My children learned the importance of listening to God, who is always with us, even when we are scared. He is bigger than our enemies, and he loves us too.

My Children ages 3 and 5 love this book. After reading the book, I had them pretended to build a church, while my husband and I tried to distract them. They wouldn't be distracted! It brought home the idea that keeping our focus on God is important in order to do his work.

Sometimes God's answer to our prayers is "Yes." Sometimes it is "No." To Abram and Sarai's prayer for a child, God's answer was "Wait." I won't tell you the end of the story, but I love the sentence, "God didn't think they were too old to be parents." Read and enjoy!

Garvin's greatest success in "Everybody had his own Gringo" is that he addresses the contra army neither as a puppet creation of the United States nor as Robin Hood-esque freedom fighters glavanting around in the jungle. Written with mordant wit, dead-on in focus and scope, this is an excellent text on the contras. Those looking for a complete history of the Nicaraguan civil war, however, will probably want to look elsewhere.

Glenn Garvin's book is a wonderful and highly readable account of the peasant army which made up the Contras. The author is sympathetic but clear-eyed, and he provides a fascinating account of the motivations of the Contra soldiers and leaders, as well as describing U.S. involvement with the Contras. "Everybody Had His Own Gringo" (a great title!) is a "must-read" for anyone interested in the history of the Nicaraguan civil war and the Contras.

one of the very few books that don't blindly praise the sandinistas. this book and shirley christian's 'nicaragua: revolution in the family' are essential to understanding the civil war in nicaragua.

The book's title does it less than justice: it is much more than an account of how GE got into the civil aero-engine business; partly because of the inter-relationship between the civil and military sectors of the business, and partly because it stems from notes for a US government course for Russian aerospace managers on 'conversion' from their state-run environment to life in the global aerospace market. While inevitably seeing things through GE eyes and displaying justifiable pride in the firm's accomplishments, the author acknowledges the capabilities and contributions of GE's major competitors, Pratt&Whitney and Rolls-Royce. The merits of this book lie in its overall perspective and discussion of business issues, and on this basis can be recommended not only to the engine community but more widely to those involved with aerospace generally. Unfortunately it also contains a number of factual inaccuracies, mostly of a fairly minor nature, and some debatable interpretations of the stances adopted by other firms and governments. However, these do not detract significantly from the value of its discussion of business issues. The book provides a thought-provoking perspective to new industry entrants and MBA students; it should certainly be read by civil servants and politicians with responsibility for aeronautics.

Ralph Schwegman writes: "Your book is great - I enjoyed it from start to finish. I'll set it aside for a few days, then read it again." He adds, "Another great book would be your autobiaography - you must have had a fabulous life."

It's a very good book, well-written and full of information and good insights. I really enjoyed it. It reveals GE as a quintessentially American company - quality, integrity, service - and assertiveness. I understand why he says it was a blast working there. Thanks very much for writing it.

When I started this book, I was hoping for some unique insight into the Cuban revolution, overthrowing Communism, or Cuban politics. Instead, I got an interesting look into third world prisons, and some graphic descriptions of unspeakable violence, but very little substance. I'm disappointed, but not sorry I read it.

I don't know how I stumbled upon this book but I couldn't put it down once I started. While this is a story of Cuba, prison, and women, it is most importantly an inspiring story of courage. Ana is a true inspiration to all women to never stop fighting for what you deserve. She has an enormous amount of self-respect and lived in inhumane conditions for 2 decades because of her beliefs. It was a book I looked foward to reading every day and truely make me feel inspired.

I am not quite sure how I stumbled upon this book, but I couldn't put it down once I began. This is a book about Cuba, prison, women, and most importantly - courage. Ana puts up a fight for 19 years and doesn't give in to anything she doesn't believe in no matter how desperately AWFUL the conditions. She goes through situations that I can not even imagine and has more self-respect than anyone I have ever known. You don't have to know anything about Cuba to read this story. It will inspire you, particularly the women, to be like Ana and always fight for what you deserve.

