This is a highly useful book that presents forty training and development tools, arranged in eight process stages covering initiating cross-functional teams, developing synergy and consensus, creatively solving problems, and recognizing and rewarding teams. The author describes the functions and methods for implementation of each tool, along with an illustration. Lots of illustrations and charts. A solid team-building resource. Reviewed by Yvette Borcia, co-founder, Stern & Associates, co-author of Stern's Sourcefinder The Master Directory to HR and Business Management Information & Resources, Stern's CyberSpace SourceFinder, and Stern's Compensation and Benefits SourceFinder.

This book has a wide variety of patterns. There are patterns for all levels of crocheters. Items aren't of the usual run of the mill either. Great gift ideas! Instructions are clearly written. This book is one all crocheters should have in their collection.

This book is a highly informative and useful guide for professionals who need a comprehensive and well organized procedure manual for critical care nursing. For those new to the field, or veterans with an advanced understanding of the subject, it is a must read!

In this book, ex-Surfer Magazine editor Matt Warshaw captures the voice of surfing. By picking out the essential moment in a dleuge of interviews with the each of history's most influencial surfers, Warshaw exposes the true soul of surfing. This book touched me deeply.

In this work, Babb asks an interesting question. Why would Jains fast and starve themselves when they believe that the beings they worship are not only unaware of their existence but also can in no way help them even if they wanted? It is a fascinating book that explores this as well as ritual in jain culture. It is based mostly on the authors work in India. It is quite descriptive and can be understood by all as he expains many aspects of Jainist thought.

In addition to describing the various rituals in play, the author also gives a very thorough explanation of the dieties and their roles. Furthermore, he effectively compares Jainism with Hinduism and Buddhism making the distinction much clearer. This is a difficult task when dealing with Indian religions. Finally, Babb does an excellent job of incorporating the ideas and stories of the people he interviewed into the work.

In contrasting Homer's complex tragic hero to the simplifications of later writers who invoked him, King devotes about a third of the book to Achilles the soldier of love. She notes classical traditions in which Achilles's bond to Patroklos was erotic, and also a murderous unrequited passion for Troilos, but does not elaborate on these (nor on the Amazon queen Penthesileia), focusing primarily on the accretion of later romantic entanglements with Polyxena, the last virgin of the Trojan royal family.

The book is primarily a passionate recovery of the tragedy of Achilles from later allegorizing simplifications. Besides providing a fascinating demonstration of the tangle of traditions growing out of one character in a nearly lost text, the book is of special value for those trying to understand cultural constructions of gender and sexuality for showing the assumption that enthusiastic heterosexuality effeminized a man. Traditions of Achilles as an ardent heterosexual suitor have him undertaking women's work (like Herakles) and even cross-dressing. While love with Patroklos was masculinizing for the young warrior, falling in love with Deidameia "is not merely the result of assumed effeminacy that allows him to move freely among beautiful maidens but is the cause of that effeminacy" (p. 182). The opposition between effeminate lover and masculine warrior is often a contrast between Paris and Achilles, but by the 2nd century A. D., the contrast was made in phases of Achilles's career. In the Illiad itself "only in Achilles does kállos [a stunning and sexually enticing beauty attributed by Homer also to Paris and to Ganymede] coexist with all the other excellences that a man and a warrior are expected to have if he is to be called áristos" (p. 4).

The book's 23 illustrations are also fascinating, but, unfortunately, not discussed. The classical Greek ones support the contention that Achilles was an eromenos. Only long after it stopped being a criterial feature did he begin to be represented as bearded.

This book is great...even boys like hearing the story of what it's like to be a princess. When given the choice between this book and other more popular character books the boys I work with choose this one!

Cute loveable Adam Raccoon lives with King Aren in Master's Wood. He is just like a small child, and King Aren is the loving guide who teaches Adam about life's great lessons. This is a wonderful adaptation of Jesus's parable of the Wedding Feast when the honoured guests rejected their invitations and the doors were thrown open to the poor and rejected, whom Jesus loves equally. My children ask for this story over and over again. All of the Adam Raccoon books in the series are great.

In buying this book, at first I was a little reluctant to do so because I thought that the "Dummies" books were for, well, dummies. However, after doing an extensive search for books on PhotoDeluxe, I found that there were few. Of those, the only ones that are currently in print are a Quickstart book, which usually isn't that informative, and Adobe PhotoDeluxe 4 For Dummies. As a graphic production artist who is starting a career, I needed a book that could get me up to speed fast on PhotoDeluxe. I was particularly interested in the area of color correction, since that was my most pressing need at the time. The book, despite its title, exceeded all my expectations and I have gained a lot from it. It familiarizes you in the many features of PhotoDeluxe in a way that's easy to understand, without insulting your intelligence. The book covers everything, from color correction to the many special effects that PhotoDeluxe is capable of producing. In fact, from reading this book, I have learned that PhotoDeluxe is more similar to its higher priced counterpart, PhotoShop, than I thought it was.
In closing, I highly recommend this book to anyone who desires to learn how to use PhotoDeluxe. In comparison with other books on graphic software, this one's as good as any other.

After trying on my own for a long time, I bought this book. I recommend it to anyone who is not an electronics whiz and wants to make the most of Photo Deluxe 1, 3 or business edition. It was very helpful. I did things not covered in any manual.