I used this book when I served my Tool and Die Making apprenticeship thirty years ago, and I haven't seen its equal yet. Filled with practical examples of shop problems. There was also a volume 2: advanced. I have been searching for this for years. I now teach at a community college, and would use this if I could get volume two (includes the best section on compound angles that I have ever seen.)

One of the best books relevant for salesrelated trainers, I know now at present is this one : Full of 80 Specific (S), (pretty) Measurable (M), Acchievable (A), Relevant (R), and Timed (T) exersizes. S.M.A.R.T.

It is also the inspiration of some of the exersizes, that I recommend for new trainers in our worldwide company. (Yes - I do list the source)

I Run a training education, and recommend this book for the graduates afterwards too. It makes it easy for the graduates to get started in an easy and sucessful way.

When You've used JUST ONE of these great exersizes I'd say the investment is payed in full. Both for you and your participants ;o)

Go get it, and make a difference out there...

This is a great book for people interested in acting and don't know where to start. It is written in a language that is easy to understand.This book takes you step by step, from just starting out to being an established actor. I would recommend this for all aspirating actors and actresses.

I came across Grant's "The Syrian Desert" while researching a novel. I was after good hard information about camel caravans crossing from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf in the early seventeenth century. I found everything and more in this wonderful book.

Anyone who's fascinated with the desert and what it must have been like -- and is still like, in many respects -- to live there will get a lot out of this book. Grant brings the reader step by step through the daily routine of a camel caravan: from careful calculations of how far they might travel in a day to the logistics of paying off local Bedouin tribesmen (often you'd be given a "rafeek," who acted as a human passport); from how to bake 'Arab bread' to a transcription of a contract between a bashi, or caravan leader, and a European traveler seeking passage to Bashra; from a day-by-day description of the Great Desert Route to the purported reasons why riverain Arabs were to be avoided at all costs.

The amount of useful information I gathered from this book is staggering; I have yet to go through it all.

Reading certain sections, I could practically feel the sun beating on my brow, taste the sweat on my lips, smell the sun-backed sand under my boots, and hear the complaints of the plodding camels. Truly a wonderful resource.

Our firm is in cost cutting mode, so I got this book looking for practical tips on how to cut our considerable telecom bill. What I liked was the step-by-step approach covering local, long distance and alternative technologies. Instead of a lot of theory, it gets down to USOCs and has a checklist of specific savings ideas. The audit program at the back rambled at bit but had plenty of detail. The book throws in some useful "shovelware" at the back too -- sample RFPs, contracts, things to look for in a good contract, etc. Defintely worth the money.

Here after decades of supression we have an updated edition of a classic work of American Marxism. This was the book that gave Hook his reputation as this countries most original Marxist thinker in the 1930's. Rejected by the Communist Party USA as revisionist for his pragamatist/Marxist co-mixing, Hook eventually became a dedicated Cold Warrior and refused to allow this book to be reprinted. (He even tried to have it taken out of libraries!) Now his son had authorized this new addition that contains enough supplemental material to satisfy nearly all sides regarding Hook's contentious legacy.
In this new edition we find Hook's son giving us a full scale apolagia for his fathers political drift from revolutionary to cold war polemicist; C. Phelps providing an excellent historical introduction that finds merit with the young Hook's democratic Marxism for todays generation of radicals; a reprint of a 1968 essay by L. Feuer giving the standard cold war-liberal (soon to be neoconservative) view of Hook's relation to Marxian scholarship; and P. Berman's very interesting remake of one of Hook's own essays, in which he, Berman, interviews a dead Hook (as Hook himself did in 1955 when he interviewed Marx in Heaven).
As to the Text itself, what Hook essentially did was introduce English speaking readers to the praxis orinted tradition of western Marxist intellectuals such as G. Lukacs and K. Korsh, years before they became better known through translations of their works. This I have argued elsewere was more profound than the famous notion that TOWARDS THE UNDERSTANDING OF KARL MARX should be seen as a work of Deweyian-Marxism. Most impressive of the book's assets are Hook's explantions of Marx's dialectical method and his defence of the democratic nature of the Marxian revolutionary ideal. These stand heads above his later attempts to repudiate them, which is likley why he did not want this work reprinted.
Those interested in a more detailed look at my views on this subject can read my article "Praxis American Style" in HISTORICAL MATERIALISM No. 4 1999. Also one should read Alan Wald's THE NEW YORK INTELLECTUALS and C. Phelps excellent YOUNG SIDNEY HOOK.

My husband and I read "The Aviator's Apprentice," the first book in the Will Turner Flight Logs Series. We loved the style, characters, and the attention to details of planes and flight. We were incredibly surprised by "Turner's Flight," as we enjoyed it even more! My husband (who is a history and aviation buff) can't wait for Mr. Davey's next book, and I (a Midwestern soccer mom and community volunteer) can't wait for the TV series or movie.

Hollywood, are you listening? Jude Law would be perfect in the role of "Will Turner."

The later career of Sidney Hook is well known. However, his earlier career as a Marxist intellectual and activist has been long ignored by historians and biographers. In this short but brilliant work, Christopher Phelps shows us a completely different Hook and makes an important contribution to the literature on American socialists of the twentieth century. This book is even more crucial because Hook himself disavowed his radical past, making an examination of the complexity of his political trajectory more difficult to follow and study. From the first to the last page, this is a compelling book, providing carefully researched insights into Hook's world including Hook's debates with Max Eastman, Hook's role in the brief but important journal, Marxist Quarterly, and his participation in defending exiled Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky against bogus charges by the brutal Stalin regime. Phelps also discusses important insights about his theoretical views. At a time when utterly disorienting and nihilistic postmodernist theories are fashionable in the social sciences, Phelps' work is like a breath of fresh air that captivates his audience to learn more about history from below, by and about the workers and radical intellectuals that have shaped society. Anyone interested in the history of the 1930s American socialist movement should give this book an immediate place on their bookshelf.

