If you have ever worked in, been a partner or managed a consultancy firm, this book will not only answer a lot of your troubling questions, it will also explain matters that you did not know the questions to - just the obnoxious frustration of something that was not working.

It is with incredible ease, yet depth and understanding that David H. Maister plough through the important issues that concerns not only managing partners in a consultant company, but anyone who wants to climb up the ladder. He explains why you got to balance your workcrew (juniors up to partners) and why it is so vitally important to mix people on the right combination of projects (brains, grey hair and procedure projects) as this builds up the firm's human capital, and provides the means and profitability to continue to grow steadily. I could go on but space does not allow me to. This book is not filled with theoritical babble but practical and useful information, no - knowledge and experience!

The book is divided into seven parts (personal highlights inside brackets): basic matters, client matters (quality work does not mean quality service!), people matters (building human capital, the motivation crises), management matters (creating a strategy), partnership matters (the art of parner compensation), multisite matters (the collaborative firm, hunters and farmers, etc.) and asset management. All in all it comprises of 32 chapters.

You won't find many books that explains service business any better than this one. I know because I went searching.

I've read a lot of books on leadership, management and selling - this is one of a select few that I find myself referring back to frequently since I first read it 5 years ago. I just logged on to buy a new copy - I've loaned out my old one again and forget who has it. The chapters on selling professional services are particularly strong, because Maister recommends dignified, professional approaches to client development. I personally practice ideas like 'marketing from the inside' and it's helped me help a lot of people - and make a lot of money in the process.

...if you are employed by one of the consulting giants, this book is a must-read regardless of your level or your position within the organization.

Although the premise of the book is to teach you how to manage a professional services firm, you will quickly see the mechanics of consulting.

Maister will show you in one digram why you were not promoted and why you work through the night, yet your senior managers sneak out at 5:00 - or conversely, why you are a partner or senior manager and yet you can't seem to keep your staff busy enough. All of this is is explained in only one chapter.

The knowledge that I gained by reading this book immediately and directly impacted my career in a very positive way.

Firestorm, The Best Book I've ever read and believe me I've read alot of books. I recomend this book to any 9 year olds and up. I just started Gemini7 so far its really good too. I hope you will try some of the other books too. Alex C.

When Randy takes his computer to Maya and then gets it back, I knew somthing was going to be wrong. This is the first book of the series that I've read, and I want to read them all!!!! I would recommend this book to everyone who likes the internet and who likes to read.

I thought the book was very well written and discriptive.I'm 11 and I love to read.I definitely would reccomend this book to anyone my age. I could picture everything in my mind. This was the first Danger.com book I read and it made me want to read more. I have now read 5 danger.com books and they all are great!

If you want to know whether COM is worth reading more about, start with this book. It is a high level overview that even a manager can read (and think he/she understands)!

That being said, keep away from non-programmers, they will get the impression that COM/OLE is soooo simple that anybody can do it. 8)

If you are interested in COM this is a must read. Clear, easy to follow, accurate explanation of the concepts. If you are interested in code look at Don Box "Essential COM" book, but read this one first.

Reading this book was a delight! I am a C++ developer but stil the plain language used here made me understand things that are hidden between the lines of Inside COM of Dale Rogerson.

On the negative side, I think the author is devoting too much to OLE embedding a linking. I don't know how many people are interseted in this...

I think this is the FIRST book to be read for someone who starts with COM, OLE and ActiveX. From here, you have to go to Inside COM and-if time permitted and you are a very curious person- to Inside OLE.

I am not an American, and I often find that I come short when discussing history with my American friends. Therefore, I am always looking for books that can fill gaps in my knowledge. "The Children" is such a book.

This is one of the best books you can find covering the Civil Right Movement. With a journalists precision Halberstam narrates the extraordinary story of the rise of the Civil Rights movement, which in the end broke the back of the Deep South segregation. "The Children" covers the fight for racial equality, including student protests, the story of lunch-counter sit-ins, to the freedom marches. We meet Sheriff Bull Connor, Jim Crow on the one side of the fight, and the young students James Lawson, Rodney Powell, and Diana Nash amongst others on the other side.

Halberstam does an excellent job showing us what the Civil Right movement was all about, and what its supporters had to endure to end the segregation in the South. His first-hand familiarity with the conflict is evident throughout the whole book. (What most people don't think of is that, the covering the Civil Right movement was David Halberstam first "serious" story as a journalist for the Tennessean in Nashville. He was fresh out of colleague and a complete "nobody" in the world of journalism!)

