As a woman who is starting my own " Silicon valley startup" I am always on the lookout for material that is both helpful from a business perspective as well as empowering to women. This book provided neither of these things. It had the possibility of giving women who are running their own businesses an inspiring message to succeed but fell far short of this goal. Ms. Kurtzig's message to women is one that needs some serious debugging. E-benefits and Ask computing customers be wary!

This book is full of great advice for anyone starting a software company. It is also an interesting story. The negative reviews on this site to the effect that Sandra Kurtzig is some sort of vain egomaniac are just plain wrong. The book is NOT just for women. Its for anyone starting a high tech business.

This is book is about how to succeed within the system of the American-style capitalism, not any marxist socialism! It is a great, inspiring, motivating book for both men and women alike. The book about success in a political-economic system of free enterprise. Reviewers like the one from England, who are so unhappy about the competitive nature of capitalism, will find more enjoyable Das Kapital by Karl Marx or The State and Revolution by Vladimir Lenin (both available on amazon.com) as their kind of books!

I don't care to write too much about this book, because it just wastes more time.

Too much effort was put into this book and it was all futile.
Not enough "real hard evidence" supports anything reported in this "tabloid" type of book.
I felt like I was reading the National Enquirer (hardback version) than a book about Elvis and his manager.

This man obviously used a lot of other people's material, from other books, and added his opinion: which doesn't amount to much.

I like Scotty Moore and what he did for Elvis, but he was always kept in the dark about Elvis' business. So his comment about how much this book was an eye-opener is expected.

This was a waste of my money, but even moreso my time.
I would rather read something more substantial.

I like to learn about Elvis from the inside out. This is unquestionably one of the best and most interesting books I have ever read about Elvis' career. It is a fascinating and enlightening insight into Colonel Parker and thus into Elvis and his career also. Dickerson's approach takes you down a road I don't believe has been explored before. He has done remarkable research into (i) what influenced and shaped The Colonel and enabled him to emerge as a revolutionary and unique manager and (ii) into the underlying cultural and political forces of the time that greatly influenced the course of this particular piece of history. If you are serious about learning about Elvis and The Colonel, Dickerson's writing makes you think; it opens doors and suddenly so much becomes clear. The first half of the book is, perhaps, kinder to The Colonel than the second half; but, above all, if you want new and interesting information and great insight into these two gentlemen (Elvis and The Colonel), this book is brilliant. This book is well worth your time and money.

FROM THE BOOKJACKET:

"James Dickerson's research has confirmed more than I ever suspected"--Scotty Moore, Elvis's guitarist and first manager

"An indendiary, powerful investigative account . . . an explanation, finally, of the twisted, corrupt relationship between Elvis and Colonel Parker"--Joe Eszterhas, best-selling author, screenwriter and former writer for Rolling Stone magazine

"This jaw-dropping biography of Tom Parker confirms what I felt for years--that the Colonel was a far more fascinating rascal than Elvis ever became. This is a model of research assembled with crafty objectivity and humor"--Hal Kanter, director of the Elvis film "Loving You"

"Here is the whole sad and amazing story of 'the most accomplished con man since Barnum.' In swift, deft strokes Dickerson has sketched the greed, compulsion, and lies that drove every decision in the making of undoing of rock and roll's greatest talent. This is the book our study of popular culture's most glittering icon has lacked"--Lewis Nordan, author of "The Sharpshooter Blues"

"This riveting biography shines a hard light on the inscrutable Colonel . . . Dickerson has made it easy to understand that if rock and roll will never die, it owes its life to how Parker wrote the rules of the game"--Mark Ribowsky, author of "He's a Rebel"

Author Donald Dewey deliveres a very detailed description of James Stewart, but the book is not pure-it has a spin. Particular events in Mr. Stewarts life are amplified and opinionated with the author's twist. After reading the first 2 chapters of this book, it is clear to see that we are seeing the life of James Stewart through the eyes of Donald Dewey.

The memory of Jimmy Stewart suffers not at all in this well-researched biography. A nice touch is the brief summary and review of each movie in which Stewart appeared over the course of his lifetime, and the impact, for better or worse, that each had on his career. However, the author's prose style is dry as toast and lacking in any humor whatsoever. What could have been an outstanding work is, in the end, only a competent treatment of his subject.

I have read many books about the life of Jimmy Stewart and found that this one is the most thorough and balanced. Mr. Dewey details Jimmy Stewart's life from all angles but never resorts to smarmy or tabloid-like tactics. While he does not sugar coat Stewart, he doesn't blast him either; he leaves the reader to draw his/her own conclusions. This is the book I would recommend to anyone who wished to find out as much as possible about one of the greatest actors and intriguing personalities of the 20th century.

As murder mysteries go, this one falls short of a bestseller, but it does keep you turning pages, even if only to get through it. Our hero, Matt Cook, heir to the fortune of his famous father/author, is suspected in the death of said father. Matt himself is a journalist, hooks up with another journalist, and together they travel the world, ending up in exotic, off the beaten track places and becoming involved in a web of conspiracy, murder, and all sorts of action packed adventures. The theme of the whole story is too old though, we have all read mysteries like this before, and though the characters are lively enough, it just doesn't make for a stay awake at night book. Nearly every chapter is predictable, and though there is one fairly good twist, I suspected it as a twist immediately and still figured it out. At times there is some good humor, and some of the characters will keep you guessing, but there are just so many better murder mysteries and stories of this genre out there that I could only give it three stars. After awhile, I got really tired of the gang killings, which just went on and on and all of Matt's miraculous escapes. His journalist friend, Tina, is also very predictable, but she has spunk and at least that is appreciable. All in all, an average book with a little bit of spice.

