Excellent spitual book written as a fast paced adventure. Similar to Dan Millman and Richard Bach - lots of adventure and spiritual meanings. Speaks to the fears in us all and allows the reader to put them in perspective. Makes life seem much bigger than just my own view points. I now want to reread his first book, Celestial Bar. Great read and well worth your time.

Having read The Celestial Bar, I was pleased when I received "In the "Shadow of the Shere" at Christmas. As Digger's journey continued, I found myself swept up in his journey, somewhere on the rafting excursion, I found myself in shock as unexpected events took a turn and I found myself rivited to every page of adventure, by the last page I had goose bumps, and did not want the story to end, I look forward with anticipation to Tom Youngholm's next book and further adventures with Digger and his Spirtual Journey.

Musician/composer "Digger" Taylor embarks on a perilous rafting trip down a central American river. He hopes the change of scene will help him forget the recent disappoints in his life. he encounters a beautiful, mysterious woman who leads him deep into the rainforest where he meets a wise man, a black jaguar, shocking tragedy, and a host of characters who change his life forever. The Stone Spheres are unique granite monoliths found in Costa Rica and served as the inspiration for In The Shadow Of The Sphere, Thomas Youngholm's skillfully written, highly recommended metaphysical novel which combines elements of romance, science fiction, mystery, and spirituality in a riveting tale of personal transformation.

An excellent book by Kryon , the angelic energy channeled by Lee Carrol.

A story, a parabole. Michael Thomas finds himself at a crossroad and embarques onto a mythical journey where he meets seven angels of the colors of the chakras, many trials and tribulations , tears and joys. A parable of the transformation from 3-d human to human angel and the test and triumphs on the path. Lovely.

A powerful book. I found myself shifting as I read this book in a span of several hours. The story, so appropriate for our current time, is uplifting, thought-provoking, and touching.

For those committed to the path of enlightenment, this book is essential. It contains much needed guidance for the path -- in the form of a well written, exciting parable. I very highly recommend it.

One of the (If not the best war plays). Touching and humourous. Truly a maaaad play.

Mister Roberts had the right amount of amusement and sadness, which is the main reason I really liked it. At first I was not sure how I was going to enjoy it. The first chapter started out fairly slow, but this was just because it was an introduction of characters. The rest of the book was much clearer with this introduction. Throughout the entire novel there was a lot of humor. It was a fast read with all this comedy. I really admire Heggen's writing style because he incorporated wit with war. Heggen gave a more amusing account of the war than other factual book could have.

This is a fabulous story. Heggen expertly captures the monotony, the cynicism, the bravado and depression of life at sea. The story ranges from hilarious to heartbreaking, and it's sad Heggen ended his own life before writing again. I find it amazing that this book is not on the CNO's professional reading list.

Tom Wilson's premise: Employee incentives are just as important to corporations as they are to employees. Why? Because a company that aligns its own achievement with that of its employees is well on its way to success. Wilson uses a wide range of case studies to bolster his common- sense advice, including reminders that your employee rewards plan should be simple to understand, geared toward the kind of people you want to attract and should frequently vary. Even the most experienced manager can stand to learn a thing or two from Wilson's keen analysis of Amazon.com, Southwest Airlines, Saturn, and a host of other successful businesses. We from getAbstract think that you owe it to yourself - and to your employees - to read this well-crafted book.

"This book provides a series of stories that offer a window into today's organizations. While the focus is on the reward systems that these organizations devised and implemented, the true picture goes much deeper. Each story reflects an organization that was facing a need to change the way it coducted its business and developed a process to support and reinforce change. So, the reward systems are manifestations of a new set of values and practices within organizations...The case studies in this book were developed with representatives of these organizations. They are true, real-life descriptions of what goes on inside these companies...While this book can be read from front to back, it was not written to be read in a traditional manner. It may be useful to take a non-linear approach, jumping from one section to another...This book is not intended to represent the best practices of the best companies, although it often does. It is a book about reality. It may not include the design for the perfect reward system, but it should give you ideas and approaches that will change the way you think about, develop, and manage rewards (pp.1-7)."

In this context, Thomas B. Wilson focuses on:

* How does an organization such as Amazon.com instill or retain the entrepreneurial spirit that it had when it was small?

* how companies such as DuPont, Coca-Cola, and Cisco Systems seek to create a bridge between the requirements for success and each individual.

* how companies retain a customer focus so that people collaborate and strive to perform better.

* how companies such as DuPont, Cumming Engine, and K/P Corporation encouraged people to collaborate and provided a share of the benefit if improvements could be achieved.

* how companies retain their critical talents.