"The Children" was my first reading on the Civil Right movement and it was a true eye-opener for me. I learned so much from this book. With 800 pages "The Children" is not a quick read, but I never felt that too much was included. Now, 2 years later I still refer to this book when discussing the topic.

This is one of the best books that I have ever read. "The Children" should be required reading for everyone. I couldn't recommend it higher!

David Halberstam, as always, tells the whole story of events in history of which too little is known. He brilliantly details the lives and experiences of the front-line soldiers in the civil rights movement--the men and women (actually boys and girls...hence the name of the book) who had the courage to risk their lives to attain well-deserved and historically denied rights. Prior to this work, historians focused on King and his associates. I prefer the perspective and approach of Halberstam.

The reader becomes engrossed in the lives of the people. Halberstam lets us in on their organization, their disagreements, affairs, loves, families, fears, hopes, failures and successes. Most amazingly, he contrasts the children's reaction to racism with that of their parents. The younger generation's frontal assault on the segregationist strongholds is truly amazing. The stories of the freedom riders is engrossing.

Not Halberstam's best book (that would be the Fifties) but pretty darn close.

It is impossible to say anything about David Halberstam's books without first saying how influential his journalism has been to an entire generation of journalists in the United States and overseas. When I was a young news clerk at The New York Times a long time ago, I read Halberstam's masterly "The Best and The Brightest," and I wrote him a note applauding his detailed research, the flow of his narrative, and the sheer sweep of his story. To my surprise, he responded promptly; it is a note that I still treasure -- just as I treasure every book he has written since. "The Children" shows Halberstam at the peak of his writing ability. He recreates the human environment of the frenetic years of the civil rights struggles, telling the extraordinary stories of some of heralded and unheralded players in a manner that is both gripping and provocative. The reader shouldn't be daunted by the length of this book (800 pages) because there isn't a single section that flags. "The Children" is certain to become a landmark book. It deepens our understanding of a traumatic period in American history, and illustrates vividly that ultimately all social forces and causes are shaped by individual men and women -- in this case people who battled racism and the ever-present antagonism of foes determined not to yield ground. "The Children" dramatizes the triumph of goodness; it is definitely a triumph of a genre that might be called histojournalism. It is a superb book by a towering writer of great sensitivity and skill.

My son is only four months old, however, this book, with all of the wonderful illustrations and colors, encourages him to look from side-to-side. He smiles and seems to delight with the flow of words, as well as the illustrations. This is the ONLY book that he looks at with such interest. I hope that the other "Miss Spider" books are converted to the same type of board book soon. I believe that it is never too early to introduce a child to loving character that they may grow with.

I purchased this book a year ago for my then 18 month old niece and it is her favorite book. The illustrations are vivid and the characters jump off the pages.At two and a half, she's learned to count as well as identify colors. It is a well worn and loved book. Not only does she love it but I love reading it to her as well. I will continue to gift other toddlers with this gem!!DA Lancaster,Pa

My 8 month old son loves to look at this book. The board version is great for us because he likes to turn the pages. All the other books get pushed aside when he sees "Miss Spider". I am quite anxious to get the other "Miss Spider" books for him! "Miss Spider" is family!

As a 35 year old comic book fan who has been reading comics for 31 of my years, it is a sincere compliment to Peter David, for me to name him as one of my two favorite comic writers. The other is Alan Moore. You're in good company Peter. I purchased this paperback on the strength of Mr. David's name. I was not dissapointed. Well, Then again maybe I was a little. While the story and characterization were up to what I expect from him, I felt that the story became a little rushed about halfway through the book. Being the regular scripter on the Hulk comic book, no one has a better grasp of the Hulk's supporting cast than Peter David. Most of my favorites were in this book and very deftly handled. The story flowed well for one that had to be written with the restrictions of being able to fit into the current comic continuity without altering the same. My one complaint is that I think that Peter David is spreading himself a little thin these days, and it showed in this book. It appeared to me that about half way through he became a little hurried in his story telling. The story became a somewhat weaker because of this. While he still managed to pull of a good ending this is due to his skills as a plotter not to the storytelling abilities he displayed here. Peter, I am a great admirer of your work but I would love to see a little less of it, if that allows you to bring your writing up to the level I have come to expect from you. This was a good read but it could have and should have been better. Tim Drinnon Morristown T

