Buying-the

I'm a coffee freak. I roast my own espresso and grind it with great care and pump it through a two group computer controlled professional Italian espresso machine. My wife thinks I'm obsessive about it. With that in mind, Perfect Cup provides a lot of excellent information that most people probably don't know, about how to make a great cup of coffee. It also talks about the characteristics of different kinds of coffee. If A&P 8:00 is your cup of tea...coffee, you might not give a damn, but if you really are curious...interested, passionate about coffee, you will probably enjoy reading this book.

I highly recommend this book. I bought it as someone just getting into enjoying the coffee experience. I wanted a book that would help me learn more about brewing coffee, tasting, and what to expect from beans grown in the different areas of the world. It gave me the info. I was looking for. I also really enjoyed the section in which several coffee roasters across the US were interviewed about their roasting philosophies and what to them helped create that elusive perfect cup of coffee.

years ago(before Starbucks bought the world) Boston had a local chain called the Coffee Connection. Their blends were perfect, their roasts were done by an old central american master and all of their employees were coffee lovers who could tell you details on any bean (once again, pre starbucks and the "we'll hire anyone" policy). I once asked how they knew so much and was told that employees were required to read this book. Somehow I lost my original copy ... so glad to see Amazon making it available again.

If you are interested in seller financing, this is the book you must have. As a practicing attorney for 30+ years, specializing in real estate, I thought I knew it all but I even learned some things from Mr. Speed's book. He speaks to the issues facing seller financing in a way that is easy to understand and follow with real world solutions. This is a tough area with many dangerous curves but Streetwise Seller Financing addresses each issue providing valuable tips to assist the seller. I found the book to be of more help then many of the legal books due to the fact that Mr. Speed does not give you theory but just important facts on the correct way. I have dealt with many lenders in my years of law practice that could have used this book.

Eddie Speed quotes the seasoned Texas banker who said, "The best time to worry about a loan is before you make it." Then he details how to do so. As a note broker, I can recommend this book to anyone considering seller financing. Whether you plan to collect payments for 30 years or you want to sell your note at some time in the future, this book will help you create a note that is more likely to be an asset you can sell instead of a life time headache. This book is a guide for the creation of the note and a reference for managing it. It even has helpful ideas for what to do when things go wrong during the life of the note. This book proves that good things come in small packages. Every note holder should keep it handy. I plan to.

I was thinking of selling my home with Owner Financing. This book answered all of my concerns, and enlightened me on many that I was not even aware that I should be concerned about. I will use owner financing and not be concerned, knowing that I did it right on the front end. This will leave me with many options in the future if my needs were to change. Thanks, Mr. Speed for bringing me up to speed on owner financing.

Peter Bendor-Samuel has a gift for articulating the essence of a business process that all too often is misunderstood. When the process is misunderstood a potential extended enterprise instead becomes a tangled mess, lacking dicipline and focus. In his book, Bendor-Samuel reveals in laymen's terms the fundamental principles that will make for a successful relationship. Turning Lead into Gold is Bendor-Samuel at his best. The author never loses sight of the fundamentals (market-principles, well defined contracts and diciplined management) and provides effective metaphors for describing tactics that often undermine these principles. There are many practitioners in the industry who understand and demonstrate the keys to outsourcing excellence, but few who commmunicate them as elegantly. Whether you are considering outsourcing or are simply staying abreast of business trends, this book will serve as a worthwhile read.

As the founder of probably the smallest corporation in America, (Meltdown International Inc.), I don't have the resources, time or knowledge to do everything well. The only way companies of any size can survive and thrive in today's changing business world is to outsource acitivities that don't pay the light bill or distinguish themselves in the global marketplace.

But how do you do this? Giving away important processes like finance and accounting to an outsourcing provider is scary. This book gave me the courage and the confidence to outsource. It told me what to do, what NOT to do, and what to watch out for. It gave me clear guidelines on pricing going into a relationship and how to police performance during the life of the contract. It also gave me a blueprint for handling disputes because they do come up.

I now outsource my finance and accounting to a provider 10 minutes from my office. (I want face to face chats about my money!)I also outsource my Web development and hosting to a company in the Philippines that does terrific work at a remarkably reasonable rate. I would never have even considered an offshore supplier if I hadn't read this book. It helped me understand the whole planet is now a source of suppliers.

