The book discusses how businesses must find new ways to innovate while maintaining the core business that is already successful. For established companies to get involved in the new technologies, they must either acquire start ups, introduce cooperatives efforts either partnering or investing in internal new departments, or uses corporate venture capital to invest in start ups.

Established companies are striving to become dotcorps via networked innovation. Loudon explains how each method works, the advantages and drawbacks, and the many reasons for doing this.

The book is well organized, easy to read and follow. Key points are emphasized with questions at the end of each chapter, which provide a guide for companies dealing with innovation with its use of shades of gray and statements of key points. Case studies from Europe and the US provide examples of the different strategies and how they work. It focuses more on problem solving than on the problems offering detailed methods for companies to organize for innovation.

While VC (venture capital) was the catch phrase of the late '90s, the authors explores the different types and ways of using VC. What companies did right. What companies did wrong.

The index lists all of the companies covered in the book to help the reader immediately find those that interest her. Boo.com's failure is mentioned, of course, as a first mover that did not become a prover. There are examples of everything including partnerships, buy-outs, corporate venture capital, B2C, B2B, and more.

While this book is aimed at companies and purports to be a road map to follow in pursuit of innovation and in preparation for what's next on the Internet, it's good reading for individuals interested in business tactics, in plotting change that keeps coming, and in investing in the companies that show the most creativity and openness to deal with the future.

Loudon reminds the reader that everything doesn't happen overnight. While the Internet has become the wave of the future, its present is no yet what it was hoped for. Sound business practices, profitability, ability to attract and keep good employees still remain watchwords for success along with creativity and innovation.

Webs Of Innovation by Internet expert and global business consultant Alexander Loudon is a clearly forward-looking and progressive book about the future of business in the age of the Internet. A practical-minded approach to taking advantage of globalization and changing technology is the hallmark of this adventurous tour through the evolution of the Internet, the process of acquiring corporate venture capital, and generally gearing one's enterprise to make the most of today's changing and highly interdependent markets. Anecdotes and examples pepper this exciting and useful guide to taking charge of one's entrepreneurial destiny. Webs Of Innovation is highly recommended reading for entrepreneurs wanting to utilize the Internet and the World Wide Web in their mercantile and corporate ventures.

There are dozens of excellent books on this subject and Loudon has written one of the best. At a time when global initiatives continue to increase and expand as well as accelerate, it is especially significant that Loudon does not limit himself to national perspectives (such as those from the USA) which tend to exclude or subordinate all others. He carefully organizes his material within seven chapters, following an Introduction in which he observes: "There seem to be three strategies currently pursued by large companies. First, some are trying to enter webs of innovation by starting a separate -- often competitive division [e.g. Procter & Gamble and Wal-Mart]....The second strategy is mergers and acquisitions [e.g. Healtheon merged with WebMD and Ahold acquired Peapod]....The third way is venture capital." Loudon goes on to acknowledge that each of the three approaches can work "but it is critical to know which suits your company. This book will tell you." And it does.

These brief remarks correctly suggest that Loudon's book will be of greatest value to decision-makers in larger organizations; however, it can also be of substantial value to those who do business with those organizations (especially on an outsource basis) or who provide professional services to them such as financial and legal. Change remains the only constant in the contemporary marketplace. This is especially true of the technical environment within which webs of innovation are established and developed. Years ago, former president of Harvard University Derek Bok suggested that "If you think education is expensive, try ignorance." This is especially true of organizations (including the larger non-profits) now struggling to leverage their assets in the online world.

At some point during his tenure as CEO of GE, Jack Welch explained why he admires small, entrepreneurial companies:

"For one, they communicate better. Without the din and prattle of bureaucracy, people listen as well as talk; and since there are fewer of them they generally know and understand each other. Second, small companies move faster. They know the penalties for hesitation in the marketplace. Third, in small companies, with fewer layers and less camouflage, the leaders show up very clearly on the screen. Their performance and its impact are clear to everyone. And, finally, smaller companies waste less. They spend less time in endless reviews and approvals and politics and paper drills. They have fewer people; therefore they can only do the important things. Their people are free to direct their energy and attention toward the marketplace rather than fighting bureaucracy."

