Economic-Life Books

I was there too. Bit player at another agency, but saw, heard, smelled (OK, tasted too -- I had a Saab with a Scotch compartment) the same wonderful ambiance that was advertising in the Renaissance '80s. Ray has it down. He records a time loved -- and lost -- to mega business. Oh, well.

For close to 20 years, ending in the late 1980s, Ray Welch dominated New England advertising awards. He was the Woody Allen of the industry, writing self-deprecating (but hilarious and strategically spot-on) ads, and later becoming one of the area's most effective voice-over announcers. He was also one of the most well-liked personalities in the community -- I should know, I was there -- and a great story-teller.

These are his stories. They're all funny. Many of them also reveal truths of ad agency life, the kinds of people attracted to that business, and the thinking that goes into a great campaign.

Welch had art-director friends each design a separate chapter, and told them to go wild. The designs are readable -- these are top-level art directors we're talking about -- and range from whimsical to surprising. Not a bad thing in a book of stories.

The book reads the way I remember that era. Except Welch obviously had a lot more fun.

I was astonished to find that no customer has written a review of this excellent book. It ranks near the top of World War II histories, up there with Shirer's Rise & Fall of the Third Reich and Churchill's memoirs. This book doesn't cover the war itself; rather, it is a detailed (1000 pages) political & diplomatic history of the 1930's in Europe, culminating in the Munich conference in 1938 in which France & Britain surrendered Czechoslovakia's vital border defenses to "appease" Hitler in a vain attempt to secure "peace in our time." Hitler, strengthened by Munich, started the war 11 months later. A lawyer & historian, Taylor was a prosecutor at the Nurnberg war crimes trials. In his absorbing narrative, he tells the story of the craven cowardice & stunning stupidity of the French & British leaders and the cunning & mendacity of Hitler & Mussolini. As Taylor shifts the spotlight from country to country and details the domestic political situation in each and the moves of each leader on the diplomatic chessboard, the tension builds as events move toward the tragic climax at Munich. The corrupt bargain struck by Daladier & Chamberlain with Hitler & Mussolini at Munich was the biggest diplomatic sellout & disaster of all time. Taylor has written the definitive history of this disgraceful episode. Some European leaders today would profit from reading this work.
This book won the National Book Critics Circle Award for non-faction. It's a rivetting narrative, but it's not beach reading.

I was astonished to find that no customer has written a review of this excellent book. It ranks near the top of World War II histories, up there with Shirer's Rise & Fall of the Third Reich and Churchill's memoirs. This book doesn't cover the war itself; rather, it is a detailed (1000 pages) political & diplomatic history of the 1930's in Europe, culminating in the Munich conference in 1938 in which France & Britain surrendered Czechoslovakia's vital border defenses to "appease" Hitler in a vain attempt to secure "peace in our time." Hitler, strengthened by Munich, started the war 11 months later. A lawyer & historian, Taylor was a prosecutor at the Nurnberg war crimes trials. In his absorbing narrative, he tells the story of the craven cowardice & stunning stupidity of the French & British leaders and the cunning & mendacity of Hitler & Mussolini. As Taylor shifts the spotlight from country to country and details the domestic political situation in each and the moves of each leader on the diplomatic chessboard, the tension builds as events move toward the tragic climax at Munich. The corrupt bargain struck by Daladier & Chamberlain with Hitler & Mussolini at Munich was the biggest diplomatic sellout & disaster of all time. Taylor has written the definitive history of this disgraceful episode. Some European leaders today would profit from reading this work.
This book won the National Book Critics Circle Award for non-faction. It's a rivetting narrative, but it's not beach reading.

I only wish I had the information in this book for myself and the first of our children we sent off to college. We would be way ahead by now. This is a God-send, and I highly recommend it!

I only wish I had the information in this book for myself and the first of our children we sent off to college. We would be way ahead by now. This is a God-send, and I highly recommend it!

Editors Simon Evans, Sarah Carter, and Bill Yeo successfully collaborate to assemble a compendium of truly informative and insightful essays in Cowboys, Ranchers and the Cattle Business: Cross-Border Perspectives On Ranching History. From Terry G. Jordan-Bychkov's "Does the Border Matter?: Cattle Ranching and the 49th Parallel" to Simon M. Evan's Tenderfoot to Rider: Learning 'Cowboying' on the Canadian Ranching Frontier during the 1800s", to Lorain Lounsberry's "Wild West Shows and the Canadian West", the contributors bring their unique perspectives and researches to bear in a series thoroughly accessible, "reader friendly", illuminating, highly recommended perspectives and histories of the ranching business on both sides of the longest, unguarded border in North America from the days of the independent wild frontier down to the present "agribusiness" and global economy environments.

