Enterprise Books

I just read Dr Butler's book and the title is accurate. It is a 2 hour read that doesn't even seem like you're reading an economics text. It has well distilled insights into how markets work and why they are a good thing, and these are couched in colourful examples from Butler's real life experience. I highly recommend this book to anyone who would like to appreciate the market in a way that much more laborious treatments fail to do.

Witty and gripping. Butler's penetrating gaze includes fair trade, black markets, and equity. He believes that when markets are allowed to work without government interference but within the framework of just laws they can create "a richer, freer and more peaceful world".

Eamonn Butler, Director of the Adam Smith Institute, has a wonderful ability to express the fundamentals of economics and exchange in ways that lay readers can understand and enjoy - and empathise. This ability combines with an essential technique - to start at the beginning! The path from a single deal between two consenting people (possibly in different countries) to large-scale free enterprise, is a simple continuum. Requiring only the freedom to associate, at every point participants are free to exchange - or not - and the choice may or may not be made with regard to ancillary matters such as specialist advice and contracts. Thus Dr Butler starts with a visit to a street market in Lanzhou, China, and ends (or nearly ends) in discussing multi-national companies. On the way, he covers most of the important consequences of this freedom; for example specialisation and exchange, (to the point where exchange is the fundamental social relation) money, the informative role of prices, and capital accumulation.


Dr Butler is (among other things) a proper economist. By this I mean he has no time for the Keynesian macro-economics churned out by most universities; markets, and life itself, are never in equilibrium, so why build up a "science" on the assumption that they are? There is no Utopia; it's just that markets and freedom from governments are much nearer to it, adjusting constantly in their quests to do better. As he says, "the free-exchange system [markets] has an uncanny power to steer the right resources to the right place at the right time". "Unorganised order", he calls it. In contrast government is working in a vacuum; its operations are based on whims not price signals, and it torpedoes markets whenever it can (starting with money, where "governments manage to make paper completely worthless by printing pictures of dead presidents on it").


Dr Butler rightly castigates big government as the arch-enemy of markets, censoring them and their miraculous signals at every turn. Yet the failure of government projects is an endemic feature, while their perpetrators sing the "market failure" mantra at every opportunity - nowhere more loudly than on the environment, where as Dr Butler points out, markets don't exist.


He might have added "because they were nationalised". But elaborating on that takes time and space, whilst a major feature of this wonderful little book is that it is, well, little; you can read it in one sitting - although many readers will use it as a handy reference as well.


The book is similarly succinct in addressing government regulation of business. Often deliberately sought as a means of protection from competition, this practice is rife and provides government with a scapegoat when things go wrong. (A thorough nailing of this issue and its true causes is long overdue.)


Dr Butler has touched on scores of other matters which are best dealt with by markets not governments - the benefits of competition, prices as messengers, transaction costs, externalities, (where tax itself remains the supreme externality) patents, licences, entrepreneurs (as opposed to "experts") the crucial role of property, and the essential morality of free markets. (Enforced behaviour has no moral component, of course, and in any case charities are within the free market rather than outside it.)


Definitely the best book on the market that's on the market!

I haven't finished this book yet, but for me it actually IS "the best book on the market." I am no economist, but I have read Sowell's "Basic Economics, and Hazlitt, as well as large helpings of Ludwig von Mises and Hayek. All of these people wrote excellent books, but this particular minor classic rises to the status of a classic because of the author's very dry sense of humor, and also because of his excellent use of comparisons.

These things are not what comes "easily," or "naturally." My favorite comparison (so far) is with the old-fashioned cars which actually had a temperature gauge rising from the engine so you could tell when the engine was overheating. A dissatisfied customer complained that his gauge always read "hot." The author's father "fixed" the problem by soldering some gears in the gauge together, so that it would always read "normal."

Bad fix -- worse than a kluge. What happens when the engine actually boils over?

This "bad fix" is compared to ALL government attempts to regulate prices. They ALWAYS fail and they are ALWAYS a bad idea. It's just like soldering the gears together.

As one of a billion examples, during the recent tsunami in Thailand, the then Prime Minister came out with a bold speech promising to punish those who were "profiteering" from the catastrophe, and fixing all prices in the area of the tsunami. Could anybody think of a surer way to ensure starvation in that area? Of course, this being Thailand, it is highly probable that everyone overlooked the Big Speech.

