This book covers the profession for a job not a business. I assumed this book would help you in starting a Concierge Business, but basically it should be purchased if you are thinking about becoming a Hotel Concierge for some of the Hotels that offer this kind of employment.

This book is great. It presents the concierge as a proffesion and gives insights and valuable tips to the many activities and roles that a concierge executes. I would reccomend this book to anyone who is starting a job within a hotel or service position.

This book gave a nice overall of the functions of the concierge and the many duties that one might face. This book is a great start for those starting out in the hospitality industry and want to increase and build service in their hotel. Also, the stories of the concierge are quite enjoyable and help to create an understandment of the job.

Let me make something clear from the outset. I am a postmodernist. Deal. For those of you that are still reading, let me explain why this book is dangerous. First, McDowell's goal is one that I can wholeheartedly agree with. Students shooting each other is a situation that is unacceptable. Something needs to be done. This, unfortunately, is very much NOT it. The reason is very obvious, once you set aside your bias and consider what the author is trying to do. He is attempting to show you how to lead (i.e., coerce) your child/children back into a faith in God.

This is wrong... No one should be forced, or we may as well reinstate the Crusades and the Inquisition... It will give you a good laugh.... if McDowell is right, send them down the certain path to self destruction.

Harkius

Today's teens live in a different world from their parents, more so than ever before. It's hard to teach your teens how to grow up spiritually, especially when you may not have had good guidance from your own parents. This book is a great resource for learning how to connect to your teen. Learn how to make connections with your teen that will give them their needed sense of authenticity, importance, security, significance, lovability, and responsibility. My husband and I are already making great steps towards beginning to better relate to our teenage daughter.

We read the book with great relief. We were sure our teenagers were the only ones behaving and speaking a language we did not understand. After reading the book and trying some of the techniques suggested, we can only describe it as the Rosetta Stone of teen language. It was great!

I've admired Josh McDowell for a number of years, but in The New Tolerance, he misses the point. He doesn't "get" postmodernism, and so reacts to it. Postmodernism isn't, evil, a plot from the devil, or a conspiracy to compromise our children's values. It is no more contrary to Christianity than modernism was, or premodernism was. It's simply the dominant cultural world view of this generation. The days are evil- not postmodernism. There is a lot of good that can result from a more pluralistic, diverse and tolerant way of seeing things. Josh misses all of them, or at least conspicuously leaves them out. I recommend James Folwer's Faithful Change for a more scholarly look at how to remain "in Christ" in a postmodern world.

This is a tremendous book describing our society and antichristian culture in the U.S. and the world today. It provides biblical methods for true Christians to cope with our society and be true to our God. A GREAT BOOK THAT EVERY CHRISTIAN SHOULD READ!!!

Goodness, what EGO. Perhaps Ralph is allowed. He's very successful and has largely transformed himself into who he wants to be. How many of us can claim that? Lovely images in the book. But, this kind of marketing - "behind the scenes shots of Ralph's lifestyle" is so heavy handed. Are these behind the scene shots really any less choreographed than any of his other advertising? Are we to feel special because Ralph lets us vicariously live his "lifestyle"? Come now, how insecure are we? Yes, I suppose for some they can put on their little Polo shirts and maybe pour a gin and tonic and dream of children in white linen playing along the shore in their backyard in the Hamptons......If he's a genius, he's a genius at image making; an image which, apparently, given the abundant presence of "Polo" shirts in suburban outlet stores and on the backs of dark socked folk most appeals to the yearning middle classes.

Buy the book so you can forget about mowing the lawn, paying the mortgage, and the tawdriness of middle America......dream of ocean breezes, yachts, private schools, cucumber sandwiches, white duck trousers, and refinement.......dream on Gatsby.

Do establishment WASPS really wear this stuff, anyway? I would think they'd avoid logos - a bit vulgar, really.

I've been anxiously awaiting this book's release for the past couple of years. It was originally going to be titled Ralph Lauren and the Spirit of America. Rumor had it last year that Ralph previewed the book and demanded a re-write because he didn't like the copy.

