Economic-Life Books

This book is very well organized and uses excellent examples, many by the hand of the author himself. The writing style is clear, straightforward, and quite informative. The author guides you step by step through the drawing process. The exercises at the end of the chapters are great, especially in the way they help you to develop your own individual style. This new approach to life drawing is very useful and long overdue. A must for any serious student of art!

This book was written with careful attention to detail. It includes illustrations that demystifies the drawing experience. It is for the artist who is interested in learning and sharpening his or her skills. It gives step-by-step techniques for rendering a variety of figures in numerous positions in both loose and sketcky style to tight and detailed. I recommend this book highly to both the beginning artist and the experienced artist. Paula Hannah-Mauri

If you are striving to develop a personal figure drawing style this book offers:

1. Clear, specific instructions for assignments and each assignment has a section on assessing the drawings produced in it.
2. Exploration of various kinds of life drawings: traditional and modern, without taking a stance on which one is better.
3. Many great visuals by a variety of figurative artists.

From my first life drawing course in college (30 years ago) until now, I have continually combed commercial and collegiate booksellers for an effective and definitive "teaching-and-learning style" life drawing textbook. Finally, there is one: Harold Stone's new "Exploring Life Drawing." Through easy-to-read text, classic and contemporary drawings, a wide range of styles and techniques, and a useful chapter by chapter review process, this book has it all. Best of all, it encourages the development of one's own distinctive drawing style.

Rich Moran has done it again. He has managed to compile thoughts of business people and list them in neat, little book that fits in anyone's briefcase. Not a "how-to," necessarily, but a compendium of "tips" which can help improve interactions between business people. It's not often one can find a book that is amusing and helpful at the same time.

As someone starting my career, or my so called life, there are tidbits no one tells you. Bullets like "the fastest way to give yourself a raise is to work less" come in handy for someone who couldn't get through the new employee manual. This is highly recommend. If you read Fast Company, you will like this book.

Richard Moran's book meets two of my tests for good business books. First, it has ideas I can use Monday morning; there is something useful here for everyone in business. And second, it has ideas I will remember long after I put the book down.

This book is not actually a book but rather a list of business and success tips. Out of all the tips, I found about one-fifth actually useful. However, it is small and compact and would make a 'neat' little gift for anyone who works.

As a professional resume writer, President of Guaranteed Resumes, and author of "51 Ways to Find a Job Fast -- Guaranteed," I found this book an excellent tool to help you follow your heart's desires and find your perfect work. I recommend it to all my clients.

The simple exercises and real-life examples will start your head buzzing with ideas. And there's a handy chart, listing hundreds of jobs, to help you match your skills and interests with actual job requirements. Excellent stuff.

This is the book I wish my high school guidance counselor had read. It should be required reading for all students and adults in search of practical career guidance.

If you are serious about working at home or creating a career you can get excited about, this book is an absolute must! I have been providing work at home information and resources for over 7 years at Work-At-Home Success and this book is always the first thing I suggest to people who ask, "How do I get started working at home." Many people approach working at home with, "What can I sign up for that will pay me." But this is the wrong approach. Inventorying your skills, experience, interests, and passions and then designing a career you love is the best way to find success working at home. Finding Your Perfect Work is the perfect workbook to achieve this goal.

As a business consultant for home based business start-ups and self-employment I've found "Finding Your Perfect Work" a most valuable tool. In reading it I found that it goes in-depth into self-exploration which is something a lot of people need to do before attempting to start a business. I also found this book to be an asset in using "real" people as examples. I think we all want to hear about the person who's made it the hard way once in a while. It makes the journey for us that much more realistic. The way the book was divided up into areas such as the Directory of Self-Employment Careers by Personal Style is very helpful and easy to use. When using this book in a workshop, I found that my clients really had to "work" at finding out what they're best suited for...and they all agreed it was worth going through that work. The work sheets provide not only an area for people to get the thought process moving but I feel it also makes them more accountable for what they are doing. I've discovered this book is also a valuable resource for my business along with being a tool in which I can expand and improve my own business. I highly recommend this book to all who are considering going into business for themselves.

