"Freedom dreams, they was always hid in plain sight for anyone who knew how to look and how to listen." (Fogelin, pg.36). Cass, the main character in Adrian Fogelin's Crossing Jordan, frees her mind of prejudice by ignoring a fence that separates her from Jemmie, the young African-American girl who moves in next door. Although hesitant about befriending a black girl, Cass shares mutual interests with Jemmie, and soon a strong bond between the girls emerges. Cass's family, especially her father, deplores blacks, and projects his hatred openly to the rest of the family. In the beginning of the book, Cass also holds negative ideas about African-Americans, but changes as she surrounds herself with Jemmie, and Jemmie's family. The Cognitive dissonance theory provides a platform for understanding the psychological dynamics that Cass encounters when confronted with cultural biases. Defined, cognitive dissonance "is said to be a state of psychological discomfort or tension which motivates efforts to achieve consonance." (Woodward & Denton, pg.160). This occurs when an inconsistency exists between a person's actions and acquired knowledge. There are two ways to reduce dissonance; a person must either change his beliefs or alter his behavior. The dissonance Cass experiences is a direct result from her beliefs instilled by her father, and the increasing amount of time she enjoys spending with Jemmie. She admires Jemmie's running ability, and reading skills, but still sees Jemmie as black girl, and retains stereotypes that blacks steal and lie. When Jemmie is accused of stealing candy at the local grocery store, Cass says, "maybe she did do it, Daddy always said for black people, stealing's as easy as breathing." (Fogelin, pg.45). She defends Jemmie, and tells Andy, the store clerk, "Jemmie is my friend, she doesn't have a thing that belongs to you." However, Cass is uncertain about Jemmie's innocence. She says, "I turned her pockets inside out to show the clerk he was wrong, but as I did it I felt ashamed. I wasn't any better than Andy. I knew Jemmie, and I still hadn't been sure." (Fogelin, pg.46). As the two girls are retelling the story to Nana Grace, Jemmie's grandmother, Cass says, "My smile felt pasted on. If Nana Grace could see into my heart, she would know that when Andy accused Jemmie of stealing I hadn't really trusted her. I had to check her pockets to be sure." (Fogelin, pg.50.) What Cass experiences is known as Post-decision dissonance. This occurs when an important decision is re-evaluated, because the significance is such that a person will look for alternative options in order to achieve consonance. The stealing incident is the turning point in the book, immediately after Cass changes her beliefs about African-Americans. This leads to her state of consonance. Previous to this experience, Cass's actions and knowledge, conflict. Before the grocery store scene Cass says, "I thought maybe I'd give Jemmie my magazines to read when I was done, as long as she promised to give them back." Even when Jemmie's family first moves in, Cass refers to them as "those people", and assumes the absence of Jemmie's father meant he was just another "black" man running around on his wife, and abandoning his family. As time passes, loving and respecting Jemmie and her family change Cass's beliefs regarding African-Americans. Cass can now spend time with Jemmie with no discrepancy between her actions and knowledge, because her newfound knowledge dramatically changes her beliefs. Cass also reduces dissonance by changing her actions. Initially, Cass is reluctant to be-friend a black girl. Instead of walking together to the racetrack, Cass meets her there, and tells Jemmie to leave a few minutes ahead of her. Cass tells Jemmie, "you can't come over here", (Fogelin, pg28.) referring to her house, and only communicates to her through a hole in the fence. As their friendship deepens, Cass lets Jemmie come to her house, even with the fear of her father still in place. By the end of the book, Jemmie asks Cass "will things be different when school starts, will we still be friends?, you know kids are gonna say stuff about us." Cass, without hesitation, replies, "of course we'll be friends, we're not gonna let anything stop us." (Fogelin, pg.93). Cass finally reaches a state of consonance by changing both her beliefs and her actions as the story concludes." The Cognitive dissonance theory provides a clear explanation for the resolution of Cass's uncertainty. Simply stated, a person remains unsatisfied in a state of confusion, and will naturally either ignore the problem, or alter a belief, which will lead to a behavioral change. Cass's friendship with Jemmie overpowers her initial bigotry, and allows for her extreme shift in beliefs and behavior by the end of the book.

