Enterprise Books

Recently I received a telephone call from a friend in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He was looking for a soccer book suitable for beginning coaches and beginning players.

I thought that such a request was easy to fill. I have several shelves of books from various parts of the United States and Europe. But as I examined the books, I realized that I was wrong.

Most authors assume that the reader is an experienced coach. Thus, terms are used without definition. The mechanics of technique were alluded to but never illstrated.

I was becoming frustrated.

Then I came upon Karl Dewazien's book FUNdamental SOCCER -Practice. It was perfect for my friend in Tulsa. The book is clearly written and the illustrations by Joseph G.Garcia appear on almost every page. There are no assumptions; it is all there!

What makes this book so useful?

If a coach wants to teach soccer he must start with some concepts of pedagogy, which is the title of Section 1. From there Dewazien outlines the organization and necessities of a practice session.

Following this, Dewazien develops themes that should be introduced into the practice. The themes are developmental and sequential, beginning with dribbling, and ending with 'controlling flighted ball' and the throw-in.

The book ends with a section on small sided games followed by modified laws of the game for players under six, eight,ten or twelve.

Dewazien approaches soccer training as an educator. As a result, he is well organized, clear, and most concerned with participant having FUN.

The core of the book is the section on small sided games. He is an expert, and if children are to have fun, they must have FUN GAMES.

I highly recommend this book for all coaches. For the inexperienced coach of young players, it will become a must book. For experienced coaches, it offers hints of organization that may have been forgotten. One example is the "Six step approach for Improving the Player." Any coach can benifit from reviewing the six steps.

An experience! d soccer friend borrowed my copy of the book to review the small-sided games. Something for everyone.

Dewazien and Garcia have achieved a good blend creating a book well written and clearly illustrated. A rare accomplishment. "FUNdamental SOCCER Pratice" is the best buy on the soccer book market and essential to the begining coach.

FUNdamental Soccer Practice is chock-o-block filled with fun drills to make practice more like a party than a chore. There are many activities which keep young players giggling while working hard to improve their skills. I used suggestions from this book for three years to plan practices and took a travelling team of girls from the cellar of division four up to a contender in division two; laughing all the way. This is a creative and fun book!

This is a great book if you are a novice soccer coach, working with very young children (ages 4- 8). Any older than that and you'll need something more sophisticated (see the books by Wiel Coerver and Alan Hargreaves)

...Written by Karl Dewazien, California Youth Soccer Association (CYSA) director of coaching since 1978, this book showed me 'how to' develop, organize and run a successful youth practice. The book has apparently been translated into 'Spanish and Chinese' and is currently used by coaches in the People's Republic of China. It is also being used by CYSA as a coaching school manual -I know this for a fact since that is where I received my first copy. The pages are delightfully illustrated with games and activities that can be easily implemented by anyone. After I started to apply the FUNdamental Soccer method my players didn't want to leave our practices. I have learned to disguise the hard work that it takes to become a good soccer player and youth soccer team. This book gets my 'two thumbs' up!!!

I really love these books. I am fascinated by the technique used to get the 3-d affect. I have everyone out.

I love Magic Eye Imagery, and I love garfield, so this book was a winner before I even got it. It was a little smaller than I expected, but jam packed, and theres even little clues hidden as joke questions at the top of the page. A lot of time and effort went into this book specifically for Garfield fans, and speaking on behalf of them, we appreciate it.

This book has really good images. They pop out really well. I especially like the star one.

I love Garfield and I love Magic Eye! Buy this book if you love either. I didn't realize this book was a paperback til I got it, regardless, this is a great coffee table book for everyone to enjoy.

A friend and I have just started our personal shopping business. Thanks to Emily's book, we felt like a baby being led by the hand. This book helped us in so many ways.

This book is a sheer joy. Emily Lumpkin's insights are both creative and useful. If you like to shop, this is a must-read. I've memorized it!