The book seemed OK , until I discovered that Mr. Ellis had invented his experience as a Vietnam Vet . If somebody does this, what's the value of the book?

John Adams, you may want to consider Joseph Ellis's fine work, "Passionate Sage". Mr. Ellis does not dwell on Adams childhood or early years & that is fine. Not really that extraordinary for his time. Adams biggest problem was & is that he has never had the armies of p.r. men that have promoted Washington, Franklin & Jefferson thru the years. Adams knew this yet respected & envied them. He also knew his intellectual gifts surpassed the big three of the revolutionary generation. His integrity & forthrightness made him a most disagreeable person. He rationalized his unpopularity, feeling that virtue with fame is no virtue at all. His unpleasantness mellowed in his later years but not his brillant mind. In their last 14 years he pursued a lively correspondence with Thomas Jefferson. This may be his best legacy.

This is a typical private detective book from the post-WWII era. In it, as usual, the hero (Lew Archer) is accidentally involved in a case, and then decides to pursue the case, even though DANGER is everywhere. There is the requisite amount of hero-being-beat-up stuff, combined with hero-beating-others-up. There are the "bad" girls, and the who-knows-what-they-are girls (or 'gals', perhaps). There are the seedy denizens of the seedy town doing seedy things. And those are just the cops! There is also the seedy motel owner and his dissatisfied wife. Also on hand is the young criminal (just graduated from the juvenile delinquent ranks) and the wise old man who has seen much heartache.
I suspect this book was pretty hot when it came out, but it's almost a parody of the genre today, sad to say. I can stand about one Ross MacDonald a year, just to give me some perspective on this part of the mystery/suspense scene, and Find a Victim is it for this year.

This book is a poorly edited, mediocre attempt at describing the Colonel and his relationship to Elvis. While the book presents many interesting facts about the Colonel, it fails to put any perspective on the relationship between the most infamous manager and an American icon. Somewhere there is an interesting book to be written about the pull mediocre management has on great artists (ask the Beatles, Willie Nelson, and Billy Joel, among others). This ain't it.

The best of these Toby Peters mysteries (such as Never Cross a Vampire and to a lesser extent Murder on the Yellow Brick Road) are the ones where the celebrity clients have something to do, or where the proceedings at least parallel some aspect of their lives. This is not one of those, joining The Man Who Shot Lewis Vance as a novel where the supposed star, this time the Marx Brothers, are only the deus ex machina.

There are other ways this novel is a departure for the series, and in every way it deviates from the norm is a way in which it fails. Perhaps that is merely happenstance, but I think the changes themselves are to blame, as opposed to any faulty ideas or execution.

This novel is set in Chicago, allowing interaction with Mayor Daley and mobsters such as Frank Nitti. The plot involves Toby trying to get Chico Marx out of a situation arisen from gambling debts, which he says are not his.

There is notably less humor in this book than in previous adventures. It is freezing cold, Toby is perpetually ill and in pain, and meets a succession of characters that are sad or pitiful without ever achieving much poignancy. And as for Toby himself, his pathetic lifestyle is palatable when the comedic nature of it is trumped up; here it is more serious, almost maudlin at times. In addition, though these books are modeled after Chandler, they've never really managed the cynical wit or wry dialogue; so the humor is missed even more sorely here.

My overriding complaint with this book is this: Why have the Marx Brothers in your story if they're not going to act like the Marx Brothers? I understand that they were not the same men as their stage-and-screen personas, and were even a little frustrated by inability to transcend them. But I maintain that the injection of a little of their subversive craziness into a project which bears their image is only right, and would have improved this book immensely. It goes back to the first paragraph of this review: give the Hollywood stars something to do, or at least comment on their life and livelihood through the action. (I would have loved to read Groucho flustering a room full of corrupt cops with trademark one-liners and non-sequitirs. And I am likewise intrigued by a mental picture of Harpo using his giant Duck Soup scissors to cut a bunch of mobsters' ties, then soaking his feet in a vat of their beer.)

Only at the end, after the wrap-up, does Toby check in with any members of the usual supporting cast, and then only by phone. Too bad; it sounds like some interesting events had been happening to them back in LA.

There are nice things about the book, too, though comparatively few: Ian Fleming makes a welcome cameo, rescuing Toby in a manner not unlike his fictional creation might have, and we also meet a diseased, demented Al Capone early in the story. The "love interest" (I hate that term, because they're seldom more than warm bodies) could have been an interesting character, but she is little more in these pages than the standard harlot with a heart of semi-gold.

The book is unfortunately not enough redeemed by a thoughtful solution. Chicago in this period of history was a unique place, but I still think the mystery could have played out the same almost anywhere. Kaminsky likely had a mob story in him and had no way better to use it.

Deal yourself out of this hand, at least until you've read some of the others in the Toby Peters series.