Now THIS is what I'm talking about. Finally a novel worthy of its main character. You can tell that Peter David knows his stuff, and *GASP!!!* actually CARES about his characters instead of just writing about them. I was actually shocked by how much turmoil that the main characters (Bruce Bnner/Hulk, Betty Banner, Doc Samson)went through in this book, OUTSIDE of normal comic continuity. This is quite literally a "page turner" as the sotry is just, literally, all over the place. My only complaint is that the end conclusion feels abrupt and rushed. Maybe Mr. David was on a deadline, or maybe he just couldn't come up with a worthy enough conclusion to his fantastic story. Who knows, but it won't diminish the impact of what happened before. It's a shame that Mr. David didn't write another Hulk novel, as the Hulk novels are actually some of the better ones. Oh well, definately check this out!

This is the only book I have ever bought, then read, then only minutes after putting the book down, picked it up and read it - AGAIN! I've read it three times now, and have to say that it is the best Hulk story out there. And this from a guy who has almost 300 issues of the comic series, including the entire Peter David run. Thank you Mr. David.

Motel of the Mysteries is an about-face for David Macaulay, whose previous books educated readers about fascinating architectural achievements. Motel is a totally different story-line. What remains the same are his illustrations - pen and ink demonstrations of meticulous obsession. Works like Cathedral and Pyramid display the intricacies of history's architectural marvels in astonishing detail. The cover of Cathedral alone is a spectacle. Motel achieves the same level of elaborateness but throws in a monkey wrench with an outrageous story of our civilization's abrupt demise and its discovery thousands of years later.
The illustrations add a witty visual flair to the laugh-out-loud storyline. The language, intended for upper elementary to adult ages, will probably leave younger readers confused, because the humor is above them, and often too advanced. This can make the story funnier in some places, such as an ice bucket being dubbed the Internal Component Enclosure.
The book is as fictional as books can get. The story takes place in 4022 and only in Motel of the Mysteries could a woman possibly believe a toilet seat is a ceremonial headdress worn by the ancient people of Usa.
In the distant future, America has been dead and gone for thousands of years, and historians and paleontologists search frantically for remnants of the ancient civilization Usa (get it?). Howard Carson, an amateur at best, and associate Harriet Burton discover a 'burial tomb' of the Usa people. What they really discovered was a late 1900s motel. No suspense, nothing that really defines a story, just the hilarious commentary of stumbling upon this motel.
The "Treasures" section explains in full detail the ceremonial items used in Usa burials. The wacky, absolutely outrageous functions given to each item (such as the toilet seat passed off as a headdress) keep the reader glued until the last page.
Macaulay's style is totally unique. Not only is he far more amusing than most authors, he uses his illustrations to weave his knowledge of architecture into the story. The entire book is something of a spoof on historians today. Maybe the pharoahs of Egypt were really just street peddlers!

Motel of the Mysteries is simply one of the funniest books I have ever seen. And "seen" is the word, as the joy is in the illustrations. A parody of archaeologists' tendency to declare what we "know" about past civilizations based on their artifacts, the book presents the unearthing of a nondescript motel two thousand years after the sudden collapse of Western civilization. The fun is in the labeling of the various elements discovered: a showercap becomes a ceremonial death cap, a dinner tray an offering to the gods, a toilet seat a piece of sacred religious neckwear. Macaulay makes his point and has fun doing it. I pick up this book again and again whenever I'm in the mood for an intelligent chuckle.

Recently, I have come across one of the books that I had a whille back and I was really excited to read it. The book is called Motel of the Mysteries and is written by David MacAulay.

In this book the story starts in the present where the whole intire Northern American Continent is covered with an avalance of junk mail. Instantly killing everyone, there is not much known about the 'Yanks' from then on. That is untill the year 4022 where an amateur archeologist finds himself at the entrance of an ancient 'Usa' burial site.

This book is interesting to read because the reader is left to wonder how much do the 'experts' of today really understand about the ancient civilizations. It is a very cute book and isn't that hard to read so a young reader could enjoy it as well as an older one. Overall I think Motel of the Mysteries is a funny book and should be read by anyone interested in history and humor.

