Enterprise Books

From "Gullikksen and the 500-Pound Hallucination" to "The Ides of September," John Dalmas gives you characters and situations to care about, whether it be in the "real world" of a small-town murder or the magical realm of halflings and a treasure map to danger. Here you have eight short stories, each memorable in their own way, each a created universe you'll be glad you've visited.

Looking over the titles, it was hard to decide on a single favorite, now that those worlds have been visited. "Gullikksen" gave a delightfully lighthearted look at an otherwise hard life, stoking coal fired boilers, but with some very special help. "Picture Man" reminded me of the power of "Flowers for Algernon," but far more uplifting.

In "Out of the North a Giant," the problem faced by the hero is both poignant and compelling. The story has a down-home, back woods feel that draws you easily into suspending disbelief in this heavy gravity planet.

In all, these stories comprise a wonderful romp through several universes. It's hard to imagine any reader of these not wanting more of John Dalmas's story telling charm.

Fans of John Dalmas or readers who have never met him in print will enjoy this anthology of his short fiction. It displays his variety and depth as a writer. Yet every story depends on what he knows from his diversified experiences.

This is a collection of seven short stories with short introductions by Dalmas. Each story is good enough to have been bought for publication. Each is markedly different from the military SF that brought his novels to fan's attention. The writing is tight, the dialogue believeale, and the plots inventive.

Dalmas' use of various voices to narrate the stories is excellent. He is able to paint a word picture with the spare brush strokes of a Japanese master or the lavish detail of the Dutch school. The stories themselves range from backwoods on a distant planet to detective fiction based from prohibition times. Most of the main characters are not only believeable, but likeable. Many of the stories are classic pulp and could probably not be found today.

Let me get my prejudices up front. I know and like John Dalmas as a person as well as a writer, and, as much as I enjoy his novels, his short stories are even better. I suspect that John Dalmas is one of the most underrated writers in the business.
The book, as a physical product, is a nice piece of work, although I wish it had included a table of contents.
"Gullikksen and the 500-Pound Hallucination" is a marvelous story and the setting, a Great Lakes coal-fed vessel, makes it even more exotic. "Moonlight Nocturne," more mystery than science fiction or fantasy, is a marvelous piece set during Prohibition, and features a character with an idiocyncratic idea of justice.
"Picture Man" involves some interesting psychic research John has studied, phenomena that always makes the hairs on my arms stand up, but is a story, not just a compilation of odd facts. It was rejected by three magazines, finally published by "The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction," and was republished in two of the three "year's best" anthologies.
"Out of the North, a Giant," is a potent piece of work in which Dalmas, like Manly Wade Wellman, uses dialect to make a story stronger.
"The Railroad" is less a short story than the beginning of a longer work, and you barely get to know and like the characters before it is gone. "The Stoor's Map" is fantasy, something Dalmas doesn't often deal with, but handles like a master. "Tiger Hunt" benefits from his knowledge of environment. I'd heard him read it, years ago, and it was a pleasure to find it in print to read.
"The Ides of September," written for "The Saint" magazine, was a sort of literary grandfather to a series of stories, actually two novels and a novella, published as THE PUPPET MASTER.
For a time, I had trouble finding a link between all these stories, then it struck me -- all are remarkably human, like their writer.

After a lifetime of writing a couple dozen sci-fi/fantasy novels and also publishing occasional stories for fiction, fantasy, and sci-fi mags, John Dalmas has collected some of his best short work into this volume of eight stories. Six otherworldly tales and two stories that one could classify into the mystery realm grace this excellent book. All are prefaced by a short description of how they came into being and how they were published.

Dalmas has a style reminiscent of Ray Bradbury. His stories flow effortlessly with occasional unexpected humor. It's easy to fall into his narratives. The Stoor's Map, for instance, which was originally published in the anthology Halflings, Hobbits, Warrows, and Wee Folk, contains gripping scenes of a battle with a huge spider. The characters, both male and female, are wonderfully rendered. In Out Of the North a Giant, the voice of the narrator is distinctive: "There come out of the north a giant. Teeth he had like knives, claws like more of em, and the breath from his mouth was like carrion in the sun" (p. 45). Whether the story characters are chasing-or being chased by-tigers or giants, or searching for killers as in Ides of September, every story is crafted by a master. If you love well-written short fiction that shades over into adventure, mystery, thrills, and chills, this one's for you.
~Lori L. Lake, Midwest Book Review

Mand and Whipple do an excellent job describing how finance, business centers and top management can work together more effectively for optimum performance. The concept is powerful, and the examples from actual events are very stimulating. Best of all, they use a dialog method to make the message really come alive. "Listening" to the CEO and CFO discuss partnering makes the reader realize that the concept is not just another management theory, but can be readily applied to his or her situation as well.

