Bob Schaffer has taken an already powerful message and amplified it in this revised version of his book. Good examples and additions. Guaranteed to challenge the status quo. Well worth it!

I spent 15 years as a manager inside companies that had little to no idea how to work with a consultant. When I started consulting myself, I bought copies of this great book for my clients so they could learn how to get the most for their dollar. The great thing about the book is that the title might make you think that the value it promises is all long term -- quite the opposite. The entire concept is to look for value points and deliver them -- focus on results and not on inputs.

Overall, this book is great for people who are not consultants because it really demystifies working with consultants by revealing things consultants woudl rather you not know. With a level playing field -- created of you read this -- you can really make your consultants work for you.

This book gives an account of the absolute right way to consult. But there is a problem: One, however, I believe is a good one whose day in the sun has come.

Consultants and consulting firms have different definitions of success. A GOOD and TRUE consultant wants to see his customer succeed, and this book shows how to accomplish that. A TYPICAL consulting firm wants to rack up the chargeable time. There is a dichotomy here, one with which I have dealt personally for 18 years before founding my own firm.

The author correctly describes consulting success as client results. However, most large consulting firms describe success as a monstrous amount of chargeable hours. In short, don't you dare solve your client's problem before your billing has reached at least six figures!!!

Read this book. If you are a consultant, celebrate it. If you are a partner in a major consulting firm, decry it. If you are a client, hold your consultants to it!

Whispers Of The Earth is a wonderful collection of humerous and some more serious topics of poetry. It is well crafted and a joy to read. I found it hard to put down. I highly recommend this book to just about anyone!

Whispers of the earth is filled with humorous poems that can delight the senses of anybody that reads them. The book contains a rare insight of everyday life though the eyes of a very talented poet. It also contains some poems that I find to be insperational and worth reading again and again.. I enjoyed "Whispers of the Earth and would highly recommend reading it.

Robert D. McManes (Mac)

After reading this collection of poems through both my husband and I recommend you purchase a copy or two. This book will make an excellent gift for just about any one for any occasion. Jim's poems speak to the heart and soul of us all. His wit and humor and talents as a poet are well known around the world. Thanks to the World Wide Web! Don't delay, get your copy today!

Very well written with suberb examples. A good plain-language introduction to sociotechnical systems design - Harvey Kolodny, Professor, Faculty of Management, University of Toront

I personally use this book as a reference guide many times in my day-to-day business and I find the examples particularly helpful Hermann Jakob, Launch Planning & Training Manager, Ford Europ

For years, all the books available on organization design were written at too high a level of abstraction for practicing managers or were so enmeshed in detail that they simultaneously confused and bored the reader. At last, with The 20% Solution, John Cotter has provided a readable and practical guide to designing organizations for todayÍs business environments. This book is a real treasure chest of ideas. A must read! - Leonard A. Schlesinger, George F. Baker Jr., Professor of Business Administration, Ha

Very clear displays of toolboxes and pallettes, excellent comparisons of the various effects on a single photo, easy, user-friendly, concise and clear. Especially good for people who are newbies or paranoid about using a computer.

Although I don't agree that Amherst books are always a good choice, this one certainly is. There are a few excellent books out there for those wanting to invest the time in learning Photoshop inside out (Real World Photoshop 7, for example, as long as you have the time to read a book of a few hundred pages before you dive in). Usually I want the "most book" I can get for my money, but one asset of this book is its small size. It is an unintimidating introduction to a potentially intimidating program. The book really does start from the beginning, using clear and simple language, so you won't feel frustrated over terms you don't understand (although you might consider reading the part about Photoshop's tools first, then come back to the start of the book). The author manages to boil down Photoshop into several essential and logically chosen components - no small feat considering this program does just about everything. The author's distillation goes a long way toward helping a reader get a sense of this program. You will come away with a complete introduction. In the small space of just over 100 pages, the author also teaches you how to do many of the tasks you'd be most likely to want to do. Even experienced users will probably learn something new or find something that something they were fuzzy about is clarified. Her book, Traditional Photographic Effects with Adobe Photoshop, is an equally good choice, after you read her introductory text.

If the huge and complicated Adobe Photoshop manuals have scared you off, this book can ease you into using Adobe Photoshop and remove your fears. The subtitle for Perkins' book is, "Easy lessons for rapid learning and success," and that's exaclty what this book offers.

Amherst Media's books are always in an easy-to-follow and well-illustrated format. This book is no different. Perkins explains Photoshop terminology easy to understand language. Not only is the language clear, but there are illustrations of what she is explaining - she leaves no room for doubt.

