I absolutely loved this book. I was torn between reading through it very quickly because it was so interesting and savoring each page. There is so much wisdom in this gem that I find myself constantly going back to it to glean a bit more of that wisdom from each chapter. There are several exercises that you do to help develop your skills in attracting your most heartfelt desires and also examples of affirmations to help you in the journey to your best life. We are all deserving of a great life and this book shows you the way. Please buy this book and get started on a wonderful new journey. We need more people that are incredibly happy with their lives to get that positive energy flowing again. And that will ultimately benefit us all.

I am a Personal Growth Cnsultant who teaches workshops for self healing and I have a private practice. MY CLIENTS LOVE THIS BOOK! The personal stories which Dr.Crane has cultivated from her clients and friends are enlightening, fun and poignant. Her techniques for applying the use of positive affirmations are very effective and for the willing reader easy to put into practice. I highly recommend this book for those who feel "stuck" and are looking for a refreshing and fun way to change their lives for the better. I will continue to recommend this book to my clients and friends.

Dr. Crane's great book is gold mine of information filled with affirmations and techniques that will change your life, if you apply them...

This is a book that I wish I didn't have to recommend. However, for now we need down-to-earth advice on how to manage down-sizing and Drs Crandall and Wallace are tough, experienced experts in the field.

For anyone who has never before been told to drastically cut department costs in short order, I should think the book would be an absolute life-saver. In addition to sensible advice on how to handle the situation with the minimum of damage to the company and individuals, the book contains worksheets on how to figure costs, a selection of model speeches and letters, and a step-by-step process for deciding on the outcome for each employee.

As the authors say, "Layoffs alone don't work. Companies that lay off employees to get costs in line with revenues rarely improve their return on investments or revenues. And they never regain the stock price they had before the layoffs."

The aim of The Headcount Solution is find ways of reducing costs *without* firing employees, and to ensure that layoffs that can't be avoided don't leave the company unable to benefit when the market does return.

Employers of all sizes and types are struggling in today's tight economy. For the past few years, payrolls have been substantially reduced as companies sought every way possible to operate lean. The economic downturn has inspired leaders to restructure their organizations, saying good-bye to long-term employees who no longer fit while, at the same time, bringing in fresh workers with the skills needed for the new corporate design.

The challenge through all this turmoil is to retain your top talent and control costs. That combination is difficult to achieve, since highly proficient employees also expect to be highly compensated. This dilemma has been front-burner for the past few years. Will it continue to be an issue as we move through the decade in a growing economy? My perspective is yes: companies will continue restructuring and the entire employment environment will be very fluid. The balancing act of keeping people and managing compensation will be a vital skill for successful business leaders.

The book begins with a recognition that layoffs, easy as they may be as a simple solution, may not always be the best answer. Chapter 1 opens with Key Principles, a good positioning that continues as a pattern through the book. Downsizing is explained in short sections in a style that reminds me of USA Today-short, pithy statements. The practicality of the book jumps out with numbered how-to steps to follow. You won't find a lot of depth here, but rather pragmatic thought stimulators. This book will be most valuable for people with experience and/or knowledge in human resource management practices.

The second chapter reports on what companies are doing to cut costs and keep people. The chapter reports on the responses of 1,245 companies to a 2001 survey. Results are reported, followed by the sort of summary that appears at the end of each chapter. The first section concludes with a chapter on how leadership can maintain morale during the kind of crisis that inspires downsizing.

Part Two moves from dilemma to solution, providing seven steps to cut compensation costs. Readers will find an easy-to-read format (plenty of space between lines-airy). A wealth of ideas is shared in these pages as you move from preparation to planning to implementation, to getting back to business.

Then comes the frosting on the cake: five appendices, a glossary, and a good index. Two sample employment termination agreements are offered, one for individual workers 40 and older and another for more than one worker over 40. We're into the legal cover-your-anatomy stuff here. The other three appendices are quite unusual. They're sample speeches for corporate leaders to use in announcing rounds 1, 2, and 3 of cost cutting. I wondered about this feature, thinking that this must be Cost Cutting for Real Dummies.
There is some value in the sample speeches as readers will gain some insight into the issues that need to be covered. However, leaders should be encouraged to use their own phraseology and creativity so their own personality comes through to their people.

