After reading "An Innovator's Tale" it is easy to see why Craig Hickman is internationally recognized as a leader in Management Strategies. Hickman uses his wealth of experience to create a suspenseful novel that teaches new perspectives. I loved it!

This book is a really fun read and a refreshing change of pace from the typical, theory-oriented business book. It presents an engaging mystery story as well as several enlightening perspectives on innovation. I really liked how I got to learn about innovation by watching the life of an interesting business executive from a "fly-on-the-wall" position. I'll take that over 300 pages of dry theory any day.

Craig Hickman has written a new, refreshing, and innovative kind of business book. He has literally created a new genre that is exciting, and, I'm sure, one to be imitated. An Innovator's Tale teaches the reader worldclass business concepts and methodologies -- in this case focused on unlocking creativity and innovation -- in a novel format. The business concepts are solid and practical, and the novel is suspensful and intriguing. The combination makes for an enjoyable read. I highly recommend this book for professionals who are looking for a better way to innovate and unlock the creative genius of their employees.

I have just recieved this book and it is just wonderful. Not only did I purchase this find for myself, but I have just ordered more to give out during the holidays! The colors and creative design jump out at you as you read this book. If you do not have this book already, you are really missing out!!!

Knowing how beatiful Michigan's nature really is, I found this publication to be an excellent resource. Some of the places I had been too before and it brought back very fond memories. In addition, I wanted to go back. The text fits perfectly with each illustration and I truly found myself contemplating life and the world in which I live. A must to see for everyone...

To View This Particular Book On Michigan's Assets is Truly a Beautiful Experience. Myself, I've Just Purchased This Remarkable Find. The Photographs are Very Ispirational and Endearing. Being a Michigan Resident, I Would Like To Thank Craig and Kim For Their Outstanding Effort In This Field. I Would Also Like To Thank Them Personally For Bringing These Pages Into My Life.

A charming and slightly quirky look at the lessons of a southern life learned through the kitchen and cooking -- and the recipes are good too! This is a treasure you will want to share.

When you begin the journey that is this book you may think you will come away with some new ideas for the kitchen. However, By the time you have finished you will have had a few belly laughs, learned some great recipies and shed a few tears. Craig has done a great job in showing us that the best of times and yes the worst of times can be a source of inspiration to make us stronger and that everything looks better after a good meal.

A great read that you will come back to time and time again!

In reading this wonderful book I have found things to ponder and share with the many people in my life who have touched my heart. For example: page 66, My Friend, My Mirror, made me realize how my 19 year friendship with Brenda has lasted, when we are so very different. I was inspired to call my mom and read a chapter and a few recipes to her...she insisted on her own copy, which, to her surprise was just being delivered!

Craig McKneely has captured in a powerful way how we each are affected by those people in our lives whose paths we cross, and in turn inspires us to love ourselves, allow others to love us, and not to be afraid to share our feelings openly and honestly, and to say I Love You before the other person can't hear the feeling behind them.

While most "cookbooks" suggest obscure ingredients, Craig is not afraid to tell it like it is, and to encourage us to cook from the heart, no matter the ingredients. Comfort food is just that...food and smells which comfort our tummys and our souls.

I tend to be a cynic when it comes to mediums and connecting spiritually with the dead. However, Mary Ann Morgan's book, Living in the Moment, has made me question my cynicism. Ms. Morgan's book is one of peace, understanding, and unconditional love. It teaches you to open your heart and mind and to share it with others. I appreciate that Ms. Morgan took the time out of her busy schedule to pass on her words to others. A great buy for you and a great gift for those you love. I am now a believer!

I just barely got this book,have not finished it, but just had to comment on what I've read so far. It inspires me to think about my actions and the meanings behind them, and makes me want to be a better person in every aspect of my life - one step at a time. I hope more people read this book and come to terms with their inner spirits and hopes and dreams, it would sure make this crazy world a better place for all of us. Ok, now to go back and finish reading!

There's a place within each of us that once awakened never sleeps again. "Living in the Moment" awakens that place within me.

This book helped me get started creating metal art sculptures, and gave me some nifty tricks to help me along the way.

This book was a great read, not only did it explore the Intricacies of metal sculpture, it explored the intellectual aspects of "art" itself.

