Future Books

Direct, action oriented, easy to read and not a book full of buzz words that don't really mean anything - This book focused on the concrete not the cliche. Even if you THINK you know it all you might need a reminder.

Great book, easy to read - Perfect to have on the shelf as a reference

Shut Up! and Listen to Yourself

Barbara Safani has written a career navigational tool that transcends industries and professional level. Barbara helps the resume writer take a step back, cut to the chase and deliver a real picture of a job seeker's skills, knowledge and abilities. I am giving this book to clients and students because Barbara's unique, truthful approach and style will aide them in their career journey.

Barbara Safani's book, Happy About My Resume is absolutely on message about resume development, resume headlines, and core resume accomplishments. With clear and concise language, she describes and demonstrates the truly important concepts, strategies, and tactics of writing a resume. Barbara has written a wonderful book for career counselors and coaches, job changers, and business consultants - she has provided an important tool for everybody facing downsizing or voluntary job change in this economy of uncertainty to help real people.

Bettina Seidman
President, SEIDBET Associates
....connecting the dots to career resiliency

This is one of my favorite resume books. Barbara presents 50 tips to help a resume sing, and gives examples taken from real resumes. Anyone who does their own resume needs to have this book opened next to them as they work on their resume, and the final product will be way better than what they could come up with on their own (incorporating best practices while avoiding common mistakes).

Everyone has an opinion when it comes to writing a resume, but Safani hits all the key points and compiled the best of advice out there in a clear and concise way. This is a must-read for people from all professions at all levels. This book allows the reader to position their experience in the very best possible way to open the doors to the right opportunities. Safani is a leader in her field.

"The Hopes and Fears of Future Years: Loss and Creation," Volume III of Lawrence R. Velvel's "Thine Alabaster Cities Gleam, Quartet: A Story of the Last Half of the Twentieth Century," is the longest of the first three books but for me turned out to be the quickest read. The first volume, "Misfits in America," resonated with me on such a personal level that I would have to absorb each chapter or two and translate it into my own life experiences. The second, "Trail of Tears," focused on the chain of disastrous events by which Velvel's protagonist Lionel Wolfe is fired four times by little people with little minds, big egos, and more often than not deep voices. At the end of each episode your sense of moral outrage has to abate a bit before you can stand to read about Wolfe's next downfall. There is a fifth firing at the start of this third volume, but Velvel makes it clear that out of the ashes of this final defeat would come the seeds for success so it is possible to read about Wolfe's experiences at the Free State Law School without a sense of despair.

The focus of this book is primarily on how Wolfe became the dean of Free State, which was supposedly an attempt to provide a legal education to working class students. When he was fired Wolfe realized that while the school was a sick joke perpetrated by a criminal, the dream of such a school was worth pursuing. This leads to the creation of the North New England Law School. Most of the book, like most of Wolfe's life at that point, is devoted to the creation of NNELS and the attempt to get the school accredited (without the ability to confer law degrees its students could never take the state bar exam). However, there is also an interlude in which we finally get to the resolution of the massive securities litigation spawned by the Skywaukee Port Authority debacle detailed in the previous volume. This is fitting because the case is what finally provides Wolfe with the financial security he has been denied while the creation of NNELS represents his success at creating a model of legal education superior to the sorry state of affairs covered in the first volume.

At this point my assumption is that the final volume of the quartet would be more about the practice than the theory of this idealized legal education to show its pragmatic value, but by this point in the fictionalized narrative I know full well that those whose lives and work are being challenged by the policies of NNELS are not going to suffer implicitly being called fools lightly. So I am sure there are more travails for Wolfe to come, but also anticipate getting to read about the success of the innovations at NNELS. But clearly by the end of this book Wolfe is looking at the Promised Land, so even if we have to wait a while for Velvel to publish his final volume at least we are doing so from what is clearly the happiest point in the narrative to date.

One of the things that I have enjoyed about reading these books is that Velvel crosses his T's and dots his I's with respect to his characters. You always get to find out what happens to people and I appreciate the sense of narrative completeness. I was also happy to see that Lillian Wolfe, whom I was convinced would be staying behind in Washington, D.C. when her husband went off into the world to try and make a living, not only moved but found something worthy of her abilities being NNELS's one person registrar office. It was also heartening to see that Wolfe had assembled a group of allies that would offer various means of support and that finally justice was prevailing in his professional life, both in and out of the courtroom. That makes the several instances where Wolfe notes the testimonials that have mean the most to him more poignant.

