Economic-Life Books

A fascinating read about how emotions affect the choices we make in purchasing decisions. As a designer I used this book to help clarify (or justify) design choices that I always understood to be intrinsically valuable. I can now explain to left brain people why these emotional choices are so valid. Lots of clearly presented information. I enjoyed the illustrations, quotes and little asides that the author included to help explain points about brain science, business and human relationships.

Dan Hill is far ahead of his time. I have read hundreds of books on sales and marketing and have been hard pressed to find solid data around emotions and how they relate to the buying process. When I found this book, I felt like I hit the jackpot. Dan Hill compiled reseach that would take years for any of us to compile on our own. He fills in many of the missing pieces of the puzzle for buying behavior. Emotion is where it is at and Dan Hill is ahead of his time. It pains me to see books out there that don't hold a candle to Mr. Hills work selling thousands more copies. Take it from someone who eats breathes and drinks human motiviation to buy, Mr. Hill has a book chock full of valuable data here to choose from. If you want meat to chew on when reading a great book, it is in this book.

"Engineering the Farm" is a must-read for anyone who eats...like "Against the Grain" (Lappe & Bailey's first book on the issue), "Engineering" explores the issue of agricultural biotechnology. In this book, Bailey & Lappe turn to a dozen or so other experts, each of whom provides a unique perspective on the impact of biotechnology on our lives--physical, environmental, social, ethical, and even spiritual effects which are too often ignored. Pick one up (and then pass it along!)

When it comes to topics like bioengineering, a lot of people publish theses and dissertations or they rant on in a political diatribe. Bailey is the rare exception who knows what she's talking about and makes it interesting. It's a refreshing surprise to come across a writer who has not only the scholarly credentials to do the work, but has the life experiences to draw upon to bring the points home. This is like reading a good novel except the characters are real, the planet is ours and the facts are astounding. This book will keep you not only informed and educated on the subject but it will entertain you as well. Now that's the kind of book we all enjoy reading.

"The entrepreneurial life" is really the best way to think about it and I wish I had found this book back when I was 20 (though it's never too late, of course). The earlier you can get that level of thinking going, the more you can do with it, which is why this book is an invaluable investment for anyone "aspiring" in business, at any stage! This one would make a very important gift idea, too, for the right persons; better than most of what they'll otherwise find in a "college education."

Absolutely GREAT chapters called "Fitting Entrepreneurs into the Right Businesses" and "Leverage, Multipliers, Cookie Cutters, Pyramids and Other Tools for the Entrepreneur." (That's a classic chapter title!)

All of Silver's books are great, but this one is especially good. The other books describe how you can craft a competitive advantage, what he calls "quantum companies." This book describes what is required to become an entrepreneur.

This book is unique in its insight into the life and background of an entrepreneur. In addition it provides a very clear description of the start up of a new company.

A. David Silver is a venture capitalist and has a long experience with entrepreneurs.

Unfortunately this is a 1980's book and it may be difficult to find. After just finding this book I wished I had read it earlier, perhaps with another of his great books on competitive advantage.

This book is one of those that should be rated an 8 on a scale of 1 to 5. If you're an entrepreneur, or want to be, you definitely owe it to yourself (and your spouse) to get this book. You may be surprised.

John Dunbar
Sugar Land, TX

Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of Goods and Services: An Input-Output Approach

I find this book very useful because of the treatment given to the explanation of the concepts and the good examples which showed the application of these concepts. I recommended for those interested in life cycle assessment and its applications.

Professor of the Escuela Colombiana de Ingeniería-Colombia-Sur América

I think this book does a good job explaining the science of lifecycle assessment, including all the math behind those big tables, and has good examples to illustrate the things you're learning about.