It's a nice book, and if you are into Ralph Lauren, you should check it out. However, be aware that it's not up to the standard Ralph himself would have produced. It covers all aspects of Ralph Lauren, from his childhood and personal life to the history of Polo. It is fawning as the reviews say, and the writing is just plain boring at times. Still, it is a good overview of Ralph.

The photographs are where it really disappointed me. There are relatively few, and many of them have been seen before. The pictures are not comprehensive in any sense. It offers reprints of ads (mostly recent, although a few from over the years), a few personal photographs of Ralph and his family, and pictures of the stores (for some reason heavily focused on the Chicago location - almost no photos of the mansion). I would have appreciated a bigger selection from the archives or older ads and a few more "behind the scenes" shots. The shots of Ralph's office and of him in a fitting session are so small you can hardly make anything out of them.

I read the Michael Gross biography first, definitely more readable, but it's mostly second hand gossip. Here you get the sanitized version, in a prettier package. Don't expect any surprises though.

This new book on RL is AWESOME!!! From first page to last!! Easy reading text, clean, clear wonderful photos and behind the scenes glances. Can't say enough about all the pics!! Examples from Lauren's private life to his clothing ads to the stores. Everything Lauren fans will jump for joy over.
The text is well written. Informative and clear..BUT..not in an obsessive "he's the ONLY person in the world" kind of way. I have been following Ralph since I first bought one of his shirts 23 years ago. The man is genius. This book gives a very nice look into the world of RL and RL himself.
This is a PERFECT book for all the Ralphilites the world over. A great looking coffee table book well worth the reading. I have been following this book's on-again-off-again release for almost 2 years now...All I can say is it lives up to all the hype it has stirred up on both sides of the ocean.
5 stars.

The one word that characterizes all the books of the Black Fleet Crisis Trilogy? BORING!!!!!!!!!! The book moves too slowly and is simply too inconsistant. Luke Skywalker runs off to become a hermit at Darth Vader's old retreat rejecting his Academy, his family and pretty everything else. Only a mysterious woman who is able to enter his stronghold induces Luke to leave with promises about his lost mother. Leia is shown much more as the Chief of State, an idea that did have merit, while Han Solo is shown more as the family man. The problem is, is that the story moves so slowly. The characterizations are weak: Princess Leia, the people's leader refuses to learn the names of her bodyguards preferring to ignore their existance. That is totally contrary to Princess Leia, Han Solo is done all right but that is because he really has nothing to do. Luke is done terribly. The Black Fleet crisis marks the epitome of stupid Jedi power Luke. It took Zahn coming back into the fold to save the expanded universe after the Black Fleet Debacle. The Lando adventure has possibilities but it too drops by the wayside due to just too much non-sensical writing. Perhaps this story should have been a one or two book set not a trilogy, at time it feels like the auther was just trying to fill space. In any event, this book needed some major editing and marked a dark period of Star Wars literature that not even the Jedi Academy Trilogy (horrible as it was)reached.

There really ought to be a place where you can rate these trilogies as a unit. Trying to write reviews as if they were independent volumes doesn't make a lot of sense.

The 'Black Fleet' trilogy takes a long time to take off in volume 1, seems to develop some promise and momentum in volume 2, and it isn't until you finish volume 3 that you really realize how much of a waste of time it was to read it. The first volume takes some time getting three plots moving. The main plot is the war between the New Republic and the evil and aggressive Yevetha, who are planning to take over their star cluster (and then the universe) with the help of some Imperial ships they captured a few years back. This gets going really slowly, as Leia spends most of the book getting utterly duped by the evil Yevethan viceroy who engages her in long and pointless "negotiations" in which he apparently does nothing but talk about how badly his people were mistreated by the Empire. The war has hardly even started at the end of volume 1. Leia spends much of the trilogy fighting off evil politicians who want to depose her from the presidency, but I have to say that she doesn't have any great claim to the job from the skills she exhibits.

Meanwhile, Luke starts off deciding to be a hermit like Obi-wan and Yoda before him, but is quickly derailed by a mysterious and irritating woman named Akatha who promises that he can find out some information about his mother if he hares off across the galaxy to who knows where with her and listens to pious lectures about how bad it is that Jedi kill people. Luke is somewhat of a disappointment here, since he seems to be a strange mixture of 3 parts mature Jedi sage and 7 parts Luke the Kid from Episode IV. Obi-wan wouldn't have been as naive as Luke here on his worst day.