Get Paid to Shop (tm) is a great personal shopping book! It was not only helpful, but also the personality Emily Lumpkin gave it made it fun to read. I read it in two nights and now I'm on my way. I actually started my personal shopping business idea before ordering the book and let me just say, I sure wish I had ordered her book first! I followed Lumpkin's directions step by step and already have my first client. Thanks to Emily Lumpkin for the information she made available. Her book has made my dream come true.

I believe that this book, being the original, by Author Emily S. Lumpkin, is the only resource needed to become a personal shopper. I have personally purchased the E-Book, which is sold at www.fortepublishing.com, and I am well on my way to corporate shopping success!

There are a lot of "how-to" poker books, some considered must-haves. And there are a lot of "story" poker books, chronicling somebody's poker travels and travails. Of the many poker books of both categories I've read, I think this book is the single best combination of the two types.

It strikes just the right balance between seriousness and humor, between story and training, and between "me" (author) and "they" (the poker pros he talks to). In fact the "me" part is laudably light; the author lets the great minds of poker take center stage, and their wisdom really shines.

Originally, I borrowed this book from the public library but, as I read it, it became increasingly clear that this title belongs on my permanent poker shelf. So I bought a copy from Amazon. My bookshelf space is usually reserved for reference-type books that you can re-read multiple times to refresh your knowlege or pick up previously-missed nuggets from, not for "story" books, which I rarely go back to. The fact that this great book makes the cut says a lot.

Highly recommended (and reasonably priced too!).

There are plenty of poker "how-to" books on the market ("Secrets the Pros Won't Tell You" by Sheree Bykofsky and Lou Krieger is a good one). Unlike other poker authors, Richard Sparks takes as his subjects the who and what and why and where and when of poker. But, in "Getting Lucky" - the sequel to "Diary of a Mad Poker Player" - there is also an element of "how." This is because, after his first book, Richard realized that he needed help with his game. So he got 1983 World Champion of Poker Tom McEvoy to coach him for a year.

The result is an interesting new angle on poker teaching. "How-to" books are always written by the teacher. This one is written by the student. So you get to go through Richard's learning process with him, in real events, with real hands in real situations. You get to witness his mistakes, and hear what his coach has to say about them. The fact that Richard's results improved out of all recognition speaks for McEvoy's excellence as a teacher - for example, in July 2006, Richard finished 20th out of 2,891 entrants in the $1,000 No Limit Hold Em at the World Series of Poker.

Mainly, though, "Getting Lucky" is the story of one player's year in the heart of the current poker boom. There are poker greats and poker degenerates. There is a week of poker bliss on the Party Poker Cruise. There are unusual angles on the game: a lesson in reading body language from an Oxford Professor; interviews with poker luminaries like Lyle Berman, owner of the World Poker Tour. And there is the will-he, won't-he thrill of an ordinary player winning his seat in our World Championship, and playing in the Big One for the first time.

Richard Sparks is a professional comedy writer who clearly loves poker. "Getting Lucky" was obviously a labor of love.

What a read!

Poker's Perfect Storm!

Finally, a brilliant writer that understands this game of games!

Not only will reading this book improve your level of play, but you will be captivated by Richard's wit and storytelling prowess.

Richard Sparks lets us into his heart and head as he competes and struggles to improve. And that is a very special gift to all who read it.

This book taught me, like no other, that the emotions and thoughts that cascade through me at the table are part of what binds us together as poker players. Our shared experience.

I loved this book.

After his first book, the author decides that he loves the game of poker and travelling the world to play it. He lacks only one thing: a good poker game. Mere mortals among us might read books, try software or discuss our play with friends to improve. Not Mr. Sparks. He enlists WSOP champ and author Tom McEvoy to coach him.

This method works like gangbusters. Sparks still struggles in battle at the tables, but now, he often wins. He learns from a research psychologist all about tells, in poker and otherwise. He meets all sorts of poker players, both famous and infamous. The famous include Josh Arieh, Ted Forrest, Clonie Gowen, Chris Ferguson, Greg Raymer -- you get the idea. The infamous player is an anonymous poker cheat who says that cheating goes on constantly in the poker room at every level.