Now in a newly revised and updated edition for the twenty-first century, Finding Your Perfect Work by Paul Edwards and Sarah Edwards is a practical career guide offering personal style surveys, information about degree requirements, an alphabetical directory of self-employment careers, and much, much more. A handy, easy-to-use resource for finding a path in life that one enjoys most, Finding Your Perfect Work is a welcome and recommended addition to personal, job center, and career counseling reference collections and reading lists.

Teen Review of Freedom's Way: Engage Your Potential

As a 17 year old I initially thought that Freedom's Way would be a little daunting having thought it was aimed toward an adult audience only. However, I found that I related to many of its chapters and understood more of its messages than I initially thought.

Having said that, I must be honest and say that there were some parts within the book which called for some adult interpretation but this actually opened up some interesting dialogue between my mother and I and encouraged communication on a much deeper and profound level. This, when I look back was an interesting experience and confirmed that "communication" is such a vital aspect within the teen years and also an important chapter with Freedom's Way (Chapter 12).

Through the poetic and inspirational way Freedom's Way is written it has inspired and encouraged me to pass its messages onto others. I highly recommend this book.

Freedom's Way - written from the heart, for the hearts and sent to me at the moment when I needed it most. This book has touched me in so many ways and has unlocked something deep within my soul.

Freedom's Way gave me the strength I needed to step into the unknown, walk through uncertainty and yet come through the other side, alive, strong and free. It has taught me that to embrace change is to embrace freedom. I am now excited and inspired to learn more about myself, my journey and my dreams.

Freedom's Way will never be a dust gatherer like some books become once read. You will find it an invaluable friend that encourages and inspires you, a book to keep close to you as I do to fill me with sublime wonder on the days when sometimes we all loose our balance with work, friends, partners and the world.

Read it now for Freedom's Way will brighten and enlighten your spirit; then try flapping your wings, you'll probably find you just might fly!.

I have had the privilege of reading many of the world's leading books as it relates to human potential, life fulfillment, and most importantly health and happiness. The best of these author's seem to stand on the shoulders of other great visionaries and move us forward. Our world is adapting and we are only now at the brink of understanding our global potential as human beings, and this book continues down the evolutionary path. The book is easy to read, practical and powerfully insightful. Be prepared to want to read it more than once and refer back to certain sections as it certainly taps into the wisdom of the universe, and how to clearly understand our greatest potential and soulful desires. The language and principles explained within Freedom's Way is being used within my personal life as well as my company. Since its introduction, our organization's collaboration, effectiveness, and sense of purpose has improved significantly. We just completed a company survey and our results were significantly improved. Thanks for the inspiration and wisdom Zephyr! When is the next book coming out?

Today, things move so quickly within our lives that it's sometimes hard just to get through the day. Introducing new philosophies, the author tells you to slow it down...and refocus on things that matter, to increase your prosperity through spiritual, mental, and emotional growth.

In particular, he introduces a new concept which he calls "metacentering". Much of the book surrounds this philosophy, and its goal is to help an individual (or a company) achieve positive results with an inner confidence and peace.

The author writes in an inspired way so that you can connect with his philosophy...so it wasn't "work" reading and understanding the principles of the book. As an entrepreneur, it helped me focus my day-to-day energy in a positive manner, and it helped our business overcome some tall hurdles because we developed laserlike focus through the metacentering concept.

In the end, metacentering is about you (the reader) finding a path to reach the best of your ability. It's nothing short of a peaceful, confidence building journey. There is a certain satisfaction to this, and I believe applying these principles to yourself and to your business will lead to a different, and much needed, view on what it takes to be happy and content with the results of each and every day.

Bird Blitch
Co Founder
BroadSource, Inc. USA

This book is not just for working people; it is for everybody. It is funny, smart and eye opening. I am going to make all of my friends buy one. Patrick True is a hidden talent as a storyteller and he shows you how you can make your day to day life better with his lessons from the river. He is an incredible writer and I hope to see more from him in the future.

