Enterprise-Value Books

I read this book after reading Enterprise SOA: Service-Oriented Architecture Best Practices By Dirk Krafzig; Karl Banke; Dirk Slama. That is the best book on SOA in my opinion. So may be I am a little biased, but following are my comments:
1. I found it highly theoretical. It tries to explain a lot of concepts, but does not use practical examples. This is in total contrast to the book I mentioned, which keeps the information interesting and readers can relate to it easily.
2. The case studies sections seem to be done hastily and there is no practical knowledge which you can get from them. They seem to be simple applications of web services. The authors use buzzwords like hub centric architecture etc. to make them look different.
3. Authors use all available opportunities to promote IBM products.

I enjoyed this book and found a lot of valuable information and insight into SOA concepts and issues.

I felt the book was very vague and redundant. However' I've not read another SOA book so perhaps they are all the same. The editing and such seemed good as well. I bought this book to pass IBM exam 664. While I did pass the exam, I think all you need for this objective are the VW003/005 PDF files from IBM, not this book. THE PDFs are far shorter in length and get right to the points you need to pass the exam, without the added fluff that this book has.

Overall, decent book if you know nothing of the subject, but a bit too much padding for IBM664/669

This new book from IBM Press released in October 2005 provides valuable inputs for someone looking for an authentic source to obtain a roadmap on SOA. Having said that, the 11 chapters present only a high level view of the topics. For instance, it clarifies that SOA is Platform, Protocol and Programming language independent. These and other aspects relating to backward and forward compatibility, the Enterprise Service Bus, the On Demand Operating Environment (ODOE) are all compressed into one chapter, Chapter-3 titled "Architecture Elements". Chapter-4 presents the SOA Adoption Roadmap with a brief set of tips for success which make interesting reading. Chapter-4 also takes a look at existing roles in IS projects and redefines some of them and introduces new ones. The UDDI Designer, UDDI Administrator and the Services Governor are new roles that I found interesting. Chapter-5 deals with Analysis and Design of Service layers through abstraction and how to categorize them. Chapter-6 carries the interesting analysis and design discussion forward and states that finding the correct asset to solve the enterprise architechture problem is difficult. The chapter discusses 2 scenarios with pros and cons and consequences of each approach with diagrams that are good.

I found these 4 chapters (3-6) of the 11 the highlights of the book. I am looking forward to delving deeper into SOA architecture from other books. This book provided a good foundation for understanding SOA.

I enjoyed the book. It was well-written in clear language, presenting a concise set of principles for a successful SOA strategy.

This book was an eye-opener for me. It presents SOA as something that you grow into. It described SOA in terms of the business benefits that it leads to, namely agility and flexibility. The authors filled the book with wise advice. It opened my eyes to the path that lay ahead of me.

The authors suggest a close working relationship between business process owners and the technical staff. They claim this is a critical foundation for being able to create services which are indeed flexible and lead to business agility.

The 2 case studies at the end of the book could have included more details.

If you're looking ahead for your own SOA development efforts, definitely pick up this book as you plan projects, evaluate staffing needs, design your architecture, and consider
software purchases.

I bought this book for my collection because it was advertised as containig "twelve full color prints by Thomas Mackenzie".
Sadly, the Mackenzie prints are absent, they are, however, listed in the front of the book under "illustrations", complete with page numbers, just no wonderful Mackenzie prints.
This is the "River City Press 1978 reprint"

James Stephen's Crock of Gold is marvelous, but this instance, a maroon covered paperback with a multi-colored border, is marred by irresponsible use of Optical Character Recognition. Line-ending hyphenations in the original have been ignored, and now are preserved in mid-line, or worse, at line start.

Stephens' "Crock of Gold" is an interesting little amalgam of cosy Irish folktale,Celtic mythology, and the Hero's Quest. What makes it unusual is that, through the course of the book, three different heroes--male and female--undertake separate life-altering journeys. The characters all have interesting eccentricities, and their struggles present different morals of life. The ending, such as it is, is diffuse and you can decide for yourself just what sort of allegory the author intended. A pleasant little tale for bedtime reading.

