I had seen this book listed in the back of one of my MS-DOS books, and my employer happened to have a copy of it. I took it home for the weekend and was blown away. I IMMEDIATELY bought a copy. This is much more than your average book on interrupts. He goes into some serious detail. You want to know a HUGE list of interrupts and how to use them? Need the pinouts for a PS/2 power supply? How about the pinouts with a description of EACH PIN for the 8086 up to 80486 CPU's and co-processors? It's all in here. Exhaustive list of tables, pinouts, little known secrets, listing of ROM BIOS functions, all the referencing to it, and MUCH more. This is one COMPREHENSIVE book. It was written at the time of DOS 5 and Windows 3.0, so remember, it's not new (1991), however, a HUGE amount of information still applies. Anywhere from the XT to 486, from MDA to VGA, from hard disk tables to EMS, and from expansion slot pin outs to card sizes, this book has it all. He has taken the technical information from DOZENS of books and included it in one large volume.

I use this book whenever I need to look up details of software interrupts, cabling, connectors, backplane layout, data structures, and many more things. This book exceeds any other I have used for internals of software and hardware for the PC.

I found out about this gem of a book at a project management seminar. This book provides theoretical and practical guides to project management and leadership. It is useful for the experienced project leader -- we can always learn new techniques and tricks. It is also useful for the new project leader or the project leader wannabe -- just what have we gotten ourselves into. Every project has its differences and similarities. This text helps to transcend them.

This handbook speaks directly to public broadcasters. It's edge-of-your-seat, can't-put-it-down reading, and a solid guide to what you need to know about running a public radio station.

Station managers who need an overview of the unseen aspects of running a radio station can find a wealth of information in the publication.

A station operations checklist covers the paperwork, technical and general operating requirements. There's a section devoted to regular filings and reports that every station manager needs to know about. Rules about fundraising, underwriting and promotion addressing the revenue-generating side of public radio include case studies and examples of the do's and don'ts. Real life savers! Programming regulations concerning editorials, obscenity issues and emergency broadcasts are covered as well.

It's a reference booked that I've dogged-eared from use almost weekly for the past six years. It has saved me countless hours in research and consultations - and legal expenses.

Dealing with the FCC? It's in the book. Libel law - it's covered. Lotteries, contests and local service information to keep you out of hot water and on the air!

If you're going to go on the air, turn your radio station on with this handbook.

This is a really comprehensive guide for those looking to learn more about Watershed Management practices. I would highly reccomend it to anyone interested, because it has everything you need all in one place, and has extensive lists of references for the things it does not include.

Ever wonder while wandering the aisles at your local supermarket, how in the world all those products make it to the shelf? There is no doubt about it, from your favorite kind of cereal to your regular brand of toothpaste; the packaged goods we choose to buy are the end result of a long, arduous and costly process. These products have been researched, re-formulated, re-designed, tested, re-tested, perhaps altered innumerable times before given the final approval to appear at your local shopping center. Not to mention the millions of dollars committed to ensure that we know about them through television, newspapers, magazines and other forms of media. It is a process that can take years, often beginning as an idea in someone¹s head, and ending with a tangible, three-dimensional package or container that ultimately holds the item we have chosen to give our allegiance, our loyalty. We form relationships with these products. We go far and wide, and to great lengths to find them, and are unhappy if we can't get them.

Marketers everywhere are missing dinner with their kids, pulling all-nighters, steeped in market research and ad agency pitches, just so we could enjoy the most tasty cereal or the most whitening brand of toothpaste with baking soda. And these are only the products we know about; the ones that actually make it out the door! Ever wonder about the ones that never make it, or the ones that you saw today but are gone tomorrow, never to be seen again? Just ask Mr. Whipple. He's seen them come and seen them go. Charmin may still be "squeezably soft", but where is the Crystal Pepsi? Seemed like a good idea at the time. How about "smokeless" tobacco? Rabbit Jerky, anyone? Executives had countless meetings over these products, committed large amounts of resources to them, and spent millions of dollars to perfect and bring them to market. Unfortunately, most of them failed in the marketplace.

How each of these came to market, as the brainchild of one or more marketers at nearly every consumer products manufacturer in the country, is quite a story. Steve Backer, the advertising executive best known for the "I'd Like to Teach the World To Sing" Coca-Cola jingle puts it in familial terms. Executives "parent" these ideas, like they would children, and they grow and are nurtured by "uncles" and "cousins" and even "grandfathers" and "godfathers". They develop benefactors, and are protected and defended. Sometimes defended too well. It is the process of how an idea ultimately becomes a reality, and the generic term we apply to this process is marketing.

This is a subject of great interest to Robert McMath, a Marketing guru, i.e. consultant, who spent many years with the Colgate-Palmolive company, and Thom Forbes, an advertising journalist who, among other things, spent time as the editor of Adweek. In fact, they wrote a book about it, and the book is appropriately titled "What Were They Thinking? Marketing Lessons I¹ve Learned from over 80,000 New-Product Innovations and Idiocies".