This compact manual holds much information, and I think if you learn what Perkins teaches, you can easily move up to the more complicated Adobe Photoshop manuals and understand what they are talking about.

Really a very nice book to have on hand, especially if you have been scared off from Adobe Photoshop in the past.

If you are interested in understanding the history of the electric interurban railway in North America, this book will tell you info you would be hard pressed to find elsewhere, especially on obscure lines that failed early in the century. While significant data is on the corporate financial life, it covers all aspects of the line. When I travel on business, I look to see what lines ran in the area I'm headed to, and when there, ask about these lines in area antique stores and libraries. I've found that the knowledge in this book will prompt people to point out remains of the lines that I would have missed. I have the original 1960 version and still use it frequently.

Hilton and Due have written the definitive book on an obscure but important industry: electric interurban railroads, which provided rural and small town America with mobility from the late 19th century until the automobile became common in the 1930s.

The book is exhaustively researched and documented, and yet very readable. It brings alive an industry that has almost vanished from the collective memory of America.

George Hilton and John Due produced what has become the "bible" for any person seriously interested in the history of electric railways. The first half of the book provides general history and information about the electric railway industry which flourished during the first half of the 20th Century. Also included is the relationship many of these companies had with the electric power industry. It also touches on the utility industry holding companies which owned many of the interurban lines. The second half of the book contains (listed by state) all of the electric interurban railways in the United States and Canada. Capsule histories are given for each company that operated intercity electric railways. Although this book was originally published in 1960 it has stood the test of time and is a "must have" for any serious railway scholar

This is the sort of autobiography you would expect from The Brigadier. Solid, dependable, traditional...but Nicholas Courtney isn't the Brigadier, and this also tells the story of his off-screen life, and life before Doctor Who stardom.

The first part of the book tells the story of the actor's early life, his parent's separation. Then follows the customary section on National Service, weekly rep, meeting Donald Wolfit and John Geilgud. It's good to hear Nick tell the familiar "actor's autobiography", because his style is friendly, humorous, and honest. This makes the book so enjoyable that the pages zoom by. We learn about the author's successes with the ladies, and, to his credit, his failures, and the breakdown of his marriage is dealt with in what seems to be a very honest manner.

The section on his Doctor Who work is well-written, and leaves out a lot of familiar material. This could be due to the work of Courtney's editor, John Nathan-Turner. For whatever reason, this remains fresh and exciting even thirty years after the fact.

The last part of the book details the post-Doctor Who work, and it is remarkable to see that since Courtney stopped being a Doctor Who regular in 1974 he has played the Brig no fewer than seven times. His work continues of course on the Doctor Who audio adventures, but this book was written before they had been established.

The large format suits his story well, allowing space for many rare and well-researched photographs. There are a few too many blank spaces for my liking, and some unnecessary tributes from those who have worked with him. He could also have cut down the number of references to Equity, the actors' union. Other than that, this is a first class read, and tells a more interesting story than the well-worn convention anecdotes, or sections in general Doctor Who books.

An excellent book by the only man who has really seen the series from the very beginning. He is the only actor to have worked with all the actors to have played the Doctor. Thanks to the Big Finish audios he has appeared with the 6th Doctor and will be appearing with the 8th when Paul McGann returns to the roll next year. He rarely does conventions any more and, when he does, refuses to tell some of the stories he's famous for.

All of my life, I have been a no-nonsense man, who knows nothing but work. In 1986, I began to watch Dr. Who, just as a whim in a miltary barracks, on a TV set in the barrack day room that was chained to the floor so no one would steal it. At first it seemed rather cheesy, but then I found that I could not miss a single episode and if I had to miss it, I would record it. Once, I brought a VHS out to a live fire gunnery tank range, where we were to fire all day and all night for two nights.

In one of the tents where the crews were de-briefed and rested, I set up a small TV and the VHS and powered it up by using a military 15kw gas generator. We and the tank crews of my battalion watched Dr. Who.

My first experience with Dr. Who were the Pertwee years and the Brigadier played a large roll. I enjoyed these immensley and bought each one for my collection...and I am still watching them today..(In fact "Planet of Spiders" parts three and four are on tap this weekend).

In short, buy this book. By any book associated with any character who played in this marvelous series.

Thank you Brigadier for your part in allowing an ordinary man,for a few moments anyway,to escape the inescapable life of medocrity.