I picked up The Crock of Gold to read on a whim, and little did I know what I was getting into. I've not read a novel this wonderful in years. I guarantee it's one I'm going to return to over and over, just to revel in its magic.

The plot is loose and whimsical. I don't really know how to describe it. Many strange things happen. A philosopher sparks a crisis when he inadvertently gives away the position of the leprechauns' gold. A young woman is seduced away from home by the god Pan, and the Celtic gods must be sought out to save her. Leprechauns' frame a murder and call in the (non-magical) police. Several people fall in love. Yep, there are fairies and kidnappings and journeys and parables, and none of it is logical, but it all manages to make sense anyway.

The main thing, though, is just that this is such a beautiful book. I read a lot, but nowhere, nowhere have I read prose this beautiful. There is something very edenic about the novel, some sense that Stephens is tapping into an original knowledge of beauty that we all share. The philosopher's journey from knowing about life toward knowing how to live is particularly meaningful. The ending, though abrupt, is startling.

I can't recommend this book too highly.

The soft back edi- tion of this book is full of misedit- ed copy (full of sep- arated text (annoying isn't it?). It also does not have the publication date or a full title page. I wrote a report using the date of 2006 because that was the only date I could find. Lastly, whole portions of text are missing from this edition. My advice, spend the extra money and get a different edition.

I found "The Culture of Contentment" to be a timeless book on the economic and political aspects of American society.

Galbraith's humor is present in the quote on page on 27 regarding the philosophy about cutting taxes for the rich being beneficial for the middle class and poor. "The doctrine that if the horse is fed amply with oats, some will pass through to the road for the sparrows."

Central to the economics of contentment is the general commitment to laissez faire. If the market is left alone(unregulated) all will work out for the best in the end. The author defines laissez faire as an attitude and belief. On free enterprise Mr. Galbraith states- "The free enterprise system fully embraces the right to inflict limitless damage to itself."

Some of Mr. Galbraith's observations on where corporate authority lies- with management rather than stockholders, is shared by David Cay Johnston in "Perfectly Legal", which I read recently. The author expands on that topic on page 55, "As managers have escaped the control of stockholders,they have come increasingly to maximize their own return."

The Chapter "The License for Financial Devastation" reads like it could have been written about the recent financial crisis.

The author brings up the point that pundits seldom discuss the critical view that Adam Smith held of corporations.

History has repeated itself again lately. In the 80s it was the S&L bailout. Today it's the rescue of Wall Street. The authors assessment from more than 15 years ago holds true today; "A preventive role by government was not allowed; eventual government rescue was highly acceptable."

I found his material on the Council of Foreign Relations intriguing. He was a member of the CFR and he viewed that organization and the Trilateral Commission as well as the Bilderberger group as "recreational" organizations with little actual power. "The more purely recreational or rhetorical activities of the foreign policy community count for little in terms of actual change or effect." He also touched on some of the membership and what the qualifications were for membership as well as the reason for founding the CFR.

I enjoyed the book and found that the subject of economics and political aspects of the culture as written by John Kenneth Galbraith was a fast, lively,read. Great book!

Galbraith's argument in this book is that since the end of World War II a larger number of Americans have prospered more and struggled less to make ends meet and their new-found contentment has changed society. These changes are because the contented class will not accept any threat to their prosperity.

I'm not qualified to judge the arguments made but I found the them compelling especially given the recent lassie-faire business and anti-government trends.

One major distraction in the book is Galbraith's unusual writing style. Most sentences are phrased oddly, the result sounding like something Yoda might write.

I read this book when it was first published and I can confidently assert, after reading a very detailed Congressional Budget survey on income growth over the past 20 years, through both the Reagan And Clinton years, and a throrough reading of the culural trends of the past decade that the author stands virtually vindicated. I suppose only a fairly steep recession will persuade the masses, especially those people of whom Professor Galbraith writes of, something's seriously awry today in many spheres of everyday life and only then might prompt serious consideration to bring the regulatory state back in to remedy these glaring problems. So kudos to Professor Galbraith for an extremely prescient piece of social commentary. Only the most devout free market acolytes could miss the significance of its message!

