The struggles we find ourselves in while becoming men are numerous. The struggles we find in being a man and being gay are even more numerous. Add to this growing up in a broken home. The odds are surely stacked against us.This book covers the life of a man that could be any one of us or are best friend.Randy had all odds stacked against him. A abusive and alcoholic father, a mother that could only protect him by taking the abuse herself. Coming to terms with his own sexuality Randy overcomes and gives hope to all who struggle with being gay.This is his life story filled with sorrow, lovers, friends and finally hope and strenght and success. I will read it again. OH yea!

Few books can be so rewarding as IN THE ARMS OF ADAM. Mr. Chumbley shares with us a journey of his life in a truely sincere and honest story. His examination of this journey is thought provoking, heart warming and beautiful. His poetic writing style is exquisite, as we follow a young man from chilhood horror to adult self satisfaction. Any person who has lived with abuse, and questions their own lifestyle and choices, needs to read IN THE ARMS OF ADAM. Gay men should Thank Mr. Chumbley for a true representation of our society towards gay men during this timeframe in our history. I really cannot say enough about this book, and the rewards it has given me after reading it. I will definitely read it again.

No matter what your experiences, gay or straight, one cannot help but be moved by this young man's coming of age. This is not another politically correct maifesto of the gay political agenda, rather, it is a poignant, touching account of the author's transformation from boy to man. The work is a statement of who he is at his core, and how the events of his life brought him to know his true self.

The writing is as complex as the subject matter -- at one moment simple, joyful and innocent; the next moment contemplative and brutally honest.

Although the author and I had radically different upbringings, I cannot deny the similarities between our respective journeys into manhood. The book offers a very personal look at one man's experience yet the reader cannot help but reflect on his or her own.

This is a touching, wonderful book.

I have just finished reading Barbara Leigh's book for the second time. As the other reviews stated, it is hard to put down once you start reading, it is just so absorbing. One of the comments I would like to add to the other fine reviews is the fact that I, as a woman who has had many struggle in life, found great triumph in Barbara's story. Here is a woman from a sad childhood who made it through modeling, Hollywood, movies and powerful men without ever turning to crutches like Alcohol or drugs, much like many of her peers. This is a true story of a women's survival in a preliminary mans world. And I would like to point out, that while Barbara is still strikingly beautiful and still has a successful career...Elvis, Jim Aubrey and Steve McQueen are gone...two from either drugs or alcohol, and McQueen sadly from cancer. So here's to you Barbara. A life of beauty, fame, fun and sorrow all exquisitely told and elegantly lived...

As an avid reader of autobiographies & biographies of all things Hollywood, I found this book to be one of the best ever written by a Hollywood actress. Barbara Leigh is not only a physically beautiful woman, but she is also one heck of a classy lady for candidly speaking about her relationships with Elvis Presley, Steve McQueen and Jim Aubrey, without maliciously destroying their reputations as powerful men & in Elvis and Steve's cases Hollywood Icons. Ms. Leigh has a delicious sense of class for "dishing the dirt" in such a "clean" way! How lucky these men have been to have had her in their lives and to see her respect their memories together. She writes with a knack for vivid details and in such an honest, real way. You just can't put the book down. I read this one in about a day and a half turning each page with enthusiasm. The only bad thing about this book is that it came to an end! Give us another one Barbara! Somewhere in the heavens Elvis & McQueen are smiling, pleased that their paths crossed with hers! This book is a keeper and a definite must read! Buy it, sit back & Enjoy!

This book is a smooth reading, fast paced, energetic romance adventure leaving female readers green with envy and male readers "champing at the bit" to trade places with one of Ms. Leigh's three love interests showcased. A majority of the book's content is devoted to the "on-again", "off-again", mostly "on-again" love affairs of the young and beautiful actress/model Barbara Leigh as she delicately balances the advances of three of Hollywoods most powerful, influential and desirable men---all at the same time!

Ms. Leigh gives the reader a rare and honest glimpse of her heart and heartaches as she strives to strike a balance between her magnetic attraction to each of these dynamic personalities as well as groom and advance her own professional and personal growth.

Barbara describes, with remarkable recall, some of the high points with each lover. Through her eyes we see aspects of these men otherwise hidden from the public. But alas, not all was "fun and games". Ms. Leigh, just as clearly, recalls some of the stresses and strains associated with each relationship, documenting tragic circumstances that eventually brought each to an end.

