2. Marshall Goldsmith's latest book, Succession: Are You Ready?, describes in detail for CEOs and other executives the skill sets and mindset to ensure executive succession is successful. Addressing a little-discussed topic--making a leadership transition that is smooth, graceful and highly effective -- Marshall describes how to stack the deck for a successful transition for both the current CEO and the successor. Like his 2007, What Got You Here Won't Get You There, I'll be distributing Succession to my clients and colleagues. Well done Marshall! --Chuck Bolton "Author of Leadership Wipeout" Read more
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  3. I really enjoy this author's works. In this case, he takes a subject around which there is so much trepidation and not a little 'fear' and he invites you to explore, sharing his knowledge, experiences and research with the reader, alternate possibilities that makes one want to stick around to see how the future will unfold. As an added benefit, he empowers one to take control of one's own life, by offering the idea that s/he can actually change the outcomes of 'repeating uncomfortable situations' in one's life, into more fulfilling and positive ones. Expand that thought process, apply globally and just imagine! the possibilities! I highly recommend this work. --Star Sage. Read more.
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  4. In the Unforgiving Minute, Craig Mullaney brilliantly articulates his wonderfully colorful life in a style that evokes the ghosts of Kerouac and Hemingway, without sacrificing the brutal honesty of the life of the citizen, the cadet, the scholar, the Soldier, or the leader. The work is truly captivating, placing the reader squarely in the shoes of the wide-eyed new cadet on 'R-Day' and the American finding his way to the hallowed halls of Oxford. Craig's self-depreciating nature is evident in the book, a likely product of his humble upbringing in a home that valued hard work above all else. Most moving, however, is Craig's depiction of the gritty life of a small-unit leader fighting in Afghanistan, seeking the respect of his Soldiers and dealing with the hear-wrenching loss of a Soldier. This book is a must read for all Americans. It is visceral, it is real, and it is the brutal uncompromising truth about life in combat and the exceptional citizens that sacrifice so much for the cause of freedom. Read more.
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  6. Let me just begin this review of David Meerman Scott's "World Wide Rave" by saying that I admire and respect the innovative concepts that David teaches.
    If you are in marketing or communications or public relations or, especially, the leader of an organization, today's world has gotten to be too competitive, too fast-moving, and too smart for you to cling to many of the tired old tenets of traditional outreach. You must ignore the old rules of advertising and PR, David writes ... and I agree completely. Success comes from people wanting to share the more credible information and stories they hear about you with their friends and colleagues. Conventional wisdom, as it is applied to marketing and promotion, is broken and far less effective in today's online world.
    "World Wide Rave" is, I believe, one of the most important books about marketing in the Internet Era that I have read. The author is a man with deep credentials and perspective, and who, himself, has created world wide rave for his new approaches and ideas to marketing, and for his books.
    David explains that we must "lose control," that we must understand that creating visibility in today's online world means releasing control of old approaches, like promoting messages, and capturing sales leads. The old PR agency idea of counting press clips is antiquated and silly in today's world. We can measure success but no longer through outdated business school Return on Investment (ROI) calculators.
    Nobody cares about your organization or your products, David writes. What people care about are themselves and ways to solve their own problems. In order to have people talk about you and your ideas, he writes, you must resist the old urge to sell or hype your products and services. Today's style is rather one of finding "triggers" that stimulate attention and harness the power of the digital revolution. Rave is finding ways to get people talking about you.
    "World Wide Rave" is filled with practical examples and guidance on how anyone can create world wide buzz about their organization or products or themselves. And, the best part is that we are living in an age when we have the ability to create rave ... or, a splash of significant awareness ... at little or no cost.
    As an author and journalist, myself, who has studied and consulted on evolving trends of image-making and getting attention for many years, I would rank David Meerman Scott's "World Wide Rave" as one of the distinctive, trend-setting works, in the same category as Blanchard's "The One Minute Manager," and Beckwith's "Selling the Invisible." After reading the 194 pages, I sat back, and thought, Wow!" --David Henderson "David" Read more.
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  7. In 2008 an extraordinary two-minute film clip appeared on YouTube and immediately became an international phenomenon. It captures the moving reunion of two young men and their pet lion Christian, after they had left him in Africa with Born Free’s George Adamson to introduce him into his rightful home in the wild.