After reading this book I was struck with the profound nature of both the "Economic Accommodation I/II" and "Military Nexus I/II" chapters with regard to the current tax cut proposals and the impending war with Iraq. As Galbraith asserts in Economic Accommodation concerning questionable supply-side tax policy, "it must be emphasized, the required doctrine need not be the subject of serious empirical proof." When, oh when, are we going to realize as an overall society that the 80's boom was a deficit spending trick and the late 90's boom was the product of massive business productivity gains from global expansion after communism, computer/telecom technology and increasing consumer debt (not "the maestro"). As Galbraith points out, the long-term implications of these macro-economic policies are scary, but our culture seems incapable of thinking long-term. The Military Nexus section also makes you wonder about the "War on Terror". A conventional military war on an invisible (or nearly invisible) enemy - Hmmm? Excellent book!

This and all of Galbraith's books are classic. I noticed his books sometimes have gotten rather negative reviews. These seem to come from the same people who will be voting for Pat Buchanan for president. Galbraith is very much a Democrat. His ideas are "liberal". That does not stop him from being one of the most brilliant Economists of the 20th century. The joy of reading his books goes beyond just Gabraith's ideas. In reading his books one gets to know him. He is the sort of writer who lets the reader into his world. Some people may not like what he says. It is hard to take a look at yourself sometimes. Others will cherish his writing.

Although it contains more than its fair share of populist concepts and views it does provide an excellent insight into the expanding role of the CEO. Particularly useful were the comments of leading CEO's at some of the worlds most dynamic companies.

For a real CFO, this one is actually too heavy to read through. As for the practician, although graced with beautiful charts and diagrams, it ain't provide any real beef, either. It is a sample of "anything about nothing and nothing about anything". Vague!

The gang at PricewaterhouseCoopers discusses the chief financial officer's role in the changing corporate landscape. The eCFO is no longer only involved with financial management, but must become an internal venture capitalist, opportunity seeker and risk taker who works closely with the CEO to anticipate trends, recommend new enterprises and manage company investments as a portfolio of financial ventures. The authors draw on in-depth interviews with leading CFOs, case studies, independent research and analysis of the latest best practices. Though charts, bullets and boxes impart a textbook flavor, and the trend material is a little familiar, the book is generally solid and informative. We from getAbstract suggest it to CFOs and CEOs who need that "e" awareness, or to any manager who is trying to drag the boss into the 21st century, or even the 20th.

Having actually been a CFO, I was excited to learn how I might improve on how I do things, challenge any old thinking I had picked up, etc. However, this book says nothing new. In fact, it says almost nothing at all.

PwC has assembled a collection of jargon and case studies that are so high-level as to be of no use. I give it one star instead of zero because the eCFO checklists at the end of each chapter are, in fact, useful in terms of giving you some things to think about -- but you don't need to buy the whole book just for that. Check it out at the library -- better yet, just make photocopies of the checklists.

Is this book also an indication of what you get by hiring PwC consultants?

As its predecessor, CFO: The Architect of the Corporation's Future, eCFO continues PwC's collection of financial masterpieces.

eCFO provides a major turnaround in the finance function for the
21st century. The new CFO profile will demand a series of capabilities in order to lead companies through the e-world. Technical skills no longer suffice; CFOs are to be great visionaries and good communicators/motivators in their new leadership role.

For example, the new finance function has to take into account that budgets no longer work. They inhibit growth and creativity. I particularly liked a comment that said that budgets are an exercise of how small a company wants to be. Instead, the authors suggest using rolling forecasts as an alternative to foster creativity and at the same time control risks/costs.

I highly recommend this book. This is the third book I buy from PwC's finance team: CFO, eCFO and In Search of Shareholder Value.

Hello!

the book is definitely worth having a look into it, although theory clashes with practice a lot of times!