A very concise and well-written book which appeals to the financial executive and the MBA student. The CFO's role is clearly delineated with the support of actual cases and experiences as noted by the authors. I found this book to be interesting and a "quick-read" and was an excellent summation of the role of the CFO in the 21st corporations.

A very thorough and easy to read book. The experience of the authors is clearly evident. Highly recommend to anyone working in finance or corporations!

PARTNERING FOR PERFORMANCE: Unleashing the Power of Finance in the 21st Century Organization, Martin G. Mand and William Whipple III, AMACOM, 2000.

As an attorney practicing corporate law in Delaware, I have been involved in many acquisitions, mergers, divestitures, etc., and have an understanding of the imperative for all companies and businesses to increase shareholder value. "Partnering for Performance" is the first book that I can recall reading which provides a lucid explanation of how a company can do so. The discussion is enlivened by numerous real world examples, as well as by an engaging dialog between the CEO and CFO of a hypothetical company.

The book goes on to sketch the wide range of activities that are conducted under the Finance umbrella, and offer suggestions as to how the value of these activities can be enhanced. There are two key thrusts the author recommends, which in many companies will require a significant culture change:

* Finance people must rethink their roles, and make the transition from functioning as analysts and controllers to "Shareholder Value Enabling."

* The business people and finance people in a company must work together as equal partners, otherwise known as "Partnering for Performance."

Drawing on their considerable experience as financial practitioners, the authors do not merely advocate such changes in principle. They also explain the obstacles to implementation, and offer solid suggestions for achieving the desired changes. The suggested game plan includes new roles and responsibilities for business people and finance people alike, demonstration projects such as overhauling the budget process, the integration of talented finance people into business teams, incentives for change, communications and training, and sample diagnostic tools (such as a corporate troubleshooting guide).

In sum, "Partnering for Performance" offers valuable insights about a low cost, low risk approach to increasing shareholder value. The book should be of considerable interest and value to a broad audience.

The basic material in this book, and its companion, Paul Keres: The Quest for Perfection (also available from Amazon) were previously published under another title. British GM John Nunn has updated the notes and added some games.

The result is a book that every serious chessplayer should have. Keres' deep notes will help players from Class C on up to improve their games and get more enjoyment out of chess.

This book contains Paul Keres' best games played in the period 1929-1950. And as one might imagine, almost all the games are against World class players. What sets this book apart from many others of its genre is the annotations. Another reviewer rightly mentioned that Keres' style of annotation is as good as Bronstein. Those who are familiar with David Bronstein's books will get the point. The book has around 250 pages and covers 50 of Keres' games. This might give you some idea as to how detailed the annotations would be(unlike the lightly annotated books that cover a players' 100 or more games in the same number of pages). The games are all Keres' wins but at no point one feels even the slightest hint of personal bias in his annotations. They are highly objective and very detailed. Keres clearly explains the plans of both the sides and devotes around 5-6 pages to almost every game. He gives detailed variations where necessary but nothing to overwhelm an average player.

The one slight dissappointment that I have from this book is that I expected it to be a complete autobiography of Keres' life. But Keres doesn't talk much about his life in general or shares any interesting chessic stories or incidents that might have happened in his life(unlike Tal in his autobiography). All he mentions is the tournaments and matches he participated in a given year and how he felt his standard of play was compared to other successful players. But this shouldn't keep anyone away from buying this book. This book would've been worth its price even if it had no autobiography. The set of games are worth studying.

Finally I would like to say that even though the games are highly annotated, a sound understanding of both tactics and basic chess strategy is needed. The level of the games is high and so I feel that this book will be most useful to players over 1700(uscf). Also the footnotes added by John Nunn are in no way a nuisance(as mentioned by another reviewer). I was amazed to see that after going over 35 games, there was no occassion when even a single variation given by Keres was completely wrong. All Nunn does is is add to what Keres had to say or point out another interesting idea or variation that Keres probably ignored.