I also particularly enjoyed the author's selection of Princess Diana's death as an illustration of the efficiency of the price system. The price of flowers in London went through the roof, and this information instantly reached flower wholesalers on the Continent, and shortly reached Kenya -- which instantly began to send more flowers to satisfy the overwhelming demand. As the author points out, in a centrally-planned economy, it would have taken at least a week for the current report on the "Flower Situation" to hit the desk of the appropriate minister, and at least a month for the Ministry of Flowers to do anything about it.

A classic book! (And I don't say that lightly.)

I think Dr Butler has penned an excellent, succinct and effective introduction to the case for liberal, free markets. It is particularly effective for anyone who has not encountered these arguments before, because it is fair, jargon-free and resists the temptation to ram home the ideologial message too hard.

It covers all the main bases well. If I have a tiny quibble, I would argue that on complex issues such as patents, copyright and limited liability companies, it might have been useful to explain that even among ardent free marketeers, there is a lot of debate on whether, for example, patents are either justified or right.

But that is a minor point. This book ranks alongside such works as Basic Economics by Tom Sowell, Free To Choose by Milton Friedman and Economics In One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt as a superb introduction to the field. It can be read easily in an hour or so. It should be on the reading list of young students interested in business and might help to counter a lot of lazy, statist thinking.

Bound on Earth is an excellent read. The characters authenticity made each of their stories very compelling to read. The book takes a unique approach of looking at similar stories through different perspectives which makes the characters more life-like and real. Once you begin this book you will have a hard time putting it down. I look forward to reading Angela's next book.

Hallstrom has written a moving and believable character study of the fictional Palmer family. The chapters, told in turns by different family members at different times, explore what it means in the here and now for a family to be "bound" to each other. The family's [Mormon] religion informs every aspect of their lives, but the book neither preaches nor apologizes for the specificity of their world view.

The book is slight and an easy read, at just under 200 pages, but now days after finishing I can't get the characters -- these ordinary, very flawed people -- out of my head. They feel very real to me. I like that.

With honest, lucid prose, Hallstrom offers the best, most real, picture of contemporary Mormon life I've seen. It is a moving multi-generational story of one family drawing together through all their trials and foibles. Rather than centering her story on conversions, Hallstrom centers it on endurance. The complex, well-realized characters do not find simplistic answers to deeply troubling challenges; instead, there is often just simple, daily, difficult faith. They earn our compassion and teach us much about how to live well as flawed humans in a flawed world. Hallstrom gives us all this in just under 200 pages of tightly focused moments, deftly shifting from one time and perspective to another. This quietly affecting family portrait left me more compassionate toward myself and those I am bound to.

Minor quibble with an earlier reviewer: the character does not nearly succomb, he recognizes and parries.

Bound on Earth is the best, most finely crafted novel featuring complex, fully-rendered Mormon characters to date. Many have tried, but Hallstrom got it right. My copy of Bound on Earth takes its place proudly next to the works of Anne Tyler and Barbara Kingsolver on my bookshelf.

When I finished the first chapter, I loved this book. Beth is struggling through Thanksgiving with her family after just leaving her husband who suffers from Bipolar disorder and quit taking his medication. By its middle, I had changed my mind. Tina seemed to be every character in a Jack Weyland novel. She does bad things and bad things happen to her. As I turned the last page, I loved it again. Wait a minute. This is it. These are the stories of families trying. Some of their tales are quite extraordinary.

I don't generally read much LDS fiction. I find the stories usually a bit too tidy and my most important qualifier for really good literature is that it be honest. A lot of time, LDS fiction can be fluffy. Yes, there is usually some necessary conflict that involves the bad character doing bad things. By its end, however, the punishment usually fits the crime and when a miracle is in order, it rarely fails to show up.

I saw a recommendation for this book on Blog Segullah and it got such rave reviews from some seemingly picky readers that I requested it from my library. It's brand new and I was the very first person to check it out. If you consider where I live and what kind of book it is, you'll agree that it was a special moment.

At just under 200 pages, this is the kind of book you can easily read in a day or two. I started it last night and have had a hard time putting it down. Bound on Earth follows the Palmer family through many generations, although not chronologically. The chapters bounce around in time and between family members, a writing technique I'm not always super fond of. Part of me thinks it's a shortcut, to eliminate the tricky transitions that progress a plot. But I also admit that as a reader, it can work well to experience multiple first hand narratives; it makes it much easier to get the "BIG" picture. And this is a book that is all about the big picture.

