This book describes with amazing accuracy a very dark and ugly side of the work world. Having been a victim of serious emotional abuse in the workplace, this book's account of what other's have experienced helped me to see that my situation was not unique at all. What is astounding to me is that we do not have laws that protect employees from this vile form of emotional abuse that does eventually have serious effects on a worker's health and ability to earn a living. "Mobbing" is an important work and should be distributed to every employee at every American company along with their own company handbook. The behaviors described in this book should be a crime punishable by law. Any company that actively engages in these practices or passively allows them to happen ought to be boycotted and deserves to go belly up.

I was fortunate to know author Noa Davenport before she and her colleagues wrote this book, but I didn't learn about it until a few days after my board had "asked" for my resignation as executive director of a nonprofit agency I loved. (Their move was not only a complete surprise, but badly mistaken and completely unjustified from my perspective--still.) I was in deep shock when Noa told me about the book, then nearly ready for publication. She sent me several chapters as e-mail attachments. At first I balked at the term "mobbing" and resisted the book's admonitions to take care of myself and recognize the "evil" that had befallen me and others in our organization. I wanted to take full responsibility for however I had failed to satisfy my employers. Certainly I did not want to claim special status as a victim. But as I read, I found the discussion of the mobbing phenomenon so accurately explaining what I had just experienced, that I was able to pull out of self-blame mode rather quickly. I see now that this book was a life-saver for me! Perhaps literally.

Amazingly insightful Mobbing: Emotional Abuse in the American Workplace is an important and ground-breaking piece of work here in the United States. It seeks to assimilate information from around the world about workplace mobbing and bullying and to apply that information to America's workforce. This book is the only one of it's kind in the United States and is extremely important to both the employers and the employees of this country. This book is a "must read" and should be read by everyone in the American workforce.

I love cucumbers, and the recipe "A Cool & Crazy Creole Cucumber" is delicious. I had to make myself stop eating it before I turned into a cucumber! I also love the "Creole Red Beans-n-Rice and Pope's Pralines." Plus the history is wonderful. It is great that Ms. Soumas and her family was able to keep up with the family history throughout the generations. Maybe this cookbook will inspire other African-American families to cherish their family history and traditional family recipes. Just the history alone is worth reading.

Panderina has done a wonderful job of blending history and cooking to create this excellent Creole cookbook....it's not just a cookbook...it's a story of a family from decades past to this new millennium......family recipes that have been verbally passed on from generation to generation are included in the cookbook....the language she uses and the history behind the recipes provide an aura in the kitchen while preparing these delicious dishes.....the flavor of Louisiana cuisine has truely been captured inside the pages of this cookbook....it's definitly a keepsake......

Wonderfully written cookbook with cultural and family stories to spice it up. Outstanding!

If every general manager in baseball (Ed Lynch, are you reading this! ) was forced to study this book, entire paradigms of baseball lore would suddenly be pushed aside in favor or fresh, rational, and rigorous principles of management. All of the statistics provided in the prospectus are, of course, second to none, but Michael Wolverton's relief ratings (ARP, ARA, etc.) are truly something special. I have always been amazed at how even the most "knowledgable" baseball minds accept simplistic statistics like ERA and saves as valuable appraisals of a relief pitcher's talents. It's as if the baseball gurus have failed to adjust to post-1950 baseball with its growing reliance on bullpens and decreasing reliance on starting pitchers, and the completely different conditions in which relief pitchers work in comparison to their starting compatriots. Yet these same "experts" have accepted without question the notion that a team must have a real "closer" in order to be a contender. Wolverton blasts these assumptions to smithereens with his analyses, and his elaborate calculations, yet pristine conclusions should revolutionize how the later innings of games are viewed. Throw in the authors' passionate defense of wise treatment of young pitchers, their funny yet consistently incisive comments about hundreds of players, their willingness to challenge age-old fallacies like "veteran leadership" and the genuinely historical perspective they bring to the table of baseball debate, and you have one of the most informative and entertaining baseball books I've ever read.

BP debunks myths, explodes fallacies, and takes sabermetrics to a new height. It has an excellent method for evaluating and projecting performance, but many other credible methods can found elsewhere. BP's riches are found in the essays and player commentaries. Its insights will reshape the baseball debate in the coming years. Roster management, pitcher abuse, big markets v. small markets, tools v. skills -- the debates defining our age and the age to come are all discussed fully and insightfully here.