This book reports a rare success story in Third World conservation: the rise of grassroots-level forest management in Kumaon, India. In the colonial period, the British tried to stop deforestation by increasingly authoritarian methods. This failed; the local countryfolk, prevented from using their forests for subsistence needs, protested more and more seriously, ultimately resorting to arson. Eventually the British got the message and eased off. Fortunately, the Indian government later built on this perception, and gave more and more management rights to the Kumaonese. They rose to the occasion, and now manage the forests reasonably well. Arun Agrawal uses a Foucauldian approach to analyze the development of local management in an extremely fine-grained, detailed, careful way. The benefit of this approach is that it has stimulated a uniquely thorough and fair ethnography. The cost of this approach is its narrow focus on government and "subjects"--there is no independent assessment of how well the forests are actually doing. One wishes for a biologist's input. Still, any success story, even relative, is welcome these days, and this book will be very useful to anyone interested in comanagement of resources or resource conservation in general. We simply have to involve local people and respect their needs, in every conservation project, and this book is notably good at detailing one way a governmental system actually did that.

Arun Agrawal's book offers a fresh approach to consider how subjectivities change, particularly in terms of how environmentalism happens at an individual and social level. Agrawal borrows from a number of different fields, including anthropology and history, to pursue these questions. His approach differs from several dominant schools that address these issues. One group of scholars, when talking about rural citizens in developing countries, assume that their needs are primarily material and antagonistic to any sense of long-term environmental care. "Environmentalist sensibilities don't make any sense unless their bellies are full" they say. Another group of scholars argues that rural women, because they rely on natural resources for their familiy's daily needs, are actually quite environmentally minded.

Agrawal does not follow either of these approaches, and questions a number of their premises. To carry out his inquiry, Agrawal examines a region in India that was famous for its resistance to British forest protection during the colonial era. This area resisted British authority by lighting hundreds of deliberately set fires. Surprisingly, Agrawal now finds that a number of villages are forming their own community-based groups for forest protection, and he seeks to discover what accounts for these changes.

In his explanation, Agrawal draws on Foucauldian and other post-structural thought, but does so in novel ways. He is trying to examine the process of how subjects change over time, and even over the course of one lifetime. His writing is lively and his analysis is sharp. I highly recommend this book for those interested in social change, social theory, environmentalism, and new interdisciplinary approaches.

Author Mac Anderson is the founder of Successories, Inc., billed as "the leader in designing and marketing products for motivation and recognition." The author here combines the compelling photographs and quotations for which Successories is well known with wisdom from both his extensive business experience and his reading of other leadership gurus.

A good leader, the author says, should "walk the talk; keep it simple and keep it real; celebrate successes; know that courage matters; keep hope alive; take responsibility; develop a 'service attitude'; aim for the heart; and make a difference when wherever" possible.

"If you throw your heart over the fence, the rest will follow," the author says illustrating the virtue of Heartpower. "Don't be afraid to go out on a limb," the author says illustrating the virtue of Risk. "That's where the fruit is." "Integrity does not blow in the wind or change with the tide," the author says in promiting Integrity. "It is the inner image of our true selves."

Other virtues the author promotes are LEADERSHIP ("By the work, one knows the workman," Jean de la Fontaine said), ATTITUDE ("Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference),DISCOVERY ("Leaders are like eagles," said Henry David Thoreau. "They don't flock, you find them one at a time"), GOALS ("Dream big dreams but never forget that realistic short-term goals are the keys to your success"), KINDNESS ("The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or touched," Helen Keller said. "They must be felt in the heart"), OPTIMISM ("Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement," Helen Keller said), VISION ("...The music makers...the dreamers of dreams...are the movers and shakers of the world forever it seems," said Arthur O'Shaughnessy), RECHARGE ("My attitude, my energy, my levels of motivation are directly tied to exercise"), PERSEVERANCE ("Go over, go under, go around, or go through, but never give up"), VALUES ("Things that matter most must never be at the mercy of things that matter least," said Goethe),CULTIVATE ("Pull the weeds. Otherwise the team, just like the garden, cannot grow," said John Murphy), TRUST ("Trust, not technology, is the issue of the decade," said Tom Peters, EXCELLENCE ("Excellence is not an act...It's a habit," said Artistotle), SERVICE ("Service is the lifeblood of any organization. Everything flows from it, and is nourished by it. Customer service is not a department...it's an attitude"), LEADERSHIP ("A leader's job is to look into the future and see the organization, not as it is, but as it should be"), QUALITY ("In the race for quality, there is no finish line,"),FOCUS ("Focus on the critical few, not the insignificant many"), FEELINGS ("You may not remember what someone says or does, but you'll never forget about how they made you feel,"), SUCCESS ("Try not to become a person of success, but rather try to become a person of value," Albert Einstein said), INTEGRITY ("Wisdom is knowing the right path to take. Integrity is taking it"), PASSION ("To love what you do and feel that it matters...How could anything be more fun," said Katherine Graham), and PURPOSE ("Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your father in heaven," said Matthew in the New Testament).