As lead author of "Impending Crisis: Too Many Jobs, Too Few People," I believe that we will soon move into an era of increasing headcounts, we're not quite there yet. So this book has instant value today, and will have philosophical and procedural value into the future.

The book provides some great ideas that are important to anyone trying to get the most out of their payroll dollars. As CFO of a public company that has gone through a world of change over the past few years, the advice and insight provided in the Headcount Solution are right on the mark. I wish I read it earlier! I know the book will provide a great foundation as we go forward. I highly recommend it.

If you are looking for an excellent training tool on coaching (and in today's business climate, we all probably should be), you definitely should consider Tom Crane's book The Heart of Coaching. The book is excellent in both style and substance. As for style, the book is written in plain English, with an "easy to read" visual format. As to substance, the book has chapter after chapter of useable and substantive information. Further, the book has both process (the central feature of the book is not just coaching, but "transformational coaching as a process") and practicality (as just one example, you will get genuine assistance from the insightful list of differences between "bosses" on the one hand and "coaches" on the other).

Finally, don't skip over the section of the book dealing with the personal side of coaching, the "heart" of the transformational coach. In this section, you will find the "Transformational Coach's Credo". The credo may not state anything which is revolutionarily new but, if followed consistently, the credo would certainly help the typical department workplace to exude greater enthusiasm, productivity and camaraderie (come to think of it, maybe such results could be considered revolutionary!).

The Heart of Coaching is by far the best book on the subject of coaching I have read to date. As a management consultant, I have learned that the most difficult challenge in coaching is blending the "heart" of coaching with measurable results. Tom Crane has skillfully blended the "soft" coaching skills that are neccesary for coaches to inspire and motivate with the "hard" skills of measurably improved performance. It is the latter which is essential for continuing organizational support of any coaching program. Without results, coaching will not be effective. I have been recommending this book to managers around the world because it achieves that delicate balance between organizational culture and individual performance. It is also filled with fun, inspirational quotes, and is easy to read without being too basic. Another "must read".

I was in the middle of reading Dan Goleman's book, WORKING WITH EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE. I kept thinking, "This is great, but how does one apply the concepts?" Then one of my colleagues gave me a copy of THE HEART OF COACHING. It answered my question. Tom Crane has written a clear and concise book. His ideas on "transformational" coaching as an ongoing cycle of creating a solid "foundation", developing a "learning loop", and "forwarding the action" is a practical description of how to create empowerment and high performance in any organization. I am recommending this highly readable and extremely useful guide to all who are interested in putting the"heart" back into the work we all do.

I loved this book. David Leavitt writes with such feeling and sensitivity that you really feel you get to know the people in his stories. His portraits of the young gay man coming out, the middle-aged closet case, and the wife who gradually grasps the fact of her husband's secret life, are done with such depth and understanding that we feel for everyone involved. Leavitt does not take a noticeable stance in favor of either side; one of his gay men is a self-involved jerk who evokes little sympathy, though one does pity him, in a way. Leavitt's novel, in short, is about human beings, with all our faults and foibles. This one will stay with you long after you finish reading it. Lovely and heart-wrenching.

When I am given the task of writing a review such a wonderful book, I have to wonder where to start. Leavitt's writing is fresh, beautiful, and goes down so smooth you don't realize you have the pages turning until you stop and look to see how much you've read. The breadth and accuracy of emotions portrayed in this book are truly extrodinary. This is truly a beautiful story that will stay with me in my heart. My heart goes out to Rose, who has to contend with so much and wonder if she gives off pheromones that turn men gay. My sympathies find their way to Owen who struggles with an issue his whole life, and only finds that he took it the wrong direction and wasted it and hurt someone that he love--but not in the way he might have originally thought he would. And I send a whole spectrum of my emotions to Philip whoes personality and feelings in many ways reflect my own; Philip's strugle is the most completely documented. The novel comes to a closing in which the reader is left to speculate where things will go from there, and I have to complain, but the complaint is mostly because by that point I never wanted the novel to end. While Edmund White proves to be the best gay writer of his generation, David Leavitt takes the tourch and makes it burn even brighter. And for that he is to be celbrated.

This was the first Leavitt novel I read, and I followed it up with his wondeful collection, Family Dancing. I am now reading Arkansas: Three Novellas. Prejudice hurts us, but the mainstream suffers more than they know for not finding and embracing a book of such beauty.

