An epic thriller of unmatched profundity! The debris-slope has never been so slippery, the carbonate never so fine grained! While Sheehan more than "deposits" his prose, we would be truly remiss to ignore the writing contributions of the eclecticly-minded "et al," who makes us question our very basic assumptions about the Devonian Age, especially undermining our generally held beilef about the so-called "Antelope Peak." After reading this work you'll be looking forward to enjoying the best days of the antelope, disabused of your notions that the antelopes better days had passed.

As for the climactic ending, I won't spoil the surprise, suffice it to say that Isolated Carbonated Bodies do not stay isolated forvever, especially those composed of stacked debris-flow!

Given the popularity of the Harry Potter books and the glorious animated film version by Hayao Miyazaki, I'm amazed that it's taken this long for this book to appear in English. Eiko Kadono's "Witch's Delivery Service" (Majo no Takkyubin) also deals with the education of a witch child; in this case, a rite of passage for a witch named Kiki. She has to spend her thirteenth year on her own in a witchless town, making a living by her witch craft. The book is a celebration of the independent spirit of its protagonist and the changes she goes through at this pivotal time of life.

I'd like to give this book the full five stars, but I have a couple of caveats. One is the cover illustration by Irvin Cheung, showing a robust, rosy-cheeked Euro-witch. Somehow, it totally misses the warm and evocative line-drawings by Akiko Hayashi, which fortunately are included in the book.

Translating is one of the world's most thankless job. If the translation is really fine, the reader shouldn't even notice it. The irregularities should be smoothed out, the oddities of one language seamlessly patched with the oddities of another.

Lynne E. Riggs has created a mostly complete, very readable English version of Kadono's book, but there are a few quintessentially Japanese touches that got missed. At one point, just before she leaves home, Kiki tells her mother, "Anata no musume wo, shinjinasaittara, shinjinasai. Mou yooi wa dekitemasu." Riggs's reading of this ("You should trust your own daughter more! Believe me, I'm already ready to go.") is literate and understandable. However, one of my Japanese teachers pointed out that this is an old Japanese song. A Japanese reader would certainly pick up on this, while a Westerner would not. My attempt at translation would cue a Western reader by preserving the rhythm:

"I'm your daugh-ter, o mother dear,
Just trust in me, I say,
Have faith in me.
I've got plans, I'm al-read-y pre-pared..."

Nitpicking? Maybe, but also an illustration of the pitfalls awaiting the translator.

As I said above, though, this is a fine translation of a fine book, long overdue in English.

i am so happy that they re-released this book in english. the english version was out of print but here it is again. it is different from the movie from which it is taken from. there is even more to the adventure in the book. i just wish they have english versions of the other 3 books.

I've always been a big fan of Miyazaki's movies, but the best thing about this picture-book edition of KIKI'S DELIVERY SERVICE is that kids who are beginning readers really enjoy it. The English version of KIKI'S has been available for several years, and kids who have seen the movie are eager to read the book, or have it read to them.

The picture quality is excellent, and the text is in good English, unlike some translations I've seen.

Too bad the book is hard to find. My copy has been damaged, and I wish it were easier for me to find another!

Huge disappointment. Chapter 1, page 1 starts with "Those
companies that succeed at new product dvelopment are the future
Mercks, HPs, 3Ms, and Microsofts; those companies that fail to excel
at developing new products will invariably disappear or be gobbed up
by the winners. .....". Despite this quite promising catch
phrase you will not find a single word on how the above mentioned
companies develope new products.

Things actually get worse. What you
will find in this book are random generated case studies on various
portfolio models the authors encountered in the few firms willing to
meet them - no theoretical framework is given on portfolio management,
criteria to be included and best practices in various industries.

As
a major disappointment I found the fact that not a single case/best
practise study came from the pharmaceutical industry and the software
industry, those industries where portfolio management/selection are at
the very heart of the strategic management process. It would have been
a huge (and logical) opportunity to cover in this book how Merck or
Pfizer steer their new product development processes. But don`t look
for clues to this questions in this book. The case studies you will
find in this book are about a small Canadian bank, a small US chemical
company, and about Hoechst US. The last case study offered at least
some ideas useful for improving the portfolio management process (that
is the main reason for the second star).

Somewhat disturbing are
platidudes widely used throughout the book (e.g. " ....Remember:
understanding the problem is the first step to a solution!
.... (p. 184)). If esclamation marks after platitudes make you
nervous, then you will probably throw this book away before reaching
page 100.

The only bright side of this book are the first 20 pages,
where the authors discribe present shortfalls of the portfolio
management process currently used in some firms (i.e. in the firms
they interview, and these firms are underperformers). It helps to get
an idea of what effective portfolio management should do - and these
points are very agreeable indeed (e.g. value creation, balance,
strategic fit). That these questions are inadequeately and only
empirically adressed in this book, is a source of frustration for its
readers. I would give only a very very weak recommendation for this
book....

databaseU

In this text, the authors thoroughly review the methods currently being practiced in companies to make decisions about their investments in new products and technologies, and the success of these various methods. They recognize the difficulties of making such decisions, especially by relying on simple processes without understanding shorfalls of the process and the robustness of the data. They focus on the goals of maximizing value, achieving a balanced portfolio and linking the decisions to business strategy. They tie this process into other key processes in the company, including the product development process and the new product strategy. By far the most valuable aspect of the book, however, is the link between process and real operation provided by the "Points for Management to Ponder" commentary which runs throughout the book. This is a current, encyclopedic and practical guide to this very difficult business process.

The resources invested in producing and supporting new products in markets provide, on average, a poor return on investment (see the research of Cooper and others on this topic). Managing across a portfolio of products adds a degree of complexity to the task of being successful with each individual product. This book provides the essential information for management to understand the fundamentals of a rational, process based approach to managing new products.

This book is an old print...even though it is old it is a great story...it tells of a sacrifice and strenth of religon is the lives of many. It is hard to find...and AMAZON.COM has done a great job in providing a chance to enjoy it.