A portion of her writing is dedicated to her childhood. We see fragmented relationships, abandonment and a lack of stability that leaves the reader believing that miracles do happen...for out of this turbulent childhood emerged a lady who holds few ill feelings, loves people and has carved her own distinctive niche, achieving the well-earned status of celebrity.

Thank-you Ivan Doig. This book is wonderful. I had started the book and then put it down realizing that I wanted to savor this book. I picked this book up again after reading Close Range by Annie Proulx. What a relief House of Sky was. Great way to see Montana, the writing takes you there.

This is Ivan Doig's story of growing up in Montana. It was not an easy life. His widowed father kept Ivan close, made sacrifices, taught him everything he knew. The father even made a truce with his mother-in-law for Ivan's sake. Ivan was raised by two strong characters! Which made Ivan a strong character.

I would highly recommend this book. It touches all the parts of your heart.

Ivan Doig's "This House of Sky" is an American masterpiece. It's easy to see the influence this book has had, both directly and indirectly, on other notable Western writers such as Gretel Ehrlich, Pam Houston and Ron Franscell. It is pure poetry in prose form, and we begin to see how the Western mind is formed by the forever landscape.

Doig is clearly an underappreciated American writer, particularly outside of the West. I would suggest this book to anyone who likes to read beautiful language about heartfelt subjects. I would further recommend "The Solace of Open Spaces" by Gretel Ehrlich and "Angel Fire" by Ron Franscell, both cut from the same lyrical, evocative Western cloth.

This House of Sky chronicles the early years of a boy growing up in Montana under circumstances that to others might appear difficult - his mother died young, his father and grandmother bring him up, poverty is never far. The author is a remarkable man whose tale that describes a way of life gone by and people whose spirit and determination are hard to find. This is one of the few books that I have read more than once - even after four or five reads it remains fresh. This is also great book to give as a gift, and the recent hardcover version has a special forward by the author

Having been a space program buff since my childhood, I've been drawn by books like Martin Caidin's Marooned, Stephen Baxter's Voyage, and even political writer Allen Drury's The Throne of Saturn (that one dates me, I realize). Red Moon caught my attention while I was browsing Amazon, and after only a few pages I was pleased to see I had spent my money very, very well.

Simply, this is an amazing book. Unlike a lot of books that try to achieve a cinematic effect by cutting quickly between scenes and situations, Michaels' book, with its full chapters and fully realized sequences paints clear heartfelt scenes more effectively than most of today's films. His characters of astronaut Janet Luckman, planetary geologist Milo Jefferson, and central character, Cosmonaut Grigor Belinsky are living and breathing people with needs and flaws and conflicts. People I thought about long after I had finished Red Moon.

The premise is that a lunar mission set during the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing discovers the Soviet craft Luna 15, launched days before Apollo 11 but landing at nearly the same time, was not an unmanned probe, but in fact a last-ditch attempt to land a man on the Moon before the Americans. As an adolescent in 1969, I followed the flight of Apollo 11 completely entranced, and the looming presence of Luna 15 was felt deeply by me. I had wondered about the intentions of the mysterious craft, and it is fascinating to me to see this captured the imagination of this writer as well.

This is a huge book, not only in size, but scope, and Michaels pulls it off admirably, even more so considering this is his first novel. He takes us along three parallel storylines, two set in 2019 -- one on a lunar landing mission marking the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11's landing, the second in the upper echelons of NASA -- and one set in the Soviet Union of 1968-69. The first Macguffin of the story, finding rare Helium 3 on the Moon, is the same as Homer Hickam's disappointing Back to the Moon, but is handled far more dramatically, and is in turn upstaged by the quest for finding the answer to the mystery surrounding Luna 15 and Grigor Belinsky, her pilot. Michaels skillfully plays the three storylines off of each other, teasing and rewarding us, involving us deeply into these people's lives. There are moments of great passion and feeling in this story, so much so it brought me to tears no less than three times.

I genuinely wished the book had been longer, and if there is a sequel I'll be the first to snatch it up. Red Moon is simply a wonderful read. I recommend it highly.