Cowboys, Ranchers And The Cattle Business will appeal to any student of American ranching and Western history, covering the work of cowboys and ranchers from early to modern times and providing different, cross-border perspectives on ranching history. The focus contrasts Canadian and American ranching history and developments and provides some intriguing facts in the process of comparing the two countries for differences and similarities.

Great book by a person in the know. As a past resident of the area it was really interesting learning more about the area.

Like natives in many of the most beautiful parts of our country, those in the cloud-laced mountains of Western North Carolina complain about growth and change even though they're the ones who opened the door to it - in this case, development of the region's tourism and second-home economy.

In "Creating the Land of the Sky," Richard D. Starnes, a history professor at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, offers a compelling analysis and history of tourism development in Western North Carolina.

With dogged research and an engaging narrative writing style, Starnes traces the history of tourism in the region to the early nineteenth century, when low-country planters fled the "fever season" each summer to the milder climates of the mountain South. "Whole communities took on new characters," Starnes writes, "as mountain towns such as Hendersonville, Flat Rock and Asheville became seasonal centers of southern aristocracy."

Starnes' book is packed with insider political tales, such as how the Blue Ridge Parkway got its route, and delightful, sometimes devilish, characters, including many we know well in other contexts. Consider these words that novelist Thomas Wolfe wrote to his mother about Edwin Wiley Grove, the quinine tonic magnate who built the luxurious Grove Park Inn of Asheville: "Grove is a great man because he sells more pills than anyone else," Wolfe wrote, complaining that tourism had changed the culture and values of the city so that wealth, rather than character, determined greatness. "Greater Asheville," Wolfe wrote, "does not mean `100,000 by 1930,' that we are 4 times as civilized as our grandfathers because we go four times as fast in automobiles, because buildings are four times as tall."

As a native of the region himself, Starnes' insights are astute and often poignant. But while some of his subjects - such as Harrah's Cherokee Casino, opened in 1997 - seem deserving of criticism for changing mountain culture and morals, Starnes handles them all with the fairness and respect you'd expect from a distinguished historian. "Tourism did bring progress, government aid and new opportunities to western North Carolina," he concludes. "It also created an atmosphere that led to the exploitation of labor, land and culture."

Whether you're a native North Carolinian, or a visitor like me (one of the thousands of Floridians who crowd these mountains each summer), I highly recommend Starnes' book to anyone who cares about the majestic "Land of the Sky."

I heard Mr. Pope on NPR and I was not disappointed. His book was very informative and is helping me to better manage my finances.

This book and plan are awesome! We were in deep cc card debt, we now only have our mortgage and the stress is gone!

Thank you Ethan!

Ben Feldman has been acknowledged to be the best insurance salesman of all time, having sold over one billion dollars of insurance during his career. This is an excellemt hands on manual with word by word phrases to use for almost every situation. It reads in a very conversational tone rather than a dull textbook style format.

As on insurance agent I found it's advice pratical, easy to utilize, and interesting to read. His other books are to be recommended as well. The Feldman Method is highly recommended. If you come across a copy of the original Creative Selling go ahead and snatch it up. The 90's edition has only two minor changes. One is the chapter of selling 6 million in 6 months. It has now been upgraded to 12 million in 6 months by doubling the dollar amounts. The other difference is the epilogue where Ben takes about 2 paragraphs to mentio the usefulness of computerization in insurance sales, for database purposes, proposals, etc.

The earlier version can be found for substantially less and has word for word the same information.

Another excellent author is John Savage. His books "Savage on Selling", The High Touch and others are must reads. Also include The Kinders "Secrets of Successful Insurance Sales" and you have a good basic library of insurance specific hands on material. Frank Bettger is not to be overlooked either. Add Napoleon Hill's "Think and Grow Rich' and "Laws of Success" and you need not buy much else.

Hope this has been helpful. These books have helped me to go from not even on the roster to Number 1 in our agency of 40+ agents and number 7 in the southeastern region for my company. These books will help you as well. Get them and use them.

I found this book to be filled with lots of valuable information on selling. I've always been a firm believer in learning from the very best, an actual practitioner, in the respective area in which a person wishes to improve. Ben Feldman was the most prolific in the field of insurance sales. But, after reading Creative Selling, I found the tactics that he utilized in selling insurance could be creatively adapted to work in almost any sales field.