BP readers will in short time find themselves looking at baseball in a much more complex and accurate way. They will find themselves at greater and greater distance from the newsstand knowledge of those who rely on magazines and Baseball Weekly. They'll be better fans for having read BP. No other book provides so much. BP2K is the best value on the market.

Baseball Prospectus is a must-have for any hard-core baseball fan. These guys do a fantastic job of stripping away the nonsense and the myths and really analyzing the facts to come up with some really useful observations. Also, the manner in which they do it is fun, funny and engrossing; never just a cold statistical survey. All fantasy league players should buy this book immediately, but it will be a great read to any fan of the game.

David is a playboy pilot on vacation. There he meet and falls in love with Deborah. Deborah's father is in charge of Isreal's Air Force. What happens next will... trust me, you won't put this book down. And when you have finished it you will pick it up the next day and read it again. Do not lend this book to you friends! They will tell you they haven't finished it because they a re-reading it or have given it to someone else as a great gift

This is the best book if you want to read something touching, made by a mixture of romance and action. Suggested to those of you who like aircrafts, aivation and similars. You'll find yourself slowing down in reading, just to make is last longer!! READ IT!

Eagle in The Sky takes you through a full range of emotions and once you think you have experienced it all, guess again! This is the first book of his that I ever read and now I read it at least once a year. He writes so you can see, smell, taste every word. I only purchase his books in hardcover since so I can savor them over and over. You can't go wrong with this one.

As I recall, this book was based on the true-life story of the Collier brothers of New York. The author explains very rational reasons for all the irrational mess the brothers were found in after their deaths. The true story was never known for sure, of course. But what a great book! My mother had a copy for many years and then put it in a garage sale! What I wouldn't give to see it again.

I have read this book several times in the past. I was able to check it out at the library, they no longer have it to read, and I have searched all over trying to find it. I really want it for by own library to read again, and let other family members read it.

The story of the 2 brothers was mind boggling on the amount of trash they accumlated in their house. I am amazed this was never made into a movie.

Fran

I have just reread this fascinating book by Marcia Davenport after 45 years. I found the original 1954 edition, published by Charles Scribner's Sons in our library, but would like to buy it to keep and have my daughter and friends read it. The story begins with the mysterious death of two elderly brothers who are found buried in a mound of trash in their town house in the 1950's in New York. In all these years, the story has effected me in two ways: trying not to keep too much junk in my house, and one day hoping to visit Bellagio on Lake Como in Italy, where part of the story takes place. Please have the publisher reprint this novel and what an excellent movie it would make!

If you are a trained statistician, you will probably love this book. For each major leaguer, it takes his actual numbers and washes out park effects. Then it compares the value (in runs) of the player's production to the league average. There are fielding and pitching "stuff" statistics invented by Baseball Prospectus that attempt to account for all the variables that contribute to performance. For minor leaguers, it calculated "major league equivalencies"--i.e., what numbers the player would have put up if he had played in the majors.

The problem is that the bewildering array of new terms and statistical explanations will mean little to the casual fan. Even an experienced roto player who has a healthy respect for such methods, such as myself, will have an extremely difficult time putting it all together.

Fortunately, the player write-ups are as compelling a reason to buy the book as the statistical analysis. They are hilarious--inventive, creative, and full of oddball references. Baseball Prospectus can be a little too opinionated at times, and a little subjective for a group of people that professes to believe only in the data, but that's part of what makes them so funny. It's unbelievable how many different ways Joe Sheehan & Co. can find to say that a player is worthless.

I stumbled upon the Baseball Prospectus website about a year and a half ago and after reading the articles they frequently publish there, my view of baseball has totally changed. Basically, the BP team laughs in the face of traditional yet very lacking statistics such as batting average, RBIs, saves, wins and losses. They include several mathematicians who have created very comprehensive systems to evaluate batters (equivalent average), starters (Support-Neutral Wins Above Average), and relievers (Adjusted Runs Prevented). While they value the sabermetric approach to baseball, they also provide commentaries on less quantifyable aspects of the game.

While BP is occasionally prone to making sweeping exaggerations regarding a subject, they provide generally objective analysis of baseball in a very entertaining manner. BP 2002 is well-written and contains paragraphs on about 50 players per organization, organization reviews and assorted other articles along with each players translated (meaning adjusted for AAA, AA, etc or parks) statistics. I highly recommend it.