* how companies such as Allied Signal, and Harvard University Health Services have integrated a variety of quality management processes into their organizations.

* how companies have changed their reward systems to support new business strategies.

Finally, he writes that "to aid you in developing your own approach to change, I have summarized the 10 key factors that seem to most accurately determine what makes reward systems successful. While this list summarizes common characteristics, the true significance is in applying these principles to your own situation and to learn from the direct application of experience."

1. Reward systems play a crucial role in performance.

2. Measures give rewards relevance; rewards give measures meaning.

3. Alignment and consistency are essential.

4. How people are paid is often more important than how much they are paid.

5. Build programs with a vision, and then improve them over time.

6. The value of the reward should exceed the cost.

7. The program begins after the first payouts.

8. Translate measures into action.

9. Make rewards meaningful.

10. Take a strategic, systemic, and holistic approach.

Highly recommended.

Tom Wilson's new book is even better than his last, which I found to be one of the best reward systems books written. Rewards that Drive High Performance is a rich and easy reading collection of case studies from some of the country's leading organizations, including Amazon.com, Starbucks, Genzyme and many others. It is a book that I, as a manager, found to be very practical -- a compensation "text" for line managers because it shows what works and why, not just theory.

I really liked the way the cases were grouped, because it shows that reward systems need to be defined differently for different applications and company cultures. Best practices are useful to study, but Wilson's book goes beyond this to show how and why the best companies do what they do and align their reward systems with their business objectives.

It's refreshing to see a book from a leading consultant not geared to "provide just enough" to entice the reader to want to know more -- this book truly tells the whole story, and does it in a way that proves to be a compelling read.

The fascinating and true case of Judith Coplon, who was arrested and charged with spying for the Russians against the US right after World War II, is a story which continued to unfold over a long period of time. For 18 years, the case was on hold, then dropped by Ramsey Clark, but interesting revelations have come forth quite recently. The Mitchells have done a masterful job of detailing this saga of love and betrayal, of guilt and innocence--some of the facts of this case still have powerful implications for today. This dramatic tale would make a wonderful film.

Great story! Even more surprising that it is all true. A surprise ending for those of us who didn't live through the era. A good read for anyone who finds interest in U.S. history, good and bad actions by the government, or just good story-telling.

This is an amazing story, well told. The fact that Judith Coplon managed to maintain her innocence through two trials (which were as much theater of the absurd as anything), remained out on bail for 17 years after the verdicts in both cases were thrown out, and then through the ensuing 33 years is simply amazing, when in truth, she WAS a spy for the Soviet Union. Perhaps not one of their big ones, and perhaps a spy who never passed along much information or even particularly secret or damaging information, but a spy nonetheless. Despite despicable behavior on the part of the U.S. gov't (arrest without a warrant, illegal wiretapping, practically double-indemnity, and a vicious prosecutor who displayed Judith's sex-life in public, etc.), they were right, but they couldn't prove it without revealing the most damning secret of all--that the U.S. had cracked the Soviet code. Not until the secret files of the Venona Project were opened up in the last couple of years could the truth be known, long after most participants in the case were dead. But Judith Coplon is still alive, and her husband, who all along believed in her innocence (and was the attorney who launched her successful appeals) was shocked upon hearing the information. It IS like a Hitchcock thriller. Highly recommended for anyone interested in spies, the Cold War, or the FBI. And strangely relevant to readers today, as well.

I thought that this book was great. I am not a reader of mystery, but purchased this book in its original hardcoer back in 1983. I wanted to solve the case, but never did. I have since miss placed my copy and would love to find another. If anyone can help please do. I could not put this book down, I know I read it at least 10 times, trying to solve it time after time. If I had a copy, now I'm sure that the mind of a 30 yr old is better than the mind of 14 yr old(as I was) when I first read this wonderful book. Any info on obtaining a copy, would be welcom, my e-mail is ladydraak @webtv.net.

I've just read this book for the first time. It took me all of two hours. I REALLY want to know who killed the Robins family. Anyone who can help is perfectly free to write me. PLEASE!

I read this book when it first came out. I never learned who killed the Robins Family. I did enter the contest and sent for the answer, but changed address. I heard that two women who put their heads together solved the case. kalay

The Ambassador From Wall Street is a fasciating tale of one of the great financial leaders of the 20th Century. As a retired New York banker who started work in 1950 and who held some quite responsible positions, I found the book contained messages for bankers that are as true today as they were in the life of Mr. Lamont, particularly on how to avoid undue risk and how to manage the inevitable messes when they occur. The book seems to have been well researched by the arthor, a Grandson of the subject,and takes us through the many economic and financial developments of the first half of the twentieth century. Its scope allows the reader to have a broad view of the financial world, a useful benefit in this age of globalization. I particularly recommend the book to young students of finance. The lessons learned will enhance their careers.