Fogelin, Adrien. Crossing Jordan. Atlanta, Georgia: Peachtree Publishers, 2000. Woodward, Gary, and Robert Denton. Persuasion and Influence in American Life. Prospect Heights, Illinois: Waveland Press, 2000.

Crossing Jordan by Adrian Fogelin is a very good book. Cass is the girl who lives next door to Miss Liz. Miss Liz has died and the new neighbors are colored and Cass's dad is building a fence just because of that reason. Cass finds out that Jemmie, the girl vext door is her age. Cass and Jemmie start to become good friends. One day Cass challenged Jemmie to a race. Cass was the fastest girl in school but Jemmie was just as fast. Secretly everyday after Cass's dad left for work Cass went over to Jemmie's house and they played and talked. One day Cass's dad got hurt and came home from work early. Cass was over at Jemmie's house. Cass's dad forbids Cass to talk to Jemmie and go to her house, Jemmie's mother does as well. Will Cass and Jemmie be friends again to find out read Cross.ing Jordan

Crossing Jordan is a powerful story of friendship between Cassie Bodine, a Caucasian girl, and Jemmie Lewis, an African American girl. They are drawn together by their competiveness in running and a love of reading. From the beginning Cassie and Jemmie's friendship is beset by the prejudice, pride ,and cultural beliefs of their parents. Once it is revealed that the girls are friends , they are forbidden to see each other. Through a turn of life-threatening events, and struggle the parents learn that long held notions of people are insignifigant in a time of need. As a librarian, and mother of a ten-year-old, I'm always looking for good books to read with my daughter. We liked this book because the characters are vivid and lively. At the same time, the book used classical literature in a way that made it fun. As a parent , I feel this book is a must read because it provides a positive platform for the discussion of prejudice, ethnicity, and friendship.

A wonderful collection of Adrian Tomine's earliest published stories. If you have read none of his work before this might not be the way to be introduced to this great writer and artist. Look to any of the Optic Nerve collections for that. But if you want to see the evolution of an important writer and see where things began then this is the book for you.

These early stories hint at the stories that come later. They offer insight and humor and it is fascinating to see how Tomine's art began.

adrian tomine does a fantastic job of capturing the mundane, everyday details of life- turning them into funny little slices.

don't expect a strong narrative to run through the book. each of the 32 stories run from 1-6 pages and only carry a few repeat characters.

the stories are 32 tiny vignettes capturing little bits of life- random thoughts, dreams, small experiances (which manage to capture a much larger picture, and that's the brilliance of it), etc.

don't be dismayed if the first few comics aren't that great; once you get further into the work it's fascinating to see how tomine's art and story arcs mature.

my only complaint, and the reason i gave the book 4 instead of 5 stars, is that i finished the book in about half an hour. although it's well worth reading, and something i'll pick up and read again, i strongly suggest buying the cheapest copy you can find. 90 odd pages (and they're small pages)of drawings do not add up to the fairly high retail price.

do try to pick a copy up. tomine has a voice not to be missed.

Okay, I'm bias. I have a crush on the man but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy Adrian's work. He brings about bittersweet narratives that are not unlike Carver's own. '32 Stories' collects the mini-comics he put out in the early 90's. These are the stories that made me confess undying love for his work...(give me a break, I was 14 and melodramatic.) This collection defintely shows the great range Tomine can work with and will easily become a book that you will reccomend easily to friends.

'Sleepwalk' contains his more heavy-hearted work and '32 stories' carries his more cynically humorous self published endeavors with his comic, Optic Nerve. I highly reccomend both.

Paul is alive and well in my poets garden. Among the tomatoes and peppers is a living walrus who has generated a dynamic work for all time. Yes! Paul is the only surviving Beattle to make use of Beattlemania and his emotions are laid bare in this book. He still reaches out to the public today. Recently I recieved as a gift a copy of his book "Blackbird Singing" published by W. W. Norton and Company. New York, 2001. I have a passion for honest works of art and Paul McCartney authored true nirvana for my generation. He is a saint who pioneered Mass art on global scale. The lyrics and poems in his book sent me back thirty years to a happy childhood with the Fab four blarring tunes over the radio and Hi-fi. Paul has always been my favorite. In his book you'll find songs like; "Yesterday", "Hey Jude", and "When I'm sixty four"-my sentimental favorites. His poems opened a new door for me a budding poet. I read aloud, "Standing Stone" to my reverie. I think I know the true Paul more because of this timeless book. I recommend it to poetry lovers, and old baby boomers like me. This collection of lines is a hit in a life time of successes for Paul.