What is marriage? What is family? How do they survive? Do our trials break us apart or bind us together? Hallstrom doesn't cut corners with heartache. The situations she puts her characters in are vividly real, so real that I felt like I knew these people. I do know them. They just have different names.

If you're wary of LDS literature, give this a try. If you are looking for a great book to read with your ward bookgroup, this is your book. Or if you simply want to discover some great characters that you feel sad to part with at the end...read it. It's legitimately good.

I AM VERY PLEASED WITH MY BOOK AND HOW FAST IT CAME TO ME. I RECCOMMEND THIS ITEM TO EVERYONE.

This book Is original,and It makes everyone feel they have a chance regardless of their situation.

Having seen Dr. Randal Pinkett's impressive performance on "The Apprentice," I was naturally curious about his appearance recently on a television program. (I forget which one.) He was promoting his book "Campus CEO: The Student Entrepreneur's Guide to Launching a Multimillion Dollar Business." Since I need all the help I can get when it comes to building a business, I ordered the book, simply on the strength of my impression of him from "The Apprentice." He seemed like one of the few contestants on that show who ever really listened to other people. He was genuinely interested in where the other person was coming from.

Having received the book, I can say that it is by far the best nuts and bolts start-up business building book that I've ever read. And, since I have such a very powerful offering myself, I need a great deal of help to harness and unleash its power, and so I've read a great deal of books to help me along my path.

Dr. Pinkett's book is filed with vital best practices, some of which I'd already completed, and thus I can say it's just spot on about what to do, in very concrete terms to make a big difference with people who are your clients, and to do so in a way that is profitable. It is filled with both practical and scholarly references so that one can find more in-depth information on just about any of his topics if one should so choose.

I can not recommend this book highly enough for anyone who does not have an MBA and who wants the next best thing.

Sincerely,
José Angel Santana, Ph.D.

"The final frontier may be human relationships, one person to another."
-- Buzz Aldrin, Astronaut

This book is FABULOUS! I am just starting my first business and this book is full of suggestions and strategies on how to make your business a success. He speaks a lot about his own venture, which he started in college, and it got to be the multi-million dollar business it is today. I think the best part about the book is that he gives links and references on where you can put some of his suggestions into action, like finding a mentor, or applying for grants. Of course the book does give info specifcally for students, ie. expanding your business by leveraging one's professors. Overall, the book was great, highly recommend.

I found this book to be a relatively fast and easy read. First and foremost, Pinkett does a great job of instilling entreprenurial confidence in his student readers. Beyond that, the author ties in his own past experiences well with each chapter. This real world dialog greatly aids in the books overall credibility. While the book does not provide all answers, it does not attempt to. Pinkett gives just enough information to get the reader's wheels turning. From there, the entrepreneur within is supposed to take over. While the contents of the book apply to all business enterprises, the author does a good job of really hammering home the unique opportunities young student entrepreneurs hold (particularly in the later chapters). For aspiring campus start-ups, I would recommend a combination of both Campus CEO and a more comprehensive entreprenurial MBA style of book.

Careerpreneurs packs in lessons from leading female entrepreneurs on how to build a career, and will provide many aspiring women with the voices and experiences of other pioneers who have left corporate life to seek fulfillment in their own business or in their own way. From networking to negotiation, this covers many different types of careers and strategies.

Finding a method of being a mother first and working to provide income rather than slaving to provide a meager income and also having children would be useful to most women (and probably favored by men). As yet, the priority problem between children and working has been solved by so few except those who can afford child care and cleaning help, that most of women's entrepreneurship - including professional employment - is lost in translation! Hopefully this book can help. For men to conclude that women are more than women-children would also help despite the fact that most don't want to be men, contrary to Freud, and those that fantasize over him and his views.

I read Dr. Moore's book a year ago as I started my business as a female entrepreneur, and now a year later I re-read it- and find all the lessons even more relevant and helpful. Any woman considering starting her own business should read this book several times. I have learned quite a bit over the last year, and Dr. Moore's book tremendously helped reduce my learning curve (not that it's been easy).

As a self- employed consultant focusing on women's leadership, I have found especially useful the author's pointers on negotiation, how to invest my time, and how to make the most of my networking resources. Her real-life examples and advice from successful female entrepreneurs and their stories is most inspiring and a continuing source of strength for me. My business has continued to grow, and I truly appreciate the opportunity to have learned from the other entrepreneurial women in this book.