In Learning in Action, David Garvin lays out the concept of learning in a straightforward and easy-to-read manner. He defines the process of learning and the types of learning, and then ties it together in coverage of the challenges organizations have in establishing a paradigm or continuous learning (which includes action). While non-fiction is by its very nature often not the most exciting material in print, this book is able to keep the reader's attention through the use of real-life examples and a steady progression from the basics to the more complex. I read this in one sitting on a coast-to-coast flight and was never even close to falling asleep!! If you are interested in a practical approach to the subject of Learning, this book is worth a look.

Learning is an innate nature and can be obtained by doing. But most HR people faced a hard situation in the fast changing world. "Learning in Action" tell us a brand new direction for people who doesn't have extra time to learn new things. When individuals can learn in action, the model also can be implied and amplified in teams and organizations.

Knowledge Management, published by Harvard Business School Press, is a compilation of articles excerpted from the Harvard Business Review covering a period from 1988-1997. The articles in general focus on the way organizations can acquire, use, and maintain knowledge in order to remain on the cutting edge of their fields. The underlying message of this book, expressed by Peter F. Drucker in "The Coming of the New Organization (page 1)," is that future organizations must take advantage of technology to collect and track data so that data can be translated into useful information.

The manner in which companies acquire knowledge from data can vary. Ikujiro Nonaka in his article "The Knowledge Creating Company (page 21)" provides a general approach. Nonaka suggests that creating new knowledge requires, in addition to the processing of objective information, tapping into the intuitions insights and hunches of individual employees and then making it available for use in the whole organization. Within this framework is an understanding of two types of knowledge: tacit and explicit. Both of these have to exist in an organization and exchange between and within each type is needed for creation of new knowledge. Another point in Nonaka's article is that the creation of new knowledge is not limited to one department or group but can occur at any level. It requires a system that encourages frequent dialogue and communication. Similar but more defined ideas are presented in David Garvin's "Building a Learning Organization (page 47)."

Garvin's approach focuses on the importance of having an organization that learns. Garvin defines a learning organization as one that is "skilled at creating, acquiring, and transferring knowledge, and at modifying its behavior to reflect new knowledge and insights (page 51)." He describes five activities/skills that are the foundation for learning organizations. These are systematic problem solving, experimentation, and review of past experiences, learning from others, and transferring knowledge.

"Teaching Smart People How to Learn (page 81)" by Chris Argyris, deals with the way individuals within an organization can block the acquisition of new knowledge because of the way they reason about their behavior. In order to foster learning behavior in all employees, an organization must encourage productive reasoning. One caution is that use of productive reasoning can be threatening and actually hampers the process of learning if not implemented throughout the whole organization.

Leonard and Straus in "Putting Your Company's Whole Brain to Work (page 109)," address another way in which knowledge can be acquired. They identify two broad categories: left brained and right brained individuals, with different approaches to the same concept based on cognitive differences. Within these categories, there is great potential for conflict, which can stifle the creative process. However these different perspectives are important for full development of a new concept. Innovative companies should keep a balance of these different personality types to avoid stagnation and to encourage development of new ideas. The management of the cognitive types in a way that is productive for the company occurs through the process of creative abrasion.

One can surmise from the articles in general that data and information are valuable if they can be used to maintain the knowledge base or provide the basis for acquiring new knowledge. The organization that creates new knowledge encourages the following in its employees: creativity, a commitment to the goals of the organization, self-discipline, self-motivation, and individual exploration and identification of behaviors that may be barriers to learning. Cognitive preferences should be recognized and used to the companies' advantage. Finally, companies can learn from the best practices of others and from their customers. After knowledge is acquired, it can be disseminated for use throughout the organization and maintained in different ways.

One key method to maintain knowledge repeated in several articles is the importance of an environment that fosters innovation. Quinn et al, in "Managing Professional Intellect: Making the Most of the Best (page 181)," describe this as creating a culture of self-motivated creativity within an organization. There are several ways to do this: recruitment of the best for that field, forcing intensive early development (exposing new employees early to complex problems they have to solve), increasing professional challenges and rigorous evaluations.