If you are interested in how the big shot i-banks like JP Morgan or Deutsche Bank are valuating companies or if you are preparing for interviews, I might have some valuable insights for you! just drop me a message to sarah_schuebl@yahoo.de

best regards!
Sarah

I have carried out several valuations in real life and am very familiar with the terminology and methods commonly used to valuate a company. This book unfortunately has not meet my expectations at all. It is very confusing and lacks of clear structure, especially when describing the DCF method, WACC and all other valuation key parameters. Extremely dissapointing.

This book meets important needs of buyers, sellers, valuation analysts, and owners of private companies who want to build value in them. Here are just a few of the important functions that the reader will learn:

1. How to apply solid valuation theory. Provides the best treatment of many valuation issues that I have seen. This set of benefits goes far beyond M&A valuation settings.
2. How to value "synergy," which is often discussed but rarely measured accurately.
3. How to avoid mistakes commonly made by buyers, sellers, and valuation analysts.
4. How to value start-up companies, including high-tech ones.
5. How to create and measure value in private companies.

And...the authors communicate their insights and methods very clearly. Most readers will find this book one of the best investments they have made.

This book provides a good overview of how to value a private company in a merger or acquisition. It provides a solid guide on how to do a comprehensive private business valuation but glosses over the details within the various valuation methods.

I'm working on acquisitions of small to medium sized private companies. I found this book to be very practical in going through not just the valuation math, but also the considerations. The book gives a great overview of the whole process, with ideas of how to get more precise with things like Monte Carlo and Real options. On the core pieces, there is a careful step through of multiperiod DCF including terminal value which is very helpful. Also there is a lot of talk about discount rates which I found very helpful.

The book concludes with a thorough valuation example that is adapted from a real transaction. It provides a great way to pull together all of the knowledge in the book.

I'd also recommend "Analysis for Financial Management" in addition to this book, for its in depth treatment of key financial fundamentals, including DCF valuation.

"Strategic alliances are a logical and timely response to intense and rapid changes in economic activity, technology, and globalization, all of which have cast many corporations into two competitive races: one for the world and the other for the future. Globalization opened the race for the world as firms entered once-closed markets and pursued untapped opportunities. The race for the future compels firms to discover new market opportunities, new solutions for customers, new answers to poorly met needs...This book aims to help managers and their companies to be more successful in creating and guiding their strategic alliances. To that end it offers both conceptual and practical tools for analyzing the design and performance of alliances and presents a wide range of examples of both successful and unsuccessful collaborations" (from the Introduction).

In this context, Yves L.Doz and Gary Hamel assume that "two corporations have agreed to work together.They have assessed the value creation potential of their alliance and their own strategic compatibility. And they have decided on a design that promises to enhance collaboration and minimize tension. Everything looks good. Yet the fledgling partners find themselves unable to move from planning to implementation. Why?" Hence, in Chapter 6, after exploring in detail the gaps that separate these corporations from the start, they summarize these gaps as following:

1. Frame Gap: Perspective and definition for understanding the relationship and heuristic gap rules for behaving within it, driving day-to-day interaction.

2. Expectations Gap: Benchmark against which the actual performance (or the strength of early signals alerting to performance difficulties) is to be assessed.

3. Organizational Context Gap: Structure and process for decision making, work, oreganization and performance, and organizational learning may be more or less compatible between partners.

4. Confidence Gap: Self-confidence allows strong personal commitments and personal risk taking in cooperation; lack of confidence makes wholehearted cooperation difficult.

5. Skill Understanding Gap: Need to combine and blend differentiated skills between partners, in particular where process integration is required.

6. Task Definition Gap: Need to define a concrete set of tasks in order to start operational and tangible cooperation.

7. Information Gap: Need to share information.

8. Time Gap: Need to keep balance of costs and benefits in perspective over time, for each partner and between partners.

Hence, they explore how these gaps can be closed. And they say as a common theme runs through their recommendations that "companies should invest in their understanding of the situation and gather intelligence about their partners. They should view the inception of the partner relationship as an opportunity to learn and to improve. This may be more important than blindly rushing into implementation of joint task."