I include Welch's remarks for two reasons. First, they articulate the spirit of entrepreneurial innovation which Loudon insists is now absolutely essential to business success in the networked economy. Moreover, because in such a economy there are constant demands for newer and better innovations, there are simultaneously constant demands for newer and better ways to produce them. If I understand Loudon's book, these are among his most important points. They offer great encouragement to precisely the same companies which Welch admires so much and which the most innovative of larger organizations now work so hard to emulate.

Those who share my high regard for this brilliant book are urged to read Borgmann's Holding On to Reality, Nielsen's Designing Web Usability, Cairncross' recently published The Company of the Future, and Markides' All the Right Moves.

This is an utterly stunning work that should be required reading for all midwives, obstetrician-gynecologists, feminists of all persuasions--anybody involved in the health care of women. Not only does it take the wind out of the sails of those who believe childbirth is without consequences (part of the natural history of natural childbirth is maternal death), but it demonstrates how the industrialized world dropped its maternal mortality ratios nearly 100-fold in a century. This has important policy implications for international health work--providing that the international community can persuade developing countries to take women's health care needs seriously. Highly recommended.

This is another of Wennawoods Publishing's "Great Pennsylvania Frontier" series. Originally published in a two volume set in 1808 and 1811, this collection of Indian captivity narratives written by Archibald Loudon was one of the most popular and widely read of all the many books on this subject that would appear over the next 100 years. In fact, it was so popular that it has become a rarity to find a complete copy of the original 19th century editions. Wennawoods reprinted the 1888 edition as seen here to bring these rare and fascinating captivity narratives to a modern audience.

This work is replete with tales of white settlers and soliders who were captured by Indians during the late 18th and early 19th centuries on the trans-Allegheny frontier. Among the more than 25 accounts included here is that of the famous Col. James Smith and his more than 5 years captivity with the Wyandots in northeastern Ohio. This work also includes extensive accounts of Indian life, religion, foodways, hunting, warfare, and, of course, torture. It is understandable how this book became so popular, as it was written at a time when the danger from Indian raids along the frontier was still a viable threat, and it is easy to picture frontier families huddled together on a cold winter night around the fireplace, reading of tales of Indian depredations and scaping and torture, all the while listening for the faint echoes of the war whoop in the dark woods nearby.

This is a great stand alone Ochem book. It covers enough material for the future chemist and is concise and easy enough to follow for those who only require one or two semesters of chemistry knowledge. Loudon does a great job lecturing and this book reflects his abilities.

I sold my textbooks that I had used for Organic I (Wade), and Organic II (Solomons) in the middle of the semester and bought this one instead (since our teacher don't use the book, only his notes). I found this book so much easier to learn from. Especially for someone who has had trouble learning the subject.

I have the 1984 edition and it's still my favorite. I love this book! The book is conversational in tone and very easy to read. The electron diagrams lead to understanding rather than memorizing organic chemistry reactions. The explanations are through. The graphics and text are balanced. The problems are interesting and challenging. The accompanying solution manual provides all the details needed to completely understand the answers. This book shows that chemistry can be beautiful and understandable. I am sure that it has only gotten better in later editions. Thank you, Dr. Loudon, for writing such a wonderful book.

Having read her first book, I was interested as to where the second book would take this. In this book, Ms. Roth extends her Five Rhythms to be included as part of everyday life.

This is a natural progression, and Ms. Roth draws parallels to include similar patterns. She discusses the Cycles of Life - Birth, Childhood, Puberty, Maturity and the Death, in which we can see these rhythms and the progressions. Life does indeed have a rhythm to it and she sees these as the "dance of life in five movements". The final step to this dance is healing, a bringing about of the oneness of ones self. This is done by embodying the spirit through the five levels of consciousness: inertia, inspiration, imitation, intuition and imagination. This is her path to ecstasy. She finds dance and life has a map we can follow and find the spiritual ecstasy we all seek in our lives.

