Worse yet, when managers find that they can't keep up with this flow they often tend to worry that it's their fault and that *they* are the ones who have somehow come up short.

Okay, now put all of that BEHIND YOU. Get yourself a copy of Bob Walter's book "Discovering Operational Discipline" and rediscover one of the REAL secrets of success: The best solutions are usually the simplest.

At first glance you might well assume that this book doesn't amount to much. The cover design is excellent, but the text is only 78 pages from cover to cover (including acknowledgements, Table of Contents, etc.). Moreover there is plenty of "white space" on nearly every page.

It's only as you begin to read the book, structured around Walters' 15 key characteristics of Organisational Discipline, that you begin to realise how powerful these characteristics can be.

In the last section of the book, Walters describes complete programmes for introducing Organisational Discipline to your company and/or your personal life, based on getting people to buy-in to the philosophy rather than trying to impose the process from above (though a highly placed "champion" is always a bonus, of course).

Just imagine how things might be different if everyone in your company/department/team was consistently committed to taking "personal responsibility for their actions", if everyone was driven by a "desire to use resources efficiently", and if the practise of "repecting and understanding each others' worldviews" were the rule rather than the exception. (Just three of the 15 characteristics.)

Better yet, imagine it, then buy the book and start putting it into practice.

This book is divided into six parts and each has chapters written by the various contributors. The parts are as follows:
Part One: The Discovery of Dinosaurs
Part Two: The Study of Dinosaurs
Part Three: The Groups of Dinosaurs
Part Four: Biology of the Dinosaurs
Part Five: Dinosaur Evolution in the Changing World of the Meszoic Era
Part Six: Dinosaurs and the Media

What I found that was very interesting was that at the end of each chapter there was extensive references. So, if you find something that piques your interest you have something else to read about, to either clarify or strengthen your viewpoint. Also, this makes the book easy to use when dealing with technical material.

This book summarizes the current knowledge about dinosaurs at the time written (1997), and currently there are only eighty professional dinosaur paleotologists in the world. This book is written like professional scientific literature, but that doesn't make it difficult to read. Reading on you will find this book is not without controversy, as vigorus disagreements among the specialists over topics of contention will be found here as they hash out these sharp divergences of opinion.

I must say, that there is some very fine artwork, with bone of skeletons, muscle structure and complete complete fleshed out dinosaurs giving the reader a full grasp of what a dinosar looks like from the inside out. Also, questions as to what dinosaurs ate, how they raised their young, and the question that was the turning point that made the movie Jurassic Park... can we isolate dinosaur DNA are just some of the many questions that have answers in this book.

All in all, the technical jargon is at a minimum and there is a glossary of terms making your reading much more fruitful. I found the narrative easy to read and the information from this book to be exceptional.

Although content will require some basic knowledge of biology (and you will find refresher material here as well--remember all your bones?), the chapters are for the most part always interesting, and some reflect the unquestionable enthusiasm of the authors. One particular chapter on the use of multimedia in cataloging and exchanging dinosaur data, while seemingly irrelevant to folks who just want to know the name of a dinosaur, spoke volumes of dedication and commitment to moving dinosaur finds from museum closets into scientists hands around the world. This level of enthusiasm does not diminish through the book, making what would otherwise be a very heavy read into something of a treat.

There are two or three other dinosaur books that may be as definitive as this one, however from paging through 'The Dinosauria' and 'The Dinosaur Encyclopedia', Farlow's books seemed the most approachable/accessible, while also not shorting the reader on content.

While this and the other dinosaur books mentioned might be a bit challenging at times for readers who don't have a background in biology, geology, paleontology, etc. (IE there is a lot of prior knowledge about evolutionary theory that the reader is assumed to possess), I would still not hestitate to recommend it to someone with a passion for Dinosaurs...which should be about everyone by now, right?

"The Bug Wars" are superb! I initially picked the book up at the local bookstore, as the title "The Bug Wars" indeed intrigued me. So I said, what the heck, I'm buying the book.

The story is divided into three books, all contained in the paperback (so think about it, you are actually getting three books for one?). Each book tells part of the military life of the narrator, a Tzen (reptile) known as Rahm. Rahm starts off as a commander of a flight squad, and then in the next book he is another position, and in the final book he is yet another.

Aside from that, we see Rahm go through changes in ways he thinks. He is an older Tzen, seeing new changes in his Empire as the days go on and we see how he treats them. The book is also loaded with action and some thrills. It keeps you interested.

Final analysis: Buy the freakin' book. It took me three days to read the 217 page story while reading another book at the same time.