Perhaps Ben's most powerful technique is his gambit of speaking to a prospect in headlines, just like those that can be found in a newspaper. In newspapers, the headline grabs the reader's attention. In conversation, Ben would use headline-esqe phrases that involved a prospect's particular problem. That would immediately gain the prospect's attention, a feat in of itself...and would set Ben up to make his pitch.

Ben would never allow himself to be perceived as "selling insurance". Ben would always position himself in the prospect's mind as selling customized packages of solutions. For example, he would say, "I have here special educational package for your children's children." This worked so well, and continues to work today, due to the fact that people always will want something that is specifically for them...or anything they "perceive" to be created specifically for them. All people feel more comfortable buying a product that seems to be a snug solution to their problem, as opposed to a solution that is identical to the ones that the masses use.

I am confident that this book would make a valuable addition to any aspiring sales superstar's library. I recommend it with confidence.

I found this book to be factual along with being extremely easy to understand and comprehend. I wish I had read it 10 years ago I know it would have saved me multiple thousand's of dollars!

I recomend this to anyone that carries even just one credit card so you really learn how the credit card companies make their money off of you.

This book pays for itself over and over again!!!!

This book is a concise overview of credit basics and gives excellent advise for managing it properly. A great primer for those just entering the "credit market" or those who are starting the slippery slope of credit mis-management. It is also a good refresher for those who need another dose of advise on how to properly budget.

I highly recommend it to high school and college kids who are just starting to get the influx of credit card offers. This book gives them useful insight on handling a tool that often gets abused to their great misfortune.

Susan Powell makes good use of teaching by example in her case studies and gives normally dry information in a well thought out, readable manner.

This is a clear, concise, and complete guide to the use of the internet. The book is packed with information applicable to persons at various levels of skill. Following the logical presentation of information, novices should be working confidently on the internet within a short time. As a more advanced user, I was able to strengthen my knowledge of the internet in general. I also picked up many useful tips and the addresses of some useful web sites which I had not previously come across. The style of writing and the layout make "CyberAssistant" especially easy to read.

Business people and hobbyists alike have found the Internet to be a goldmine of a place for buying and selling, marketing and promoting, and for gathering and sharing information. There is much to search for online but not everyone has the time and resources available to conduct adequate research. D.A. Smith-Hemphill has written CyberAssistant: How to Use the Internet to Get More Done in Less Time to help other members of the online community to make the most effective use of the time and resources they do have.

The book focuses primarily upon getting set up with an online account and computer equipment, developing research methodology, and making use of the navigational tools people should be using for their searches. Smith-Hemphill discusses how to search for ISP services, setting up browsers and computer equipment, getting along with others, using search engines, making use of the newsgroups and discussion groups, tapping into specialized databases, and how we should go about looking for information.

Smith-Hemphill takes netiquette seriously and her treatment reflects a high standard of behavior still found lacking online. She points out that because we communicate online electronically, people we interact with know us only by how we communicate with them using a mouse and keyboard. Readers will learn how to make good impressions the first time and every time when replying to e-mail, participating in online discussions, following respectable acceptable use policies, correct spelling and use of grammar, our choice of words, and other proper key strokes.

Search engines play an important role in conducting online research. Smith-Hemphill discusses use of the major search engines that help us find the information we look for. Selection of key words, phrases, and other character strings are among the topics covered. A selection of other helpful Websites will assist readers to track down essential information online and help them develop solid research skills.

One fascinating aspect about this book is worth mentioning. Smith-Hemphill encourages her readers to learn from their online research experiences. The documenting of various research methods, procedures, and other helpful tricks and tips can go a long way to enhance our long-range effectiveness - and careers. This is an important process every member of the online community should learn to do!

The book reads easy and is highly informative. The average business owner, employee, researcher, student, and hobbyist will find it very helpful and easy to follow. This book would make a great addition to any business, classroom, and library environment with online connectivity. This is a great gift idea. Ideal for beginners!

If your life controls you vs. you controlling your life, you need this book. David has definitely created an easy to follow program that is very focused and exciting to follow. Like anything in life, you will need some discipline in order to succeed, but The Daily Seven's exercises make it so much easier. As a Chiropractor and Wellness Coach myself, I strongly recommend this book to anyone interested to live the life that they deserve.

Great job David.

Dr. Hugues Valcourt D.C.

David's book is founded on core principles that will guide you to building a life of consequence and meaning - you will establish daily habits that ensure that your gifts, talents and skills are fully utilised and developed and simultaneously ensure that you build and enrich the relationships with friends and family - an essential purchase for those serious about leaving a personal imprint in this world.