From The River To The Rat Race is a well written book that every parent of teens should read and have their college bound children read. We have four sons and it has become mandatory reading before they enter college and hopefully they'll read it again before they enter the real world.

I loved the line "watch your wake" because it is the seperation from the child to the adult, when one becomes aware that everything you do truly affects others.

Great book! Great lessons! Tremendous change can occur from its wisdom!

This is a fascinating, easy-to-read book that you can't put down once you've picked it up. The writer tells wonderful short stories that I really connected with. I can apply his 7 life lessons to my personal and professional life. I bought a copy for my friend who is a small business owner. Also, my brother who is a sales manager is buying one for everyone on his team. I highly recommend it!

Each person in our company received copies of this book during a Sales Meeting. Honestly, it's the only corporate-type book I've ever actually enjoyed that gave me "take-aways" applying to work and life in general. It's an easy and enjoyable read. I'm buying one for my father, who has been in a corporate environment for 35 years and another for a friend who's just starting her career -- it applies to both.
Bottom line: True encourages you to remain a REAL person while becoming a REAL-ly effective professional. A refreshing message in today's corporate environment.

Our most valuable commodity in today's world is time. It's the one thing you cannot create. As the CEO of two multinational corporations, I'm continuously looking for ways to be more efficient in all aspects of running the businesses.

Al Horner hits the mark in a focused and easy to apply set of guidelines (The Checklist). He then assists you in developing solutions to deal with any situation by providing "Pearls." These "Pearls" help to break down any situation into it's most basic elements. This allows you to clearly understand what needs to be done and develop a course of action(s).

"Get A Grip" has been a tremendous guide in assisting me in evaluating any situation and then determining solutions that were effective. As I was reading the book, I kept thinking to myself how much sense it made.

I've found this book to be extremely helpful in my personal life as well.

Everyone who reads this book will be able to apply one or more areas of Al Horner's "Checklist" to their own careers and personal lives.

This book is one of the most complete problem solving books I have read and more importantly the most simple. Easily read in an evening, when done, you can only ask yourself, "why didn't I think of that".

It is not like the millions of standard, complicated, and redundant, "you must be driven, go-go-go, yeah, rah, rah" motivational books on the shelves.

Al Horner applies simple tasks and check lists used for "life survival" in the Navy Seals to business. If you understand the military, this is unselfish, your life depends on the guy next to you and his life on yours.

In the end the book deals with balance of family and burnout.

Pound for pound one of the best I have read and I will be impementing Mr. Horner's ideas well into the future.

This is one of the best books on management that I have come across. In todays world many times we have to deal with too much information rather than too little. Add to that all of the complexities in todays world along with not enough time to handle all of the demands on us and it becomes easy to lose sight of what you are trying to do. That is where this book comes in.

It presents a checklist or formula to keep you on course whatever you are trying to do. Al Horner first came across this checklist in the Navy Seals. I can't think of an activity where it would be harder to stay focused.

He has perfected the checklist as he has applied it to a number of troubled businesses in his role as a turnaround artist.

The book is short, concise and the technique is applicable to a wide variety of situations.

If you read the book and apply the principles I guarantee you that it will improve your ability to cope in countless ways.

I recently read Al's incredible book and let me be the first to share it is in a class of its own! Having read many, many business publications over the years, I was hesitant fearing I was in for yet another book of meaningless exercises and pointless feel-good babble that leads nowhere except to the used bookstore. Not so with Get a Grip: it is fast moving, fast paced and to the point.

This book is definitely a must for people in business for themselves or as managers, directors, etc., of any size company. Horner's "checklist"--that long forgotten but ever-valuable tool we were all taught in military operations--gives people of all walks an easily learned, quick to apply method to manage through major (or minor) business and life events.