Highly recommended.

This is a very important book which should be owned and used by anyone who is in any way concerned with the process of globalisation. The formation of effective strategic alliances lies at the heart of success as a global organisation or in dealing with global majors, and this book provides a great deal of the 'why' and 'how' of building and maintaining robust and mutually beneficial partnerships and alliances.

In addition, careful reading will provide valuable insights into the nature of competition in today's global market economy (which is vastly different from the underlying market economy theory that still informs much national economic policy). Indeed, it goes to the heart of the practicalities of achieving success in globalisation. It provides equally valuable insights into the nature of leadership in a world of networks, skills that are different in kind from those covered by more traditional authors such as Ulrich in his recent Results-Based Leadership.

The sub-title is The Art of Creating Value through Partnering, and I am sure that the word 'Art' was chosen very deliberately. Partnering decisions are among the most important strategic decisions and organisation can make, and the authors, while offering invaluable tools to assist the decision process, make it very clear that this can be no simple 'tick a box' exercise. They place culture, personal attitudes, vision and motivation and learning at the centre of the preconditions for success.

It is an essentially strategic book, written by two leading strategic thinkers, that also reaches down to the nuts and bolts of working through the why, what and how of successful and enduring partnerships and networks of partnership.

I have to admit I am thoroughly dissappointed by this book and cannot understand the positive reviews it received from several of the other readers, except that they may be academics. If you are somebody who is only interested in the theory and philosophical background of corporate partnerships, this might be the book you are looking for, but if you are, like myself, a practical doer, who is looking for hands-on insight and knowledge on this topic, you will be deeply dissappointed. Also several of the examples of "showcase" alliances, such as Iridium, are not only outdated, but in fact, bankrupt. Very annoying to read about these "great" alliances, that several months after publishing went belly up. To sum it up, for the practical business professionals among you, I suggest you keep on researching on other books in this genre. Unfortunately, since I didn't read yet any other books on this topic, I cannot offer an alternative book advice.

The goal of the book is to help managers and companies to become more successful in creating and guiding strategic alliances. It offers conceptual and practical tools for analysing alliances, whereby the authors use a several examples of successful and unsuccessful partnerships.

The authors describe the purposes of alliances (co-option, cospecialisation, learning and internalisation), compare modern alliances with traditional joint-ventures, value creation in partnerships, and the management (of a web) of alliances.

This book provides a good, solid framework for management of partnerships, which is supported by numerous, clear examples.

This book is disappointing in too many ways. As is often the case with works by Hamel, the ideas are interesting but there is little practical description of how one might implement them. In the time since most of the research was compiled (evidently in the late 1980s and early 1990s), several of the profiled alliances have failed. This is the danger of any business book (viz: In Search of Excellence), but it seems particularly problematic here. Perhaps it's from skepticism borne by all of the Wall Street meltdowns over the past year, but as the book prattles on about this "new" way of doing business, one cant help wonder whether there is any wisdom here, given that Doz and Hamel couldnt seem to separate the successes from the failures. The inclusion of failures (like Iridium) seem all the worse because there are so few alliances covered. By the third chapter, with the umpteenth mention of the GE-SNECMA alliance, I wondered: why not base this book on a little more than five or six case studies? And that's the biggest problem with this book. There is so little material here that even though the text is only about 280 pages, by the third chapter it is getting grossly repetitive; if you make it to chapter seven (which is one of the few good ones), you win a prize.

The textbook arrived on time and it contains multiple finance cases to analyze and discuss in a classroom setting.

This is a great book. However if you want to get the most out of it
1. You need to already know corporate finance- intermediate to advanced level.
2. This book has only cases. Only if they are discussed in a classroom setting, you would be able to learn something.
The extent to which you would learn would depend upon how well the Professor conducts the discussion in the class. I had a great Prof. for this class so I really applied whatever I learn over 3 semesters of finance.

The cases in this book will make one think more than other books in this area.