As the sister of one of the author's I am sure anyone would expect me to give a positive review, and I do! Not just because Nancy is my sister but because I have been taught since I was a young girl how to be assertive by my sister and at the age of 44 I now see how vital that teaching has been for me over the years. Nancy and Stanlee have given their best in this book and I have to say that every reader with a sister needs to share this book with them. My personal sense of identity comes as a direct result of being taught by Nancy at the age of 10 that I don't have to allow myself to be intimidated for fear of alienating someone by telling them "no". I learned self respect at a young age because I didn't allow myself to be "labeled" as a young lady when I felt that was not a proper discription of who I was! I was a young woman, big difference! I also learned that I don't have to accept someone else's name in marriage just because society expects me to! I was given the gift of freedom by my sister and her teachings and now I have a manual to refer to when I get lost along the way. I am also a counselor and have found that assertivenss does not only apply to women! I have male clients that benefit from the techniques I have learned through the book! Way to go Nancy and Stanlee!

Congratulations to Stanlee Phelps and Nancy Austin on the 4th edition of their book, "The Assertive Woman". They've been at it since 1974 (I've gotten each edition and referred them to my clients during my 30 years as a career and management consultant and coach.) This revised and updated edition continues to be a timely, relevant and reliable resource for women as they navigate the landmines on their assertiveness journeys. The book offers real-world examples, communication guidelines, self-awareness exercises and lessons learned in the authors' work with corporate and entrepreneurial women. (And I believe the solid advice and information is valid for all women of all ages regardless of their work status.... especially young women in high school and college who are just starting their assertiveness journeys.) I found the 14 page Resource Guide an especially helpful tool as it includes additional books, articles, newsletters, videos, websites, and professional associationsas available for any woman to find what she needs to support her in her assertiveness journey. I also loved the cover. Every photo has an interesting story behind it to convey that one size of assertiveness does not fit all! And it shows how far we've come.....

I read this book just around the time I started to build my own tax practice.

Why? Only because my first corporate client was Stanlee Phelps' Career Concerns. And it seemed wise to read my client's book.

What an eye-opener!

For someone starting out on their own (man or woman), it was THE best book I could have picked up.

Stanlee Phelps and Nancy Austin provided tangible information about how to get what you want or to make your point. They did it, though, by imparting a sense of grace and sanity, not present in the days of Women's Lib. (Don't worry, the Feminist feelings do run strong in the book.)

Their questions and exercises helped me learn so much about myself. It made it much easier to make the changes necessary to become a success in business. (And, inadvertantly, it helped me overcome my fear of public speaking. And how!)

One of the best lessons I took away from that book, (to paraphrase)

"Just because you CAN be assertive, doesn't mean you always should."

Holding my tongue, at times, has gotten me greater rewards than speaking up - just because I could.

If you're out there selling your products or services, making bids on contracts, working with contractors and staff...even if you're a man, pick this book up. It's a quick read

I've never told Stanlee quite what an effect this book had on me. But, really, it was remarkable. Thank you!

My wife showed me this book and said, "You've got to read this -It's about happenings in my home town." I was skeptical as our reading tastes are very different plus I secretly thought her interest was the home town connection. However with her nursing background and mine in criminal justice this book was an ideal match. I picked up "Perfect Poison" and couldn't put it down, reading the entire book in one setting. The in depth research is logical and extensive. The author provides insights in the activites and the mind of the killer that will intrigue the reader. Moreover, the sequence of events is easy to follow and provides a graphic image of the pain and suffering for the victims and secondary victims. This book held my interest throughout the reading. I'm indebted to my wife and brother-in-law for recommending this book and thus providing a quality reading experience.

This book is an intelligent read to say the least! It is fact-filled and provides the reader with a great picture of life on Ward C. It is clear that the author conducted an A-1 investigation into all aspects of this incredible case. The reader sees an amazing transformation in Gilbert from soccer mom to serial killer. M. William Phelps delves into the how and why behind Gilbert's murderous actions. He also focuses on the unbelievable fact of just how long her heinousnous continued under the blind eye of many staff members at the VAMC. This real-life story could be turned into a movie as it was filled with detail. Phelps' uses the words and thoughts of characters to allow the reader to "come right in," so to speak. Additionally, his use of short chapters makes the book flow quite easily. From Gilbert's adulterous affair to stalking others to killing patient after patient, the reader wants (and Phelps gives) more and more! A MUST READ!!!

If this is M. William Phelps's first book, I cannot believe it. With short chapters of 4-6 pages, the book reads so easy you've devoured 10 chapters without even realizing it. Serial killing nurse Kristen Gilbert is so carefully examined and explained by Phelps, with the most important and intuative details dropped throughout the narrative here and there, before you know it, you feel like you've walked beside nurse Gilbert her entire life without her knowing. The investigation portion of the book is written better than anything Ann Rule or Joe McGuinnis has even penned. I have read true crime for decades. If there is anyone deserving of the Edgar Award this coming year, it is Phelps. Perfect Poison is true crime not at its best, but at its finest, like it was back in the day--written by a journalist so in tune with his subject and observant of detail it was a disappointment that this book had to end. I could have read it forever.

Way to go Mr. Phelps! I will be first in line for anything you write in the future.