He takes a poker cruise with everyone from Bill Gates to Mike Sexton aboard.

He tells us the story of Lyle Berman, great cash game player, pot limit Omaha expert and the man who started the World Poker Tour, The WPT is a big part of the energy behind the poker craze. Watch a poker game on TV, snooze time; watch a poker game on TV and see everyone's cards, instant hit. Berman put the first watchable poker on the tube.

He goes to the WSOP, this time as a player.

An informative, wide-ranging,and winning poker memoir.

Heck, I'm gonna raise my rating up another star because of all the great material in this book. I've read a lot of these poker memoirs lately, and this is one of my favorites.

Wonderful array of best practices of the top global companies

Wonderful array of best practices of the top global companies

This is truly a fascinating study about globalization. As told by Marquardt "two years ago, a large consulting firm that helps companies go global gave me a list of the ten most common questions its clients had about globalization :

1. How do you create a global culture?

2. What are the key components of globalization?

3. How do you create a global mind-set?

4. What kinds of skills should we look for in global managers?

5. Why do some people fail when going overseas?

6. How do we establish a global training program?

7. What experiences should we give our future leaders?

8. Should everyone in the organization become globalized?

9. Is there an order or process in which a company should go global?

10. Where can we go for help as we work toward globalization?

This list inspired me to write this book, for I realized that these questions had no easy answers and that only a handful of companies had resolved even of these issues."

In this context, after defining six components of his "GlobalSuccess" model, Marquardt explores and illustrates these six components, namely corporate culture, human resources, strategies, operations, structure and learning with best practices of more than forty successful global companies, such as : GE, Whirlpool, Colgate-Palmolive, Shell, Coca-Cola, Xerox, FedEx and HP.

I highly recommend this study. As proclaimed by Jack Welch " companies either globalize or they die."

Excellent overview as well as best practices in globalizatio

This book proved to me that Frank really practice what he spoke during his career at PwC. I was lucky having the opportunity to interact with him during that period.

"The Global Business Leader" by J. Frank Brown is full of fantastic business advice -- from very complex ideas that will take years to master, to some very simple things you can do today. Brown's advice to "get a haircut" in a new country is just one example of how you should really entrench yourself in the cultures and ideas of others in this globalized business world. Brown peppers his book with personal stories of his own successes, and some failures. Each was a learning experience that led Brown to become an even more adept global leader. Brown's tactics have clearly paid off in his own career -- he had great success as a global leader for PricewaterhouseCoopers in the U.S., and continued on to lead INSEAD -- the preeminent global business school -- as its Dean. Valuable advice that will surely benefit all who read it.

This is a terrific read! Don't let the title steer you away from this book if you are not involved in global business. The experiences Frank Brown shares from his extensive global business background translate well to any one who is in a position to lead collaboratively across even neighborhood boundaries. His thoughful "how to" advice is considerate of all stake holders in any organization and his thoughts on maintaining balance in the leader's life are on target. The few hours it takes to read this book could save the reader countless hours in repairing damage done without the knowledge shared by the author.

You can either read a big management book with some great but difficult to implement ideas, or you can go with proven advice from a global leader on how to stand-out in the corporate world.
Only Frank Brown's extensive experience can yield such simple but powerful insight on how to manage global teams, be aware of cultural differentes, cultivate executive presence, and manage corporate politics. A great read for anyone moving up or wishing to stay at the top of corporate ranks.

My prof, probably A Reader from Rockford, assigned this book as our cross cultural text book. Definitely a good read. It completely changed my point of view on many aspects of international business, and made me more passionate about my major.

Dense and delightful are paradoxical words that come to mind on reading Sheida Hodge's compendium of Global Smarts, a new book aimed at US Managers going abroad or working across cultures. Its 246 pages are a granola bar packed with nutritious examples that help the ethnocentric business professional taste the reality and consequences of cultural difference. The breadth of the book is surprising, given its size. It touches on just about everything, and does so in a hands-on, practical way.