And in plot number 3, Lando, Lobot, C3PO and R2D2 go off to help investigate a mysterious Flying-Dutchman type ship. Also, Chewie goes off to his homeworld to help his son get through a coming-of-age ritual, but he isn't seen again until volume 2 when it will be necessary for him to return to help out Han. This is not giving away a secret, since there is a lot of discussion of Chewie's life-debt to Han, so you just know he is going to have a chance to pay it off.

Like I say, it's slow going, but the writing is competent and you may be willing to trust the author in the hope that he will bring these plots together in some interesting way down the road. Well, it is my sad duty to tell you that this hope is in vain. One of the subplots ends up having ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with everything else. The war will not get resolved in an interesting way, and the bottom line is that you will end up feeling disappointed. Or at least I did.

The writing might merit 3 stars for volume 1, 4 stars for volume 2, and 2 stars for volume 3, but if it winds up on a 2-star note it's a 2-star trilogy in my book.

I was genuinely surprised to read of the relatively poor reception this book got from many Star Wars readers here. I read all three books in Kube-McDowell's trilogy, and I would rank his story-telling right beside Timothy Zahn's books.

The general plot does lack some of the subtlety of more modern Science-fiction, since the main story line (of the three)is centered primarily on the meeting of powerful, technologically advanced but xenophobic race hell-bent on carving out their little empire in one part of the galaxy. The weakest of the three story lines is the one of Lando's search for the ghost ship; Luke's story of his search for his mother is poignant- even if rendered irrelevant with the release of The Phantom Menace last year- was still at moments touching when he dwells upon the use of his Jedi powers.

There is also some truth in some of the criticism leveled that the three storylines in reality bear little relation to each other- it's almost like reading three, functionally independent stories in the Black Fleet Crisis trilogy. In addition, it is arguable that Leia's characterisation is weak (in my opinion, not so- it demonstrated only that Leia was torn between priorities at one juncture), and Han Solo is given substantially short treatment in the series, even though Chewbacca gets quite a bit of attention. But what saved the series for me- and enough for me to rate it to 5 stars still- is ultimately Kube-McDowell's highly imaginative writing. The space battle scenes are simply the most outstanding I've read anywhere in sci-fiction, and reminiscent of massive battlewagons fights. It's simply nice to see a substantive series of books not centered around the latest Imperial Warlord attempting to re-establish control, or yet another kidnapping of a Jedi child. There is also an enormous amount of little humourous touches too that I have simply not read of in other Star Wars books; these include the Mon Calamari wedding pot, Leia's bodyguards, Chewbacca's family, and most of all, the retrofitting of the Millinieum Falcon, which had me laughing in stiches!

Ultimately, the weak points in this series are generally real enough; but for myself, the excellent writing won me over, and the lack of a coherent relationship between the three disparate story lines didn't bother me as much as it has for other readers. Perhaps a litmus test- the first two chapters or so in the first book pretty much establishes Kube-McDowell's style. If it engages you, there's a very good chance that you will enjoy it as much as I did. :)

This book was written as a reply to Josh McDowell's book "Evidence that Demands a Verdict." McDowell is a Christian apologist who writes primarily for teenagers. If McDowell's book is for "kids," then Ledo's is for "kidders." I don't want to be too hard on Ledo because his light-hearted intent is clearly stated at the beginning of the book. McDowell's book is clearly not very scholarly, and Ledo responds in the same vein. The two books both share the unfortunate quality of religious bias and intransigence. Neither will allow the other side a micron must less an inch in the debate about theism. Although Ledo makes some very good points, these are offset by wild claims (Jesus never existed, he was a woman, a homosexual, etc.) that damage the valid points that he makes. Another problem is the way that he references his source material. At the end of each chapter there is simply a list of source materials used with no indication of which source corroborates which claim must less pagination. Anyone wanting to verify his claims or seek further information is out of luck.

Bottom line: if you are a confirmed atheist you will like the book. If you are a confirmed theist you will hate (and dismiss) the book. If you are interested in an unbiased presentation of the arguments for and against theism, you've come to the wrong place.