Red Moon is an exceptional thriller as well as a novel of speculative fiction. It is actually three interwoven and inter-related stories all tied to the US-Soviet Space Race. The insights into the history of what happened and why it happened back in the sixties would be worth the price of admission alone-- but Dave Michaels has gone far beyond that to craft a gripping, page-turning novel about a future moon expedition and how the discovery of water on the moon will affect life on earth. I am not a huge fan of science fiction novels that are "the black and white hat fighting for territory in the sky" type. I prefer novels of more characterological depth that leave me with something to think about and have a real emotional impact as well. Red Moon is a great novel because it accomplishes just that. There are characters we really care about from Belinsky the tragic Russian cosmonaut to Janet Luckman an American Astronaut stranded on the moon with someone who is trying to murder her (and she has no idea who on her team it could be). This is a book to warm the heart, fascinate the mind and feed the soul. I can hardly recommend it enough for a first novel.

RED MOON is an exceptional novel of speculative fiction. The author has done a tremendous job in intertwining three related plots to generate an oeuvre of hefty proportions and considerable creativity. And it is such a pleasure to read a book that is written for the reader, not in anticipation of a screenplay.

RED MOON not only uses the backdrop of the US-USSR space race as one point of departure, but also creates tension through the ongoing philosophical differences that remain between the two nations. The historical references to the program of the late 1960's are insightful, accurate and compelling. The plots are uncompromisingly driven by a "what-if?" factor that is added by speculations that the world was not aware of certain flights and missions by the Soviets. Revealing these cover-ups and conspiracies through the future lunar exploration timelines is a remarkably effective literary device, well handled by the author.

The characters of astronaut Janet Luckman, planetary geologist Milo Jefferson, and central character, Cosmonaut Grigor Belinsky are well drawn and believable. The future setting of lunar exploration in search of Helium-3 is portrayed admirably, and the historical elements incorporated are enlightening and without extraneous embellishment.

A gripping and passionate tale that is sure to please. Highly Recommended.

Written for the average investor (those with IRA, 401K, and perhaps some free cash for individual stocks), this is by far the best book I've ever read on investing. It is not only very entertaining, but is full of practical information. This book was published in 1999 and accurately foretold the stock market crash. (Those who followed his advice saved a lot of money).

After reading this book, you'll realize that most of the "experts" that you see on tv or read about in the paper are just shills for Wall Street. Their interest is in getting you to buy and sell stocks so that THEY can make money.

From a practical point, the author argues convincingly against the "buy and hold" approach, demonstrating with simple graphs and language how devastating this can be to your wealth. For example, the Nasdaq was at 5000 in March of 2000. It's now at 1500. While it may recover to 5000 one day, do you want to wait another 10 or 15 years merely to get back to even?

Finally, and most importantly, his research shows the average investor how to triple the returns of the S&P 500 by following the "seasonal" tendency of the stock market to rise strongly in the November to late April period and then to fall in the May through October period. The data is very, very convincing.

In a word, if you want a clear, simple, and straightforward understanding of the stock market and how to use that information to dramatically increase your returns while lowering your risk, this is the book for you. Those who read the book and follow his advice can look forward to a very comfortable retirement. Those who don't, well, good luck to you.

I have read many books on investing and would have to say Sy has covered many topics that you don't see in most. Sy gives you a good look at how the securities industry works and a system for investing that is easy to implement. He addresses the fact that there is risk in the market, something most investors don't seem to respect. It is written very clearly making it an easy read. If you are looking too learn more about investing, do yourself a favor and read this book. Not only could it make you money, it could save you money as well.

After finding this book in a second hand book shop, I decided to buy and read it. I noticed it predicted the bear market to come and it was actually written in 1999, two years BEFORE the bear market actually started. It seemed to make such good sense and I decided I would try the seasonal strategy. Like many, I had gained and lost spectacularly over the past seven years. Im a really good stock picker, but I just had no guiding strategy. This book appeared to actually made some sense out of what I could do, with its seasonal strategy approach. The result: In 2002, a year when the average mutual fund lost -23%, I gained +17% on my portfolio. And I sold and BOOKED the 17% profit in May. Then, as Sy advises, I bought back in again, in November. My stocks are up +55% for the last six months----and---I am getting ready to SELL! What a far cry from before! True, I made some great picks this year. But I now have a strategy,learned from this book, that will allow me to KEEP my profits by knowing WHEN TO SELL!!

