Free-delivery Books

I highly recommend this book!! I researched many books and techniques and the ones that I learned in this book worked the best for me. It allowed me to have a natural childbirth, without drugs, of a 9lb, 5oz baby! I will admit that the labor was not "pain-free", but it was certainly very manageable. I have experienced much greater pain from back problems. The book is written in an easy to follow manner, with many excellent scripts to read during delivery. I especially liked the section that tests to see if you are a good candidate for hypnosis as well as identifying which techniques will work best for you. Great Great resource!!!

I bought this for my daughter. She found it interesting & was able to use one thing from it for sure. Finding her "happy place" when in labor helped her get through some of the pain.

She ended up giving birth with not one single drug!

I bought this book hoping it would help with my delivery. It had some good tips on managing labor pain. However, the more I read, the more I felt that to use the tips, you have to have a good labor coach that believes in hypnosis as much as you do. My husband is a skeptic, so it was hard for me to use the tips, knowing that he didn't really "buy into" hypnosis. I used some of the tips for the first part of my labor but did not use any of them during hard labor. I would suggest this book to anyone interested, with the above caveat.

I'm so glad that I bought this book. It has helped me tremendously with preparing for labor. I plan on using the techniques taught in this book when I go into labor (in the next few weeks!). They are really easy to learn and work well for me! I recommend this book to anyone who is planning on having a natural labor, and espcially to anyone who is going to have a home birth. With practice, these affirmations that you learn can help put your subconscious mind in a different place, and not feel any pain. Five stars, GREAT BOOK!

Today's readers will think that this book is simply stating the obvious. That shows how much influence the book has had. Prior to the book's publication, most people felt that "getting things right" was more important than speed. This book points out that speed can actually be helpful in getting things right by encouraging you to improve your management processes so you do things right the first time.

Many companies have had trouble implementing this concept in the way it is articulated. They simplify their process, but may not improve it. This may mean that new products arrive in the market that are not really ready for the customers. That can be all right if you can quickly fine-tune the products in beta tests and the customers have that expectation because you are giving them so much benefit anyway. If you do this with me-too products that don't work, the results can be disastrous in terms of damage to your company's reputation and customer relationships.

The authors do not spend enough time on helping people understand how to improve their processes, and how to create more speed without killing stress on the people involved. For many companies, this book can be dangerous. I think this book could use a new edition that would address these two areas in more detail.

On the other hand, if you have any doubts about the potential benefits from speedier action, you should read this book. It will change your mind using excellent examples.

Have a speedy read!

Simply put, an oustanding book that has all the nuts and bolts needed to allow a company to transition to a time based focus from a cost based one. Easy to read, the logic is perfect. A must buy to have on your shelf (better yet ... on your desk). I read it first when I received my MBA ... read it again this last week .... and gave copies to top management I know around the country.

In 1990 this book was revolutionary. Today, it is mostly interesting as the first book on the subject. Nobody in todays (business) world can have missed out on the concept that time is (or can be) a competitive advantage.

If you have missed this basic fact, do read this book, it explains in rather boring terms why it is so.

Personally I think they put to much emphasis on time as a competitive advantage, and tend to disregard other factors, equally important. A more relevant reading would in my opinion be D'Aveni's Hypercompetition, that takes the concept to its logical conclusion, which Hoult and Stalk misses.

Unfortunately, neither of the authors are very entertaining writers, especially as this book is usually mandatory/recommended reading in most MBA classes on strategy.

In conclusion, good, once revolutionary, but today mostly over-rated.

A well written argument for consumer-driven healthcare and good insights into the excesses caused by government intervention in healthcare financing. Predictably the government run programs that were launched in the Lyndon Johnson "Great Society" programs in the mid-60s have exceeded their spending projections ten-fold from where we were told they would be today. These have made the US more of a welfare state than many welfare states, but it proves that if you give something away, like healthcare, you get to give a lot of it away. The latest massive expansion of Medicare into a drug benefit is the biggest open air theft of the incomes of future generations than any goverment program to date. The authors embrace a free market solution in which healthcare is bought like everything is bought: look at the price, look in your pocketbook, and decide if it's a good value. I recommend reading a companion Cato Institute book by Arnold Kling: Crisis of Abundance.