I gotta admit, trying to follow the geneology and general timetables of this book is a daunting task for someone looking for some "light" reading. But the book is presented in a fashion that allows the more casual reader to digest the point of each short chapter then move on. For the more inquisitive, (more energetic, or perhaps disgusted christian), references are numerous. Have at it! The book accomplishes what I would assume to be it's intent. In my eyes, it's a fairly simple and well thought out, well researched review of an atheist's perspective of christianity. It raises some points that any true Christian should begin to question. And these were not mentioned in my catechism days. Who wrote "The Lord's Prayer" anyway?

This is a good book for an office environment where you have to sit and wait, and would rather look at pictures than be informed. The first sentence of the chapter 'The Hat and the Hatmaker' quotes Thackeray, "there is a great deal in the building and wearing of hats," but McDowell tells the reader little more about felting than St. Clement supposedly discovered felting by sticking flax in his shoes which "matted the fibres." He explains that beaver was more expensive than rabbit, and rabbit was more expensive than straw. He does not say whether beaver is still used to make hats. There is a lot of information in this book: In the late 19th century top hats were called chimney pots. Pre-World War I "Scale is still important at all social levels and is provided by trims." [in women's hats]. I have selected my examples at random as typical. This kind of information can while away the time in waiting room, but I didn't find it useful. The layout is attractive, and I liked some of the illustrations.

For me, this is the most comprehensive book on the subject that is available - and that includes several out-of-print-books as well. The pictures are great, often full-page, mostly in colour. The texts cover every angle of hat history, style, trade, designers, and everything else you can think of. The pictures cover all kinds of hat styles, usually putting traditional or classic shapes in contrast with modern versions or interpretations, there are also pictures of hats by a lot of great designers with a short synopsis on their work and simply wonderful hats. The book is a rare treat for the eyes and a great source of information. Be warned, however, that the subjects are treated usually rather briefly, and not in detail. Turn to other books concentrating on single aspects for that - for an overview, you can't do better than this. I want to point out, however, that the book does NOT deal with the do-it-yourself-creation of hats, and anyone looking for information on hatmaking or millinery instruction has to turn elsewhere. Still, if you're interested in hats and / or millinery, you don't want to miss this book.

Es un libro que te dara mas detalles acerca de el lado oculto de la vida. Es muy bueno.

I read a review of the book in a industry magazine and it described it as useful for a professional financial advisor, as the title also implies. It turned out to be a pretty basic educational book with general but basic financial information. A good book for a beginner or someone who is just beginning to break into the financial services industry, but not necessarily for a seasoned professional.

When this book was written 14 years ago, it was much-needed, and I used it a number of times to help in my research of certain questions. However, in 2000, there are so many other books like this available today that are much more detailed and better organized. Several include When Skeptics Ask and When Critics Ask by Norman Geisler. Even McDowell's A Ready Defense is better than the Answers book. But if you are looking for a simple beginner's manual, then I suppose this could be very useful to you. It's small, inexpensive, and McDowell is very clear about his answers. For many, though, a good look through the apologetics section of Amazon or any Christian bookstore worth its salt will turn up better choices.

This is a good book to start out with for someone who has never read any of this type of material before; it's in a Q&A format with answers to basic, tough, honest questions. For someone looking for more "technical" historical evidence, who has already read basic apologetics, I would recommend "Evidence That Demands a Verdict" over this one. As far as the claims that McDowell uses the bible to prove the bible: false. He first objectively establishes a case to believe in the bible, with reasoning apart from itself.

Anyone who is a real seeker of truth should read this book. Answers to Tough Questions is one of the greatest concise compilations of evidence for the Christian faith. Josh McDowell, a former skeptic himself, answers questions about the claims of Jesus Christ, His miracles, Biblical authenticity & difficulties. He contrasts Christianity with other world religions while providing historical and archeaological confirmation of the validity of the Christian faith. This book read along with "Reasons Skeptics should consider Christianity" by Josh will convince any truth-seeker that Jesus Christ is who He claimed to be....God. Josh quotes some of C.S. Lewis' writings and arguments which convince people to consider the evidence of Christianity. Lewis was a former atheist but found that after investigating the overwhelming verification of Christianity, he was dragged "kicking and screaming into the kingdom of God".