Sy, your book is a true revelation. You are a born teacher and a real spirit. And you are someone the word TRUST, such a rarity in the financial professions, can be bestowed upon without any reservation. Thanks for your gift and sharing it with us. In deepest appreciation.

And to any skeptics, buy this book. It IS amazing and simple and makes so much sense. IT will change your investment ability forever.

Michael delivers an honest and courageous tale of a gay man acknowledging his sexual identity late in life. He is a talented writer who infuses humor with mixed emotions to illustrate the joys and pitfalls in an unaccepting, non-conformist world. I recommend this book as a must read for gay, straight, whatever!

I just read Michael Brown's autobiography, What color is your scarf? It is always interesting for me to read about other gay men's expierences with what life throws out at them as gay people. I had to first of all laugh at the title. Being a late bloomer myself, it took me years before I could begin to understand all the meanings of all the various colors of handerchiefs, or in this case, scarfs!! The book made me laugh. There are some very funny scenes described in this book! Like the heterosexual world, we have our differences, but I think any gay man who reads this autobiography will find Something he can relate to in his own coming out journey. I certianly found myself more then once smiling and thinking that I certainly can appriciate Michael's feelings about this or that, and, other situations that were totally different for me. The reading is so so easy, and at times it felt like Michael was sitting next to me telling me his most intiment secrets!.

The perfect road map for the mature man's journey into the gay community is Michael Brown's book "What Color is Your Scarf?" It proves to be an excellent tool for those individuals whose coming out process didn't begin with the onset of puberty, but instead after age 40. Michael Brown's book answers a lot of the questions that many may be too embarrassed to ask. It is written in an informative, yet witty style that makes one feel right at home with the subject matter. It's a book not only for the individual who is searching for love and acceptance within both gay and straight communities, but for their family, friends and loved ones. Buy it for a friend!

I read Angel Unaware as a senior in high school in 1966. It stayed in my book collection as I moved to various states throughout my adult life. Then, thirty-one years later (8/26/1981) to the day of Robin's birth (8/26/1950), my "Angel" was born. I knew I had the book somewhere stored away. When Julie was 2 months old, I found the courage to look for it and stood right there in the basement by the open box of books and reread and cried as I realized that she and Robin shared the same day for their birthdays. We have come a long way, both in medical and personal support for persons with Down syndrome. But through the years, I have gone back and read the book again feeling a connectedness of Robin's "Angel spirit" to that of my daughter.

My mother remarried when I was almost 12 years old. My sisterand I stayed with family friends while she was on her honeymoon. Theyhad a copy of "Angel Unaware". I read it everyday after school that week. It was one of the most beautiful stories I have ever read. I have never been able to get it out of my mind. I am absolutely thrilled to see it in print again. I spent several years before the internet looking for a copy. If you haven't read it you need to put it on your "must read list". You'll never be able to forget it either.

I read this book as a little girl blind to what troubles that others had. Thanks to this inspiring heartfelt portrait told through Robin's eyes, I became aware of the world beyond my small circle. I hold it and Helen Keller's story highest in my wide range of past reading. I bought both for my two daughters in hopes that it might teach them the compassion and acceptance I value so deeply. Now at 30 I have been diagnosed with MS and I feel that the experience of these books have truly helped me to endure the drastic changes in my life. Every child should read this book. They might see things a little clearer if they did. Thank you Mrs. Evans for sharing your beautiful ANGEL with the rest of us!

One of my earliest memories as a child is of Mom and Dad taking the whole darn family to the only McDonald's in our area at that time (mid-60's) in Belmont, California - it was still the old fashioned McD's with giant golden arches and outdoor seating (why they decided to tear all of those down, I have no idea - they were wonderful!). A week after my 16th birthday, I started my first real (non-babysitting) job at the local McD's in Foster City. Although I seldom dine there now (waiting for veggie burgers!), the impact and history of McDonald's has always fascinated me. Before picking up "Behind the Arches" the only book I had read about the subject was "Big Mac - the Unauthorized Story of McDonalds" which in fact is not really the story of McDonalds at all, but rather one of franchising in general with a bit more of a focus on McDonalds.