In conclusion I would like to say that these games have been thoroughly scrutinized by their creator and there aren't simply many chess books that match this book's content. So you can't afford to miss it.

This is an incredible book. First off, the games alone standout by themselves. Paul Keres' style is crystal clear, without any particular weaknesses in his play. He handled all phases of the game well and was a great attacking and positional player. His games are very instructive for beginners to masters.

Second, his notes are amazing. Each chapter has a collection of few games from one phase in his career and he begins each with a very engaging essay on his thoughts and life during that time. You really get into his mind as he takes you through his ups and downs throughout his life and how he prepares for games. The notes to the games are thorough and engaging. You never feel like an idea, line or variation is left unexplained. I feel Keres was one of the best annotators to ever live.

Finally, the format and translation of this edition are excellent, as with most of John Nunn's reissues. I don't own the first issue, but I can say this one is extremely nice, if you don't mind Nunn's sometimes annoying footnotes. This is must have book, for those who want to study from it, or just enjoy the games. I'm saving up money for the second volume, "Quest for Perfection!"

I have not finished this book, but I was moved to write a review of what I've read so far. Outstanding. I often hear that Alekhine was a great annotator. Bah, humbug! As far as I'm concerned Keres is the model of a perfect annotator, at least for a player below expert strength. The variations provided are plentiful and deep enough to provide food for thought without being overwhelming (unlike say Kasparov's MGP series, which has encyclopedic annotations of some games, which overwhelms the non-master). Beyond simply citing moves, Keres delves into the intricacies of the positions, explaining plans and strategies. This book will help anyone's game improve. Can't wait to finish, and I'm going to buy Vol 2 immediately.

Every industry has people who climb to the top. These successful professionals fill the top ten percent and reap all the rewards and glory why others just occupy the middle and the bottom. What is it that makes these folks successful where others are not. And beyond that top ten percent, what is it that makes the even more rare performer achieve the top one percent.

Dr. Charles Garfield's research of what makes "the new heroes of American Business" is a book that makes you think about success. We all want success, but it does not happen by accident. Garfield tells us that peak performers are not born, they are made. This is encouraging to all of us who want to accomplish more within our careers.

If you are interested in success....read this book.

I bought this book along with Dr. Garfield's first book Peak Performance after I read him in the Wall Street Journal. Since I was just starting a sales career at the time, I was eager to learn any trick or techniques that would help me.

I found it fascinating to learn of the toll booth attendant who was high energy and classified by Garfield as a "Peak Performer." Here was a guy having a ball and preparing for a career and then tells Dr. Garfield that he will share his secrets if Dr. Garfield takes him out to dinner at a place called Ernies, one of the highest of the high class restaurants in the Bay area and $100 a plate (this was in 1985!)

Dr. Garfield offers many similiar examples of "Peak Performers" in various fields of endeavor; athletes, business people, science and more.

I highly recommend Peak Performers to anyone who wants to be the best they can be.

I can not really articulate the logic and a reassurance this book gave me, with direction, honesty and fierce tactics, Peak Performers paves the road for success. If you are stuck in a job or career that is not right for you than this is the book for you.

The book that outlines six aspects of peak performance: 1. A mission that motivates you 2. Real results in real time 3. Self management through self-mastery 4. Be a team builder and member 5. Course Correction and last, 6. Change management. He defines each one well and provides techniques such as visualization which aid in achieving each dimension of being a peak performer. The writing is very straightforward and logical, and avoids the hyperbole and slickness of many other self-improvement books, that are long on rah-rah advice but short on actual how-to steps for each critical dimension.

A wonderful job of compiling and organizing all the basic Southern recipes and so many new decadent ones! The format - stories in simple language - is such fun and so Southern!! I have already thought of many "Folks" to present with copies. A truly clever cookbook!... Keith Headley, Memphis, TN.

I bought three copies for "Yankee" friends with whom I have been exchanging recipes and cookbooks for years - the Amaretto pie is unbelievable!...Suzann B. (a Southern Belle from MS)

As an avid cookbook collector, I was excited to find this true Southern Masterpiece to add to my shelf. Raleigh's recipes are both invaluable and delicious, and her keen sense of humor flavors this charming book with wit and wisdom...Jack Morton, three-time Emmy Award-winning stylist and owner of Indulgence Salon in Atlanta, GA

A delightful book and I love and use it. I am a cookbook collector and I can truthfully say that have enjoyed this one more than any of my others! I am from VA and my southern accent "comes back" when I read this lovely book. GREAT RECIPES!