Alethea W. Hawley's review offers an excellent summary of a well researched account of the life and impact of Mr. Thomas W. Lamont and his importance to the major economic and political powers of his era and why this account deserves a five star rating.

This biography of Thomas W. Lamont, J.P. Morgan's Chief Executive is a thoroughly researched account of the legendary financier during the first half of the twentieth century, when the powerful banking firm was at the pinnacle of international finance. The author, his grandson has written this lively biography based on his independent research and his personal collection of family papers and Thomas Lamont's letters.The reader will become acquainted with the economic and political history of the period, the many crucial world events that were transpiring, as well as a full roster of leaders such as Presidents Franklin Roosevelt, Wilson and Hoover, who all sought advice from Lamont. Along with all of the above, the author portrays the luxurious lifestyle of his grandfather, such as commuting from his home to Wall Street by yacht. There are social vignettes such as a house party at Lady Astor's Cliveden, as well as a Lamont soiree during which a Federal judge broke the nose of Walter Lippman's charming wife. The reader is also given glimpses of such luminaries as Charles Lindbergh and H.G. Wells, who were among Thomas Lamont's close friends. John Kenneth Galbraith praised this volume and characterized it as "affectionate and well researched...We are in debt to Edward Lamont for this literate and thoroughly interesting biography." Book List and Publishers Weekly contributed highly enthusiastic reviews, and recommended it for those interested in history, banking and foreign affairs. Written in a brisk and informative style, Lamont interjects his wit at just the right places so as to present a very balanced, straight forward, and informative piece of work.

To the surprise and amazement of most Americans, the events of November 1999 in Seattle came like a lightning bolt out of nowhere. Since the electronic media had done little to inform the average TV viewer of what the World Trade Organization (WTO) was, or what they would be trying to accomplish in their convention in Seattle, no one understood or appreciated the collection of concerns, misgivings, and grievances the protestors were there to use in way of ammunition for making the WTO stand up and take notice. Within a few days, we were all holding our breath.

Not since the heady days of the 1960s, or on a smaller scale, the No-Nukes movement of the late 1970s had such passion, conviction, or energy been thrust into the equation of public politics than was done over that short period of time in Seattle. And here to give us a up-close and personal description as well as a cogent interpretation of those days of confrontation is author Janet Thomas, who, by taking a participant-observer role, attempts to describe, from inside the ranks of the protestors, who they are and why they are confronting the WTO and the forces of economic globalization it represents.

This is a hardly an objective, dispassionate, or even look at the events that transpired over the spate of several days in and around Seattle . Yet in its urgency, passion, and position-taking the reader comes to understand, at least from the myriad of organizations participating in the demonstrations, the reasons for their activities. Given the media's proclivities to dismissing any such protest as the work of mindless anarchists or social, political, and economic trouble-makers, this more introspective approach is a breath of fresh air. Thomas describes the reasoning of the protestors in terms of their concerns for the social, economic, and political costs associated with globalism. As happened with Chicago in 1968, the forces of the organized society seem to all accrue to those in power such as the WWTO, and the citizens are left to explain their actions and their motives between the margins, since the media is seemingly uninterested in their politics or their issues. All the media wanted to concentrate on was the violence, which makes great TV, and requires little explanation.

Thus, by giving voice to the myriad of different organizations involved in the demonstrations, Thomas helps the reader to understand their motives in performing such acts of civil disobedience as well as the issues themselves much better. In this she performs a yeoman service to the general public, who certainly needs to understand the particulars of the issues much better if they are to ever appreciate the terrible danger organizations like the WTO potentially represent. Anyone interested in the ways in which economic globalism works, and the ways in which we each can act to constrain, block, or modify their efforts to encroach on our liberties should read this interesting and well-written book. Enjoy!

Informative detail of just what the agenda of the Seattle and later, the Ottawa protestors wish to accomplish. The TV news doesn't tell us about WTO rules supercedeing laws enacted in Massachusetts. The TV news does not tell the story of the prison-factories in El Salvador. The TV news avoids telling us about the man that makes $104,000 per hour while his Haitian workers make 13 cents per hour. Janet Thomas does. And she also tells us why the TV news skips the real story, because it is controlled by the same people.

While the TV news avoids the story of thousands of peaceful demonstrators attempting to make sure sovereignty and democracy survive the WTO, it concentrates on a handful of violent demonstrators who get out of hand. Janet Thomas tells the story straight.