Mr. Love's book, however, focuses more on the genius of Ray Kroc and Fred Turner; how the corporation relies on its owner/operators and suppliers for new ideas (Filet-O-Fish, Big Mac, apple pies, McMuffin, etc.). The chapters on the development of the perfect frozen french fry and Chicken McNuggets were especially interesting...as well as how McDonald's moved into Japan and Europe. Even if you detest McDonald's food, read this book - HIGHLY recommended.

The story behind the ubiquitous golden arches, and the man who expanded them coast to coast, (and today they reach the edges of the Earth). This book provides a reader friendly, detailed synopsis of McDonald's through decades of the original brothers, to Ray Kroc's entry and exit of what would become one of the most recognized oranizations of the world. (Whether this fact has positive or negative implications is another matter entirely). This is a good book about Mickey-D's and sheds light on many other aspects of American history, diet, culture, business and advertising.

Two brothers named McDonald went west to California from the north-east. They came with about about $8 dollars in their pockets (according to them) and got jobs moving props on movie sets in Hollywood (sound familiar?) After some initial business ventures the brothers opened their own small restaurant in San Bernadino.

Meanwhile, in the Midwest Ray Kroc left school at 16, and like almost all other achievers that reached his level of success, he had a strong work ethic and a hard-driving tenacity to succeed. Expecially at concepts that intially proved successful (hence SOP procedures). How ya build opon something that has a good and successful foundation. A gifted, successful salesman from an early age, he got a job selling paper cups and sold them for 17 years as one of the top salesman of his company. Some of his clients for example, were Wrigley field's vendors, among other Chicago establishments. In his late thirties, he started selling shake mixers. McDonald's comes into the picture when Kroc noticed that two brothers who owned a drive-in hamburger restaurant in Southern California, kept ordering lots of shake mixing machines, when Kroc's mixer business was dying out everywhere else in the country. He met the McDonald brothers and was greatly impressed by their practices. Ray implored them to expand and they replied "who'd want to do it, we don't," and Kroc became the seller of their franchises in the Midwest. He was very successful at establishing McD's in that part of the country (hint).

For his work he didn't earn a lot because of the deal he made with the brothers (an inkling of what was to come). So he added a creative and logical way to profit from his diligent work in spreading the franchises. He formed a separate corporation, and when setting up franchises he'd purchase the property where a new McDonald's was to be built, from his own original corporation he created. (Read Robert Kiyosaki's "Loophoes of the Rich" for details). So, with his corporations being the owner of the property, Kroc would either collect the rent, or a percentage of the restaurant's profits, whichever was greater, by contract structure. This allowed him to be compensated more fully in addition to his original deal with the McDonald brothers, which wasn't the most favorable.

Kroc was selling the franchises and focusing on keeping the model and SOPs identical for every franchise. Perhaps an analogy to the assembly line of the Ford. Kroc had a methodology. If a winning method was not altered or diluted by individualistic owner operators or franchise restaurants here and there across the country, the sales, expansion, and growth would continue. McDonald's had tapped into what a large part of the American public wanted in post WWII America. Ray later bought McDonald's from the McDonald brothers for $2.7 million cash. When he discovered after the deal was finished that the original McD restaurant in San Bernadino was not included, and was to be kept by the brothers, Kroc had forced them to change their restaurant's name on legal grounds, and then and built a franchise across the street to put them out of business. The brothers asked for this, and likely didn't understand 3 major things: 1. ethical business practices 2. the law 3. common sense.

Advertising: to help solidify more growth and consumer loyalty, Kroc knew the value of kids. He hired top advertising people: enter Ronald McDonald. After some marketing tests in some particular regions, came the major nationwide promotion to get the kiddies pleading with their parents that they wanted to go to Mickey-Ds. Have you heard kids clamour their parents to do this? I have. And today, McDonald's has continued the kid-concept by investing large amounts into the Playgrounds added onto many of its' stores.

McDonald's represents many things about American culture. To Americans, and today throughout the world. No matter what you think of Mickey D's it's quite an interesting story of how it started, evolved and came to it's ubiquity today. It's a fact that those golden arches are more recognized than the Christian cross. Again, whether we think that's good or not leads to several other issues involving, chemicals and food science, general health, obesity, globalization, homogenization, marketing to children, and corporatization.

For additional insights into the McDonald's phenomenon read, Jennifer Talwar's "Fast Food, Fast Track" and Eric Schlosser's "Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal," and Fumento's "Fatland."