Paul McCartney has been my favorite musician for a long time now. His music has filled moments of my life with joy, anticipation, and wonder--al of the good things that we live for. I've had his tunes stuck in my head as I've walked through spring fields after it's been winter for a seemingly endless time. I've listened to his albums while going for drives on sunny mornings and felt the warm sunlight refracted through the windshield on my face.

Paul's music is also good for a rainy day when you can smell the wet dirt, or a foggy morning when your imagination starts to wander. Paul's music is wonderful. I always probably would have said that it's his sense of melody and chord structure that I really like.

But reading Paul's lyrics naked here, without the clothing of the music, I realize that I also really love the playfulness of the words themselves. This is a great book if you're a Beatles fan or a McCartney fan, because it'll make you come to the songs in a new way. You can see how inventive McCartney really is, not just musically, but also lyrically.

He paints with his words in much the same way that he paints with his music: in a colorful way, and when his mind is wandering, there he will go...

Great fun for any fan of music or poetry. If you like this book, you should also check out McCartney's recent book of his paintings. That one's really good, too.

Paul McCartney- true he is an Ex-Beatle, but he is also a wonderful poet and songwriter. By reading this book of poems and lyrics he has composed over the years, you will learn what it is really like to think like one of the biggest geniuses in the music business- next to John Lennon of course(who also has sensational books on the market). I would recommend this book to anyone who loves The Beatles, poetry, or both. It is certainly a book no one should live without.

In recent times the genre of the psychological thriller has gained immense popularity. But it's a hardly a new art, as anyone familiar with Stevenson's famous Dr. Jekyll and Hyde will be aware. James Hogg's work does not enjoy the same legendary status as Stevenson's classic, but it is a worthy predecessor of its famous counterpart, anticipating it in many ways. In short it's very theological and psychological portrait of a man who is misled by the devil, evolving into a supernatural thriller. Published in 1824, it is widely regarded as the best work of the Scottish poet James Hogg (1770-1834).

It's a great script. The three-fold structure leaves open many questions about the interpretation of the novel, since the first and last part of the novel are supposed objective rational accounts of Wringhim's life by an unnamed editor, and yet the real truth of the murder mystery has to be elicited from Robert Wringhim's own irrational and subjective record of the same events (the middle section of the book). The structure of the narrative itself lends to the elusiveness of identifying the exact role of Gil-Martin as a doppelganger, an allegorical figure, a multiple personality, or an embodiment of Satan (this last being the most satisfying conclusion in my mind). In the end, it is still not clear who has really perpetuated the murders, and part of the brilliance of the novel is that it itself eludes a clear answer to the question "What happened?"

But it is not so much a murder mystery as it is a tale of the supernatural, and a deeply religious and psychological portrait of a madman. Some have regarded it as a satire on Calvinism, although it seems to me that shoe fits antinomianism rather better than Calvinism, because Calvinism maintains that assurance of election comes not through secret revelation, but through the fruits of election, which are a godly life. It could also be construed as a warning against intellectual arrogance, self-righteousness and hypocritical religious rationalism/fanaticism as embodied in Robert and his father. Certainly it is a deeply religious study in the deception of the evil one and the depravity of mankind, and chronicles a journey of human destruction.

But although one having a theological interest in these matters will gain greater enjoyment of the story, in the end it is just as much a psychological tale as it is a theological one. The occasional use of Scottish idiom by commoners in dialogue sometimes makes reading difficult, but on the whole this is a story accessible to anyone with an appreciation for a fine literary creation with a theological and psychological twist. It's a chilling classic that deserves more exposure than it has received.

James Hogg's masterpiece, this strange and evocative study of the effects of Calvinist doctrine on the Scottish mind, has slowly edged its way into the canon in the last twenty years largely because it is first and foremost a rattling good read. Like all the great Scottish novelists from Walter Scott to Robert Louis Stevenson to Muriel Spark, Hogg was haunted by the dual promise of Edinburgh both as the refined cosmopolitan Renaissance home of Boswell as well as the fanatically religious city of John Knox. THE PRIVATE MEMOIRS is a response to that dual inheritance, and the novel is filled with doubles and dual structures: two brothers (born on two floors of the same house) vie for filial recognition; one brother duplicates himself when he is visited by a devil figure, Gil-Martin, in his exact semblance; and the story is told in two parts, and one of those is itself doubled. Although the Scots dialect in sections is a real chore to get through, the book is a marvelous frightening read nonetheless, and NYRB has wrapped it all up in a glorious cover featuring a famous Blake illustration. This isn't an easy ghost read, but it is tremendously repaying.

Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified sinner is the story of the illigitamate son of a Scottish laird who is convinced by the devil to act on his own spite and rage and commit murder -- but Hogg adds a clever twist (I don't want to spoil anything by saying what it is) that leaves the reader wondering...

One of the great things about this book is that its serious subject matter is balanced by a dose of humor -- I was surprised to find myself giggling through the first fifty pages which tell of the laird's marriage to a reluctantly religious woman.

This is a must-read for anyone interested in nineteenth-century fantasy, but its detailing of the making of a fanatic is still hauntingly relevent today...

I have this friend who hates Henry James. I can't understand it. The style is dated, in that people dont write that way today, but as you get into the book you begin to enjoy the style, as well as the plot, characters, and French/American dual culture shock that still goes on today. (For an update on the theme, look at Le Divorce and Le Mariage by Diane Johnson). I couldn't wait to see what was going to happen to these characters and the description of Paris in the Second Empire were fascinating. If you watch the Masterpiece Theatre version without having read the book, you will be totally confused. They moved events out of sequence all over the place and after about ten minutes I shut off the tape and picked up the book. You have to know the whole story before you watch them throw characters and events at you in the first two scenes that only appear 2/3 of the way through the novel, after a foundation has been laid as to who they are and when and why things happened.

I couldnt recommend this more for a good read. The only caution I have is for readers who have never been to France. They may get an extremely negative impression of French people from many of the characters in this book. Go to Paris and you will find the city is wonderful, and so are the French people. These characters are not typical!! They belong to a certain class, and the book does take place 150 years ago. If this book doesnt get you hooked on James, I dont know what will. Try Washington Square and dont miss that movie, with Jennifer Jason Leigh, Albert Finney and Maggie Smith.

OK so it takes half the book to get to the story. In typical Henry James fashion you are completely prepared for the action. Unlike Thomas Hardy, whose surroundings tell us of the character of the person it surrounds, James wishes you to know the depth of his characters as seen through the eyes of others. This of course brings on many minor characters that just seem to disappear, but it is a view of a person as if the reader was on the other side of the mirror watching the story unfold. Yes, James is wordy, yes this is not a quick read, but Henry James has a mastery of language and story telling that is rare.
"The American" is a wonderful love story that ends as a real life love story might end. Do not expect roses and happily ever after, it is as much a story of an ancient social system as it is of the life of "our hero." And the thing that seems to get missed is that Henry James actually wrote this as a mystery, not a love story.
This is a novel to contemplate and read between the lines. Good verses Evil, Noveau vs Old Money, Right and Wrong, can literature get any better than that?

This book is long, but only because that's how James tells the story. It's like a soup that needs to boil all day, so it's kept on low, but when it's done, it's perfect. The book stays at the pace of "our hero" the American Christopher Newman. A smart, educated, rich, yet easy going, simple, and humane veteran of the Civil War and a self made tycoon, who goes to Europe to see the "treasures and entertain" himself.

He becomes entangled in what he thinks is a simple plan for matrimony, but is really truly a great deal larger and more treacherous and terrible than that.

We spend a lot of time in Newman's mind, paragraphs of character analaysis are sprung upon us, but nothing seems plodding or slow, nothing feels useless. By the end of the book we find that we think like the character and can only agree with what he does. We react to seemingly big plot twists and events as he does, without reaction, and a logical, common sense train of thought.

But don't misunderstand that. For a book that is so polite and the essence of "slow-reaction", it is heartwrenching and tragic. You will cry, you will wonder, and you will ask yourself questions. Colorful, lifelike, and exuberant characters fight for your attention and your emotions, and we are intensely endeared to them. Emotional scenes speckle the book and are just enough. And the fact that something terrible and evil exists in this story hangs over your head from the beginning. It's hard to guess what happens because James doesn't give us many clues, and the ending may come as a surprise to some people. And without us knowing it, James is comparing American culture to European culture (of the day), and this in of itself is fulfilling.