But the highpoint of this book was when I finally figured out the real world identity of one of the characters in Velvel's drama. That allowed me to start unlocking more of the actual locations involved and I am sure with some due diligence I could figure out more of the characters, but ultimately such things do not matter. The truth of Velvel's narratives lies in the details and not in the names, which apparently have been changed to protect the guilty more than the innocent (when you meet a "real" person, such as Robert Bork in the previous book, you wonder if there is more to it than the fact the man's last name became a verb). That is probably why Velvel did not choose to construct an autobigraphy that was more thinly veiled (e.g., Eric Severaid's use of the Winnie the Pooh story of the Heffalump to ridicule the McCarthy witch hunts). He was not interested in having his readers play the game. He just wanted us to get the morals of his stories.

As I have been reading through 'Misfits in America', its sequel, 'Trail of Tears', and this third of four volumes, 'The Hopes and Fears of Future Years: Loss and Creation', I am reminded in certain respects of Amoz Os, the modern Israeli writer, who, upon being criticised for some of the political stances of his characters, pled the defense of the characters being fiction - and therefore, by implication, that the stances would likewise be fictional, not necessarily his own. I get the same sense when reading this, that Velvel is using this fictional tale, drawn from his own experience, his own profession and his own time to critically examine the state of affairs both current and recent past, both in society generally and in the legal/judicial profession specifically.

Velvel's idealism, apparent from the start of the story, continues with force in this volume. Drawing from Abraham Lincoln's idea that it isn't good enough to do well for oneself, but rather one must also help fellow humankind, and exploring the less materialistic aspects of what the American Dream should incorporate, Velvel proceeds down a path that really would lead to the proverbial 'city on a hill', with alabaster towers that gleam in the distance. Alas, Velvel is not writing that kind of fiction. His fiction remains close the corridor of the progress of history, and so we see in compelling and interesting situations how the idea of America falls short in different ways, while still maintain the ideal.

This volume in particular takes me back to the Arthurian legend in which Merlin was asked by King Arthur which was the most important virtue of a knight. Some had said courage, others strength, others skill. Merlin shocked them all by proclaiming that truth was th emost important virtue, with the words, 'Whenever a man lies, he murders part of the world.' Velvel states that dishonesty is 'perhaps the most vicious and consequential of societal plagues that afflicts us, particularly because it makes the other plagues possible.'

In this volume, Wolfe is held up early as an exemplary victim of what is happening in society. A lawyer, a white collar worker (who was assumed to be immune from perils of unemployment), he became an early casualty of politics and growing dishonesty in the system. Wolfe goes to work for Free State Law School, sensing dishonesty in both practice and image there. Wolfe is eventually fired from there, too, after a political struggle in which his rival tries to set him up to appear unethical at best, criminal at worst. Finally, Wolfe and others band together to form North New England Law School (NNELS), dedicated to principles of ethical action both among and with regard to students and faculty/administration members.

NNELS was begun on a shoestring (closer to the $20,000 left over from sale of a house than the 10, 15 or 50 million required to start a proper law school according to the Bar Association), but was not without controversy itself. In particular, the character of Diggins, instrumental in Wolfe's departure from Free States, returns again in a strange guise to attempt to ruin NNELS (the idea of a law school hierarch ending up as a mud-wrestling bar keeper is too rich to have been pure fiction!). NNELS is controversial with accreditors because of innovations it considers a bit beyond the pale (too much reliance on adjuncts, even though the adjuncts are engaged in the campus and student life more than just the hours in the classroom; not relying on the LSAT as a primary admissions standard, etc.). However, as the volume ends, we see a graduating class, and as is symbolic of graduating classes everywhere, hope for the future years.

The title, 'Hopes and Fears of Future Years', derives from the lyric of 'O Little Town of Bethlehem', a hymn of hopefulness and expectation. Velvel gets into great detail in this volume, and it is easy to see how the idea for the story went from triology to quartet.

Lawrence Velvel is a great storyteller. Perhaps this is unexpected from an academic in the legal profession (Velvel is Dean and professor of law at the Massachusetts School of Law). This quartet is the kind of series which compels the reader to keep reading; even though the general ebb and flow of history are fairly well known, the details that are presented keep the reader looking for more, and the personalities presented are also very interesting - perhaps even more so at the moment, as the country is engaged in watching the selection of a new Chief Justice, and awaits yet another Supreme Court justice selection.

Five stars!