Case Studies in Finance and its instructors manual are absolutely the BEST of their kind in all the years I've been teaching finance and strategy. Bravo to Bruner! I've never seen an instructor's manual so complete. The At-a-Glance section has been very helpful when structuring a course design. Case Studies in Finance and its supplements are being used by the finance faculty at ESADE Business School, in Spain, as a guide to restructure their first year core finance course in the Full-Time MBA programme.

I bought this book to read outside of a class hoping to read through some really good case studies in finance, and hopefully apply several semesters worth of finance classes to some real world examples. However after receiving the book I realized that these were only cases, not case studies, meant to be discussed in a class. There is almost no content, and college professors would actually be better off building their own cases from current business publications.

The authors used questionnaire-based research to study twelve countries through the lens of seven oppositional pairs (the cultures from the title).

These pairs are:
Universalism vs. Particularism
Analyzing vs. Integrating
Individualism vs. Communitarianism
Inner-Directed vs. Outer-directed Orientation
Time as Sequence vs. Time as Synchronization
Achieved Status vs. Ascribed Status
Equality vs. Hierarchy

They make the point that capitalism is not a choice for or against but a range of behaviours made up of a multiplicity of choices. Using their grid and research data, they position various countries on this range.

As someone who works and lives in a country where I was not born, I found the book a very useful frame for looking at my adopted work environment.

I really call this 4.5 stars, the -.5 is because sections of it are much more dated than others and there are places where I think the tone of the book is lessened by the authors' temptation to give in and make value judgements.

I borrowed this book from the local public library after a recommendation by an international business expert who has dealt significantly with Japan. I personally am an American ex-management consultant, Kellogg MBA, and now work in an international business capacity for a foreign government, one of the seven cultures studied by the authors. First off, I will say that this book does offer value; the study findings and cultural insights are extremely useful, even ten years later. However, I found the book absolutely frustrating in its arrogance and leaps of logic, taking the micro-level findings of the research to try to explain macroeconomics of the time. Since I found no dissenting voices on the Internet regarding this book, I felt compelled to offer a different perspective.

If you read this book, you would not expect US GDP to outgrow Japanese GDP in real terms EVERY SINGLE YEAR OF THE TEN YEARS SINCE THE BOOK WAS PUBLISHED in 1993, which was exactly what happened. The authors seem to have taken advantage of the alarmist environment of Western management circles at the time to take pot shots at Adam Smith, Michael Porter, business schools, economics, financial analysis, management consultants, lawyers, etc. You would think that the American way of doing business logically, factually, and rationally is inherently flawed. The authors do not take their own prescription to "bring seemingly opposed values into balance", but rather extoll the virtues of the opposing value while dismissing the "Anglo-American" value to obsolescence.

Indeed, it is the convenient neglect of American-style fact-based analysis that may be the fundamental flaw of this book. The authors take very little data to make broad, sweeping conclusions. One laughable passage on page 37 asserted that one reason the Japanese may prefer to locate many of their plants in the South is that Americans there tend to take more time to converse informally before proceeding to business discussions. Never mind right-to-work laws, state economic development incentives, and the opportunity to build on a clean slate in the South -- Japanese motivations can be monolithically explained by culture, if you ask Turner and Trompenaars. (I am certain the Japanese do their fair share of fact-based analysis.)

READ THIS BOOK, but take it with a grain of salt. The study facts and cultural insights are essential, but the authors' larger extrapolations are dangerous and could be discredited by what has transpired since the book was published. Americans can and must benefit by learning from other cultures, adapt their strengths to new environments, and assimilate ideas that might at first be uncomfortable. But do not throw away all Anglo-American values so readily. The irony that this book is out-of-print while "Wealth of Nations" remains after 227 years suggests that Smith's invisible hand exists to strangle those who make feeble arguments against it.

This book examines a number of different countries and the priorities that shape them. While different cultures may all share the same values - be honest, treat your friends well, etc - what is telling is how different cultures *prioritize*.