This book is as fascinating as any of the best Ludlum novels I have read. It put to rest many misconceptions of McDonald's as a "cheap hamburger joint". One cannot help but leave with great admiration for Ray Kroc and others surrounding McDonald's for their perseverance in bringing to the world an affordable, quality food product in spite of a barrage of barriers placed in their way.

A Review: Truth, Lies and Advertising by Jon Steel. Wiley, 1998. Written and Submitted by Neal M. Burns, Department of Advertising University of Texas at Austin

What a book Jon Steel has written! It is lively, intelligent and in chapter after chapter it showcases his analytical ability as well as his commitment to finding the basis for some of the best advertising we have seen. Steel is the consummate planner and his writing reflects the thought processes and the workings of an agency that has claimed and kept the strategic high ground. It is the firm so many of us envy and the one our students want to join. Truth, Lies and Advertising is , in short, a wonderful book written by an Englishman about what may be -- or clearly was at one point in time -- the best agency in America. Steel uses his agency as a vehicle to describe the process and orientation of account planning and advertising. In that authorship lies both the many strengths and the occasional weakness of Truth, Lies and Advertising.

Steel understands the importance of relationships when he describes the nature of exploring the consumer, the brand and the societal framework in which it all takes place. In his discussion Steel recognizes the monumental contributions of Bill Bernbach and the influence his work had on the awareness of the consumer as an intelligent and sympathetic target. Steel suggests that the resulting humanity and sensitivity that Bernbach's work produced had a significant impact on the thought processes of British advertising agencies and, in fact, helped spawn a new discipline known as account planning.

The emphasis was clear: the advertising industry needed to gain insight into human nature so that it could create ads that spoke to their target and were perceived as being relevant. By recalling a brilliant little adage Steel reminds his readers that the way in which the target feels about the ad and interacts with it characterizes gre! at advertising: when baiting a trap with cheese always leave room for the mouse! The book itself reflects this principle and the reader will enjoy the sense of discovery and enlightenment that accompanies one's interaction with it. Steel's style and ready reference to key issues and personal experiences further enhance the advertising wisdom this book delivers.

In addition to the wonderful "got milk" case Steel's best moment in the book for this reader is the discipline and use he provides for the creative brief. For Steel the single purpose of making the advertising better -- of getting the advertising right -- is the potent driving force for the brief. It is not, Steel admonishes us, merely a series of questions that must be asked in a particular order or the submission of enough weighty evidence to justify a doctoral dissertation. Rather, the brief is the synthesis of the planner's works and thoughts represented in a solid fashion that -- ideally -- becomes the doorway for the creative process.

Steel's appreciation of research may appear mysterious to those less familiar with the rather doctrinaire approach of many British planners to quantitative methodology. There is even Steel's assertion that the better thought out the research plan the less valuable it's results will probably be! His reference to the Heisenberg principle is much less shocking than I believe he expects; few researchers or planners today are so unthinking as to fail to recognize that their intervention -- in a physics lab or in a focus group -- somehow alters the results in ways we may not understand.

Steel is generally hard on the usefulness of statistical measures -- and on the intellectual abilities of those who shepherd such activities. Yet he is pleased to report research results he likes --for example, when discussing the successful attainment of specific objectives in the "Got Milk?" Campaign. To the extent that Steel's views are similar to the widely held belief that advertising research fr! equently killed good creative and drove a long lasting -- if not permanent -- wedge between the researcher and the creative departments, the point is important to make from an historical perspective.

Yet, the issues we are trying to resolve call for all our resources, including personal and subjective points of view, so that we can -- as Jon Steel would have us do -- get the advertising right. There is as little room in this competitive profession for bad research as there is for bad planning. Account planning is, as Steel asserts, most likely to work best when it is a combination of many points of view. Then, the insertion of a brilliantly straight forward notion that transcends the data and takes us to a new place (e.g."got milk?", or "see what develops") is really what account planning is all about.

Steel's book is, as he says, more than a description of account planning. Yet, it is the best description of the way in which the process works that the profession has so far. In addition, the book is a wonderful tale of a time in an agency's life when the right juxtaposition of talent, brains, raw energy and empowering clients came together. The feeling the reader receives is that the pages open before them have been written by someone who loves advertising. Those who know Steel -- or have even briefly met him or heard him speak -- know that to be true.