    A Lion Called Christian tells the remarkable story of how Anthony “Ace” Bourke and John Rendall, visitors to London from Australia in 1969, bought the boisterous lion cub in the pet department of Harrods. For several months, the three of them shared a flat above a furniture shop on London’s King’s Road, where the charismatic and intelligent Christian quickly became a local celebrity, cruising the streets in the back of a Bentley, popping in for lunch at a local restaurant, even posing for a fashion advertisement. But the lion cub was growing up--fast--and soon even the walled church garden where he went for exercise wasn’t large enough for him. How could Ace and John avoid having to send Christian to a zoo for the rest of his life? A coincidental meeting with English actors Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers, stars of the hit film Born Free, led to Christian being flown to Kenya and placed under the expert care of “the father of lions” George Adamson. Incredibly, when Ace and John returned to Kenya to see Christian a year later, they received a loving welcome from their lion, who was by then fully integrated into Africa and a life with other lions.
    Originally published in 1971, and now fully revised and updated with more than 50 photographs of Christian from cuddly cub in London to magnificent lion in Africa, A Lion Called Christian is a touching and uplifting true story of an indelible human-animal bond. It is destined to become one of the great classics of animal literature. Read more.
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  8. Salt. Who would have thought something so simple, so seemingly common (to Americans) could control the world? Can it? Does it? Mark Kurlansky and S.D. Schindler reveal the significant and necessary role of salt in man's history in The Story of Salt, a condensed version of Salt: A World History, Kurlansky's best-seller for adults.
    Speaking of canning, the duo show the discovery of canning with airtight, heated jars (p. 38). Just as with the discovery of salt as a preservative, then the next step in salt's progress was canning and frozen foods.
    But back to the beginning. That is what the book does: It shows textually and pictorially how seeking sources of salt became essential to the growth of civilizations. As wanderers, men could eat the flesh of animals and get a necessary amount of salt. However, once people formed settlements, they had to go out to find salt sources. In nearly all cases, by-products were discovered: natural gas, secondary foods (cheese, sauerkraut, bacon), international trade, soy sauce, mummies, transporting without spoilage, salt fish, exploration, trade organizations, meatpacking, roads, new industries, independence, and oil drilling. This is a significant list. Each item is featured, illustrated, explained in a delightful manner from one block to a two-page spread of artwork and text.
    For example, in Hallein, a Celtic settlement whose name means "saltwork," Celts used salt to preserve the thigh of hog to create ham. A block on the next page (23) shows a preserved Celt (known by their colorful clothing), who had been trapped in a collapsed salt mine around 400 B.C.
    Other examples are the trade organizations formed by seacoast countries with cod fishing and inland countries with salt mines, e.g. the English and the Portuguese, the Germans and Italians. Prior to the War for Independence, the colonists traded their Virginia hams for Liverpool's salt. The war forced colonists to find their own salt source, which they did to became independent in more ways than one.
    A highly informative text loaded with illustrations, this book could well serve teachers and librarians in web research projects: salt in the middle with all the peripheral products and events spoking outward, with each one assigned to a team or group to research further, then create a powerpoint or other software presentation. Think of the multiple intelligences generated, much as salt generates other things. And certainly not common!
    A highly fascinating and recommended book! --Judy K. Polhemus "Book Collector" Read more.
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  10. Bentley's trip to the zoo is about a real maltese poodle named Bentley. This book is for children, dog lovers, and anyone who is a child at heart. Bentley takes a trip to the zoo with his mommy. He strays away from mommy and gets lost! He visits many colorful and interesting animals in an effort to find mommy! He learns a valuable lesson to never stray away from mommy, to be himself, and how to follow directions. Your child will learn names of animals, colors, and learn a valuable lesson that can be read over and over. This book emphasizes how important it is to listen and obey mommie. Bentley is a loving dog and will soon have his own website for each book owner to receive a free picture that is autographed with his paw to place at their bedside. There will be more books of different trips that Bentley will take in the future for you and yours to enjoy. Read more.
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  11. The authors, one a wealthy art dealer, the other a homeless black man were unlikely to become friends. A remarkable woman, Debbie, the art dealer's wife, brought them together. This is the story of how these men overcame their prejudice, let down their guard and became friends for life. The truly remarkable part of the story is that whether they knew it or not they would need to sustain each through the tragedy of Debbie's tragic bout with colon cancer.

