Mr.Ballantine. Many of the newer cycling books have a compulsive, competitive tone to them, as if the authors assumed the reader was bent on entering the Tour de France. In contrast, Dick Ballantine infuses the reader with his sense of joy and enthusiasm about the pure act of riding and the pure form of the diamond frame bicycle, a design that has accomodated over a hundred years worth of cyclists. But he also manages to cover practical matters--everything from hub overhauls to recumbents. The first chapter is entitled
Get A Bike! Since I first started reading Mr.Ballantine, I've "gotten" five and partly due to him, I've loved them all.

This book should have never been let go out of print. R's 'Ultimate' book does not replace it. This book has much writing of great character and insight. It covers the whole rainbow of cycling with proper respect and depth, with particular nods to velomobiles, trikes, recumbents and folders. This edition also has the finest assortment of B&W bike sketch art ever published, with superb highlights by the incomparable PAT.

In this world of Knowledge and the propensity to believe in things are reasoned by Sciences, this book prods us, that the ultimate is still GOD. I for one, has fallen out a number of times, with an ardent attempt at things secular, despite my inner cravings for a deeper faith in God. This book sets out reminding me of my corporal life and all that surrounds me is nothing, but temporal. It is a rare find, given my recent yearning to return as a prodigal son and my inner inclination to detach all materialism and let it take a back seat. Despite the classic prose as expected of an author who lived more than 100 years ago, I understood his writing thoroughly, although I am not an European nor an American. This, indeed is an oasis of a find for answers from the Word Made Flesh, and is dwelling amongst us. In short, "go get it, all you who wants rest, for His Yoke is light and easy."

The back cover notes that Vintage Spiritual Classics are "[f]illed with eloquence and fresh insight, encouragement and solace." Two out of four ain't bad (and the other two are here too, if harder to reach).

Newman is certainly eloquent, though I might have described his prose as "stately" instead; he is rarely so eloquent here as to be hard to follow. Fresh insights are here too, and 160 years have not made them stale.

But this book is not the "easy reading spirituality" one might expect from a book whose cover says it's filled with encouragement and solace. Newman is in the reader's face and at the conscience from the beginning.

His "Plain and Parochial" sermons are challenges to lead a truly Christian life. It's hard to believe people filled an Oxford Church to hear these--perhaps people were made of sterner stuff then.

Yet there is solace and encouragement to be found. Newman was no ogre, but a caring man. He said what should be said, caring about the souls of those who would hear (and read) it.

And as a bonus, the book closes with one of my favorite prayers.

This is the first Anthropology introduction I have read that doesn't get bogged down in postmodern academic speak. It was very clear and interesting, with good examples.

This was the first VSI I read and it made me fall in love with the series.

This is a great little book to get a first impression of anthropology. The two authors present different historical developments and schools of thought. I had not know anything about this academic field before, but this book made me want to read more. Especially helpful with that were the examples that pertained to the authors' own fieldwork in Mexico and Indonesia. Reading about bee larvas and onion soup just makes the ideas presented more "real".

This catalog provides a wealth of information for collectors of comic books. It can be overwhelming for a novice (me) to absorb, but what fun I will have while I learn. Definitely a worthwhile investment.

This thing is a monster. It has details on nearly every comic published, through to September 2001 or so. Besides the usual pricing information, if also includes circulation info (for some titles) and CGC info (how many copies have been CGC'd, and what the highest grade is). Many titles have a short series synopsis included, with information on storylines, creators, and anything else that might be interesting about a title.