This book is an answer to those false pundits who cry out that advertising is dead. This book shows why BAD advertising fails, yet it also shows how GREAT advertising can be strategically conceived and employed to generate measurable, quantifiable results. Consequently, Truth, Lies & Advertising is an essential, must-read for anyone who wants to maximize their return on the money invested in advertising... and it's a must-own addition to any advertising, marketing or business library.

Forget that Steel is writing about an advertising agency discipline called 'account' planning. The lessons herein are much more important than that! A more descriptive term, and one that might gain Steel's ideas more universal acceptance, would be, 'brand' planning, which is exactly what Jon Steel describes. In other words, Steel advocates a strategic process for planning how you listen and communicate with customers...thereby profiting from a mutually beneficial relationship.

In the process, Steel debunks many myths including the infallibility of "research". In fact he demonstrates that ill-conceived research, or research that's poorly conducted can lead us to absolutely wrong conclusions. The book is filled with humorous, but true misadventures of qualitative and quantitative research that's gone terribly wrong.

More than anything, this book makes the case for quality listening. If you ask the right questions, in the correct environment and at the right time, customers will tell you exactly what will positively motivate them. And if you use, but don't abuse, that information you will be able to deliver genuine value and prosper as a result.

Although, there's no fail-safe formula for creating advertising that works, in Truth, Lies and Advertising, Jon Steel certainly gives us a dependable solution. Rather than relying on an individual's hit or miss ideas, Steel advocates a common-sense approach to creating advertising that involves consumers right from the development of the campaign and helps build lasting relationships with them. Add to this a dose of high-voltage creativity and you have the perfect formula for brand-building! With lively anecdotes and tongue-in-cheek humour, Steel presents his agency's award-winning campaigns for Polaroid, California Milk Processors and Norwegian Cruise Lines as testimonies to this formula. How does his agency (GS&P) conceive such memorable advertising campaigns? Through 'account planning', a new discipline which has now percolated into every modern advertising agency in the world. If you're in advertising, you must read this book. It's sure to change the way you view advertising today.

I am living with a daughter who has become verbally abusive and most ironically, she is in the medical profession. But she seems unaware of her abusive ways, constant criticizing, refusal to be pleased, temper tantrums. This book by Patricia Evans is right on target. The book needs to be read slowly and maybe in segments to fully appreciate its thoroughness and value to the abused person.
Although most of the writing is about marital situations of abuse, Ms. Evans states that abuse can come from anyone. I also have an abusive older sister. But now I feel I can handle these
difficult people in my life. This book is valuable, and the small
price makes it even more attractive.

I have been married for 16 years as a verbally abused wife. For 15 1/2 years I just thought my husband was "mean and evil" until I saw Patricia Evans book in the bookstore "Verbally Abusive Relationship and how to recognize them". This book had my husbands name all over it and finally my eyes were opened to what I had been going through for so long. I am now in the process of getting divorced and am relieved to know that I will be getting my life back and living it as I please. Every woman must read this book.

Pat Evans is the author of three books on verbal abuse (that I know of), including "Controlling People" and "The Verbally Abusive Relationship."

I read "The Verbally ABusive Relationship" first, then "Verbal Abuse Survivors Speak Out" and then "Controlling People." Seemed like a good flow and a good progression for me.

"Verbal Abuse Survivors Speak Out" is a GREAT book and full of that all important validation that survivors crave and need. It's also full of powerful stories. If you've been verbally abused for years (and didn't know it), you'll find this book is difficult and challenging (emotionally) to read, because you'll see yourself on so many pages.

However, for that very same reason, it's a comforting book, because the evil that's been lurking in the shadows of your marriage/relationship is revealed, identified, brought to the light, exposed and destroyed. Once evil is dragged out of the subtle shadows, it's 100% easier to destroy it.

And it's comforting to read because you realize that you are not alone. Far too many women feel stuck in these terrible relationships and often feel trapped, alone and without hope. This book gives verbally abused women the validation they crave and the hope they need. It also gives them the strength to demand change and/or leave the toxic relationship.

If I were queen of the world, I'd pass a law that all young women read each of these books (on Verbal Abuse), before committing to a long term relationship.

If you're considering buying this book, stop considering and do it! Hit the "add to cart" button. I originally borrowed this book from the library. After reading the first chapter, I went online and bought it. It's *that* good.