This is a very unique book. Through it we have a vivid view of a man who, at one time was the youngest college president in the country, develop from a "jock", physical education instructor, to an internationally acclaimed leader in liberal arts education.
With his breadth of experience Billy O. Wireman, former president of Florida Presbyterian College (now Eckerd College) and Queens College in Charlotte, North Carolina presents excerpts from writings and speeches given over 38 years.

He has the special ability to present his insights, visions, and hopes in a manner easily read and comprehended by the parents and their young person planning to enter college and, yet, thought provoking to a seasoned professional in the academic arena.

With uncanny accuracy, beginning back in the 60's, Dr Wireman scolds, cautions, and pleads with leaders in higher education to open college education to all ages, to move into multicultural arenas, to become interdisciplinary, to hold faith and reason in balance, to search for connections and to embrace our knowledge on a global level.

I consider this writing a benchmark in where liberal arts came from, where it is now , and where it needs to go in the academic field, the world marketplace and in the hearts and souls of the people.

Collaboratively edited by Richard Goode (McMahon Professor of English and Chair of Queens College English department) and Robert Whalen (Carolyn G. and Sam H. McMahon, Jr., Professor of History and Chair of Queens College's history department), Like Shooting Rapids In The Dark is an informed and informative collection of writings on education by Billy O. Wireman, the recently retired president of the Queens College. Wireman's wisdom on the role of liberal arts education today and in the future, guarding against overspecialization as a form of "illiteracy" with regard to everything except one narrow niche, how people have readied themselves for a productive career throughout history up to the modern day, and more. Like Shooting Rapids In The Dark is highly recommended for its unique insights into the role colleges have to play in shaping a new generation of minds in the years to come.

Let me state first that I have known Dr Wireman for over a decade and consider him a friend. But after reading this book, I have new appreciation for his talents, quiet leadership, management style, perserverance and in particular, his prescience in recognizing the consequences of globalization before many others both in and out of education.

The excellent selections of his speeches and writings in this well-edited compact volume led me to think of Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's former prime minister. Lee was a leader who started out as a socialist lawyer but pragmatically transformed himself into a firebrand politician and then into a visionary statesman who led his small, resource-poor country to become the most "globalized" market economy in Southeast Asia. Often the question is asked -- a tribute to Lee's intellect and leadership: What if he had been in charge of a big nation like China?

Dr Wireman started out as a physical education teacher and coach and turned himself into an innovative administrator and then a visionary educator who led a small, resource-poor institution into one of the most "globalized" liberal arts universities in the US. Queens may not be as famous as the Ivy League colleges, but it is a unique institution that has prospered in large measure because Wireman, his colleagues and his coalitions of volunteers all recognized the need to "think global, act local" -- to plug into the world, while serving the needs of their constituents in Charlotte and the southern US.

I hasten to add that unlike Lee, Dr Wireman did not achieve his goals through authoritarian rule. As one can plainly see in his writings and speeches, he is a committed democrat and liberal thinker. Readers will enjoy these gems of "disarmed truth." Wireman's views on the student protests of the 1960s are particularly insightful. There is humor, too. Take a look at his advice for fellow college presidents. He offers inspiration to fundraisers everywhere and especially to educators in developing and developed countries who may be struggling in little known, cash-strapped institutions but who are doggedly determined to provide the best possible education to their students.

What could Dr Wireman have accomplished if he had been running a larger, better known institution? It is a moot question that, as with Singapore's Lee, is silly to ask. The point is that Wireman, like Lee, made his mark by steering a small, but nimble player to become world-class. That was his mission -- and that is his enduring legacy.

This book provides an excellent history of the development of the streamliner era. It covers the story of the "lightweight" passenger cars and goes into some detail about the individual trains from the 1930s up to the creation of Amtrak in 1971.

As an Amtrak fan myself, I was particularly fascinated with the story of Santa Fe's El Capitan Hi-Level cars. These cars evolved into today's Amtrak Superliners, which are standard equipment on most of today's long distance trains.

The book presents a detailed history of the creation and evolution of these luxurious streamlined trains, including some insights into the minds of their creators. For example, the dome car was conceived in the mind of a General Motors executive while riding in a locomotive passing through Colorado's Glenwood Canyon. He thought the passengers should have a view as good as the engineer had.

The book is loaded with colorful photos and images from travel brochures, railroad advertisements, and the like. Many of these show cutaway diagrams of passenger cars, a terrific visual aid. Another nice feature is a glossary, uniquely presented at the beginning of the book, to aid those not familiar with railroad terms.