Indeed, James uses every page he has, without wasting any on detailed landscapes and useless banter. 2 pages from the end you have a wrenching heartache, but the last paragraph and page is utterly and supremely satisfying, and you walk away the way Newman walks away, at peace.

This is considered by some to be Mann's last great work. Great it is, though perhaps not the monumental triumph equal to the Magic Mountain. This novel is a Faustian story--its hero is the German composer Adrian Leverkuhn, a musician who becomes so tormented with his music and so obsessed with creative genius that he makes a pact with the devil and bargains away his soul for twenty-four years of unparalleled musical ability.

As always, Mann's work is full of philosophical and theological debates, and there is also a good deal of musical discussion here as well. Adrian's deal with the dark one is a metaphor for Germany in the period during and between the two great World Wars. Like his homeland, Adrian becomes obsessed with power and glory, and revolutionizes music to such a great extent that the outside world is repulsed by it. In the end, like Germany, his power and glory come to an end, and as Serenus (the narrator of the story) sits writing in the midst of the allied invasion of Germany, Adrian is finally called to pay his debt.

Mann's narrative is always very compelling, and this is no exception. And, as usual, there is much deeper meaning than what is perceived at the surface, and the poignant and important message of the novel is the danger of becoming over-greedy for power, and of falling victim to one's own ambitions (as both Adrian and Germany do). Adrian loses his ability to love, and he can never regain it, not even when he ultimately seeks redemption. This is a great spin on the Faustian concept, and also a very powerful novel about the effects of the German Reich during World Wars 1 and 2.

In this reenactment of the ancient Western myth of Faustus, Thomas Mann tells us the story of German composer Adrian Leverkuhn, a man obsessed with themes of mathematics, theology and music. Leverkuhn is intent on composing the greatest and most original work of music ever thought of, and so, in a tiny village in Italy, expresses his disposition to sell his soul to the devil in order to achieve that. He gets what he wants, and for a number of years he works at another village, in Germany, until he achieves his dream, at a cost so terrible that in the end you will feel the creeps about it.

Intertwined wiht this story, written during WWII, are reflections of another selling of the soul to the devil, this time not by an ambitious individual but by a tormented people, the Germans, humiliated after WWI and in the midst of utter decadence, economic, political and moral. The devil is personified by a man called Adolf Hitler, who promises the Germans a thousand years of power and richness, if only they will support him in destroying the Western civilization, the Jews and international peace. And price the pay they do, but somehow you can not trust the devil and in the end, after the most gruesome conflagration in history, destruction is all the Germans get.

This is not an easy read. It takes concentration and a willingness to digest deep reflections on the subjects mentioned above, like the relationships between mathematics and music, sexuality and theology, and the reflex of the ancient myth on the lives of Leverkuhn (the prostitution of art) and Nazi Germany (the prostitution of hope). However, it is an exceptional work of art and of modern thought, so it is very rewarding.

There are certain myths that seem to center a culture, stories that define and create a nation's heritage. The Great Gatsby defines the central american mythos. The Brothers Karamazov centers the Russian canon; and without a doubt the Fausus legend is at the heart of Germany's entire history, both political and cultural. Thomas Mann's retelling of the Faust legend for the twentieth century rarely misses a beat in its probing inquiry into the nature of Aesthetics, Sexuality, and Politics. And while the central questions on the role of power in relation to morality and the limits of artistic freedom that are the center of the Faust legend are here, Mann also manages to bring originality and his literary gifts to this retelling. What is remarkable about this narrative is that it tells you as much about the narrator as our Fausus himself. The narrator, Dr. Serenus Zeitblom, is just as central to this tale. His relation to our Faustian composer provides much of the dramatic tension as well as a human element in the esoteric wars over the nature of artistic power. Mann is among the greatest novelists of our century, and this is an unflinching novel that strives for meaning while within the echo of the Nazi guns that are the testament to the power of Faust and the darkness that the human soul must resist.

Although Monty Python's Flying Circus is still the most celebrated British comedy TV series to hit the states, I've yet to see any other BBC show match 'Are You Being Served?' as the funniest. The 'Inside Story' companion book is a helpful guide for American fans of this landmark BBC sitcom.