Anyone who aspires to be a successful entrepreneur will find this book is definitely a "must read." From cover to cover, it is full of useful frameworks and wonderful quotes from some of the most successful women entrepreneurs in America. Through careful distillation of focused interviews, Dorothy Perrin Moore has captured the essence of the best advice these savvy business women have to offer.

A favorite chapter is the one on networking. It provides great examples of how these women entrepreneurs have gone about building the networks of contacts that have been a key to their success. The chapter on leadership offers terrific insight into developing an effective leadership style and making the transition to leader. The chapter on negotiation provides crucial advice about critical bargaining skills. There is much more to love in this insightful book.

The anecdotes and quotes are integrated throughout, making this book a particularly fascinating read for anyone involved in the business world.

Dorothy Moore"s Carerrpreneurs is a must read for women who want to succeed in today's business world. Its clear format and well organized style makes it a pleasure to read. I especially liked the self-assessment tool. I'm a Human Resource Consultant for a major corporation and would recommend this book to women at all stages of their careers. I found the practical wisdom expressed in these successful women's own words to be enlightening and inspirational. A great read!

Mary Kirtland has written a terrific resource for those who wish to know more (i.e. go from basic to advanced) on how to program with COM and MTS. I found the example code (and companion CD-ROM) very useful and relatively bug free. Some of the chapters include:

Windows DNA (now .NET)

COM (101)

Data Access Fundamentals

MTS

ASP

Extending MTS

Application Definition and Modeling

Building Data/Business Objects

Packaging

Building the Presentation Layer

Debugging and Troubleshooting (an excellent chapter on a tricky subject)

Performance Validation

Deploying

Extending the Application

COM+ (pretty good for when this was written, it is time to update the book with the latest and greatest, however).

Most of the information here is still relevant, especially to those with a smattering of COM or MTS under their belt and are hungry for more. Everything is wrapped up well with a comprehensive index. Well worth the purchase price. Definitely a must along with "Programming Distributed Apps with MS COM+ and MS VB."

This book does a good job of explaining the COM standard from the ground up. The first third is devoted to COM. The rest of the book is an overview of building an enterprise application from the ground up using Microsoft technologies.

I used this book as my primary reference in preparing for the new Analyzing Requirements exam (70-100) in the new MCSD track based on the recommendation of someone I know that passed the beta. It may not be listed as a study guide for the test, but it is far better than the Syngress or Sybex study guide for that test. (They were both fairly useless.)

This is an excellent overview of Microsoft's DNA and the technologies that make up DNA. The pieces of the DNA puzzle are clearly defined individually and the way they relate to the others. The Island Hopper application sample (maintained up-to-date on MSDN) is a great hands-on intro to the topic. The amount of coverage on topics like COM, MTS, MSMQ, etc. is just right: technically deep enough to help you understand the concepts, short enough to prevent you from shifting your focus from the architecture to technologies contributing to the architecture.

You may try to surf Microsoft's DNA pages to understand the topic (and potentially get lost in the amount of links that span hundreds of different Microsoft technologies) or get this "one" book to really understand what Mr. Gates is talking about for the last couple of years.

After being confused by multiple books on Windows DNA I was very happy to see a book that actually showed and an entire application which utilized this technology. Part I of the book offers a very concise explanation of MTS and COM without getting too deep into the subjects. Part II showed examples of components that the sample project utilized. I enjoyed the fact that the author used both VB and VC++ in her examples. Beyond the examples, the author also offered very good insight into component design and tool selection. It was enough to get you up to speed so that you can look into deeper books on the subject.

Everyone always draws the same n-tier diagram and says they are going to build a scalable, MAINTANABLE solution.

This book actually provides a blueprint, not the 30,000 ft view.

At my job, we call it "The Good Book"

Gee Jae Arnold has written a wonderful book relating to the hurts that we all experience, the hurts that we inflict upon others, sometimes intentionally but often unintentionally, and how we can get beyond the pain to healing and wholeness. We've all experienced the condition that she describes as "dropped," i.e., that unpleasant feeling resulting from being let down, dissappointed, betrayed, disrespected, having our rights trampled on or our physical or emotional well-being injured by the actions or inactions of others, including by those who are supposed to love and protect us. The good news is that we can all experience the healing that comes from forgiveness and reconciliation. We can choose to respond to being dropped, not out of our pain, but out of the strength of our relationship with a living God who loves us.

The author does a great job of analyzing this condition, this state of being dropped. She attributes this to a common human condition, what the Bible calls sin. She gives honest and moving accounts of her own experiences--her struggles, victories, failures and hurts--involving some of her closest relationships, showing that she is writing from more than intellectual curiosity or theoretical analysis, but from her own life.