This is such a well written book that I am now interested in reading other works by this author. A plausible storyline involving three main characters, their interactions with each other and their lack of honesty regarding their true feelings. The internal sexual turmoils experienced by the father and the son were exceptionally well presented.

I expected this book to be a little more story like, i.e. no "technical references", but it was a good book nonetheless. A very interesting read.

This book holds special interest for folks of all ages. Those persons with no knowledge of these magnificent animals are instructed, through tales and humor, of how llamas think and why they respond as they do. Persons who have experience with llamas can identify traits of their own llamas throughout Dudley's story. It is fun and entertaining reading.

This is a wonderful children's book that parents will enjoy, too. It teaches lessons of tolerance and family spirit. The llamas are characters that everyone can relate to.

Here in the US, Philippine cuisine is most often summarized by the following: lumpiang shanghai, lechon (manok), pork barbeque, pancit, sinigang and adobo. If you can cook the above, consider yourself an experienced Pinoy chef; this book, fortunately, blows this notion out of the water.

The book reveals a cuisine that is the amalgamation of history and geography; it features a multipage discussion on how Filipino cuisine can be subdivided into regional specialties, each with its own historical influences; it provides a grouping of dishes by genre (how many Filipino cookbooks describe the various meat and seafood ginataan variations while smartly leaving the dessert ginataan for later?); it compares and contrasts dishes with similar ones from other parts of the Philippines. From reading the book, one gets a glimpse of just how diverse Filipino cooking really is, each major region in the archipelago of 7100 islands, large and small, developing a unique taste that warrants its own recipe book.

Accurate/appropriate English translations for many of the recipe names help make the recipes seem less exotic and unapproachable while the clear instructions guide the novice through even some of the more intricate dishes.

This book focuses on the recipes of Filipino favorites, everyday dishes as well as fiesta ones. The recipes offered made up delicious food. It does not dwell on lots of glossy pictures. The pages are not glossy so the book is easy to read and use. The ingredients asked for in the recipes are easy enough to get in smallish to larger cities. Filipinos who would like a quality ethnic cookbook will enjoy this one.

This book gives an excellent introduction to Filipino food and cooking. The author has collected and tested hundreds of traditional recipes. While I'm no expert on the authenticity of these recipes, I can say that they are tasty and not too difficult to try at home. Some of the special features are adobo (vinegar and garlic sauce), coconut recipes, purple yam recipes, and pickles. While pork is a central ingredient in many of these recipes, it is also easily possible to put together a completely vegetarian menu using this book. Gelle includes a brief overview of Filipino food history and regional specialties at the beginning of the book, as well as a glossary of ingredients and index at the end.

Very good but lacking in the training part. The book refers to other training books but those books talk about Dogs in general not about big dogs with traits like digging, barking, roaming, etc. Other than that the book is a good buy for all interested in buying a pyr. or those who have pyrs already. I recommend it.

This book is wonderful! If you are thinking about sharing your life with a walking hairball... i highly recommend it. Very informative. If you can get your hands on a copy, it's well worth the money.

I have owned this book for seven years, and it was what sold me on buying a Great Pyrenees. A Great Pyrenees is a wonderful breed, but not for everyone. Please read this book before buying a Great Pyrenees. I have read this book multiple times,for it is the "Great Pyrenees bible". Other Great Pyrenees books were of no value to me. Paul Strang's book has helped me better understand my big, walking "snowdrift".

Of Peter Matthiessen's non-fiction I have previously read only The Snow Leopard, but I have also enjoyed a collection of short stories called On the River Styx. Mr. Matthiessen's authorial voice is very prickly in Birds of Heaven, much more cranky than I remember it in The Snow Leopard, which was written in the wake of the death of his wife from cancer. The Snow Leopard was permeated with sadness and longing. Birds of Heaven is permeated with anger and impatience.

The book is arranged geographically. Beginning in Siberia, Mr. Matthiessen takes through Asia to Australia and then on to Africa and Europe and finally to North America. There are no cranes in South America (or Antarctica).

The author is at his best when he is combining his wry observations of the people and places around him with an enthusiastic and well-informed account of the natural history of a region. I felt that he was less successful when he lets his righteous indignation get the better of him and begins to make snide comments about the absence of a love of the natural world in Chinese society, the wrong-headedness of various bureaucrats and the corruption of local officials.