The health care debate has reached a new crescendo in America as of late. It is due to the rapid escalating costs of health care while the quality of health care has had some noticeable decline in some areas. Currently, health care insurance is very expensive if you have to purchase it without an employer or some sort of government assistance: Health care premiums have slowly moved beyond the reach of more and more Americans. Additionally, the looming financial crisis in Medicare as baby boomers start to retire will require some sort of large scale reform.
Michael Cannon and Michael Tanner make a convincing and articulate argument for less government intervention in an industry that is surprisingly dominated, directly and indirectly, by the federal government: They tease away the layers of state mandates, federal regulation, onerous FDA oversight and overall bureaucratic waste that bloat the cost of health care in America. Cannon and Tanner proceed to elucidate the reform needed to stem the rising tide of cost while improving the general quality of patient care. Most of the reforms involve an overhaul in federal tax codes, expansion of HSA programs, eliminating the monopoly that the FDA enjoys and many others. This book is well researched, revealing and logical. Please note, there is quite a bit of technical information and a trove of statistical data in this book. It reads a bit like it was written for policy wonks or academics but still very accessible to the layman.

the book is not worth much for me; I ordered it only because it was a required text by school I attend. Even the teacher did not want to use it. Not a good information source (searching google proves to much better!). You ended up making money, and that's the rest of the story!

Fischer and Corcoran complete another Herculean task with their 3rd edition of MEASURES FOR CLINICAL PRACTICE Volumes I and II. For each edition, the editors search the literature for instruments that demonstrate practical and research applications. They study and report on the calibration issues for each instrument. These issues include scoring, sampling, reliability and validity. Of course, they include the citations of their sources.

Although the primary audience for these volumes are clinicians and researchers (in that order), I have been using these volumes as a teaching tool. After giving a lecture on the meaning of reliability and validity, I have my students search out an instrument and assess the quality it. MEASURES FOR CLINICAL PRACTICE Volumes I and II are ideal sources for this assignment. They look at the instrument for face validity and read the editor's commentary on sampling, reliability and validity; then comment on the application in the practice arena.

Two limitations exist for these volumes. First, these are instruments for clinicians. The two volumes do not include any instruments that focus on macro variables that need to be measured. Perhaps a third volume should be considered for the next edition. Second, in terms of teaching instrument calibration to students, an expanded index would be most helpful. In the index, types of reliability and validity could be listed. Thus, students could hunt for an instrument that employs a technique they want to study.

Fischer and Corcoran must be applauded that their painstaking work.

A clear and succinct account of one of the true evils of our time! Status quo apologists and meritocracy fanatics, sadly, won't get the point, but, for the rest of us who strive to offer what we can to those in need and fight for a more equitable and just society, the book is a clear outline of just what needs to be eliminated for the betterment of all.

This is a must for any organization that is in the business of providing mental health services. It is the bible of clinical measures.

This book is not only valuable for clinical practice. It is also of substantial utility in conducting research. Both undergraduate and graduate students find the measures invaluable when conducting course related research. Faculty also find them highly useful.

The author quotes Milton Friedman as an almost exclusive source and uses fifty-cent words where penny words will do, all in an attempt to make his unresearched statements sound intelligent and academic.

He constantly claims that specious conclusions are "obvious" and assumes things to be true which are not true (or at least have not been argued persuasively as truth).

It is written with all the authority and lack of concrete support of a religious treatise; Szasz assures us that he is right because he says he is right, and, SURELY, no one can argue with that.

When I got a copy of this book - having forgotten about Dr. Szasz's breadth of outlook and singular erudition - I thought I was going to read a nice little political tract condemning the current American Drug Prohibition. "Our Right to Drugs" is that, of course, but it is so much more - it is a call to intellectual and political arms.

The War on Drugs, as Dr. Szasz so carefully shows, is nothing less than a Jihad, a Holy War waged by the forces of reaction and restriction in our society against all those who think that there should be peaceful choice, or self-ownership, or genuine free thought. And like all Holy Wars, this one permits the worst atrocities to be visited on the unbelieving because they are not just wrong - they are evil.