- Cole

Having just finished reading it for the third time, I believe that Cancer Ward is a very fine novel, rich at many levels: in its depiction of Soviet provincial society in 1955, a poor society just emerging from Stalinism; in its portrayal of many separate characters (doctors, nurses, patients, hospital workers) in that society, many of whose lives have been permanently damaged by the terror and the GULAG, but in different ways; and, as I know from personal experience, in its depiction of the isolated world of the cancer patient, from which the rest of society is seen dimly, as though through dirty glass. In spite of all medical progress, the basics of this world have not changed much in 50 years: the core treatments are still surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, and the side effects both long and short term can still be brutal.

The ending of the book will disappoint those who want a happy ending, or just an ending with all the loose ends tied up. In real life, though, loose ends usually stay loose. My thought is that Solzhenitshyn intended the reader to understand that for the characters and the society who are so damaged by the past there can be no happy endings; the best they can hope for is to continue from day to day, grasping at whatever happiness briefly comes their way.

Cancer Ward is often overshadowed by its predecessor, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, and its successor, the immense memoir, The Gulag Archipelago. While the worldly impact of those two works is perhaps greater, the aesthetic power of Cancer Ward is stronger than both of those works. The story is poignant and powerful, reaching out and probing deeply into the essential questions that are never answered by not only Soviet society, but western culture as a whole. The religious message that emerges is stunning and unique, recalling the works of Dostoyevsky. Overall, this is an excellent book, and any reader who enjoyed One Day or Gulag will be blown away by this work.

Those were the words that Dorothy used to describe Oz after waking up in the bosom of her family. The same intense feeling came over me while reading this book, a task that spanned several years, as I often put it aside for other things, always returning, drawn by the power of the author's prose in opening his world to us. The realness of Solzhenitsyn's worlds makes him perhaps the most accessible Russian novelist. As he described the village where Kostoglotov, the protagonist, lived, or in recounting how Ruasov, the villian/fellow victim ruined lives while justifying his actions, a vivid portrait fills the reader's imagination.
The human struggle to find hope and beauty in the most tragic of settings is what this novel evokes so well. Soviet medicine, cancer, a Zek fresh from the Gulag, and in a twilight turned dawn, Solzhenitsyn finds for his semi-autobiographical protagonist happiness, not only in winning victories against a malignant tumor, but in thoughts of perhaps one more summer to live, with nights sleeping under the stars, of three beech trees that stand like ancient guardians of an otherwise empty steppe horizon, a dog that shared his life there, and of a young nurse and spinster doctor, both of whom he hoped at times to love.
The picture one often got (accurately) of the Soviet Union was of greyness, gloom, uniform drabnes, and of a totalitarian police state. This book serves to remind the reader that, despite such circumstances, even desparately sick human being might still seek, and find, happiness in his own, private world. Along with that, Solzhenitsyn never lets us forget the utter corruption of the Soviet state, often in the person of Ruasov, an ailing bureaucrat who has managed to turn personnel management into an exquisite art form, as an instrument of psychological torture, slowly administered.
Of all Solzehenitsyn's works, this is my favorite. The people one encounters are vividly real, and the ending isn't what one would think (or hope), but is fitting, nonetheless.
-Lloyd A. Conway

The story of how David Wilkerson came to found Teen Challenge should be a must read for anyone who follows Jesus Christ. The Cross and the Switchblade describes how Wilkerson put feet on his faith that took him from rural Pennsylvania to the streets of New York City. It's the story of how a pastor followed the leading of the Holy Spirit and reached out to minister to people with whom the churches would not associate.

Wilkerson describes in his book how essential it is to meet the unloved where they are, rather than waiting for them to show up in church all dressed up and ready to worship within the ranks of the clean and respectable. He also rightly emphasizes the importance of follow up, how one can't just expect to go out and distribute tracts or preach from street corners without also developing real, loving relationships with people and ministering to their needs, both spiritually and physically.

Now that Teen Challenge International has grown to over 200 centers around the world, it is interesting to note that the struggle in recovery ministry continues to be much the same: It's extremely difficult to get people to reach out in love to those who have never been loved, and it's nearly impossible to get church members to venture outside their doors to love their neighbors as they love themselves.

I praise God for Rev. Wilkerson and the way that he listened to God and ventured out in faith. I thank him for sharing the story of his work.