'AYBS?' has many of the distinctions that make it a notable TV show. It boasts both a black-and-white episode (the pilot) and a 'lost' episode. It's been made into a feature film and a stage play. There's a spinoff series, 'Are You Being Served? Again', known as 'Grace and Favour' in the UK. An Australian version of the series was produced, as well as a pilot for an American rendition that never saw release. These little factoids and many other things are in the book for the fan's reference.

Also given are very brief synopses of the episodes, as well as mini-bios of the show's main characters and the actors who portray them. There's Mrs. Slocombe's (Molly Sugden) discussions about her... pet cat, Capt. Peacock's (Frank Thornton) marital woes, the biting wit of Mr. Lucas (Trevor Bannister), and other details. Then there's John Inman and his effeminate and flamboyant portrayal of Mr. Humphries, the quintessential "campy over-the-top allegedly gay" character. A good portion of Inman's bio talks about the controversy regarding Humphries's implied homosexuality. As for Mr. Humphries himself, he has stated many times on the show that he's "neither one way nor the other"...

Another neat addition is the glossary of British terms- the slang and vernacular commonly heard on the show. It's good to have when you're watching the show on the west end of the pond and you're not quite sure what a "till", an "electric fire", or "sacking" is. Unfortunately, not all of the various terms heard on the show are defined. I'm still trying to figure out what an "argybargy" (I think that's how it's spelled) is. And just what is a "bloody palaver" (spelling again) anyway? Can anybody help me out on these ones?

'Late!

'AYBS?' has many of the distinctions that make it a notable TV show. It boasts both a black-and-white episode (the pilot) and a 'lost' episode. It's been made into a feature film and a stage play. There's a spinoff series, 'Are You Being Served? Again', known as 'Grace and Favour' in the UK. An Australian version of the series was produced, as well as a pilot for an American rendition that never saw release. These little factoids and many other things are in the book for the fan's reference.

Also given are very brief synopses of the episodes, as well as mini-bios of the show's main characters and the actors who portray them. There's Mrs. Slocombe's (Molly Sugden) discussions about her... pet cat, Capt. Peacock's (Frank Thornton) marital woes, the biting wit of Mr. Lucas (Trevor Bannister), and other details. Then there's John Inman and his effeminate and flamboyant portrayal of Mr. Humphries, the quintessential "campy over-the-top allegedly gay" character. A good portion of Inman's bio talks about the controversy regarding Humphries's implied homosexuality. As for Mr. Humphries himself, he has stated many times on the show that he's "neither one way nor the other"...

Another neat addition is the glossary of British terms- the slang and vernacular commonly heard on the show. It's good to have when you're watching the show on the west end of the pond and you're not quite sure what a "till", an "electric fire", or "sacking" is. Unfortunately, not all of the various terms heard on the show are defined. I'm still trying to figure out what an "argybargy" (I think that's how it's spelled) is. And just what is a "bloody palaver" (spelling again) anyway? Can anybody help me out on these ones?

Fans of this long-running series and mainstay on American public television will appreciate this excellent reference guide to the actors and episodes. The book is 212 pages and is full of color and black and white photos. All the leading actors are featured in mini bios (there is 8 pages of text along with several pages of photos on John Inman, alone) as well as short bios on supporting actors such as Arthur English (Mr. Harman). Info on the chief writers Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft, a brief history of the series, behind-the scenes look at the taping of the shows, AYBS trivia, and a glossary of "Briticisms" are also included. The most valuable section of this book, however, is the lists with plot details on every episode of the ten-season series. The information on each episode includes a list of the extras, the date it first aired, trivia (in most cases), plot description and rating on a one to four-star scale. I am not sure how the ratings were ascertained, as they often differ from how I judge the shows, but it is fun to watch an episode and then check the guide to see what they thought of the show. Keep this book handy whenever you enter the world of Grace Brothers.

Adaptive Enterprises, the title holds the promise of long term sustainable advantage. Unfortunately the book reads like an extended IBM consulting sales pitch. The central case study (Westpac) is over 10 years old. Surly if this was a break through the book would talk about long term results and how they were able to take over their market by being adaptive. There is little evidence of this. Other examples are internally focused about how IBM's training and education have become more adaptive.