Prior to having read this book, I knew little if anything about metal sculpture. Having read this book, I now know that I knew even less about the creative process. Mr. Evans has done an outstanding job of illustrating the metal sculpture process in a manner that provides creative stimulation as well as step-by-step instruction. He laces the pages of direction with insightful anecdotes of his life and philosophies. He guides you through the mental processes with the same grace and finesse that he uses to guide you through the mechanical processes. The exposure of his personal downfalls and triumphs clearly indicate that he is a normal, everyday type of person. That left me with the feeling of "If an ordinary guy like him can create this type of art, so can I!" That is exactly the type of motivation I have needed to help me begin my journey into the world of artistic creativity. I will be forever in his debt.

this is really cool a book that covers early MJ&His Career&whatnot.this Book does a Great job of refelcting on the artistic side of MJ&going over His work.also a Great reflection on Jermaine,Tito,Marlon,Jackie&later Randy.it's about time the real reason why people got into MJ is mentioned&showcased fr more here with this book.

Any fan of Michael of any age is perfect for this book. Full of very rare stories of each album, and photos. Pure heart and soul of one man from a child to growing, but fully grown. Get a view of Michael we don't ever see anymore. From the J5 to solo with his bros, to acting as a man of his own in Epic. A true and beautiful book.

Michael Joseph Jackson has made milions smile with his voice, passion and love, but what a lot of people don't know is where his roots of love come from. Michael is a man of soul, way back with the legendary Jackson 5.
With the book MJ The Early Years, it captavates Michael from way before Steeltown, to Steeltown, Motown, Jackson's, and every album and song that help led up to who Michael is today. Many unheard of people are discovered in this amazing book. I urge you to give it a try! You will love it, and most of all: It will place you in a state of shock!

Once again, Neil Gaiman has reinvented the thinking man's comic book. Murder Mysteries is the tale of the world's first crime of passion. Gaiman's intelligent prose and keen eye for conversation is perfectly woven with P. Craig Russell's fabulous visual art. This story is simple enough for high school students to read, but compelling (and short) enough to steal an hour of anybody's day.

I must have read Neil Gaiman's short story Murder Mysteries four or five times since I originally encountered it; It's been featured, and rightfully so, in many short story collections. It's one of Gaiman's best, most thought-provoking works, and since Gaiman is one of the best storytellers around, that's really saying something. P. Craig Russell is one of the masters of the comic book art form, and he especially excels at adaptations of fantasy, having previously done Wagner's Ring Cycle, Michael Moorcock's Elric, and numerous Oscar Wilde stories. Gaiman and Russell collaborated on what many consider to be the best issue of Gaiman's DC/Vertigo Sandman book, and Russell has adapted a few other Gaiman short stories (One Life, Furnished In Early Moorcock, and Only The End Of The World Again). Murder Mysteries stands as a high-water mark, in my opinion.

The story-within-a-story, told by a homeless man to a visiting Englishman in L.A., tells of the first murder ever: An Angel killed in "The Shining City"; Our homeless storyteller is in reality the Angel Raguel, the vengeance of "The Name" (God). Raguel becomes, in effect, the first Detective, attempting to discover a motive that can lead to bringing the killer to justice.

Gaiman's story works on many levels, and I have to say that as much as I loved the prose short story, the ending has always left me vaguely puzzled; It's a very involved and thought-provoking piece, and I often find myself thinking about the ending. Russell's adaptation went a long way towards making that ambiguous ending more clear. It turns out I was on the right track, but Russell's visuals make the ending more visceral and powerful.

Murder Mysteries is presented in a gorgeous hardcover format, much the same as Dark Horse's previous Gaiman/ John Bolton book, Harlequin Valentine. This is a must read for all fans of Horror/Fantasy, as well as lovers of beautiful art. It deserves as wide an audience as possible. Give it a try, and spread the word.

Mever before have I encountered a work in which a transfer to a different medium has so enriched it (except perhaps the book Fight Club to the movie Fight Club). This has always been one of my favorite Neil Gaiman short stories, I have read and re-read it many times in the seven or eight years since I first read it, I have made innumerable other people read it and I have discussed it repeatedly. However, Russell's illustrations brought out and made evident an entirely new facet of the story that I have never realized, what is in fact the true Murder Mystery of the title! This story has been blown wide open for me, on what must have been the dozenth or so read, and I have since forced others to revisit it and make the same revelation. This translation, this new revelation, makes further testament to Gaiman's gift as a storyteller. Russell is not, in my mind, the ideal person to have done this project, I would have gone with somebody with a darker style. Still, this is a terriffic read, even if, and especially if, like me, you have known the story for a long time. I promise, it will change the way you see it.