The truth is hard to take when you realize you are part of a system that does not serve the basic needs of so many around the globe. This book seeks to go beyond the media's focus on a small number of anarchistic acts in Seattle's WTO week. It both reveals and explores in depth the real issues at the base of this 50,000 person protest. Thomas' approach is both scholarly and undogmatic. Individual sketches serve to break down denial in readers such as myself, readers who start out not really wanting to hear the truth. The bonus: at the end, you are not left feeling hopeless. Thomas has compiled a rich and extensive list of resources to further research the information and ideas expressed in her book. If you are interested in learning about world economic justice, read this book.

Truly, Jenny Gerhardt has a lot of heart.

Though she makes some bad decisions and often lacks the confindence that could have reinvented her in the magnified binocular-eyes of society, Dreiser's love for the character shines and we, the readers, grow to love her also. Several glimmers of why Dreiser is the transcendent novelist that he is peek out from the fast moving story of Jennie Gerhardt.

"She was not, like so many, endeavoring to put the ocean into a tea-cup or to tie up the shifting universe in a mess of strings called law."

"The loveliness of seventeen is centuries old. That is why passion is almost sad."

"So this little household drifted along quietly and dreamily indeed, but always with the undercurrent of feeling which ran so still because it was so deep."

I admit to you, I have never been very interested by the sometimes dry prose offered in the writing of earlier time periods. But Dreiser seems to me a rare gem in the world of early 20th century fiction.

However, the one reason I am writing a 4 star review is because of the ending of this novel. After several mini-climaxes, the book ends. --just like that. With a grim display of "if only". And although most, if not all of us, identify with that theme, I felt like I MUST have read 366 pages for something other than that.

However, I would still recommend it. It is a delicate work of art whose power and beauty cannot be denied.

Most of us know the genius of Dreiser, the lyrical capabilities of this author is astonishing. He humanizes literature, the characters posess complex personalities and physical appearances. He takes the aesthetic beauty of the surreal and the honesty of harsh reality and combines these potent elements into a story of life, almost more believable than our own. This story follows Jennie Gerhardt, a young German girl living with her poor family in Ohio before the turn of the century. Honest but hard work puts her into the path of Senator Brander a benevolent mature man, but his ardent passions soon destroy Jennie, and her life is tainted with shame. She leaves her home, and life take her on many journeys, mostly unpleasant. This story chronicles how one mistake can change your life, and the domino effect takes place, constantly misplacing your life as you try to escape the past. I would also recommend "Tess of the D'Urbervilles" by Thomas Hardy

It seems each time I finish one of Dresier's works I think it is my favorite. Such is the case with Jennie Gerhardt, at least until my next Dresier. This heart-wrenching saga takes the reader through Jennie's life from cleaning houses with her mother, bearing a child by a US Senator and living and loving a man beyond her society class. Lester (the man she loves after the Senator), for his part, is unwilling to marry Jennie and is cut-off from the family and it's millions for loving someone "below" his class in society. Jennie remains true to herself, following her heart and the dicates of a harsh scoiety. She makes amendes with her father and is the only child to nurture him through his final days and death. She takes her daughter away from Chicago and leaves Lester so he can reclaim his family fortune. Her daughter dies, leaving her alone but the strength of Jennie's character comes through when she adopts orphans, for if she isn't nurturing she isn't living. Dreiser drives home his theme of fate and how some can dictate it while others are a slave to it. But even this distinction isn't black and white. Lester seems not to care what fate has in store for him until he takes it into his onw hands and marries the society girl he arguably should have married before he hooked up with Jennie. Alas, Jennie never mastered her fate. She was punished for loving two men from the upper-crust of scoiety instead of taking the crusts that high-living classes would toss her.

Since my little boy has been 2 he wants this book to read just before bed. The rhyme is sweet and simple, though you should know that the book is very short and the rhymes aren't great..."how many hairs...millions, billions, trillions..." ahhh, a bit ridiculous, but all that matters is my little boy is happy.

MY DAUGHTER LOVES THIS BOOK. THE WORDS ARE SIMPLE, THE PICTURES ARE BEAUTIFUL, AND THE CONCEPT IS ONE ANY CHILD CAN UNDERSTAND. HANNAH HAS ALWAYS BEEN A READER, BUT THIS WAS ONE OF HER FIRST, AND SHE STILL LOVES IT.

This simple, short book has wonderful, sweet illustrations! It is my 20 month old's favorite... she actually brings it to me AND will sit in my lap withOUT the book and show me all the body parts used in the book. The above review is excellent! I love to give this as a gift. I highly highly recommend it. :)