Her method of writing, incorporating her own personal life rhythms and experiences and her insightful observations make this book a wonderful and easy read. We can always learn from other people's experiences and Ms. Roth weaves this well. Her days working at Esalan enabled Ms. Roth to put together her then acquired skills, tune them, put them into practical use and give us the final product here in this book.

She shows how these rhythms are present in each persons life and can be applied to our personal self healing, attunement, stress relief, personal relationships and general health and well being.

I enjoyed this book and found Ms. Roth's insightful self-questioning and personal exploration a path that can be incorporated into each person's life, as a whole or with partial application. It definitely left me thinking upon things I have since considered and seek to explore further.

Both books here are complimented by her music and she also has an instructional video "The Wave" as a visual aid to her work. You need not have magic dancing toes or be a rhythmic person to apply any of this. All you need is the ability to move.

Gabrielle Roth's book defies being categorized. I took one of her workshops years ago and was stunned at how well she got us to the heart of things. In her writing, as in person, she stands in stark contrast to most "self-help gurus" out there: She seems to have chosen consciously to speak her truth rather than "expertize" herself.

By doing that, she embodies the message that the rewards to which she wants to lead her readers (ecstasy) is a human birthright. That stance is admirable when compared with those who suggest implicitly or explicitly that their degrees, years of accredited study, association with high-prestige teachers, and other marks of status somehow qualify them to lay out for others a path towards "self-improvement."

"This is a wonderful and inspiring book that can lead people to a new level of understanding and give them the courage to follow thier dreams." - Lynn Andrews, author, - "Medicine Woman"

The C++ Pocket Reference is designed for C or Java developers who occasionally program in C++ and need a syntax reminder. Not designed as a tutorial or provide lengthy instruction on the subject, this book is great for a one paragraph explanation on a particular topic.

I found this to be a very useful and easy to follow book. It starts out with the basics of writing a C++ program (processor directives, data types) and slowly moves into more complicated aspects of this language (like templates and memory management).

I would highly recommend this as a reference book if you find yourself occasionally doing some programming in C++.

Excellent description of how to perform techniques of evaluation. A must for the orthopedic clinic. Excellent illustrations, weak on anatomy.

With a back ground of psychology I found this book very interesting. Two years back i was supervising two of my M.Phil students for their thesis on "Life style inventory" and "reference group influencs". During that process i got hold of this book and found it very use full. I think this is very comprehensive book for my M.Sc.Psychology students also who are intending to specialize in organiztional psy. and offering a course of consumer psy. and research in marketing.

An interesting look at Life Magazine in an account that is part history and part personal memoir. Wainwright is clearly too close to his subject to craft an objective account, but there's still an awful lot of material who are interested in either _Life_ itself or in the history of magazines in general.

Much fascinating stuff, such as the Clifford Irving hoax, the exclusive _Life_ coverage of the astronauts, and the JFK assassination.

Reading this book was something like a dance. I moved in readily to embrace her passionate stories and images of dancing, recognizing the value that dance can have for me in letting my body express how it feels. Then, I found myself withdrawing, as Roth began telling me how to experience the world, what labels and definitions to apply to my emotional experience and how I should go about knowing myself. Yet, I was drawn toward her again to discover many pearls of wisdom embedded in the passages of this book. Overall, this book was for me a rich tapestry of life experience and collected wisdom which encouraged and stimulated me to reflect on my relationship with my body and my own psychological reality.

Roth's most vital message, in my judgment, is of the body's role in coming into relationship with the unconscious. Most depth psychologists emphasize the intra-psychic realm, the work to be done within the psyche to develop a strong connection between the ego and the Self. Yet, here is a person whose way of individuation is through the body and she contributes her awareness of this path with great passion and energy. For people who exist at some distance from their bodies, Roth's stories and descriptions of dancing into relationship are food for renewal.