This is a great book. And very valuable if you are a marketer. It could very well steer your career in the right direction. Written with wit and insight, McMath and Forbes take us through the last several decades of new-product launches, and are quick to point out that most of them have been duds. In fact, statistically, the chance of any new product really succeeding with a bang is plainly slim. If you don¹t believe me, go and visit the New Products Showcase and Learning Center in Ithaca, New York that McMath runs. It is the repository of more than 80,000 of these household consumable items that he speaks about in the title that at one time or another were considered "new and innovative" or "new and improved". And although the emphasis of this book is clearly what went wrong, rather than what went right, the facts bear out the conclusion. But don't get McMath and Forbes wrong. They both have a keen understanding of the dynamics of consumer products marketing, and are writing from a position of admiration and love of the business. This is not a treatise on the death of marketing, but rather a somewhat wistful and sweeping assessment of the results of some of the most ambitious and colossal undertakings by consumer products companies over the years. Certainly, the successes are included here, and are given their just kudos. What is striking, however, is the lesson in marketing we take away in hindsight from examining why these products and launches never caught on, and why some of them should never have been allowed make it to market.

McMath and Forbes cleverly assesses the highlights, er, lowlights, of some disastrous and costly marketing, along with some spectacular and flawless successes, and the approach is to take an altruism or marketing aphorism, and demonstrate the appropriate success or catastrophe. "Fooling With Your Cash Cow" was meant for Crystal Pepsi. They admonish PepsiCo for wantonly fooling with its flagship brand. There are also chapters on "Me-Too Madness" and "Thou Shalt Not Deceive", which extol the pitfalls of joining the bandwagon way too late, and not being totally above board on your advertising. My personal favorite is "Buy-This-If-You-Are-A-Loser" School of Marketing. The lesson here was Gillette¹s FOR OILY HAIR ONLY shampoo. What seems very much a matter of common sense now did not seem so back then. Of course, some of us have oily hair, but who wants to announce it in their shopping cart?

Throughout all the poignant examples, however, is a real desire to analyze de-facto, what contributed to these failures, and how they might be avoided in the future. Every lesson is sincere, and makes an attempt to intelligently and honestly assess the results in useful terms. Albeit entertaining, a deeper understanding of the vagaries and whimsy of consumers and marketing make for a great read and some very funny scenarios. From killer clerks to obstinate CEO¹s, not all the blame lies with the marketers. Some products are just destined to bomb due to an overwhelming negative force quite beyond the control any one individual, except perhaps the one having the power to say Yes or No. McMath, having been an "eager beaver young marketer who is going places" himself, tells the story of his first product

assignment with Colgate-Palmolive. He was to redesign and re-launch Palmolive Aftershave Lotion. Back then, it was in a molded plastic bottle and was a rich dark green in color. It sold for a buck, and had enjoyed some popularity in the late forties and early 50¹s, and by the time McMath got a hold of it, was lagging in sales of under $1M. That was an unacceptable figure for Colgate, and management wanted it fixed. Truth be told, on the shelf, the rich dark green liquid looked more like dirty water compared to the brilliant blues and sapphires of some of the competition. After a new bright blue formulation and some updated packaging, the prototype made it all the way up to the top, a VP of the Division, who promptly canned it because he hated the color blue. Marketing Lesson 101.

Throughout the book, McMath and Forbes keep the criticism fairly topical, yet accurate. As accurate as one can be in retrospect. The scenario¹s are plenty, and cover everything from Futurist marketers pronouncing products for the millennial zeitgeist, to simple dumber than dumb mistakes that should have never made it past pencil and paper. The tone is always even, but hardly dispassionate. And the issues are certainly relevant to today's marketplace, including some philosophical commentary on brand extensions, category development, new products and advertising.

All in all, the book leaves you with a distinct flavor; one part caution, one part common sense, mixed with the knowledge that ultimately, no matter how much planning, preparation, foresight and wisdom, no one can predict with certainty the success with which any new product will be met. McMath and Forbes give us just enough to think about the next time we go shopping.

This book could be used by an English teacher as a model of good writing; it is clear, direct and easy to read. McMath's experience scripting concise and informative advertisements and labels shows. The emphasis on food products dominates, which limits the scope of this book somewhat. Nevertheless, the principles which are illustrated by these examples are sufficiently general to be of interest to most readers working in other areas. The book not only deals with failed products, but also presents examples of the right way to do things. It is nicely balanced and informative.

This is an excellent book that tells all about the vagaries of new product development in the fast-moving consumer goods area. It is written with wit and humor, making it an easy read. It names names and is overflowing with case histories. If you're an entrepreneur, marketing person, PR/ad-agency creative or suit, you must read this book. It will save you time, money and embarrassment. It is absolutely true.