I forgot to mention in my lengthy review below that one of the best properties of Baseball Prospectus 2002 is the humor ... it adds to the readability a lot knowing that some funny and off-the-wall statements crop up in the player comments. I inadvertantly found myself up way past my bedtime recently reading about minor-leagues for the Tigers when I hit this note on Brandon Inge: he "does less damage at the plate than Lara Flynn Boyle". Good stuff. Keep it up, boys.

If you've read The Wastland or any of the other, more substantial poems by T.S Eliot, you may be shocked at Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. But don't be fooled, even in the simple subject matter there is genius in Eliot's writing.

This is the only poem book of Eliot's that I own and it's a great deal of fun to read. My favorite cat is Macavity. If you've seen the musical Cats (which I haven't), here's the inspiration. This is also a great first book to get younger people interested in poetry. The language Eliot uses is flowery and catchy, and the subject matter is centered on those cute furballs. Enjoy.

"Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats," by T.S. Eliot, is a book of poems about cats. The basis for the wildly successful musical "Cats," the book stands on its own as a delightful work of literature. The poems are accompanied by wonderful illustrations by Edward Gorey.

This book is hilarious and very enjoyable. Eliot's words leap and dance across the pages with a zany musicality. Gorey's accompanying artwork is whimsical and full of interesting details. Eliot has created some great feline characters: the fearsome Growltiger, dapper Bustopher Jones, Magical Mr. Mistoffelees, and more.

Yes, these poems are great fun to read. But if you are inclined to look closer and analyze them at a deeper literary level, you will find that each one is a masterpiece of poetic craftsmanship. Eliot uses a wonderful variety of meters, rhyme schemes, and various poetic effects. Each poem stands on its own, and together they form an effective artistic unity.

Also noteworthy is the very "English" flavor of the book, which Eliot achieves by spicing his poems with many references to English geography and cultural history. Highly recommended, whether or not you like cats.

As a mystery author with my debut novel in its initial release that features a private investigator who is also a poet, I love this book. This verse collection is perhaps T.S. Eliot's most accessible work, and it provided the raw material for the fabulous musical CATS. I enjoy reading these poems, and I've enjoyed attending the musical. I think I saw CATS three times during its Winter Garden run, twice in Los Angeles, and once each in San Francisco and the Palm Springs area. CATS would not exist as a most enjoyable musical if the poet Eliot had not first jotted down OLD POSSUM'S BOOK OF PRACTICAL CATS.

I first read this delightful book in sixth grade. I believe the book had just been published. The Durrell family found a place in my heart and they are still there, arguing happily, all these years later. This is the type of book that needs to be re-read every five years or so. There are so many levels to the book that as one matures, it can be enjoyed anew with each re-reading.
The book, an autobiography, traces the life and adventures (both as he explores Corfu and with his large, slightly dotty family)of the young boy, Gerry. One cannot help learning about various flora and fauna, and the book also revels in dry humor; so much that the reader will find himself/herself laughing uncontrollably.
The late Gerald Durrell brings the island of Corfu, Greece into one's brain and it is as if one had been there. The bright, hot sun, the cerulean blue ocean, the whitewashed houses ... and most of all, the slow-paced, often maddening outlook of the Greek people all help bring this book alive. To paraphrase Durrell: While on Corfu, it is good not to grasp reality too tightly, but rather to accept the lovely, unexpected siren-song of the island.
I highly recommend this book, from about sixth grade through adult.

Do you adore British wit? True English eccentrics? The REAL story behind Great Writers? Books that make you laugh out loud again and again? This is a warm autobiographical remembrance by famed Zoo-Keeper Gerald Durrell, of the years in his childhood in the 1930s when the entire family took off on a whim to live in the Island of Corfu, Greece. It is quite simply such a wonderful -- fun -- read that it promptly went to the best-sellers lists round the world when it was first published more than 35 years ago. Which enabled Gerrald to realize his life-long dream of building his own zoo for endangered species -- and annoyed the daylights out of his very SERIOUS novelist and writer older Brother, the award-winning Lawrence Durrell. (Poor Larry, not only to be beat at your own game by a kid brother who doesn't even care about writing, but to have the follys of your own early 20s exposed to the literate world just when you hoped to be taken seriously by everybody!) Read this book. Buy this book! I guarantee you'll find yourself laughing out loud uproariously and then you'll rush out to buy extra copies for all your friends!