It's hard to review an achievement such as Lawrence Velvel's tetrology "Thine Alabaster Cities Gleam" but suffice it to say, the struggles to create a law school"for the people" are portrayed in these books in exquisite detail.

The accounts are fictionalized, for obvious reasons, but as fiction, this is of course a flop--it's not even a roman a clef. This is a documentation of political infighting, conflicting goals, treachery and unbridled power-grabbing. As a depiction of American politics at any level, corporate, governmental or scholastic, it's a winner. You really have to read the entire series to get the full impact, so I won't review each individually. If you have been to law school, deal with lawyers or professors or if you want insight into political scheming, this is a text of huge merit.

The Hopes and Fears of Future Years: Loss and Creation is the third novel in Lawrence R. Velvel's extraordinary Thine Alabaster Cities Gleam quartet. With this series of novels, the author, dean of the Massachusetts School of Law, tries to identify the source of the problems that have festered and spread throughout American society since the middle of the twentieth century, starting with the legal profession. Greed, immorality, a disregard for ethics, honor, and justice, and other troubling issues have formed a society of politicians who routinely lie, business executives whose crooked ways have led to increasing business scandals, judges who ignore the Constitution when it gets in the way of their own opinions, law schools built around engorging the riches of the faculty and administration rather than on preparing new generations of able lawyers, and basically a society that is just lawyered up to its very neck. I don't agree with every single one of Velvel's opinions, but the man knows how to frame an argument, makes his points extremely well, and says the things that really need to be said about the problems in our legal system today. It is just a remarkable breath of fresh air to hear a lawyer buck the all-powerful system and criticize those who have hijacked what should be a noble profession.

The books in this series are essentially nonfiction novels, and Velvel proves himself adept at keeping his storytelling engaging - even as he shares details of the seemingly boring legal profession with us. The first two novels explored the lives of two brilliant yet unfortunate young Jewish lawyers who encountered one grossly unfair setback after another yet persevered without betraying their ideals. Truly, it is hard to be an honest lawyer, as Lionel Wolfe exemplifies. This novel finds him on the brink of radical change. Having been fired five times for grossly unfair reasons, he finally decides to escape the poisonous legal culture of Washington, D.C. Despite some misgivings, he decides to accept the post of dean at Free State, a small and struggling little law school. Despite some bad omens in the process of securing the job, he sets in to furiously prepare the law school for its crucial upcoming visit by the Board of Regents - while also continuing his work on a big-money case he has been involved with for several years. Sadly, history repeats itself yet again for Wolfe. Some of the school's students, however, float the balloon of their starting their own law school, and in unbelievably short order (seven months), the Northern New England Law School (NNELS) opens its doors to students for the first time.

It was fascinating to see just how much work was involved in making NNELS a reality, but starting the school is really just the beginning. Wolfe and his colleagues immediately go to work planning for their first inspection by the Board of Regents; a failed inspection would doom the school because it would be unable to grant law degrees or qualify its students to take the state bar exam. The inspection process is nerve-wracking enough on its own, but Wolfe - naturally - faces almost insurmountable obstacles thanks to the corrupt president of Free State and a prominent politician who threatens to cut NNELS' inspection prospects off at the head. Free State is extremely down but not out, and Wolfe finds himself greatly pressured to give in to a hypocritical politician's stubborn (and obviously greedy) desires to move the law school (be it Free State or NNELS) to a certain building in a neighboring town - despite the fact the location is run-down and in a seedy section of town. It's impossible to describe all of the worries Wolfe endures throughout the whole long, drawn-out process of forming NNELS, keeping it afloat, and defending it against self-interested political assault - and all while maintaining the mission of the school to cater to those students traditionally excluded from the legal profession. It's an amazing story that really draws you into every minor success and potentially devastating setback Wolfe encounters. And, with this third book in the series, there is finally as much triumph as there is tragedy in the related events.

This series just keeps getting better. Velvel is a zealous proponent of legal reform, and his storytelling ability makes the Thine Alabaster Cities Gleam series of books the most effective way I know of for getting his points across to a larger audience. Hopefully, many of those in the legal profession in particular will be exposed to these amazing nonfiction novels because, as Velvel makes clear beyond a shadow of a doubt, the legal system is in dire need of reform. You might expect dry, boring writing from an academic lawyer, but Velvel is all about breaking through stereotypes. These books need and deserve to be read.