The author's premise is that companies today have no option but to outsource. I have found in my own experience that is certainly true. I had no idea of how to go about it. If in doubt, read! This book was the perfect primer for a newcomer like me.

Turning Lead into Gold is a valuable piece of work for buyers as well as sellers of outsourcing. It clearly presents how this modern form of business alchemy turns operations that drain resources from companies into generators of value.

The hard statistics are accompanied by easy to understand case studies and explanations. I highly recommend it as a 'must read" for both parties to an outsourcing relationship as "pre-marital" counseling manual that will promote more successful and profitable alliances.

Thank you Peter Bendor-Samuel.

A WONDERFULLY fun book -- to read, to refer to, to give as a gift to alll your girlfriends! Endless information, up-to-date resources, very knowledgeable and savvy and the only book you need about vintage on the net. I hope it gets a new edition every other year or -- knowing the net -- EVERY year; I'll keep every edition, because none will ever be obsolete. These authors know their audience, know their subject, know their territory. A book you'll read again and again and never, ever, finish. :->

Virtual Vintage stands out from most other books on the vintage-resale-thrifting topic -- even though it is geared to the online market. First, the writing is both excellent and entertaining; I found the book hard to put down.

Additionally, the authors also offer some good tips -- laced throughout the text -- on HOW TO WEAR some of this old stuff. As much as I love vintage fashion, and have collected it for several years, I am often at a loss as to how to WEAR some of the pieces, or how to incorporate my vintage "finds" into my real-life wardrobe. So far, few books actually address this issue, and tend to focus instead on buying, selling or simply "collecting" vintage fashion.

This book is thorough and carefully put together -- like a great outfit. I hope the authors write more on this topic, and maybe put together a how-to guide to vintage fashion.

Kudos!

Usually I don't "read" antique guide books, but a couple of pages into this one and I was hooked. In Virtual Vintage you'll find common sense tips on buying and selling vintage on-line, the A to Z of navigating eBay (I learned several new tricks) and lots of design and fashion tips. The book presents useful info including international size conversion charts, how to remove stains from clothing and must-see Hollywood films for clothes lovers. It was so well done I wanted to learn more about Virtual Vintage's two women authors and how they came to write this surprisingly literary guide book.

Virtual Vintage has a section that rates many of the dot com vintage sites for content, ease of use and return policies. Virtual Vintage is considerably more user friendly than most other antique/collectible guide books that I've seen... I am also fond of the book because it gave my vintage site a great review! I will certainly recommend this book to my web customers.

This book is packed with information that will help you if you've never bought a home, or have done so a dozen or more times. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, should read Chapter 3 on selecting an Agent... If you are buying, selling, thinking of a career in Real Estate, or are already an Agent!

For many people like me, the home buying process is alien, confusing, and full of pitfalls. What I needed was a guide to help me quickly and effectively understand the entire process, along with the plethora of associated considerations.

David Rathgeber's home buying book gave me almost everything I needed to quickly make sense of the home buying process. He introduced me to all the major issues and considerations that I was about to face. Not only did he clearly address the most pertinent issues, but he also concisely provided abundant advice on each aspect of home buying, to include difficult issues such as understanding the emotional and psychological aspects that both the buyer and seller face. In this book, David even helps the reader understand how to get the appropriate professional help at the right time. This is done in a constructive manner that demonstrates to the reader that he is only one part of a team that is focused on making the home buying process successful.

Along with David's personal help in purchasing a home, this book provides almost everything that a home buyer needs, especially if the buyer is completely new to the home buying process. It is actually quite comforting to read this book in that David teaches the home buyer how to develop a healthy respect for all the participants no matter what their role may be. Toward this end, David articulates the human aspect of a stressful process that often can appear to be impersonal.

We have read both of Dave's books and he is certainly knowledgable in real estate. Dave also has helped us in the buying process, and all has run smoothly. We consider Dave a professional in all aspects of real estate. The book is filled with data that we did not truly know about concerning the market.