For example, if you are in a situation where you see your friend at fault in a car accident, and you are called upon to testify, what do you do? While Americans tend to value truth-telling over loyalty to friends, Asians tend to value loyalty to friends over truth-telling. Both choices are shocking to the opposite: "How can you lie like that?" vs. "How can you let your friend down like that?"

This book looks at a number of cultures and how they differ. It's a fascinating read, and has changed how I look at the world.

Helped me understand why the US focus on COST while Europe focuses on VALUE and why I was finding it tough in Sweden! Great Book!

Though this book was first published in 1993, it is still every bit as relevant and interesting today. In this book, the authors examine the values and cultural habits of seven major capitalist countries (the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Sweden and the Netherlands), and examines how their cultural differences has given to each an entirely different capitalist system. After first explaining how the differences were quantified, the authors then examine these cultures, giving the reader an in-depth understanding of how each country's culture (and as such, capitalist system) works, and how it produces wealth.

I found this to be an absolutely fascinating book. I was always aware of the cultural differences between various countries, but this book did an excellent job of defining those differences, and showing how they affect the way that the country does business. If you are interested in any of these seven countries, or interested in international business, then I highly recommend this book to you.

I really enjoyed this book. I have been dealing with fear in coming to grips with a terminal illness. This book helped me to realize that I am not the only one who is dealing with fear and that God can use any of us in any situation. To be able to relate fear to the Old Testiment and see how they handled the struggles helped to increase my faith and make my walk with Jesus that much more strong. Thank you for writing such a wonderful book.

When it comes to an instruction book on how to life on this earth, the Bible is it. Whether we're looking for answers regarding how we should live our lives, where we should spend our money or how to deal with fear, the Bible should always be our ultimate resource. Robert L. Simpkins does an excellent job of showcasing the many examples within the Old Testament of various followers of God and how they faced fear head-on. When you realize that you're not alone--that great men of God like David, Isaiah, Noah, and others faced similar situations--there's power in that. I found Simpkins' book well-written and well organized (and I couldn't find any grammatical or spelling errors on the back cover).

I picked up this book because I struggle with fear. A book which described how to overcome one's fears by exploring the lives of Old Testament characters seemed interesting. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. The content is so-so. It seems more like a summary of the Old Testament than an exploration into God's power to overcome fear. "David was afraid, but he trusted God." Yes, that's true, however I was hoping for a bit more depth. The author seems to be writing more to non-Christians than to Christians. Perhaps that was the intent, but the back cover lead me to believe otherwise. What troubled me more than the content was the editing. There is a grammatical error on the back cover of the book. Beyond that, I could spend hours discussing the poor grammar, misplaced punctuation, and numerous typographical errors. Does Tate Publishing actually provide the editorial services they claim on their website? I appreciate a Christian publishing house providing an avenue for little-known Christian authors to publish their works, but shouldn't they edit them first? I could also write an essay on how this reflects on the Christian community as a whole, but I digress.
My point? If you're looking for a book that will assist you in overcoming your fears with the help of God, I encourage you to look elsewhere. If you're interested in an overview of the Old Testament, this is a good resource.

This is a wonderful-I hadn't heard of it before we needed to read it to our 3rd Graders! They absolutley loved the book! It arrived quickly and in great condition!

This book teaches kids the value of hard work and that it can be very rewarding. It's also a "kids against the system" type thing which most kids tend to love because that's the way they feel themselves. I read this book when I was in grade 2 and I thought it was great! It was pretty origanal and had great characters that kids can identify with. I am 16 years old but I know that kids would find it interesting.

Partner, the Police Department horse, was getting ready to be retired, but the plans being made for his retirement were not positive. He was going to be sold to a food company! The third graders in Mrs. Bilgore's class were not going to let this happen. They had to somehow raise money to save him so he could go to a wonderful farm with a pasture where he could enjoy himself.
This is a cute story of children working together for a good cause. There is teamwork and cooperation involved and sometimes sacrifice. The students learn that they can do something for this horse without the help of adults. They work together, use all of their individual talents and even surprise themselves at how well they work as a team.