After our recent earthquake, many of us who are focused on lifelines have been scouring the literature for useful recommendations for loss reduction provisions. This is a key text. It evaluates the responses of seven large organizations in a "best methods" type of analysis to distill specific actions that assist recovery following an earthquake. The monograph discusses political and regulatory issues and preventive evaluation approaches. The authors are commended for such a useful work.

This is a carefully crafted analysis of success stories for maintaining functioning following an earthquake. The analysis of mitigative options and recommendations is insightful and useful from a practical perspective.

I am a state official responsible for maintaining a lifelife system in a seismically-active zone. This was a very well-thought-out and useful analysis that will be of great use in my work. Bravo!

Gordon Craig's history of the Prussian officer corps and its relationship with the state it served is a true classic of military history. The primary focus of the book is on the civil-military relations of the Prussian state beginning with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 and tracings its evolution and influence to the Second World War when Hitler and the Nazis crushed the political influence of the officer corps. In addition, the book also addresses a number other issues in exquisite detail, including the formation of the German General Staff, the strategy developed before the First and Second World Wars, and the social conflict of the unified German states.

Craig's conclusions on the Prussian officer corps, their reforms and their performance are rather "standard" as far as historical interpretations go - but that is due in no small part to the fact that the author in many ways set the standard. The most salient theme of the book is that for all the German military got right in planning, strategy and innovation, it was never able to effectively solve the civil-military relationship issue, and it was that failure that led to the disasters of the First and Second World Wars.

In Craig's opinion, the opportunity for success was formulated but squandered early in 19th century. After the devastating defeat at Jena in 1807 at the hands of Napoleon, the once vaunted Prussian military had to assess how and why the disaster had occurred. The solution presented by the great military reformer Scharnhorst was the institutionalization of military genius in a centralized, elite general staff and the accountability of the armed services to the German people through an oath of allegiance to a republican constitution, rather than personal fealty to the monarch. The former was adopted and proved a stunning success, especially in the wars against the Danes, Austrians and French in 1866-1872. However, the conservative officer corps' unwillingness to embrace the more liberal reform set forth by Scharnhorst kept the military at odds with the nation it served and ultimately led to the military's political dominance in World War I and political subjugation in World War II.

If you have a keen interest in civil-military relations, German history, or the development of the General Staff system this book is simply indispensable.

This excellent volume was one of my textbooks in college, and I completely underestimated its importance for years. Being deeply involved and interested in Napoleonic military history and the campaigns of the Grande Armee, I have again started to use this book as there is now a 'revisionist' (read 'excuse')school of Prussian history beginning to emerge, revolving around the disastrous, for the Prussians, Jena campaign of 1806. For this period, and indeed for the periods up to the end of World War II, this book is invaluable.

The author uses myriad German source material for his references, and the story he tells is accurate, lively, and riveting. He knows his material, and his subject, and is unflinching in calling a spade a spade when necessary. While I am only interested in those portions relating to the Napoleonic period and its immediate aftermath, students of the Prussian/German Army will find this book invaluable.

Craig's bona fides are impeccable and he writes with authority, verve, and accuracy. His analysis of the Prussian Army's beginnings in the aftermath of the Thirty Years' War set the definition and trends for what the Prussian Army would become, something apart from the people of Prussia and an army supported by a dynastic state. His demonstration of the effectiveness of the instrument under the Great Frederick, and of his policies, and those of his successors after the Seven Years' War, tell the tale of why is became nothing more than a 'parade ground facade', made up of half-foreign mercenary strength, which were two of the many reasons for its defeat and destruction by Napoleon and the Grande Armee in 1806.

The coverage of the Prussian reformers is also excellent, and dispels many myths, some of which unforunately are resurfacing under the guise of 'recent scholarship.' The War of Liberation from Napoleon was in actuality a war of liberating whatever German territory Prussia could grab in the chaos of the aftermath of French hegemony in western Germany (they took the Rhineland, most of Westphalia, and about half of Saxony, keeping the Saxon king, Napoleon's ally, as a prisoner of war). Additionally, force had to be used in Prussia to get the manpower required to fight the Grande Armee. The end of the tale is also excellently told-that of how the reformers, so necessary to Prussian resurgence, were treated and eventually disposed of politically, the Prussian monarchy almost completely retrenching to pre-1806 'values.'