The pursuit of knowledge that gives us an understanding of factors that determine success in the market place has always considered "the firm" as the unit of analysis. This has been the case with microeconomics, game theory, competitive strategy and many such specialized areas of research. Cartels that manipulate supply and prices are perhaps an exception to this rule. If, instead of considering the firm as the unit, we consider a group of firms teaming together to collectively provide value to the customer and succeed as a unique identity as a unit of analysis, the methodology to understand competition would undergo a paradigm shift. This book is precisely about this concept as applicable to the automobile industry.

In the early half of the last century it was possible to go to the countryside for a picnic in a Ford Model T car, disassemble and reassemble it with a simple wrench and drive back home in the evening. Today we need computers to diagnose even a simple problem under the hood of cars tailor made to suit individual needs. Given the increase in complexity, explosion of technology and customer preferences, it is impossible for a single firm to ever think of manufacturing even half the components. (River Rouge will be remembered in history as the most ambitious plan of an automotive giant to make all parts of the automobile - including steel and timber from within the company. At best a fairy tale for kids of the twenty first century!).

This book is the summary of an excellent research study of the automobile industry in the 1990's with focus on Toyota and Chrysler. These companies have significantly different "governance structure" (the proportion of parts made in-house, procured from partner firms, and from arms'-length suppliers) from their competitors- GM and Ford. The firms that have a higher proportion of parts that are bought from partner suppliers have a clear edge over competitors that use arm's-length suppliers for the same parts. Extensive data has been collected, analyzed and tested to substantiate the statements made in the text.

Three characteristics that distinguish between partner suppliers from arm's length suppliers- Dedicated asset investments, Knowledge sharing routines and Inter-firm trust form the virtuous triangle that make these partnerships succeed. The results of such partnerships show clearly in tangible terms - Higher profitability per vehicle, better quality, faster time to market, and more new models for customers; the key parameters that enable Toyota and Chrysler to drive at top speed. "It 's not the big that eat the small but it's the fast that eat the slow".

Taking lessons from Toyota, Chrysler adopts concrete programs to consolidate its suppliers, integrate and partner with them to deliver higher value at lower cost to the customer.

Though this research is restricted to the automobile industry, the fundamental principles of "extended enterprise" can be extended across industries.

Highly recommended for all managers and a must read for those working in procurement processes. Next time your supplier drops in, think of this book and start a new relationship.

Having followed Dyer's other research, I think that this is a theoretically elegant piece of work. He builds further on his pieces in SMJ (with Singh from Wharton) and AMR and illustrates the concepts of relationship-based assets in firm networks. The running exemplar has he uses (Toyota) illustrates his theoretical arguments quite elonquently. The book also highlights the limitations of his concept of collaborative advantage, and his closing chapter illustrates how cultural differences (here with Benz) can keep this strategy from becoming reality. This book is not for folks looking for cut-out recipies. This book is a MUST for researchers and managers who like to think instead of searching for cookbooks! The concluding chapter is a gem because it highlights our gaps in knowledge. This is an excellent book, and having read Dyer's other works, it's high quality comes as very little surprise. Buy, own, read, reread, and profusely highlight your own copy! VERY highly recommended.

Jeffrey Dyer, an accomplished scholar and management teacher, has developed a cogent and sophisticated theory of extended enterprise management based on a wealth of empirical data from the history of Toyota in Japan and from his six-year study of Chrysler Corp. before its merger with Daimler-Benz. Beyond being a detailed and rigorous case study of the automobile manufacturing industry, Dyer's book presents an extremely valuable model for vertical integration. His model can be applied to other complex product industries, though he is honest about the limits of its applicability. This book provides a clear, effective blueprint for achieving value-chain collaboration. We [...] recommend it to consultants, executives in complex product industries and leaders in firms that supply components or materials. If you always suspected you were part of a greater whole, now you can be sure.

I have been searching for a description of manufacturing collaboration to understand the concepts. This book has given me a very definitive understanding of a range of possibilities and shows how various industries are applying collaboration ideas. The book is well researched and provides excellent reference information for anyone desiring to understand the underpinnings of collaboration in its various forms.