Hodge briefly sets up the case for why we should busy ourselves about culture by surveying its critical role in business success and failure in the age of globalization. She offers no extensive intercultural theory. It lurks in the background, but is almost transparent to the end user. While there is the obligatory chapter on "What is Culture?" it is a scant 7 pages long.

The rest of the book is how to: how to manage everything from entertaining to expatriation and culture shock, how to communicate and negotiate, and even how not to take a bribe. She explodes myths about women abroad. Hodge may venture into the university from time to time in real life, and her tools as a trainer often show up in the illustrations, but it is clear that she has both feet solidly planted in the world of making it work.

Often a touch of humor, always a carefully chosen short anecdote to bring a point home-these in themselves are Global Smarts, as modeled in the book. It is definitely written for US Americans, at least if one defines them as people coming from or framed by the dominant values of the US business world. It talks their language, even at times their slang. Of course, US Americans are very, very diverse, but if we assume that those who are part of a culture, though they may not be always hold or act out its values, at least recognize them, then the target audience is right for the book.

Global Smarts is too rich to absorb in a sitting--even on the non-stop from Chicago to Seoul--though a worthy companion for the flight. Rather than breaking new ground per se, the book applies mature intercultural knowledge to common and critical situations, and that will break new ground for many US businesspeople.

No doubt more books on succeeding globally will be written, but, in a sense, this one sums up both the possibilities and the limitations of the print medium. As a book, it is a personal, engaging, and satisfying individual experience. On the other hand, despite a good index, it is just begging to be an online resource, with the anecdotes turned into vignettes, with interactive ways of testing comprehension and reactions and comparing ones experiences and feelings with others, and hypertext to take you where you need to learn, instantly.

I teach a college course on cross-cultural business, and I have used this book as one of my textbooks for the past 2 years. It is an engaging, practical, non-theoretical, hands-on description of the effect of culture on business practices, with plenty of stories from real-life people and pragmatic advice. I assign a chapter a week, and there is more than enough in 1 chapter to spend an entire week of class on, even though the chapters are not very long. My students love it!

Great insights and guidelines for those with international business responsibilities. Interesting and often humorous anecdotes. The ultimate guide for doing business abroad. I really enjoyed this book!

It is very interesting book. I exactly found the pragmatic information I needed and answer to all my questions.

"Going Global? Power Tools for Negotiating International Deals" is one of the best business books I have bought. It is a powerful practical guide to negotiating through the complexities of the deal. No lofty concepts, no philosophical wanderings - just clear straight forward explanations of the issues, what you should ask for, and what you can afford to compromise on. I would highly recommend this book."

This is not a text book, nor does it contain everthing you ever needed to know about negotiating business deals. However, the Author, Jim Klotz, has succeeded in summarising in 285 pages all of the essential elements required to ensure a successful outcome from the negotiating process. It is written in plain english, with outstanding clarity. It fits easily into a briefcase, perfect for last minute reassurance in the airplane or taxi. Buy it. It has already proved to be a most valuable resource.

I rank this book as one of the most important business guides that I have ever read. As a Canadian SME we have been exporting services for over a decade but we had no idea there were so many pitfalls that we could have been our death trap. This book outlines in a clear and concise way the basics that you need to do international deals - and when it is time to call your lawyer. Chapters 1 and 2 on "The Basics of International Business Deals" and "Negotiating International Sales of Goods and Services" should be mandatory reading for all your international sales staff. If you need to go beyond that to agency, consulting, distribution, licencing and joint ventures - all the information is there, but you can pick and choose what is important to you. You don't need to read the whole book at once, it can be a long term reference as your international work expands. There are excellent references in the book, so it is easy to find more information. I enjoyed the book so much, I took the time to go to Toronto to meet the author, so now I know there is much more to learn, but this is an excellent book by a brilliant author. Dont get on the plane for your next trip without this book in your pocket!

