The main point of the book is summed up on page 17, "The individual can rarely just act, nor is forcing others to act usually an option. The net result is that effectivemess in the political world stems from the ability to influence the people and organizations that share power. This, more than any other reason, is why the only real power is the power to persuade." The author presents a compelling model using the points of the compass to represent key relationships everyone must form. The author claims that success requires sensitivity and the ability to persuade those at each compass point: Center - yourself; North - those you work for; East - those you work with; South - those who work for you; and, East - those you should work with. Strategy, tactics, and examples are presented for maintaining these relationships. The Power to Persuade is a significant book. In the political and non-profit arenas persuasion is the primary means whereby change occurs. The author implies that while these techniques are useful in the "for-profit" world, they are not as important as in the "non-profit" world. I challenge the author on this point. I believe that persuasion is becoming more and more integral in the "for profit" business world as leadership crumbles, use of teams and self-directed work groups increases, and integrated design methodologies take hold.

The author has many years of experience as a federal official, and gives us the benefit of his experience. He describes four generic groups of people that government people must work with, and gives useful advice on dealing with each group. There is also an excellent list of books recommended for further reading. Valuable if you work in an area where you have little ability to do "command and control" but have to lean heavily on diplomacy. Especially highly recommended for those who work or aspire to work in government.

The poems in Barbed Wire, written by John Sterling Harris, include for the most part his thoughts on the western way of life, but are influenced heavily by his stint in the army, and by his religious beliefs. The accompanying photos by L. Douglas Hill bring the works of poetry to life, often quite hauntingly. The most touching poems in the collection and the ones with the most life in them, are the poems in which Harris shows a picture of western life. These are not entire stories; Harris simply paints the reader a picture of a single event, and lets the reader consider it. He shows the harshness of the life but does not ask for sympathy for his characters. Instead, he instills qualities that enable the reader to relate to them, making the reader think about his own life. Some of Harris' poems ask the reader to examine himself, and still others ask him to examine his actions. Through his poetry, Harris is able to reflect a western way of life that is very complex. He does not categorize life as good or bad. He simply gives pictures of western life in plain simple language, mixed liberally with sensitivity. There are few critics of Harris' first book of poetry, as he simply did not attract in-depth study to his work. However, there is a depth to his plainspoken poems that epitomizes the Western Spirit. In just one thin volume of poetry, he is able to show a true portrayal of the pain and triumph faced everyday. Perhaps more importantly, he shows how what sometimes looks like passiveness on the surface of a westerner, can hid a force of spirit that no length of Barbed Wire could ever fence.

John Shirley's stories never miss. Get any JS short story books. espicially this. JS is one of the most original, sick, twisted, weird, crushing, inspirational, funny and undiffinable writers working today. You know your reading John Shirley if your grossed out, inrigued, paranoid, and laughing out loud, and disturbing your friends.

Sterling North vividly depicts the adventures, both physically and emotionally, of a boy named Sterling and his pet raccoon. This is a perfectly written book, containing many themes that you can relate to. Read through this book and you will be able to imagine his house perfectly. A menagerie of dogs, crows, skunks, and of course Rascal. The living room with the unfinished canoe and the chicken wired Christmas tree.

Having lost his mother at the age of seven, Sterling is a very independent boy who one day finds a baby raccoon, and decides to call him Rascal. As they both grow, their bond becomes strong along with their numerous activities and adventures. No one couldn’t help but laughing when Rascal, who always washes his food before eating, discovers the sugar cubes. He tries to clean them but they just dissolve!

In this unforgettable book, Sterling North manages to capture you and take you to a timeless place of life. Rascal is an easy, although deep book, and I strongly recommend it to everyone.

My mom read this book when she was in seventh grade and now has bought it for me. I am in fourth grade. It is a wonderful book about Sterling North when he was a boy and a baby raccoon named Rascal. They have their troubles but also have fun together. Rascal sometimes went into other people's gardens to get food and the neighbors did not like it. My favorite part was when Sterling, his father and Rascal went in a canoe and saw a mother bear and her cub. My mom's favorite part was when Rascal washed a sugar cube and it disappeared in his paws.