Even more important, I don't know of any information in the book that can't be applied personally. For example, one section I felt was appropriate was "Leadership in Crises", as none of us lead event-free lives at work or at home.

Finally, this isn't a book about touchy-feely business solutions that end the second you leave a training conference or put the book on a shelf. And it isn't about nebulous self-empowerment exercises. Al's book is about applying tried and true methods and then measuring how well you succeeded. Best, if you failed, why did you fail and if you did, learning how to apply that knowledge.

I look forward to re-reading Get a Grip again and again. If you want to re-energize yourself by creating a clearly defined path to success and understanding failures that happen along the way, Get a Grip is a must read.

This book is a must-read for any young lady that is interested in business. Clear and easy to read, it is filled with inspirational tales that will motivate your fledgling businesswoman. Highly recommended

This book is very easy to read. It has some great links to major associations that I will be looking into further. This is a book I will pass around to others, that need to know how to get started.

Girl Boss seriously changed my life. The book taught meeverything that I need to know about starting, my own buissness. Evenmy mom liked it! Buy this book if you want to work for yourself, become rich, and famous, or just want to earn some pocket change.

This book is a great roadmap for any woman interested in starting a new business. I could not stop reading it.

Possibly the best book on networking I've ever read (and I read a *lot* of them as background for a seminar I teach). Gives detailed, practical strategies and tools based on a sound understanding of effective interpersonal relations. Written in a lively, engaging style that suits the subject matter and the authors' philosophy perfectly. Recommended without reservation for job hunters, career builders, and entrepreneurs.

Concise, to the point, and easy to read "Great Connections" does all it promises, a reader can learn volumes about networking, making small talk, overcoming shyness and communicating through body posture. There are many helpful tips on how to start a conversation with anyone, ideas for topics to discuss and topics to avoid, how to join a group of people already talking and how to know when a conversation is finished and bring it to an end. The techniques described are easy to put into practice.

Though intended mainly for business networking the skills here can be applied to many kinds of situation requiring small talk. Not just for the shy, also great for intellectuals or the emotionally intense who have trouble making casual and light conversation.

Many people are not able to get what they want out of their careers and even their personal lives because they do not the finer points of initiating a conversation and keeping it flowing. Great Connections by Anne Barber and Lynne Waymon provides much constructive insight into the world of establishing small talk and networking.

Barber and Waymon illustrate the value of making positive connections by asking questions that go beyond a simple yes or no. Techniques to remember someone's name is also explored. Also, they both emphasize the positives of maintaining good body language. Etiquette is reviewed as well in a detailed yet simplified matter. The authors go over the proper way of introducing people whether its your mom to your supervisor or a man to a woman.

The authors emphasize the aspects of bringing an agenda(plan) to your networking conversations. Focus is the key here and the idea is to emphasize to those looking for a favor to also try to offer a favor as well.

The use of exercises is indeed quite helpful. In addition, the glossary of other helpful books is quite easy on the eyes. Great Connections is a nice short but sweet package.

Excellent book, very useful. Not only applicable to business. I have been living in the US for 12 years and I can speak English pretty well. However, language alone is not enough. The culture also needs to be understood. This book teaches the culture of interpersonal communications, how to start and build a relationship from scratch using small talk as a tool to understand and make yourself understood. What also struck me in the book is the combination of practical advice, lively easy to read and highly enjoyable style, while based upon very deep trully scientific insights into the subject. Highly recommend!

This is an excellent text that shows both engineers and managers how to apply principles to reducing environmental compliance costs. The works of Dr. Cheremisinoff are well known in the environmental management and pollution prevention fields. This book is a wonderful source of ideas and techniques for senior environmental managers.

This is an excellent book to generate cost saving ideas from. It combines simple engineering and management principles with a focus on proving to the reader how good environmental performance translates into good economic performance. The authors have done a great job in showing the basic prinicples and benefits of pollution prevention within the context of environmental management systems. The many industry-specific examples on P2 and waste minimization are simply excellent. I highly recommend this book for environmental managers.