If I have any criticism, it would be that summing up the condition of being "dropped" as "sin" may be a little too simplistic. In addition, the writing gets a little bogged down in the middle as Ms. Arnold seeks to demonstrate, by summarizing various Biblical narratives, that this "dropped" condition permeates the relationships chronicled in the Bible. This section may not be as interesting to those who are familiar with the Biblical accounts. But the book picks up again with a very clear and compelling presentation of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

All in all, this is a good and timely book, well-written with valuable insight into the human condition, and resting on the timeless truths of God's Word. I highly recommend it.

This book touched a part of everyone's heart that sometimes they don't like to think about. We all feel this way, but no one ever talks about it. This is an amazing book that addresses issues of the heart that stem from the past, but can be carried into the present, and even the future. It shows the reader how to identify these conditions, and how to deal with them. The author bares her soul, and shares with us a part of her that most people would bury, and never reveal to anyone. I LOVE THIS BOOK!!!

Great!It is a dynamic, inspirational to book to read, especially, if you are trying to grasp the concept of your purpose for living in this kaotic world. Where people go around dropping others without a reason.

Excellent book. Well written. Reaches out to the need for a higher being in all of us. Answers some of those questions that we thought were answered by society, but actually were not until now. Thoughtful and provocative.

Ms. Arnold is a very intuitive and intelligent person. Keep advising us, we need it.

Dropped answers the 4 basic questions we have in life:

Who I am? We are all products of our home environments. As children we watch our parents/partners interact with each other. It is through them that we learn how to treat others. If we were mistreated, abused or neglected as children, it may seem normal to us because this all we know. We have no other yardstick by which to measure if "everybody else" goes through what we are experiencing. We grow up, date, marry, have children without the slightest inkling of what "sharing/showing love is about". It cripples us even further emotionally. I personally learned that there is no such thing as "normal" and that we are all dysfunctional to some extent.


Why am I like this? We are like we are because deep inside we wish to retain some sense of control over our destiny. We learn to show love or withhold love as a bargaining chip with our friends, family members and eventually the person we marry. If we are pleased, we grant you the gift of our love, emotional closeness or affections. If we are displeased we punish by "withholding" our love, our affection our emotions and generally making life miserable for others We can be held prisoner by our pasts, holding on to them to "protect" ourselves from further hurt, not knowing that we are actually imprisoning ourselves even more because we are afraid of being dropped. The situation perpetuates itself because we are too self-righteous in our feeling of being dropped to want to change. We choose not to realize that we have also dropped others. We have not learned at this point in our lives that Jesus came to set the captives (us) free.

Where am I going? By this point in our lives we have begun to mature and realize that something is really wrong with us emotionally. We realize that in our quest to make things right within ourselves we have dropped other people and learn that hurt people hurt other people. We come to Christ and eventually accept Him as our Lord and Savior and he slowly begins to change our hearts from within. We ask Him to break and mold us and to spiritually rebirth us and we begin to learn the importance of giving ourselves to Him, surrendering our heart to him and He begins to work in us. We begin to hunger and thirst for His word and strive to be like Him. We then seek and find a Church home and begin to attend and pray and fully embrace our spirituality.

And if we are Christians how can I make this life better? We learn that for everything we experience in life, Jesus has experienced it also. We learn that for every situation there is a word of comfort in the Word. We learn that when we say I can't, Jesus says I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. We learn that when we say I am afraid of...Jesus says The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life of whom shall I be afraid? When we are angry and want to strike out because we feel we have been dropped, Jesus says Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgives you. When we are faced with temptation, whatever our temptation is, Jesus says because He himself suffered when he was tempted he is able to help those who are being tempted. When we feel that life is unfair and we are being given an unfair share of life's "downs" Jesus says a righteous man may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all.
"Dropped" is a must-read for every person who diligently seeks positive changes in his or her life based on God's principles.
M.Hawkins, Long Island, NY

This is a very interesting and entertaining book. It blends history with theoritical future, Christianinty with non-Christianity. This is not a religious book but rather a book of mystery, adventure and intrigue. It is well written and keeps you interested to the very end and beyond.

I have seen this book compared to Harry Potter and other literary classics, but AR (Tony) Horvath's book FIDELIS, is in a class by itself. From the very begining to the end, this book makes you think, and also keeps you guessing. There are some bits of flashback to set up the story, and as you delve deeper into the story, you realize why an event took place... and again it makes you think!