All in all this is an excellent volume for students and historians of the period or of the Prussian/German army in particular. It is highly recommended.

Gordon Craig is the doyen of America's historians of Germany. Now retired from academic life, he is highly respected at home and in Germany, and is sought after for sound and temperate reviews and commentary in the media. No other survey has superceded The Politics of the Prussian Army, although it is now over 40 years old. (However, Gerhard Ritter's important, multi-volume "Staatskunst und Kriegshandwerk" covers a lot of the same ground, with a more conservative viewpoint. There's an English translation) There are two basic reasons for this, I think. One is of course the book's very high quality. Craig became throughly familiar with all the most important source material available, and his fundamental conclusions are unquestioned: that the army was the keystone and guardian of the Prussian monarchy and its conservative social order, and always at work to hinder the progress of democracy and the achievement of popular over monarchical sovereignty. The authoritarian (N. B.: as distinct from totalitarian!) sympathies and traditions of the Prussian officer corps survived after the end of the Prussian monarchy in 1918 and carried on in the Reichswehr of the Weimar Republic, and then in the Wehrmacht. Eventually the officer corps sold its soul to the "Austrian corporal" (Hindenburg's disdainful reference), Hitler, believing they could control him for their own ends, and that he was in any case the best available political option. But Hitler was nobody's fool, and his ultimate aim always remained to undermine the social authority and prestige of the regular army and in its place install himself, his party, and an absolutely fanaticized and obedient military force (the Waffen-SS). A sense of duty not to Hitler but to the German people and their civilization flamed up and extinguished in the assasination attempt of Oct 1944, led by Wehrmacht officers of the old Prussian nobility. Recent research (in English, cf. for example Omer Bartov) has tended to see more ideological sympathy for Nazism in the officer corps of the Wehrmacht more than Craig does here, though his focus is less on ideology than on the army's involvement in political machinations at the highest level. German historians and journalists are debating this issue at the moment, as new publications argue that the Wehrmacht committed war crimes on a greater scale, esp. on the Eastern front, than previously admitted, and that it fought unrestrained by professional ethos or conscience. A second reason for the book's longevity is that most of the Prussian military archive was destroyed in a 1945 bombing raid, which makes significant new discoveries impossible for the period before World War II. One has to rely on published sources, and as I noted, Craig read the most important of them. New histories of the Prussian army would be new interpretations of the same sources. One could, for example, to take a more sympathetic view of the army's 19th-century ideology and ethos - that it was defensive - in view of Prussia's vulnerable geographical position, the hostility of its neighbors, and the rise of the socialist movement. But in the early 20th century Germany was far and away the dominant power in Europe, and the question arises of what "went wrong" and led to Germany's (in my view) unprovoked attack and reckless strategy in World War I. Note: Despite the title, the book is really a history of the army after 1806, with an introductory chapter on the period before.

I was pleasantly surprised by the Saint Francis Guide to Outpatient Medicine! The content was thorough enough for my clinic, and went beyond the basics of outpatient care. What I loved most about the book was the last section of each chapter which gave recommendations for follow up care, which, as a resident is probably the hardest thing for me to decide when seeing patients in my clinic. I have already shown this book to my fellow residents and even attendings as a book everyone should own. Thank you so much for this great reference!

This book was loaned to me by a faculty member before I started my Primary Care Medicine rotation as a Senior Physician Assistant student. This book is all inclusive with acronyms that make you remember diagnoses and labs at the tip of your fingers. I couldn't have gotten better help from any other source. Even my preceptor who is an acronym genius loved this book when he saw it and wants a copy for himself!

As an ARNP, I am always searching for the perfect pocket guide to help me in my clinical practice. My office bookshelf is full of many different medical recourses covering topics from MSK injuries to Women's health. This spring, a friend gave me a copy of the Saint-Frances Guide and I can honestly say it is the best pocket guide I have found. Each section clearly guides me through an introduction to a problem, the approach to the patient, the differential, the most relevant test, and finally the most appropriate treatment.

One part of the Guide I like the most is the use of algorithms and mnemonics. Many times during a busy day I don't have time to read an entire chapter. This is when I use the mnemonic. It quickly tells me the most common causes of problem, which then guides to an exam or a test I know will need to be ordered. My only wish is that this guide would have been around when I was in graduate school. It certainly would have made my clinical rotations easier and less stressful.