A powerful book that will send God-bumps down your spine! Even if you are not a fan of David Wilkerson's later writings, this book is truly a God send. Read this book if you want to learn of the power of the Holy Spirit in the lives of others.

What a tremendous message this book has to give. Miracles happen right in the worst parts of New York, away from the glamourous bits, right in the middle of the hard, the tough, the smelly and the nasty - and it actually keeps on happening.

These days, so much has changed. A local pentecostal preacher once told me that he went to Leeds one Saturday; that he was so disgusted by the beggars, and used to see the same ones all the time, how awful that they should always be there; and once he got real close up to one, who was (from what he told me) probably very weak, maybe even dying, lying on the ground, got about six inches away from their ear, and shouted at the top of his voice, "GET A JOB!!!"

Stand this in contrast with the Wilkerson man. This guy, realizing that the zonkos and beggars know that they're sinners, possibly scarcely realizing anything else at all, goes and gives them a bed for the night - feeds them - gives them a bath and warm clothes. The tells them that God knows them and has already fixed up a plan for them - that to the God who made the sun and the outer planets, THEY matter - "whosoever will" can come and drink from the waters of life, that they can repent, and be made blameless before the king of kings.

[Life isn't cheap to this man.]

Then the guy fixes up this organisation called "teen challenge", held together by almost no money at all, but lots of prayer, who pulls loads of dropouts and folks who are very nearly dead from all over the place and stands them on the the higher ground...

Man, this book is so good. I know that these days, many of the big churches... (I used to be in Perth, Western Australia) and there was this huge church near to the Casino. The car park was full of BMWs, and all the evidence was that the church was really inwards looking, far too concerned with "signs and wonders" to remember about the plan of Salvation at all. So much for the lost, no place for them. When I went to Yorkshire, I was amazed how the church had similarly split along these lines - those who preached the gospel, the same one as David Wilkerson preached - to the lost sheep - (go and READ this, will you) and those who prayed for (and maybe got) bigger houses, fatter share options, sports cars, foreign holidays, etc. The contrast is huge.

Read this book and find out what the cost of discipleship to Christ really means - how many days and nights of prayer it really takes to move those mountains - and what faith is REALLY about. And the failures, when Sonny does not come back, and all the disappointments when it doesn't seem to go to plan and they're just about to get kicked out of the building...

I was brought up with this book, and as far as I can remember, I have worn out probably six copies. Time I got myself a new one....

I graduated Michigan as an English major and am currently in law school - I'm no idiot, especially when it comes to reading and processing information. I'm also an avid gambler and dedicated poker player, and when I saw this book's technical and "enlightened" method of play, I was truly excited to internalize its wisdom and wreak havok on all those who would dare oppose me. However - and I mean, a big however - this book is fairly close to unreadable. When I mean unreadable, I mean not that it can't be read and understood, but rather that it can't be "read" like any book you may pick up. It has to be parsed into the small lessons it offers, and it makes one of my favorite passions - poker - simply boring. Oh, and if you aren't very adept at math, like myself - forget this title. It preassumes a master's degree in diffuse algorithms. However, if you're into mathematical pageantry, this book is for you.

Invariably at or near the top of any list of serious titles on poker, this book is the leading work on poker theory. Since virtually every dedicated player has read it, to play without reading it is to put yourself at a disadvantage. Sklansky focuses on the math of poker--how to calculate odds, pot odds, reverse implied pot odds, etc. It's not a fun read; it reminded me of some of the college textbooks I dreaded, but it rewards hard work with a new depth of insight that will make you a smarter, more insightful player. It deserves five stars but I gave it four because it can be so dreary. No colorful stories of how so-and-so went all in with a pair of fours only to [take out a set on the River, etc. Sklansky is so professorial in tone it's hard to imagine him at smoky poker table betting the farm. And in truth, he's more noted as a theoretician than a player. But if you want to play poker for serious stakes, this book is required reading.

If everybody who plays poker were to buy and study this book, I would have a hard time making money at the poker table. I want you fish to remain ignorant of pot odds, effective odds, implied odds, correct bluffing frequency, semi-bluffing, reading cards, and the other topics covered in this book. How am I going to earn money if you know the same things about poker that I do, thanks to Sklansky?

So, skip this book and just plunk yourself down at my table. Oh...and bring lots of cash.