Twists and turns on every page, filled with an interesting array of characters, each with their own story and tale. I can only look forward with anticipation on the next installment. This is the kind of wait as when JR had been shot on Dallas, in the 1980's and kept America talking for an entire summer about "Who Shot JR". Well I know I will be talking with my friends over the summer to ask some of those same type of questions! I will not divulge anything here, as I do not want to spoil it for you... But it will definately keep you guessing!

I would not be surprised if Hollywood came knocking in the next few months, and unlike Harry Potter, this story takes place right here at home... most likely in the not too distant future.

Fidelis is the best speculative fiction I have read since the early 80's. Reminiscent of Heinlein's writings with the skills of a master wordsmith, A.R. Horvath has created an amazing world and looks to a possible future that is dark and brooding. He creates a world in which the United States has entered a second dark ages after a military defeat. The writing is superb, the characters believable and engaging. As you read you become transported into the events by Horvath's skill with the pen for he draws you in and captivates you. His storytelling is masterful.

We follow Fides as he goes from being a young man trying to look after his family and working as a skilled laborer to being a warrior serving a cause greater than any he could have imagined. As he journeys across the remnants of America he journeys into a faith he never dreamed of nor wanted. The book deals with big questions: faith, doubt, manhood, integrity, purpose in life, bravery and above all else, truth. It does so in a futuristic setting, however is written in such a way that the characters as they struggle with these issues seem to be real, not just a story for entertainment but a story to help us learn to ask the right questions in life.

This book has been compared to Stephen King's The Dark Tower, or as a cross between it and the Left Behind books by LeHaye and Jenkins. However, to me it is more similar to C.S. Lewis's The Dark Tower or a darker version of Lewis's space trilogy. It also reads much like James Axler's Deathlands yet with more depth. Reading Horvath is like reading science fiction by Asimov, Bester or Heinlein, with the narrative power and creativity of C.S. Lewis or J.R.R. Tolkien. It also contains strong military themes like those found in Piers Anthony's Bio of a Space Tyrant, Orson Scott Card's Ender Series or Lois McMaster Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan books. This book is an amazing work of fiction. Both the writing style, and story itself will captivate and enthrall. This book is moving to my all time favorites list and it will take something pretty awesome to knock it down a notch on that list. So pick up the book and join Fides on his journey, both across a continent and into faith, and you too may be challenged to look inside and find the strength to struggle with faith and to ask yourself the tough questions. I for one eagerly anticipate the rest of the books to come in this new series.

Fidelis is the first book in the Birthpangs series by A.R. Hovath. If you have ever read the Left Behind series or Stephen King's The Dark Tower series you will fall in love with this book. I could hardly stop reading it and have been reccomending it to everyone I know. I plan to give this for birthdays and Christmas until the next book comes out.
You follow the journey of Fides through the post-apocalyptic areas of the Americas. If you liked the premise of Left Behind but didn't like how it was so in-your-face about Christianity, then you will really enjoy this book. It gives you ideas of Christianity without telling you how to think and act. It gives you a foundation on which to build your own oppinions.
This book makes for great discussions and arguments on what humanity is and what it should be. It makes you think about your life and actions. This would be great for book clubs or discussion groups.

I bought and read Fidelis on the recommendation of the author (based on a comment/posting he had here on Amazon). The premise of the book - one man's journey through a post-(near)apocalyptic America with a view of learning more about God - is hugely interesting. The story itself moves along well and keeps a reader involved, for a while. And then you realize Mr. Horvath's ideas are great but that his writing skills need to...mature. I was left wondering over and over if Mr. Horvath had an editor. If so, he paid them too much for what he got. Except for a couple of main characters, Mr. Horvath introduces at least a few dozen other characters with names and nothing else. There is a huge journey across America, meeting more and more characters, each with less character development than the one before. The journey itself becomes monotonous, repetitious, unbelievable and finally, uninteresting.

You expect a book, even if the book is part of a series, to tell a complete story. This is the biggest failure of Fidelis in my opinion. Other reviews mention Left Behind, Dark Tower, Harry Potter, etc. series in comparison. Each book in each of those series are individual books that can stand alone but fit hand-in-hand with the series. Fidelis cannot stand alone. Horvath blends in mystery, intrigue, and questions throughout the book but in the end he doesn't answer a single question, he doesn't solve any of his mysteries. Maybe he thinks that will sell more of the 2nd book but I think that is unlikely. Why? Because the reader isn't invested in the characters and certainly isn't invested in the story because, in the end, you don't really know what the story is. One of the 2 main characters has mysteriously disappeared (no doubt to show up in later books) and Fides is simply not a strong enough lead character to make a reader want to start another book simply to learn nothing.