If there is a downside to the book it is that the text doesn't give any real explanation for the downfall of these great trains and why Amtrak had to take over. About all we are given are the dates the trains went out of service or were turned over to Amtrak. Given the comprehensive history presented on the streamliners early years, I feel this is a serious omission. It is a topic that has a direct bearing on the state of intercity transportation in America today.

This is definitely a worthwhile read, but it will leave you wondering how our railroads got into the sad state they are in today.

I have always loved railroads, especially passenger trains. I grew up in the sixties and had the opportunity to ride the Southern Crescent and Seaboard's Silver Comet many times. It truly covers passenger rail history from the 1930's to the 1960's comprehensively.

Kudos to Mssrs. Schafer & Welsh. CLASSIC AMERICAN STREAMLINERS is worth its price just for the wealth of photographs (the majority in color) of these stylish steel titans of a bygone era! Its more than just a picture book as the text is also extremely informative.I especially enjoyed learning where a vintage locomotive wound up after its days on the raills ended (Scrapheap? Museum?) If you're a train buff, you NEED this book! Not a train buff? Read this book and you just might become one!

While I haven't actually used this book I have used its predecessor and find that the two are very similar in format. I have gone through all 26 of the sample pages and found each "trick" or method is very well designed. Each consists of a concise but clear explanation, two or three fully explained examples followed by two sets of exercises. the first are easy applications; the second harder. All of the methods are valid rapid calculation devices. Unfortunately, most of the multiplication and division methods involve special cases which the average person may not ever see or recognize in typical daily encounters with the need for computation. The addition and subtraction methods are more general. The book will prove most valuable to someone who is already fairly accomplished in computation skills but wishes to brush up on them and, perhaps, to pick up a few rapid calculation methods which can be used very frequently. Otherwise, the book may help one brush up on rusty comp. skills or prove interesting in attempting to discover why the various "tricks" work (the author does not explain the mathematical basis on which the methods rest - he deals in "how-to" not "why?". One final caution - if you have not memorized the basic arithmetic combinations of addition, subtraction, mulltiplication, and division this book is not for you.

Great book.Really does get you thinking differently about mathematics.The stuff they teach you in school is just to complicated and drawn out.This is not.A must for those who want to 'cut to the chase'.

The tricks in this book are better than the first book. If you can only buy one, get More Rapid Math Tricks and Tips : 30 Days to Number Mastery. It has some of the same features of the first book but better tricks.

This book is a real wonder.

In a very friendly way, and without resorting to any technology beyond sticky notes, it introduces several concepts of computer science and systems engineering.

It can be used as a brainstorming tool, but it can also be used by us programmers as a gift to the non-programmers in our lives. It can serve as an exposition of what it is we do all day when we aren't cursing irritating APIs and OS misfeatures. This is about the part of our jobs that we love and that we have so much trouble explaining.

I'm delighted it's still in print. I love oddball books in general, and this is a great example. It really delivers much more than it claims to.

Don't hesitate for a minute to buy this one.
--
mt

As an IT Consultant I am always looking for different methods to solve problems. I found this book to be simple but yet valuable.

When I first started reading this book it took me back to a book called "Visualizing Project Management" where the authors Forsberg, Mooz and Cotterman use the process of "Cards on the Wall" technique to encourage group thinking and visually determine dependencies.

This book introduces an effective way to solve problems with Post-it® Note. It starts off by showing simple key principles: (1) Chunking; capturing small information of data, (2) Problem Patterns, arranging and determining relationships, (3) Guiding decisions and keeping clear objectives, and (4) the *FOG* factor (Facts, Opinions, Guesses).

The core of the book provides 6 easy to use methods: (1) Post up, (2) Swap sort, (3) Top-down Tree, (4) Bottom-up Tree, (5) Information map and (6) Action Map. Note that "Information map" has nothing to do with Information Mapping®, which is both a registered trademark and different method owned by Information Mapping, Inc.

These methods are represented graphically with many examples to help you determine which method is best suited to find the solution for complex problems.

What I found most helpful in this book was the step-by-step procedures in every chapter. Every method has a clear definition of what it is and how and when it should be used. Grasping these methods will paint a clear picture towards the direction of a solution. I recommend this book to those that are looking for an effective, yet simple, way of solving problems.

This book provides six easy to use methods for facilitating decision making and getting everyone involved in working through solutions. I keep this book in my briefcase for use at any time - don't let the name of the book fool you, it's about quick methods for problem solving using Post It Notes to help you. I keep referring back to the book time and again. I highly recommend it.