When the six Kelly children are split up Danny then sees a fake doctor he heard about in New York while at a medicine show out West. When he reveals the phony doctor's secret to everyone there, the doctor decides to hunt Danny down. It is a race to catch each other first before the other one catches you. A dramatic, heart-warming story filled with love, joy, and the importance of family.

It will break your heart but it will make you want to read more.

It was souch a great book I finished it in one night! Although it was sad, It was very interesting. You really got to know the characters. I hade to get the three other books as soon as I could! One night I stayed up till one in the morning to finish one of the books!

This is a great book. I wouldn't recommend reading this book before: A Family Apart, Caught in the Act, and In the Face of Danger. It is the last book a Quartet about the Kelly children. Unless you don't want to read the first three I suggest you read A Place to Belong last.

The joint project of organizational consultants and human resource experts Stephen M. Dent and James H. Krefft, Powerhouse Partners: A Blueprint For Building Organizational Culture For Breakaway Results is a handy guide to structuring a strategic partnership, whether between businesses, within a project, or with an individual, and applying the Powerhouse Model to smoothly coordinate and maximize efforts. Chapters outline a three-strep process: practicing focused leadership, building a partnering infrastructure to balance competencies, retain high-quality talent, and increase growth, and developing smart partners with creativity, openness, and connectivity to better allow for quick adjustments to unexpected changes. A practical guide for dealing with both individual and collective personalities, and making the most of human resources to focus on optimum goals.

I found "Powerhouse Partners" an extremely interesting and valuable book from two perspectives. First, as a trainer helping companies develop leadership skills it is refreshing to see Dent and Krefft focus on the concept of connections and how powerful they are in maximizing the potential of any person and any organization. They not only talk about the concept, but provide a framework any leader or person can use for building quality connections between people and throughout an organization. The specific tools and techniques described should be part of every company's leadership development program.

Second, as a CEO of a small but growing company I have been using connections and partnering since our incorporation in 1988, however after reading "Powerhouse Partners", I will be focusing even more on creating partnerships. I found the real-life examples and clarifying graphics extremely useful in understanding the specific concepts and will be using many of the exercises, forms and assessments provided in the book to help me build successful and productive partnerships for my comany.

This is a subversive book.

On the surface, Powerhouse Partners can be read as a useful guide to advanced managerial and organizational practice and techniques in the business book genre. Authors Stephen Dent and James Krefft share their business culture-building skills gained from years of practice in the corporate trenches. The book is a must-read for managers, but especially for a new generation of CEOs and CEOs-in-waiting.

The authors have written a much more powerful book than the jacket blurbs claim. Powerhouse Partners can be read as a book within a book. It is this text below the surface that interests me.

Althouh Dent and Krefft might not appreciate the comparison, I liken the book to Karl Marx's Das Kapital. Of course Powerhouse Partners has nothing specifically to do with Marx's massive text on political economic theory and his polemical critique of 19th century capitalism. But it may be like Das Kapital in its (understated) critique of outmoded practices and structures of corporate capitalism by means of an easily-read understanding of networking. Powerhouse Partners, despite the business seminar alliteration, is really radical stuff.

A descriptive title might be the more accurate Amplificatory Buiness Networking Theory and Practice, though no publisher's marketing department in their right mind would ever call it that. This book is not just a text on the latest managerial fad-du-jour, but a fundamentally different approach to organizational culture and praxis.

Network theory applied to organizational practice is the next big thing. I recommend reading Powerhouse Partners along with some other texts (this in itself would be "smart partnering," and follow the language and advice of the authors). The key partner text is Linked: How Everything Is Connected to Everything Else and What It Means by Albert-László Barabási (Perseus Books 2002). And why not two powerhouse partners for Powerhouse Partners? Throw in Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software by Steven Johnson (Scribner 2002). Perhaps any other texts on the networking theory and complexity theory bookshelf would also amplify Dent and Krefft's book in ways the authors would approve of.