I really wanted to like this book. Really. But it became painfully clear that it would not end well and it didn't. How many major novels end with "to be continued"? Only when you have wrapped up most of your storylines and have an epic story to continue does that work well. With so may open storylines, the next books will only be useful if they can be read back to back to back. The epic story may continue but the reader will have forgotten all the threads that had been started in Fidelis and if they are wrapped up in book #2 or #3 or whenever, they won't mean much.

I wish Mr. Horvath great success with the rest of the series but I doubt the readers will ever see seven books unless the next ones are better written and edited to stand alone as even a series book should.

what are the ideal set of properties that effective market segmentation should possess. Why this element are necessary in global marketing process.

This update edition offers the best insight into various aspects of the Asian financial crisis and how Asian companies are developing their competitive strategy. Truly a great insight on how strategic trajectory differs from country to country. HP

Kotabe/Helsen team has really set the standard for the international marketing textbook market. I have read three other similar textbooks, but there is no other book measuring up to this one. They offer an excellent analysis of market converging and diverging forces adding to the complexities of global marketing and how to cope with them. Although I am not an academic, this book provides great conceptual foundations so useful for me to use in preparing my own presentations to the executive board at my company. They have plenty of excellent, well thought-out real-life examples, and those examples are so well built in along with conceptual frameworks that I come away with a lot of useful, and more importantly, usable knowledge.

I am a doctoral student and have taught international marketing at a state university for a couple of years so far. Among several books I examined, Kotabe&Helsen book stands out in the crowd. It is a joy seeing my students actually enjoy reading the book and learn from it. This book is full of useful insights and timely examples. It is a must reading if you want to be a true professional in the international marketing area. Great!

I teach Global marketing and I think this textbook is the best. It is not full of anecdotal stories about global marketer's failures or successes but very analytical with straightforward methods students can try out. The cases are excellent and support the theorical lectures very good. From my experience with the research literature it is state of the art.

Mobile commerce offers the hope of faster access to information for the consumer. M-Commerce builds on both internet and wireless communication devices. Internet servers push small applications to WiFi devices and these applications, in turn, make information requests through WiFi portals back to the server. The WiFi interface improves speed to acquire information for the consumer increasing the likelihood of a purchase; the WiFi interface can submit billing information for payment processing with one tap to confirm credit card usage for bill payment; a confirmation code is displayed on the WiFi device and used to validate pickup of the merchandise; and speed is the motivating factor like the fast food chain in time performance. If by the middle of the decade, "the only way to reach your customers is via the internet, you'll be limiting your customer base". M-commerce brings the store to the consumer wirelessly and it assists the consumer in price comparison. The consumer can talk directly to the WiFi device reducing time to navigate menu selection. Sophisticated voice recognition software will eliminate the need to display all available choices. Instead, the software will use context and subject matter as it relates to voice interpretation too determine choice.

Location commerce is the result of the law. All cell phones or devices capable of making a call must be capable for an external call center too pinpoint a caller within a few feet. Position based commerce will become the primary source of new business referrals. As the consumer moves from one zone to another information is served up to the WiFi interface from local based directories. The user will enter in what they want and a list of services based on proximity will be offered through their PDA. National chains will be able to offer localized pricing of their products and services. The localized directories will be able to determine availability and make referrals to other stores within a certain mile radius, if the product is unavailable. The idea is that the quicker you get your customer the merchandise, the more you will sell.

A decentralized Transportation Wifi network potentially offers a massive opportunity. Suppose, each car was installed with a WiFi device that could communicate with car around it, accessing: speed, breaking, turning, and sudden stops. Potentially, the Wifi device could stop all accidents involving abrupt slow downs in traffic. Additionally, the auto wifi device could communicate with Wifi portal along the road querying for restaurant prices and availability, sleeping arrangements and prices, and music downloads. Billboards being replaced by high speed Wifi portals and massive internet servers bring services too consumers on the road.

Surprise - the world is going wireless. Well it's not really a surprise. In the U.S., we're just behind the times. In fact, in most respects related to wireless / mobile connectivity, the U.S. places third behind Asia, and Europe. But, never underestimate America. We've come from behind before and we can do it again. The problem is that the U.S. is PC centric and up until now this has lead to lackluster interest in smartphone and advance mobile communications.