Like many libertarians, Dr. Szasz has little use for compromise; in this case, by those who favor "decriminalization" or "medicalization" of psychoactive drugs. Such people, the author shows, will only end up replacing the current Ayatollahs (cops and ex-generals) with a new Inquisition lead by doctors and psychologists. In the world of physician-monitored drug usage, instead of being evil, anyone who wants to alter his or her own mood will be labeled as "sick" - and instead of being sent to jail, they will be forced into "treatment".

In trying to think of some literary comparison to "Our Right to Drugs", I can only think of Plato's records of certain iconoclastic dialogues about ancient Athenian closemindedness. Truely, Dr. Szasz is our Socrates.

This book is a supremely courageous and truthful book written by one of the great luminaries of the age(s).
This book "cuts to the chase" as regards fundamental constitutional issues raised by laws regulating
the procurement, possession, sale, and use of drugs.

The book's most striking charge (a correct one, at that!) is that a fundamental tyranny overtook this nation about
90 years ago when "Americans" lost their property rights over their own bodies--all in the name of governmentally-controlled "truth in advertising" for drug sales.

However, this "seemingly benign" governmental goal created untold danger for the very people it was meant to
protect. Szasz rightfully puts America's so-called "drug problem" in proper perspective by suggesting that the
admonition "buyer beware" should have sufficed--for drugs, as for almost everything else.

In the most general terms, this book demonstrates that there are no shortcuts to a thorough-going approach to American Liberty and Freedom. Dr. Szasz very clearly, and effectively, corrects those who claim that drug laws be summarily repealed for any reasons other than their moral unacceptability in a free state.

Making proper analogy to the wrongful justification of the slavery of blacks in America (owing to their mischaracterization as property), Szasz makes it clear that the infringement of property rights (both of your body, and substances you might possess) lies at the heart of America's despotic and tyrannical so-called "War on Drugs."

Although he does not (if memory serves me correctly) directly cite the 9th Amendment in defense of all those who would fight this indigenous, governmentally-sponsored terrorism, he could have:

"THE ENUMERATION OF CERTAIN RIGHTS, IN THE CONSTITUTION, SHALL NOT BE CONSTRUED TO DENY OR DISPARAGE OTHERS RETAINED BY THE PEOPLE."

"What country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms, remedy is set them right as to facts, pardon & pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is nature's manure." Thomas Jefferson

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This is a fine and brilliant book. Szasz manhandles any pretext for government intervention in medicine and the market for drugs. This is by far the best book on the subject.

Good arguments for drug legalization (and deregulation of prescription drugs), but a little outdated as far as some of his allusions and political terminology go, and not precise enough in his use of the term "legalizers".

He ignores the distinctions between "decriminalization" and "legalization", and lumps all "legalizers" into a single category, as not being "good enough". He does not seem to realize that there is a wide spectrum of beliefs on drugs, ranging from his position, to the position that all drugs should be banned everywhere.

He is uncompromising, and this is politically defeating. Nonetheless, his position is admirable, and his idea of drugs as a "right" similiar to all other "rights" bandied about in political discourse today, is a good one.

Nice philosophy, and one I wish more accepted it, but he's too radical for today's politicians, who are still in the dark ages of social medicine.

Fear of people committing suicide easily, is Szasz's main hypothesis for why we regulate prescription and illicit drugs the way we do in America today.

This book is good for convincing one that drugs should be legalized, but it is no help for accomplishing that feat politically.

My daughter has a heart defect and I've used this and 2 of her other books to obtain "flow-through grants" to help with the medical expenses. Try looking in your hospital library for a copy and if they don't have one try the medical social workers. This book is well-organized, and is a great benifit to those who use it.

I will never look at a mailbox the same way again! Rachel Epstein has captured true American individuality and spirit through her camera lens. This book is a visual celebration of the wit, whimsy, and creativity of the American people. The only flaw with this book is that some of the mailbox origin stories pale in comparison to the lovely photographs. Still, it is a fun book that reminds us not to take ourselves too seriously.