    This true story is filled with revelations about the reality of slavery in the South today. How can people be free when they are economically and educationally disadvantaged. Too often when we look at homeless people, we see the addiction, and the dirt, but we fail to see the person underneath. We turn our eyes away believing these people are less than human. The story of how Ron, the wealthy art dealer, came to love and depend on Denver, the black homeless man, is a true miracle. It's a reminder that we never know what in our lives will turn out to sustain us in our darkest moments. This book should be read by everyone, believer and non-believers alike to remind us of our humanity. --Nancy Famolari

    This is one of the best inspirational true stories that I've ever read! An awesome book that really makes you think about yourself and how you treat people from a different world than your own. This book is so touching you won't want to put it down. I had the pleasure of actually meeting Denver Moore and Ron Hall at a MLK Banquet and book signing in Arlington, Texas. They were speakers at the event and everyone in the room were in awe to hear their story first hand. Mr. Moore and Mr. Hall are so humble and both will touch your life forever. Debbie Hall was an AMAZING woman to have seen the vision of God to put these two men with totally different backgrounds together. If this book doesn't touch you, something is wrong with your soul. --1975 Grad Read more.
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  12. This book is essentially the theory and practice of a healthy, non-diet way of living that will actually lead to greater weight loss than even healthy diets. The main tenet of The Gabriel Method is that the body will not lose weight until it is ready; that is, until you (and it) feel safe. So it's really important to find ways to help your body feel safe, and then weight loss will naturally occur.

    The author emphasizes visualization as a part of this; he strongly suggests (although it's not absolutely necessary) that you use his own CD for this, which is sold separately from his web site. He emphasizes lots of ways of eating healthfully, but stresses that these need to happen by following the body's needs and listening to your own body, as opposed to forcing anything. He also emphasizes things like forgiveness, and other types of self-care.

    What I think is unique about this book is that it is a comprehensive approach to the anti-diet mentality. I am already following this, and have found it is the only way I can healthfully and sanely lose weight. However, this book was still of value to me as it added really good tips--like the importance of visualization, and reminders of noticing the life force of food, and much more. I liked the author's style of writing and found it encouraging and motivational.

    For anyone who diets, please read this. Especially if you are a yo-yo dieter, I think you will appreciate this book. And if diets HAVE NOT worked for you in the past, and you don't know why, this book is an absolute MUST READ. Highly recommended. --O.Brown "Ms.O.Khannah-Brown" Read more.
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  14. Charlaine Harris has crafted a world that includes the entire gamut of supernatural beings - vampires, shifters (wolves, tigers, lions, panthers, foxes, etc.), witches, fairies and even a maenad. It is a real credit to her talent as a writer that this is all completely believable once you get into the series! There are a few temporal inconsistencies, but the story is so good, that you'll be able to ignore them. I found the first two books to be the weakest of the series (still very good), but books 3-7 more than made up for that. I read the entire series within 2 weeks and immediately wanted to go back to the beginning to start again.

    The best part about this series is Sookie herself; she is beautiful (although she doesn't always realize it), quick-witted, hardworking, opinionated and dedicated. She's a realistic character, a size 10 woman, who has to decide between having her driveway repaired and getting a new coat. Charlaine Harris does an excellent job of developing Sookie's character throughout the series. In the first book, Sookie is slightly naïve and experiencing the euphoria of her first love. In books 3-7, Sookie experiences heartbreak and matures in her thinking and approach to her relationships. She slowly comes into her own and accepts who/what she is, and how she can use her gift to contribute to the world around her.

    Just as interesting as Sookie are her male admirers. She begins with Bill, but later gets involved with the beautiful Viking vampire Eric, the werewolf Alcide, Sam the shifter, and the weretiger Quinn. We don't yet know who will ultimately steal Sookie's heart for good, but reading about her exploits makes for some suspenseful, hot romance throughout the series.

    The action is nonstop and keep the pages turning. There are kidnappings, suspicious deaths, murders, witch wars, bombings, hostile vampire takeovers, political coups and numerous attempts to kill the heroine, Sookie.

    The series is well paced, well developed and truly imaginative. It's great to escape to another world where all of these magical creatures exist. My first experience with paranormal fiction was the Twilight saga, but this series blows Twilight out of the water in my opinion. I could read this series again and again - they are truly wonderful works of fiction. And I would definitely recommend the boxed set; it's just cheaper that way. The only drawback is that the set does not include book 8, or the forthcoming 9th book in the series. Perhaps they should have left room in the box for those? And you may as well go ahead and throw the first season of True Blood in the shopping cart as well, as Alan Ball has done a great job of bringing Sookie's adventures alive. Enjoy! --T. Wright "A Modern Bibliophile" Read more.
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