With the oncoming rush of Wi-Max and related technologies, the time to embrace wireless is NOW. Easton's book will help you open your mind to the future of wireless and the possibilities it represents. The book highlights that without going wireless we are still "tied" to our desks - even with laptops. Throughout Going Wireless, next-generation applications are shown, not for technology sake, but for their distinct potential in business.

Divided into three sections, Going Wireless is a most compelling read:

SECTION 1 - USING M-COMMERCE TO OWN YOUR CUSTOMERS AND CLIENTS

SECTION 2 - THE WIRELESS WORKFORCE CONNECTS THE ENTERPRISE

SECTION 3: NEW BUSINESSES, NEW MARKETS, NEW CHALLENGES

For even more information, check out Going Wireless' website.

Michael Davis, Byvation

---> To swing for the fence, entrepreneurs must avoid the shark-infested red water and sail into the deep blue sea.

Easton takes a very difficult subject and pieces together how wireless will make our lives simpler and faster still. We can get what we want, when we want it. We can make an order from a wireless hand held device and pick it up within minutes.

This book is made to order if you want to see where wireless is going. Easton is well researched and writes to inform.

The book presents a wide range of business cases as well as scenarios where wireless technology is used or can be used. The author sometimes gets too excited about the potential of the technologies involved but she proves that, at least in some areas, wireless is revolutionizing business, creating business value by providing convenience, mobility, agility and improved data accuracy.

I probably sound like a paid endorser, but the truth is, this book is fantastic. It's written beautifully, contains riveting stories, and is packed with insights, ideas, trends, and more. It's written for anyone in business ready to cash in on the future. Wireless is the next big trend. This book shows you how to surf it to the bank. Get it. Get it right now. -- Joe Vitale, author of way too many books to list here, ...

Being of Italian decent on my mother's side, I was overwhelmed by this fantastic collection of Italian accomplishments. This book gives detailed information about contributions made by Italians and Italian-Americans. Finally, a "User friendly" book which is quite addictive and difficult to put down. This reminds me of those famous stories my mother use to tell me as a boy. I only wish she had the opportunity to experience this pleasant and enjoyable reading material. I highly suggest giving this book to any young person who is trying to discovering his/her great rich Italian background. It is all here!

I enjoyed the Heritage Italian American Book immensely. Being Italian I found the book to be very informative and entertaining. The book became a wonderful gift for my family and friends. A close family friend-teacher/priest expressed to me how he was going to introduce the material in this book to his students. He complemented the true educational benefits of this exceptional book. Amore' Thank you Leon...Job well done.

Reading this book is like roaming through 2000 years of the Roman empire and all the transplanted Romans who grace the US. I loved it and I'm not Italian. And, sorry, Leon, but I don't even want to be Italian. I've got a better idea. Why don't you do one on Jewish or Irish people? They're pretty entertaining. The book probably deserves five stars, but I'd like to see some graphics in it, so I just gave it four.

When the family gets together either at home or for an outdoor picnic, we whip out our copy of "Heritage Italian-American Style!" We have a blast with this jam-packed collection of both recognized and some not-so-well-known contributions that Italians have made to better the world. Invariable, the teens and young adults chime in to test their own knowledge of their culture and are often surprised to discover in the process of "playing" a game...just how much fun learning can be! Especially, when you're learning about why we should be proud to be Italian!! The old timers are equally entertained while being secretly educated at the same time!!

As editor of AMICI Magazine, the largest Italian-American Magazine west of Ohio, I am inundated with requests to review Italian books. Leon's book is one of the few I couldn't put down. It made me think. It made me laugh. It made me proud...or prouDER, should say!!

I can tell you one the cultural tragedies of our time is that we're literally forgetting to keep our kids Italian. As silly as that sounds, the truth is many families today understandably marry outside of the culture or simply live life in fast lane and overlook the importance of story telling, carrying on Italian traditions and keeping ourselves informed about our culture. Books like Heritage Italian-American Style truly keep our heritage alive!

Once you get your own copy, you'll see why you feel inclined to buy several for your family and friends!

Radomile's presentation on Italian-American culture is a warm reflection on what has often been demeaned, or misrepresented in the press, or totally lacking in book form. I found so much information, in such a easily obtainable manner that I could not put this outstanding presentation down until I literally devoured its contents. A must read for all Italianophiles. Sincerely, A.H. Angelini