The author has done a marvelous job in defining the Collaborative Manufacturing environment, describing the best practices of what companies are doing today, and "painting the picture" of what Collaborative Manufacturing may be in the future. This is a must read book for those who are looking for practical methods to improve the overall customer order fulfillment process.

Collaborative Manufacturing is a solid over view of the important issues facing today's manufactures. The book covers the entire manufacturing spectrum, batch, continuous, discrete, as well as real world examples in the automotive, life sciences, electronics and process industry. It also provides definitions and context for the various acronyms used in the different industry segments. This book should be required reading for anyone wishing to work for or sell to manufacturing companies.

We are in the process of starting a small tools company. We believe a collaborative demand activated manufacturing strategy is the best path to success. We believe the book will be of great assistance in helping build a company that takes advantage of technology and collaborative strategies.

If it is true that strategies are like recipes, then this great book by the great Wade Cook contains all of the creative strategies you need to beome financially independent in real estate. Great book by someone who knows.

Ifyour goals to be cash flow rich through real estate and to buy real estate with as little money of your own as possible, you must have this book. It is in fact like baking a cake. Wade outlines all of the recipes for real estate success.

This book is packed with dozens of creative real estate ideas. It reads like a cook book and makes buying real estate with little or no money down as easy as baking a cake.

Well written, quick read, lots of important illustrations. This book is for used car buyers looking to not get burned and put the right amount of effort into inspecting potential purchases. Great for both the mechanically inclined or inept. Specifics and illustrated examples and photos of problems to look for. Covers quick filtering by phone, quick walk arounds, thurough test drives, careful inspections of potentially good vehicles, and a final inspection by a mechanic. If everyone read this book used car buying would lose its stigma and shadey used car sellers would go out of business.

This book tells you the kinds of things to look for that you wouldn't know unless you knew a bit about cars. Not only does it tell you more commonly known stuff like where to look for rust, but then gets into more detailed handy information like how to tell if there is body filler underneath paint, what you can learn by looking at the exhaust pipe(i.e. black and gummy could be burning oil or covered with white stuff shows that the fuel mixture is too lean) and has photographs of all of these. This is well worth the money if you are looking at a car because you can find out a lot just by inspecting the car. You could also save hundreds or thousands(or just avoid getting ripped off) by being able to point out problems that may not be considered in the price asked. You will also appear(and be) more knowledgeable so the seller may not try to take you as a sucker. This levels the playing field a bit so you have a better chance of finding a car that is appropriate for you.

I am not a 'car buff' and never buy new cars but I have good friends that know cars who help me through the torture of buying a 'used car.' This book is the next best thing to having a mechanic you trust as your friend: very practical and readable - the 20$ will probably save you a lot of GRIEF!!! It was an eye opener and a $$$ Saver. If you're about to buy a used car, do yourself a favor and read this book.... and good luck out in The Jungle.......:)

I looked over a stack of books about how to buy a home, and chose this one because it was the shortest! Since I made up my mind to buy a home, I wanted to do it now, and I wanted to equip myself with knowledge fast! Everything is here in a concise step-by-step format for the process of planning expenses, finding and evaluating a home, dealing with the seller and the real estate agent or broker (never knew there was a difference in them before), making an offer and a contract, getting a loan, going to escrow and closing. Many terms I only had a vague understanding of before are much clearer (and in case I forget, there's a glossary of terms in the back of the book), and I have a good idea of how to proceed and what I'll be encountering. Having this knowledge makes me feel as I step into this venture that I will be in control of what I'm doing, and not be at the mercy of sellers or agents.

The author really knows her subject, and I'm grateful for this book.

My husband and I knew nothing about the process of searching for and buying a house until my boss gave me a copy of this book (it was an earlier edition, published in 1989, but it was still immensely helpful.) It has everything a first-time home buyer needs to know from the nitty gritty of financing down to the nerves you'll expereience when you close the deal. I've already recommended this book to other friends who are in the market for a house. And I'm sure we'll reference the book again when it comes time to sell and buy another house.

This book is chock full of tips, checklists, and charts to help you through every aspect of the homebuying process. Learn to spot bargains, work with agents, negotiate a final price, and finance your dream house ... condo, co-op, or mobile home This one's a classic.