It is not as if I disagreed with his point of view, but I knew that I already shared it before I even picked up the book. I can't imagine anyone who had any doubts about the importance of cranes as sensitive indicators of the general health of the environment being won over to the crane's side by this hectoring, doctrinaire authorial voice. But then, perhaps this books is really just an extended love letter to the cranes and to the environment in general. As such, it succeeds wonderfully.

The readers of "The Birds of Heaven" should be prepared for joy, awe, geographic and naturalist education, but also sadness,fear and disgust. Matthiessen travels the world in search of the wild cranes. He is not just an observor, he is part of the effort to study and save these amazing birds. Robert Bateman's drawings are beautiful and serve as references as you read.

Peter Matthiessen travels with George Archibald, from the International Crane Foundation, through Asia revisiting places where cranes were previously abundant. They share the wonder of the many sightings of cranes. Yet Dr. Archibald is quoted as saying,"What a species we are!" after "being astonished anew by the destructive and murderous proclivities of man".

I learned so much from this book and recommend it to those who are not afraid to see the world as it is.

Peter Matthiessen includes stories of native people on all the continents that harbor cranes in _The Birds of Heaven: Travels With Cranes_ (North Point Press). He recounts some encounters with humans ("craniacs") who are trying to save the cranes, which are in trouble everywhere, but most of the extensive travels described in this book can only report trouble. If we do not, however, learn what the crane has to tell us, it will be despite Matthiessen's efforts, for in him, cranes have a lucid and compelling advocate.He has gone to exotic locales wherever cranes go. There are plenty of common denominators wherever he travels. Cranes, like so many other forms of wildlife, are hunted, trapped to sell as exotic specimens, and poisoned as agricultural pests. Cranes need wetlands in which to feed, and humans need wetlands to serve as repositories for waste and to be built over to make more space for more humans. It is clear everywhere that Matthiessen goes that humans are winning, and therefore losing.

He has produced an unforgettably bleak picture of ecological matters in China, and an optimistic account of our own country's efforts in getting whooping cranes started again. That we don't know what we are doing in dealing with the cranes is shown in a paradoxically happy outcome for them in Korea. Wars are, as the posters used to declare, harmful to children and other living things, and the Korean War was disastrous for humans and for cranes. There is now a Demilitarized Zone between the two Koreas, just a couple of miles wide but running from the Sea of Japan to the Yellow Sea. Human habitation is forbidden in the area, and farming is very limited. Matthiessen is thus able to visit the DMZ's boundary, accompanied by armed soldiers. ("One may visit a North Korean museum that reveals American atrocities, but we decline this educational opportunity, electing to go birdwatching instead.") He thus gets to watch cranes in the "most fiercely protected wildlife sanctuary on earth... an accidental paradise for cranes." Woe to the cranes if peace breaks out.

This volume includes paintings and drawings of cranes by Robert Bateman, lovely renderings that are more compelling than the usual field guide renditions. They complement Matthiessen's fine text. Cranes are long lived, and they often mate for life. Their windpipes are modified like French horns to produce eloquent and distinctive calls. Their size and their pugnacity, for they are protective birds and dangerous to handle, should make us respect them as fellow-citizens of the planet. There is no need to invoke anthropomorphism; there is a spiritual bond between humans and these animals which Matthiessen has movingly demonstrated. He knows, however, that "the time is past when large rare creatures can recover their numbers without man's strenuous intervention," and despite his romantic optimism, his stories show we are strenuously bent on something else entirely.

Wonderful book, if you like Hillerman, you will really enjoy this book. Anyone I recommended this book to loved it, and looked for more by this author.

First and foremost, this is a story which is not filled with stereotypes. The cultures of the Navajo, Hopi, and the Apache are well portrayed. I was most surprised at the topic of the book in light of the fact that it is considered taboo to the Navajo. I supposed that's why the author is not of that tribe. Nevertheless, it was thoroughly entertaining, educational, and just plain well written. It deserves all the awards and accolades it has received.

With "The Death of Bernadette Lefthand," Ron Querry demonstrates an amazing accuracy for detail. His understanding of subtle differences between two Nations - the Apache and the Navajo - bring his characters to life. The juxtaposition of these modern indigenous sub-cultures takes place within the confines of an equally contradictory landscape - the brutally beautiful American Southwest. If you are interested in the people, cultures, and landscape of the Southwest, you shouldn't miss this novel.