"Partnering theory," (although it sounds too much like a text on successful gay marriages) would be better described by the as-yet unnamed theory-nexus where complexity, chaos, and network theory overlap. Whatever this emerging field ends up being called, complex network theory is a gateway to deep understanding of how the world works, It also, one hopes and prays, would lead to improved business practice that is not at odds with the real world outside of the dominant corporate commercial cultures overtaking national, cultural, and political life around the world today.

Here are some specifics. Dent and Krefft write: "Smart partners drive creativity by increasing the frequency, frankness, and fruitfulness of interpersonal connections, dialogue, and collaboration" (page 130). I wonder if this is a prescription that the average CEO would actually believe (though to be sure, some lip service might be paid to it in corporate communications or HR contexts.) Yet let's accept it as intuitively correct: it feels like it would work since it uses what seems like a deep, network principle.

Yet paradoxically, Barabási has observed that increased traffic along network pathways has a tendency to create hierarchies though the unexpected development of "supernodes." Is this the opposite of Powerhouse Partners observation that "Hierarchies are being replaced with networks" (page 157)? Networks may have counter-intuitive properties. Increased traffic in interpersonal connections tends to favor the person who is a node--i.e., the person who, through an initial lucky or brilliant state condition, is positioned to become super-connected to many others. This person, whoever she/he is in the imagined hierarchy, becomes powerful, despite what the organizational charts might say. Thus network dynamics create new hierarchies which may or may not include the guy who makes all the money--the CEO.

Powerhouse Partners could be the book that begins to change corporate culture and governance because it is friendly and non-threatening. When read with some other partnering texts, its true beneficially subversive nature is revealed. May corporate culture be changed forever, and may new organic networks develop that include the big world of interconnected nature and bioregional processes, thus both humbling corporate capitalism and yet allowing rightly-scaled, sustainable development and co-evolution.

This book walks the reader through the steps and benefits of developing partnerships within their organization. I found the book to have a logical flow of ideas and enjoyed reading the anecdotes. All of us would like to work for a company that used this model with their employees and customers.

This book is a very good preparation for Access 2000 Core. However, as of May 2002, many of the questions on the Access 2002 "Core" test were actually from the "Expert" objectives which were not published on the Web MOUS site. Fortunately, the Microsoft Access 2002 MOUS Expert book by Winters and Manchester does an excellent job preparing readers for the Core test and it covers all of the Expert objectives.

This book is a very good preparation for Access 2000 Core. However, as of May 2002, many of the questions on the Access 2002 "Core" test were actually from the "Expert" objectives which were not published on the Web MOUS site. Fortunately, the Microsoft Access 2002 MOUS Expert book by Winters and Manchester does an excellent job preparing readers for the Core test and it covers all of the Expert objectives.

This book is a very good preparation for Access 2000 Core. However, as of May 2002, many of the questions on the Access 2002 "Core" test were actually from the "Expert" objectives which were not published on the Web MOUS site. Fortunately, the Microsoft Access 2002 MOUS Expert book by Winters and Manchester does an excellent job preparing readers for the Core test and it covers all of the Expert objectives.

This book is a very good preparation for Access 2000 Core. However, as of May 2002, many of the questions on the Access 2002 "Core" test were actually from the "Expert" objectives which were not published on the Web MOUS site. Fortunately, the Microsoft Access 2002 MOUS Expert book by Winters and Manchester does an excellent job preparing readers for the Core test and it covers all of the Expert objectives.

I bought this book just out of interest to read a book about mail servers.
I have setup mail servers before (including virtual domains etc.).

I think this book sales point is the combination of the well thought structured contents, the nice contents flow, the good administration manners and well paced chapters based on simple proven solutions.

Its one of the books which you just cant put down till the end. The author has its very own idea of how to tell the story and its refreshingly different.

He is deliberately splitting up processes for server and client side point of view (f.e sending and receiving e-mails, filtering etc.)and goes the extra miles to bring his points accross.

The book describes all required functionality for basic, but full blown mail server systems (Virtual domains, clusters etc. are - if at all - only mentioned for completion purpose).

I did like that the authors have a good feeling on how much information first time system admins can take. Whereever possible the author gives basic explanations about the components described, warn to make backups before proceeding, and reasons the design decisions he made (keywords: backward compatibility with previous standards, work arounds etc.).