Ideals the author pushes include "aim for the heart;" "develop a service attitude," "think change"; "strive for authenticity;" "take action;" "hre great people;" "expect the unexpected;" "take the inch by inch approach;" "walk a mile in their shoes;" "embrace humor, hope, and optimism;" "reward the gift of imagination;" "manage your energy;" "develop a 'refuse to lose' attitude;" "reinforce core values;" "pull the weeds (among employees);" "create an attitude of ownership;" "make good habits;" "learn from Southwest Airlines (about making customers have fun and feel respected)"; "your customers must come in second (to your employees);" "make your brand stand for something;" "focus on your priorities;" "understand the soft stuff;" "lead with values;" "lead with integrity;" "love what you do;" "make a difference."

The author has written a book to be read quickly, and a book to be reread time and again. The author has written a book to keep, and a book to give away. The author has boiled leadership down to its essence, and created a basis for future thought and research.

It seems there are an unlimited number of books on leadership, and none are either omniscent or indispensable. The author has written a good book to read at the start of leadership responsibilities, and a good book to read when one is enmeshed in leadership responsiblities. The author has made a contribution both to leadership itself, and to aiding in the communication of what leaders do from veteran leaders to newer leaders.

Woodrow Wilson famously said that the more time he had to prepare a speech, the shorter he could make it. With many years in the business of leadership instruction, the author has written a short but comprehensive outline of what leadership is all about in a manner that provokes sustained thought and provides inspiration.

This book deserves a wide audience in business, government, volunteer organization, and non-profits. Wherever leadership is needed and there is doubt as to what leadership entails, this is a book to begin the discussions and help start developing the solutions.

I love the book! It sits on my desk and everyone who walks in, picks up the book. The longer stories are only 2 pages... and someone can digest that in a 5 minute sitting. It is great!
Hope you enjoy,
Joe

The book is just great. It offers great explanation of all the environmental issues being faced in Europe. The usefulness of the book is incredible, even more in a moment like this where sustainability has become a major trend in the entire world. The book introduces and explains with great details all the principles needed in order to understand all what is going on in these times and what we should expect from the coming future.
Moreover, the guarantee provided by the qualified team behind the book lead by Mr. Stanner is another reason to buying the book.

A must have for everyone who is concerned about the issues our planet is facing!!!

This book is one of those books that I call benchmarks. In case you have to search for certain specific issues on the environmental issues of Europe, here is your dictionary. The breakdowns are incredible detailed and interesting. You will be able to find everything from soil pollution to aquaculture...

I really enjoyed reading Exceedingly Abundantly. The book discusses managing your finances with references to verses in the bible. You will learn how to take control of your money and began to live a life of abundance. Add this book to your library.

Linsey Mills
Author of Simply Outrageous

www.simplyoutrageous.org

I enjoyed reading this book. It taught me how to use biblical principles and apply my faith to walk in my debt freedom. It also is packed with so many helpful forms. Very inspiring!

Career Mothers everywhere owe it to themselves to pick up a copy of this book. Execumama is an easy read and a great reference to keep handy when you're feeling overwhelmed. The author lets you know that you're NOT sacrificing your children by purusing your career; that children are not necessarily better off with a stay-at-home Mom as society would like us to believe.

This pocket guide is long overdue. The author describes in detail, the everyday running of being a dedicated mother and a focused executive simultaneously. She wrote about her own and the experience of other professionals (lawyers, etc.) and I could relate to it every step of the way. Mind you, it is not an easy task doing one or the other. Young mothers in particular, should really read this book before and after becoming a mother as this book offers some really great instructions.

This book is great and is a bible for an executive. It defines success in all areas.

I'm so glad that I purchased this publication. It is loaded with helpful management advice! A MUST HAVE for new health care managers who may be overwhelmed by your new position.