Not enough detail to warrant the read or to get a real idea of how you would implement the concepts.

If you are looking for guidance on eCommerce and competing in hyper competition. It is not here.

Haeckel has written one of the most thoughtful and useful books on the enterprise available today. By use of simple metaphor, Haeckel makes the distinction between the existing build-and-sell model and his proposed sense-and-respond model. Build-and-sell firms are like bus companies with fixed routes and schedules designed to meet predicted customer demand. Sense-and-respond firms are like taxi companies that dispatch cabs in response to customer demand. Although the concepts are well presented and readily understood, Haeckel offers the reader no easy answers!

Hackel avoids using the usual metaphors of complexity science but instead adopts and explains the term "adaptive enterprise". This choice enables him to focus upon three essential elements of business - governance, leadership, and commitment.

Beware! Adopting his customer focus concepts will produce radical organizational change. For instance, "Sense-and-Respond firms do not forecast demand for products and services. But they do place selective bets upon the stability of fundamental customer needs and on what capabilities should be in their modular response repertoire." The need to create modular organizations that support modular products - a point often misunderstood in practice by even progressive build-and-sell firms - is well made in Appendix A.

Haeckel frequently returns to the theme of a phased transition to a sense-and-respond model and demonstrates a profound understanding of the risk and reward of change in an existing organization.

Adaptive Enterprise covers two separate but related topics - mass customisation (customisation at mass production costs) and agility (capability to deal with changes in the business environment and the associated high levels of uncertainty). The book is primarily focused on service industries, where services can often be customised through organisational (re)configuration (hence the agility dimension). Most importantly, the book covers the difficulties of moving from make and sell to sense and respond - difficulties often ignored in cookbook style business books. The book also addresses application of systems thinking to enterprise design - an important topic that is not covered enough in business books. Those interested in agility will also find Appendix B useful. Here one finds a decision process to use when one is faced with significant uncertainty. Overall the book is refreshing in its honesty. After reading this book you might also want to read some follow-ups: Mass Customisation (Joseph Pine); Agile Virtual Enterprise (Ted Goranson) and Agile Manufacturing (Paul T. Kidd).

Paul T. Kidd

This book presents a very high level strategic view of business. Slywotzky emphasizes the value of a good business design vs reliance on technology for growth.For example, there is the simplified view of why IBM became a slogging giant in the early 90s. Lou Gerstner would certainly like to add to it

However there is good set of tools to understand your business better. I find his radar screen tool particularly useful to visualize business competitors and analyze the direction of value migration.

All said, this book is worth reading..just don't expect ttoo much.

This book is based on the relation between business design and organizational performance. Slywotzky explains the main reasons why some companies which are very succesful in the past now in the edge of bankrupcy. Because of business design that is not accordance with the environmmental expectations. Only firms which renew themselves in time can survive competition and continue to create value for customers. Otherwise the value will migrate to other firms which create it for customers. To understand the customer and environmental expectations, necessary technics are explained and examples are given. I suggest that you read this book.

This book is a must for consultants and managers in general. It provides you with basic understanding of how the value proposition that companies have to deliver to customers has changed and will keep on going. Since the very first pages Slywotsky challenges you to think about the issue customer needs vs. customer priorities, and explains how the business design should change accordingly to these priorities. A must buy.

These earlier, shorter stories are rather flat, and don't stand up to Tomine's later work, collected in "Summer Blonde." Tomine works best when he has the time and space allotted to really build his characters, and the short stories herein do not allow for it. As simply a portrait of a developing young artist, "Sleepwalk and Other Stories" is somewhat interesting, but certainly not a fully realized or especially enjoyable book.

Okay, I'm bias. I have a crush on the man but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy Adrian's work. He brings about bittersweet narratives that are not unlike Carver's own. 'Sleepwalk' contains his more heavy-hearted work and '32 stories' carries his more cynically humorous self published endeavors with Optic Nerve. I highly reccomend both.

there's only one word for adrian tomine-- good. he is so good. his comics are wonderful. the drawing is great, and the stories...well, the stories generally deal with relationships gone bad, in one way or another. although his comics can be very sad, they are also very very good. most of the stories in "sleepwalk" are pretty morose, check out "32 stories" for more funny, upbeat material. "sleepwalk" contains the first four issues of "optic nerve." overall: fantastic.