Very informative book with new concepts on how to apply life cycle costs to pollution prevention projects. This book brings together two related subjects very clearly. It has helped our refineries see more clearly how an EMS can be applied within the context of pollution prevention. It clearly shows by many examples reasons for displacing end of pipe treatment trechnologies.

Nicholas Cheremisinoff is a consulting engineer with more than twenty years experience in design, research, development, manufacturing, and teaching. Avrom Bendavid-Val is Vice President for Environment and Development at Chermonics International Inc. In Green Profits: The Manager's Handbook for ISO 14001 And Pollution Prevention, Cheremisinoff and Bendavid-Val effectively collaborate to cover the two tightly connected topics of environmental management systems (EMS) and pollution prevention (P2). Together they show how to implement an EMS (especially ISO 14001) so that it leads to profitable pollution prevention innovations, and how to identify and implement pollution prevention measures within the context of a sound and strategic business framework. Green Profits provides the information and tools enterprising managers can apply to achieve the benefits of both EMS and P2 -- and do so in ways that fit within the corporation's existing management systems. Nicholas Cheremisinoff and Avrom Bendavid-Val Green Profits is a highly recommended addition to academic, professional, and corporate environmental engineering reference collections.

While Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen are described as motivators, it might be as accurate to describe then as rejuvenaters, resusitators, reinvigorators, all the boosts that a person needs to be happy and successful. Cheerleaders might also be an apt description as they're sure you can do it, and they make that clear in "A Healthy Dose of Motivation," which they read with all the vigor and charisma that marks their personal appearances.

These two gentlemen, as most know, are the authors of the incredibly successful Chicken Soup series, so they're more than familiar with the subject of fulfillment. Quite often, personal stories of those who have succeeded are the basis for their books, along with suggestions and clearly defined steps.

"A Healthy Dose of Motivation" consists of two texts from their repertoire: "The Aladdin Factor" and ""Dare To Win."

"The Aladdin Factor" deals with the importance of asking for what you want, and how to tolerate rejection. The destructive pattern of limiting yourself is featured in "Dare to Win," plus advice on how to rid yourself of self-destructive behavior.

Think you can't? Give a listen to "A Healthy Dose of Motivation," and you may discover that you can.

- Gail Cooke

This gives great advice to whom appreciates motivation. I liked the details that were given. Though alot is common sense, I think we all need a reminder from time to time. The Authors aren't out to make money, they are really genuine.

J. Canfield and M.V. Hansen have done it again! I bought this audio-book for a friend who has poor-eyesight, but loves to read. Also, he is fighting some personal issues right now. It's a Christmas present, so we'll know soon enough how happy he is to get it.

I know for a fact it's wonderful! I accidentally ran across "Dare to Win" in the library five years ago. I find myself reading it once or twice a year--not because I didn't get it the first time, but because as with all things "practice makes perfect". But really, what an inspiring message!! I generally read this one in the morning with coffee...sets the tone for the whole day:

I can do anything. As soon as I start doing it. I am somebody, even if it feels like nobody else thinks so. Happiness is a state of mind, not a situation. You are only a victim of the things you choose to be a victim of. Doesn't that sound like a great way to start the day?

(PS: You really DO only need to get through one day at a time...or when it gets really bad, just commit to one more hour--over and over and over again!

Life starts to get interesting when you get into the driver's seat instead of cowering in the backseat, or pulling that sullen teenager act in the co-pilot's seat...grow up and LIVE!)

Listening to these two program was very inspirational, heart-warming and motivational. Some of the anecdotes provided really brought tears to my eyes and touched me deeply. They really brought home to me that anything, ANYTHING is possible. I just started my own business five months ago and have faced many challenges. I bought the CD because of its title, I really needed "A Healthy Dose of Motivation" to keep going in my business. I got what I paid for, I feel very motivated and inspired to keep going despite any obstacles and with my renewed postive energy my business is growing in leaps and bounds! A great investment.