The book Rascal is set in Wisconsin. The main characters are Sterling and Rascal. Sterling finds Rascal as a baby in the forest and he gets to keep him. Rascal is a racoon. As they grow up together they do lots of stuff like win a pie eating contest and build a canoe. They also go fishing and camping together. I don't want to spoil the ending but you should read it your self and find out. If you like books about adventure and friendship this one is for you. It is a great book to read anytime!

I gave this book three stars because parts were pretty boring. It kept me reading in the beginning and the end. I think it was a good book and I recomend it to people who like animals. When the book starts out Robbie Trent(a thirteen year-old boy) learns of a wolf den and wants a whelp for a pet. When they find the wolf den Robbie climbs into it and gets the whelp he wanted. His parents let him keep it and as time progresses the wolfling grows bigger and bigger. The book ends when Robbie, Wolf, and Inga (this girl he likes) live happily ever after.

When Robbie Trent learns of a wolf den, he wishes to have a wolf welp for his own. When one of his school mates also learns of the den he wishes to have all of the welps for bounty paid by the Wisconsin Government. When the two meet up at the den......... THE RACE IS ON!!!!!!!!!

A 12 year old boy wishes to have one of Old Three Toes' wolflings. When Bubs, one of his schoolmates finds the den he hopes to get the wolfling before Bubs and his father smoke out the wolves.

John Sterling (1806-44) led a short, but fascinating life in early 19th century Britain. John's father was a well-known editorialist for the Times, and he himself became a member of the Apostles at Cambridge during a time of great intellectual and religious ferment. He became a radical in the cause of freedom, while he later became an Anglican curate and then an author. Plagued by ill health, he traveled around the world of his era: to the Caribbean, Madeira, France, and Italy. And, along life's paths, he rubbed shoulders with the likes of Thomas Carlyle and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Overall, he was a man of varied abilities, and varied pursuits.

This book is quite interesting. Carlyle not only paints the portrait of a man in this book, he also paints the portrait of an era. If you are interested in that era, or perhaps in Coleridge, then I highly recommend this book to you. It is relatively short, and yet quite interesting.

If you are looking for a volume that will guide you through simple repairs such as re-wiring a 2-prong outlet into a 3-prong grounded outlet (without forcing loved ones to cash in on that life insurance policy!), this book works just fine. Don't expect anything too too advanced though, but for you basic run of the mill, here's how it works...try this book.

It's almost unprecedented for me to return a baseball book. It's almost impossible to find a baseball book I won't enjoy. If the book's about the Yankees, the odds of either would be non existent. Well, at least I thought they would be non existent until I began to read this one.

The book contains no new good information & is filled with mistakes. Also, the author's system of rating the players creates a premise that's flawed from the beginning.

If you know enough about baseball to know Snuffy Stirnweiss wasn't an all time Yankee great, then you find this book insulting to your intelligence.

I truly enjoyed this book. Each piece (and there are 50!) takes you back to the particular year! It has all the stats on the individual player in his best season. It has lots of fantastic photos and a terrific section on the 1998 Yankees! At the end of the book, there is a section that allows me to record my own memorable seasons with my favorite team! A must have for every Yankee fan, and those fans of baseball history!

I have had bad experiences with cluster books before, this one is no exception. There's no how to in here, just a bunch of lecture. For mega nerds only, average computer people need not apply.

A "Beowulf" is the concept of using a network of low cost personal computers for distributed processing. The book doesn't specify a particular configuration. The author describes the three fundamental parts of a Beowulf system: node hardware, network hardware, and parallel software applications. Three chapters explain how to use the message passing interface (MPI) standard to distribute the work for a program executing on multiple nodes. An example MPI program for sorting is presented. The features of the Linux operating system are covered in Chapter 4 since Linux is a common choice for Beowulf clusters.

Before I purchased this book I was completely intimidated by the idea of building a Beowulf Cluster. I found this book to be a surprisingly thorough and accessible resource, allowing me to get a great understanding of what was needed. I've just placed my order for the equipment for my first cluster and can't wait to get it up and running!