As a purchase, you would be sadly disappointed in this book. We've all seen Matthew Lesko running around like a fool, hawking his books. While I don't ever recall seeing a commercial for this one, I completely understand why.

A previous reviewer made the very sound point that this book is a decent starter for resources if you have ABSOLUTELY NO experience whatsoever in dealing with doctors and the world of medical treatment. However, you could easily get all of this information from your local librarian and an hour in the reference section. A call to your county health office would net you the same thing.

I give this book one star because it is the most low-level research I have ever witnessed in a sourcebook. The tips for getting information out of people are so terribly basic it's not even funny. "A positive attitude will encourage your source to...see what information he might have..." WOW! Can someone award this man a medal for Most Obvious Sentiment of the Year?

The book sets the reader to feel as though he will truly find some unexplored pathways to solving a problem, and that just does not happen. I found nothing in the entire book that gave me an "AHA Moment," meaning that none of his suggestions were new to me, and I venture they wouldn't be new to anyone else. While this isn't the author's fault, the material in this book is extremely date-sensitive, which is why the reader is better served using a city telephone directory or the internet.

Another problem: his case studies read more like urban legends--when he tells the success stories of using these methods and contacts, he mentions the subjects as "a woman" and "a man." For reasons of privacy, I can understand not using their full names, but the generic approach makes me circumspect about the value of the stories at all.

Bottom line--any money you thought you could save in buying this book will be a waste. Go see your tax dollars in action and borrow it from your local library.

I feel the same as your previous review. Info is out dated. Found many refer's. to be non-existant. If material is not annually updated the reader has little access to current phone numbers and orginazation info. I returned my books. (Not bought here.) Totally disappointed. Unless volumes are changed yearly....they have no business being sold for even near original cost. Would take weeks to sift through the info to find even a few sources that may or not may apply. Mr. Lesko is a good salesman. Too bad.Personally, I can find more on the computer or phone book with about as much effort.

Mr. Lesko has dooped the Medical community and his readers yet again..many sources are obsolete at its publication, many sources are just that: basic information listings such as the address and phone number for free and low-cost informational readings on common diseases for patients and their families...ie. The American Medical Association, the American Cancer Society...yet what I find most bewildering Mr. Lesko is how little you think of your reader's intelligence and practical sense of the world around...We have all dealt with Medical Insurance companies at one time and we have all had the common cold..Please don't offer medical advice or leads if you aren't an M.D. or health-care specialist..Maybe writing advertisements for a used car lot would suit you better...

My reviewer colleagues have a point of criticism of this book.
The criticism concerns the rapidly changing government telephone
database. Some telephone number listings have changed since the
printing; however, the basic information contained in the book
provides a good pointer to very commendable government programs.

If you know little or nothing about health care, this book is a
good starter. For instance, the National Institutes of Health
has a program to take on new patients in connection with its
ongoing work and new clinical studies. The listing provides a
telephone contact number. If you qualify for admission, the cost
of the medical care delivery including the hospital stay can
be either zero or minimal. The patient referral line
links you to the clinical center; wherein, you or the physician
in charge of your case can discuss the entry protocol and
gain admission. The National Institutes of Health would be
a good referral for an elusive disease process where the diagnosis is difficult or the treatment is limited to pain and
suffering management. This volume provides you with an index
where free medical information may be obtained for a variety
of complex medical conditions. The authors list the drug manufacturers who provide the poor with low cost or no cost
medicine. Individual state programs are referenced. For instance,
New York has the Child Health and Family Health Plus Program.
The Hill Burton Program is another low cost or no cost program
designed to forgive mortgage loans to medical facilities in
exchange for free or low cost health services to the local
community. This book is invaluable provided you utilize it
in the proper context. It opens up new areas of medical treatment options and funding of those options .

Overall, the book is a good starting point for researching ways of covering your medical expenses at no cost or low cost. Oftentimes, medical research control groups go begging for patients and it's just a matter of connecting your needs with theirs. The book is an excellent value for the price charged.
Reading its contents may save your wallet and quality of life.