Another way to maintain and use knowledge is through pioneering research, described by Brown in "Research that reinvents the Corporation (page 153)." In this process companies can combine basic research practices, with its new and fresh solutions, and applied research to the company's most pressing problems. Dissemination of new knowledge can occur by letting the employees experience the new innovation and so own it. As mentioned in the article by Nonaka, creation of a model that represents the new information is a way for transfer to the rest of the organization. Also the knowledge from the professional intellect within an organization can be transferred into the organization's systems, databases and operating technologies and so made available to others within the organization. An example of this is Merryl Lynch, which uses a database of regularly updated information to link its 18,000 agents.

Yet another tool for disseminating information within an organization is the learning history, described by Kleiner and Roth in "How to Make Experience Your Company's Best Teacher (page 137)." This makes use of the ages old community practice of storytelling to pass on lessons and traditions. The learning history collects data from a previous experience with insight from different levels of employees involved and puts it together in the form of a story that can be used in discussion groups within the organization. In companies where this has been used, it builds trust, provides an opportunity for collective reflection, and can be an effective way to transfer knowledge from one part of the company to another. In addition, incentives in the form of a report in response to the new innovation and achievement awards encourages employees to learn and helps with the dissemination of information.

Looking for some informative, original and clear thinking about knowledge management? This book is a great choice! In its pages you will find an outstanding collection of articles drawn from past editions of the HBR. The eight articles cover: analysis of a knowledge-creating company; building a learning organization, using experience; teaching people how to learn; and managing professional intellect. Each article begins with an executive summary which, for the fast-forward crowd, is a big plus.

So many books are merely ONE GOOD ARTICLE embedded in a thicket of verbiage. Chopping away through such a jungle of verbosity for the gist-of-it-all often proves tedious and disappointing. (Blessed are the laconic!) This book, on the other hand, just serves up a bunch of 'gists' -the pure meat and potatoes of ideas. Happily, the HBSP has published several other collections of this sort on such topics as leadership, change, and strategies for growth. Each of these is collection of first-rate 'gists'. Reviewed by Gerry Stern, founder, Stern & Associates, author of Stern's Sourcefinder The Master Directory to HR and Business Management Information & Resources, Stern's CyberSpace SourceFinder, and the Compensation and Benefits SourceFinder.

While other facets of managment consulting will ultimately yield to lower-cost technology tools, or consultants, KM shall reign as the ultimate value-added analysis. That was my hypothesis before buying this book, and it has only been proven true. The essays in the book range from esoteric to the executable, and include valuable case studies to punctuate the themes. Knowledge Management means so many things, that it can come to mean nothing. This book does an excellent job of providing some metes and bounds to the topic and to stimulate thinking around important organizational and operational issues.But don't get it and expect to be an "instant expert." This is an overview, albeit an excellent one.

Very pricey book for such basic information. Liked Vivien Saunders, golf handbook for women and thought Golf for dummies was excellent. And of course everyone should read golf is a woman's game one of my all time favorites. The women's guide to golf is suitable but not in the top 10.

I first picked up this book when I just started playing golf. It taught me the fundamentals of the grip, swing, ball position-the basics to play golf. At the time, it was a pretty good book, but as I have progressed I need a more comprehensive book.
Overall, this book is good for beginners, as the title indicates.

I read this book and found it very interesting. The book is from a women's perspective in all aspects. Kellie even addresses annoying things such as men giving unsolicited advice. That is such an annoyance for me, so was glad to see it addressed.

Love poetry can indeed be difficult to read at times; this book, however, takes that idea to an extreme. Although these works would shine in a high school literary magazine, one has to wonder how such narcissistic, self-celebratory tripe ever found a publisher. A mediocre volume at best.

Interesting to read the other reviews - guess you either love it or hate it. Can't say I found it narcissistic, but did find it intense, amazingly open, guy just exposes so much. Poetry is often about the inner self and being critical about that seems to show a lack of understanding about the very nature of the thing being read - but it is about personal choice. This is a good collection. Well written, paced beautifully. A worthwhile buy. I liked it, I think others will also.

This book has helped me to truly understand the meaning of poetry. The deepness and intensity of Jim Garvins poetry is inspiring to the reader.