Gerald Durrell recounts his childhood in Greece. His very British, highly eccentric family - and his love of nature - blend in unexpected ways. By turn hilarious and poignant, the book draws sharp character sketches of the author's relatives (including his equally famous brother, the author Lawrence Durrell). Sharing the spotlight are the fascinating flora and fauna young Gerald stumbles across on his island. Even if you thought you couldn't stand Biology as a student in school, Durrell's descriptions are so beautifully written, each discovery so exquisitely etched that you cannot but wonder at the beauty of Nature - and the amazing gift of prose that Durrell, a naturalist by profession, brings to this unforgettable book. It makes you thirst for more of the same, and happily for us, Durrell has written several books.. worthy sequels to this tour de force.

This classic is an excellent blueprint of knowledge management (KM) in action, and is a must read for KM professionals, CIOs, and CEOs. One of the unique aspects of the book is its treatment of knowledge roles, skills and personnel (such as CKOs), in addition to detailed analysis of knowledge generation, codification, transfer and technologies. The material is divided into 9 chapters, and draws on case studies of KM in action in about 40 organisations.

Today, the 'knowledge movement' is picking up as more and more companies have instituted knowledge repositories, supporting such diverse types of knowledge as best practices, lessons learned, product development knowledge, customer knowledge, human resource management knowledge, and methods-based knowledge.

'The only sustainable advantage a firm has comes from what it collectively knows, how efficiently it uses what it knows, and how readily it acquires and uses new knowledge,' the authors begin.

First, companies must understand the difference between data, information and knowledge. Generally speaking, data is transformed into information after it has been 'contextualised, categorised, calculated, corrected and condensed.' This becomes knowledge after a process involving 'comparison, consequences, connections and conversation.'

'Knowledge is a fluid mix of framed experience, values, contextual information, and expert insight that provides a framework for evaluating and incorporating new experiences and information,' the authors state. Knowledge is fluid as well as structured, and involves experience, truth, judgement and rules of thumb.

'Knowledge is aware of what it doesn't know. Many wise men and women have pointed out that the more knowledgeable one becomes, the more humble one feels about what one knows,' the authors explain.

In contrast to individual knowledge, organisational knowledge is a more complex and murky dynamic, involving socio-political factors of knowledge buying, selling, brokering, pricing, reciprocity, altruism, reputation and trust.

The chapter on knowledge generation focuses on conscious and intentional techniques like acquisition (eg. of Lotus by IBM, NCR by AT&T), rental (sponsorship of research in academic institutes, hiring a consultant), dedicated resources (research centres and universities like Xerox PARC, McDonald's universities), fusion (via brainstorming and retreats), adaptation (eg. via learning sabbaticals), and knowledge networking.

Successful codification is implemented via a knowledge taxonomy suited for different knowledge types and attributes and which is aligned with business goals, as well as narratives and rhetorical devices for communicating knowledge behaviours. This can include external knowledge (eg. competitive intelligence), structured internal knowledge (eg. research reports), and informal internal knowledge (eg. know-how databases).

Instead of 'Stop talking and get to work,' Alan Webber recommends a better attitude: 'Start talking and get to work.'

Other approaches, depending on organisational and national cultures, include corporate universities, KM workshops, group dinners, and even group drinking sessions in nightclubs as in Japan (where inebriation can sometimes be used as an excuse for voicing criticism!).

Key roles here include knowledge project managers, coaches, trainers, councillors, counsellors, officers, integrators, administrators, engineers, librarians, synthesisers, reporters, and editors -- capped by learning officers, CKOs, directors of intellectual assets, or CIOs. Consulting firms have hundreds of KM jobs; Buckman Labs even has a role for 'anecdote management' to develop stories about successful KM in practice.

Good knowledge workers need to have a combination of 'hard' skills (structured knowledge, technical abilities, professional experience) and 'soft' skills (cultural, political and personal aspects of knowledge), the authors advise.

Three key CKO responsibilities include building a knowledge culture, creating a KM infrastructure, and making it all pay of economically, the authors recommend.

'The recent dramatic rise in Internet and Intranet use is one manifestation of the expanding role of electronic technology in communication and knowledge-seeking. Firms are becoming aware both of the potential of this technology to enhance knowledge work and of the fact that the potential can be realised only if they understand more about how knowledge is actually developed and shared,' the authors explain.

The authors caution against a technology-centred KM approach, but argue that a technology ingredient is a necessary ingredient for successful KM projects.

'Peter Senge, the influential author of The Fifth Discipline, has argued recently that organisations seeking to manage knowledge have placed too much emphasis on information technology and information management. We agree. However, the world of organisational learning places too little emphasis on structured knowledge and the use of technology to capture and leverage it,' the authors forcefully argue. In fact, the word 'knowledge' is not in the index of Senge's book!