Grandma's Magic Scissors: Paper Cut-ting From A-Z by Linda S. Day (a.k.a. Grandma) is a fun and creative instructional compendium of do-it-yourself projects for creating intricate, beautiful pieces of art with just a sheet of paper, a pencil, and a pair of scissors. Providing young (and not so young!) readers with a "user friendly" introduction to the inexpensive, fun and artistic pastime of fancy paper cutting, Grandma's Magic Scissors carefully guides the reader through cutting out such designs as The Monkeys and the Crocodile; Praying Parents; and Little Red Hen and Chicks, to Mice; Three Billy Goats Gruff; and Hearts with Bunnies. A wonderful resource for rainy days and other homebound occasions (with a bit of judicious adult supervision), Grandma's Magic Scissors is very strongly recommended for all children, but most especially those with an artistic interest searching for an entertaining and creatively inspiring guide through the decorative art of paper cutting and design.

Any rainy day, sunny day or boring day is a good time to use this book. My kids, especially my son, love to sit down with a pile of paper and scissors and see how many of these patterns they can cut out. When they are done with the patterns they try making some of their own. A good boredom buster, however as a storyteller I find it is a great way to recap the story I tell by cutting out the pattern that goes with the story. When I am done the kids are fascinated when I unfold the pattern and I get lots of oohs and aahs.

The book is an introduction to paper cutting. While some of the templates are more advanced, most are not. Good place to start to learn about paper cutting and realize you can do it. Not such a good book to help you continue learning paper cutting

Grandma's Magic Scissors is a wondrous book, chock full of ideas for children to create all sorts of cutouts with just a pair of scissors. Easy reading and enjoyable for adults who watch as their children become creative and use their imaginations.

Vladimir Silva's GRID COMPUTING FOR DEVELOPERS tells of a promising new technology, exploring the evolution of Grid computing from early distributed computing ideas to its modern environment. From de facto standards for Grid computing to development guides for Grid services, commodity Grid kits for Java and Perl, and source code samples, A DEVELOPER'S GUIDE TO GRID COMPUTING is perfet for computer scientists who want a head start on the next generation of IT Grid computing.

This book covers a lot of stuff! From installation transcripts for GT 2,3,4, scheduler installation, customization to Grid portal development. The book has little theory but I found some interesting numbers on the potential growth of the grid computing market over the next few years. It has a lot of source code and plenty of images to support it thus it is targeted to software engineers and developers involved on grid computing.

There is some complex math (related to large integer factorization) which is hard to understand for the novice but overall I give it five stars. All major protocols used by the globus toolkit are explained: resource allocation, data management, and security.

P.S: There is also a few chapters dedicated to the Message Passing Interface (MPI) with examples and some integration tips with the Globus Resource Allocation Manager (GRAM) which I found unique.

This book is preety darn good. I covers a broad range of grid topics such as: grid middleware, resource managers, schedulers, parallel computing with MPI, etc.
I specially liked the chapter on grid enabled portal development. It has helped me a lot at work. There is also a comprehensive guide to the Globus toolkit (GT3, GT4, WSRF) that is full of samples, transcripts and troubleshooting tips.

Overall, I think this book is a great tool for the grid engineer and developer.

Cheers.

Grid computing promises to be the next big wave in high performance computing. While the power of today's PC's has gotten relatively huge, easily passing the supercomputers of not so long ago, there are still certain applications in weather, nuclear physics, bioinformatics and other areas where far more computing power is needed.

The first step was to take a bunch of PC's and cluster them together to make a more powerful system. When these large massively parallel systems were built, it then became clear that taking several of these from around the country or even the world could produce 'systems' of considerably more power.

The answer was 'The Grid.' Funded by the US Government, work began several years ago to produce the basic tools needed to make Grid computing work. This book clearly explains, in a practical sense, what Grid computing has become today. It gives some background and description of grid computing. Then it goes into the software that has been written that enables the practical use of such systems.

The book is comprehensive enough that it could be used by students or administrators that are working with or even just considering using a grid architecture.