I also liked the motivating spirit, design considerations and experiences the author is sharing with the reader. I would give it 5 stars for junior system administrators, 3-4 for seniors.

Regardless of how many stars I give it, I find the story, how its told, its ideas and the spirit of it most impressive.

Full marks !!

This book was really informative from start to finish. I come from a Windows backround, and with the aid of this book, I now an running an open source mail server. I would highly recommend this book!

I am very impressed with this book. My interest in deploying my own email server has been peeked by recent events concerning privacy. While I am a programmer and I lean towards open source technologies, I was a little skeptical of my abilities of launching an open source email solution. After about four chapters of this book I relaxed because I realized the author was never assuming anything on part of the reader. Everything was thoroughly documented before me. Plus it's cool that the author adds in a little bit of history here and there on email. I definitely recommend this book. Just remember to get the most out of it, read it front to back.

If you're a beginner this is a great book. However, I guess I'm at a higher level than what this book aims for. For example, I don't need the whole history of email, nor do I need basics on getting around a Linux system. Also, this book used FC4 and sendmail, while I am a Debian guy who uses Postfix.

If you've never set up a server before, give this book a shot. Otherwise, look for something a little more advanced.

Also - Poor editing! See especially the discussion of IMAP servers (appears as "IMA" in several tables). There are other assorted errata as well. Nothing a second edition can't fix (from what I saw).

The Wild West days of the dot-com craze are behind us, but e-business strategy remains a largely uncharted frontier. In fact, e-commerce seems more bewildering than ever, now that many of the strategic maxims that the Internet bubble was built on have been proved false. To help you get a handle on the revolutionary technology that has survived the collapse, Nirmal Pal and Judith M. Ray have collected articles by researchers and executives, including many from their home base, the e-Business Research Center at Pennsylvania State University. This anthology constitutes a solid and well-researched book, which has sufficient gravitas (and jargon) for an academic and enough practical information for an entrepreneur. The multiple authors sometimes overlap as they dissect various e-business approaches, but all offer worthwhile ideas. We [...] recommend this book to executives at any company, since Internet technology is now ubiquitous, and distinctions between old economy and New Economy are fast falling by the wayside.

The various authors examine "key themes" that intersect all manner of changes now occurring during what they characterize as an "information revolution": free agency, compressed supply chains, co-opetition, obliteration of boundaries, e-leadership, the elimination of hierarchies, emergence of electronic marketplaces ("bazaars"), club membership, and finally, "trust brokers" who serve as "an incentive and penalty mechanism to uphold the `digital order' in global, real-time electronic markets." The material is presented and then developed by within 14 chapters. In Chapter 1, for example, Ghadar and Leonard "deliberate on how the digital economy is forcing a fundamental and permanent shift in the way enterprise strategies are developed, and in the process raise significant new challenges for managers. In Chapter 7, Bhargava and Lee "provide valuable insights about emerging technologies and practices that will help organizations remain open and flexible in response to the changing technological environment so that past information technology investments remain useful and valuable in the future." And in the final chapter, Loomis and Gerhard "identify several strategic issues facing executives who must lead or interact within the e-government environment." All manner of forces are driving the expansion and consequent complexity of the "digital frontier" and at an ever-increasing velocity. Here in a single source are a range and diversity of perspectives on this process. The editors are to be commended on the selection and presentation of the 14 separate but inter-related essays. I also appreciate the "About the Contributors" section which identifies dozens of supplementary sources to consult for those to wish to explore specific issues in much greater depth. Those who share my regard for this book are urged to check out Profit from the Core, written by Chris Zook with James Allen, which suggests a number of growth strategies which are also worthy of careful consideration.

This is a wonderful collection of leading edge research and practical advice from experts in the field of e-business, e-commerce, and e-"anything". The authors and editors have created a very timely set of e-business thinking, imperatives, and recommendations, as well as practical and real life examples to cement the concepts. I highly recommend this book!

This is an excellent book on diverse aspects of e-business. The book offers great insights from a collection of experts. There are important nuggets from various topics ranging from e-business metrics to personalization to collaborative commerce to regulatory issues. The book provides useful frameworks for analysing e-business issues. I personally liked the fact that this book is applicable to both old economy and new economy companies. Despite the challenge of synthesizing a wide array of topics, the authors have done a commendable job of integrating the chapters. I highly recommend this book for all managers.