Hoffman-LaRoche used KM to efficiently manage the drug application process, cutting it down by several months at a savings of $1 million a day. New England heart surgeons have jointly collaborated to cut down mortality rate for coronary bypass surgery. HP's case-based reasoning KM tool for customer support helped reduce call times by two-thirds and cost per call by 50 per cent.

Other benefit calculations include better management of patents (eg. Dow Chemicals), improved cycle time, better customer satisfaction, and even phone calls avoided (HP).
Intangible but also important outcomes include higher workforce morale, greater corporate coherence, richer knowledge stock, more knowledge usage, and stronger meritocracy of ideas.

In terms of pragmatic steps, the authors have lots of recommendations. Start with a focused pilot project. Work along multiple fronts at once: technology, organisation, culture. Begin with existing information resources. Focus on weak areas. Lead with technology and organisational learning.

The book is also peppered with useful quotes about knowledge, and it would be appropriate to end this review with some of them:

'In the end, the location of the new economy is not in the technology. It is in the human mind' (Alan Webber);

'The real danger is not that computers will begin to think like men, but that men will begin to think like computers' (Sydney Harris);

'The great end of knowledge is not knowledge but action' (Thomas Huxley).

Knowledge is the only unlimited resource, the one asset that grows with use, according to Stanford economist Paul Romer.

>>>>>>>>>

...

Although knowledge management is an irresistible concept, your progress in this area is anything but assurred. Knowledge management is a hot topic, but it is usually pushed by people who want to sell you something. As a result, you can end up with a lot of technology that will not help you to manage your knowledge. As insurance against getting started in the wrong direction, I suggest you read Working Knowledge as a first step.

Davenport and Prusak have examined 39 organizations that are well above average users of their knowledge. The case histories will give you a practical sense of what works that would take you years of false steps to duplicate in your organization.

Then, even more helpfully, the authors outline the key lessons of these top performers for you to follow. I especially recommend chapter 9 on The Pragmatics of Knowledge Management.

Any new initiative will run into problems and fall back. A great book to read next is The Dance of Change, which focuses squarely on that issue.

Any book has to narrow its focus to be successful. That focus creates a vulnerability. In this book, the vulnerability is not looking far enough ahead for more effective ways to do knowledge management that no one is yet doing. For example, the potential to share knowledge among top best practice organizations is enormous. More attention is needed here.

But do buy, read, and apply the lessons of this book. It's a great place to start!

About a year ago I began doing research on this concept of knowledge management. I was lucky enough to stumble onto KMGMT through computerworld magazine, where Dr. Davenport has several articles posted. I made my way to his web site, and a wealth of other's via the leadership series March 17th, 1997. After doing much independent reading I made my way to Dr. Davenport's class where he was actually using this book as reference for the class. I was astounded by the knowledge made available. IT is clear after reading this book there are four key enablers for KMGMT -- leadership, culture, technology, and measurement. I give this book a superb rating, it's fresh, real and creates solutions for companies IT/KM leader instantly.

I love these books. Recently read my first Prey book and am hooked!! This is the best one so far in a really great series, so that is saying something! Try to read them in order if you are just starting out on Mr. Sandford series. I love Lucas Davenport... Thanks Mr. Sandford, (aka John Camp) keep up the good work!!

Lucas Davenport faces a new challenge in Mind Prey. He is not hunting a killer through clues left at a murder scene, but instead is trying to find a kidnapped family, who may still be alive.

Davenport's fame helps him out because the killer cannot help but call him and challenge him to a duel of wits. Lucas and his team must unravel clues given by the kidnapper, as well as decide who would profit the most from the families death.

If you have read the other Prey books, you will be happy to know that Lucas' love life is still cruising along in one-woman gear. I would also add a warning that, although Sandford does not describe the attacks in detail, the woman who is kidnapped is repeatedly raped and beaten. If that sort of thing disturbs you, you may want to skip this book.

Read this book, and keep reading the Prey series.

Mind Prey one of many of the "Prey" series is a outstanding book. I have read every one of the series. The lead Lt. Lucas Davenport has a cool way about him Very likeable character..Any of the books are hard to put down. Rules of prey the first of the series starts you on a rollorcoaster of psychological drama and edge of your seat reading!! Good luck putting it down. Hey John when is the next one coming out?? Your due.