It could be called the "shrunken head" syndrome, and it developed within the framework of American enterprise - the dark side of the entrepreneurial sword. Greed, and hoarding made possible by professions ruled by fictional and numbered shareholders quickly descends to the depths where elitism and justification for it thrive, where little guys (but most often women and minorities) are pushed around and pushed out, to increase the Darwinian capitalistic odds. Social compression is all about shrunken heads where knowledge, justice, and commitment don't prevail, and where the frenzy feeds upon itself from bottom to top since it is capped by the status quo. Yesterday's prince is therefore tomorrow's dinner, and so on down the line of the hierarchy in a true Darwinian discriminatory fashion. Committed to living by the sword, most die by it, figuratively, if not actually, and all spiritually. Most therefore, haven't the courage to read what mankind hath wrought and brought upon himself.

Comprehensive, simple, full of examples - worth the money.

Good introductory book with plenty of examples. Good layout too. Many different options trading techniques are discussed, each with an indication of how risky it is. It even suggests leaving some of the more advanced techniques to the professionals, or more experienced traders - good advice.

If i had to pick a book that explained the most about options to the layman in the clearest language in the fewest pages, this would be it.

a must read for anybody who wants to understand how to use options

Yes, As a beginner I can confidently say I know what option is, it's uses and the risk involve. The Author did not only explain the principle but gave practicable example everyone can relate to. All in simple and plain English, you don't need to have been to a school of economy to know what an option is. With the help of this book, I can't look stupid when others uses terminologies relating to option. Keep up the good work Joseph.

Mr. Walker is clear and concise in his depiction of how the options markets work. He details various strategies and makes options investing understandable to those new to it.

In my 11 years as a futures investor, broker, and author, I have never seen someone with as much grasp of options investing as Mr.Walker and have the capability to explain it.

this book was excellent. informing readers of the tragedy of that cold day in January in 1986 when Space Shuttle Challenger exploded killing all 7 on board. for me, it taught me a lot about the disaster and the months leading up to it. i was born in 1986, 9 months after the explosion and until recently, i had no knowledge of it. then i heard that the first teacher to go into orbit was on that flight and she had 2 kids and a husband, it prompted me to read this book. at first glance, i thought, ok, they're going to tell me that she won a contest, she did some training, and she went up in the shuttle. but the author went in depth so much more and explained the hardships the children faced, after learning their mother would be gone for months at a time. and he explained the exhausting life Christa McAuliffe lived prior to lift-off. I reccommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good and fact-filled book now and then. and for those of you who witnessed the explosion 14 years ago, that should make this book all the more important to you. email me comments or suggestions: rogcha_22@hotmail.com

In the book" I Touch the Future..The Story of Christa McAuliffe"we the readers get to have a closer look at the Challenger tragedy and see just what a tragedy it truly was. Anyone who saw the disaster as it happened probably already had developed an interest in Christa McAuliffe because she was an ordinairy person doing something most of us will never do,and mourned her death.But for those of us who are to young to remember the explosion and the loss of the Challenger crew,( I was only about three years old when it happened) we have to rely on books and old news segments to tell us about this tragedy, and I would have to recommend this book to anyone who is interested in Challenger and Christa McAuliffe. Robert T. Hohler shows the reader all about Christa's training ,homelife and also a clearer view about what her crewmates were like, something we know almost nothing about. I only wish the author could've wrote the biographies of all of Challenger's passengers as well.Read this book so you won't be like me: Not knowing anything about such an important part of history until it's victims had been dead for a decade.

This book by Robert Hohler is a well-written, very personal look at the life of a very special woman whom most of us only had a chance to know from a distance. From her childhood to the last few days of her life, Christa McAuliffe was constantly giving gifts of love, insight, advice, friendship and understanding to her family, friends, and students, and the last few months of her life to the rest of the world as well. I Touch The Future gives us all a chance to realize what a huge loss we were dealt on January 28, 1996. If only someone would write equally good biographies of the rest of the Challenger astronauts, we could all realize the full extent of this tragedy.

This book is one of many that have touched the hearts of millions with the life of a historical role model. From the day of her birth to the day of the fatal teacher-in-space flight, this book shows the climaxes and downfalls of Christa McAuliffe's wonderful life. We find that through tough childhoods, even the most ordinary person can turn into the most respected role model in the nation. I suggest reading this book if you were at all inspired or touched by the 1986 space shuttle tragedy. You will always remember her touching moments as a child, her fantasitic teaching career for the future of many kids, and her sad ending of her young life. Please read this book as a motion of kindness and rememberance for this wonderful role model for thousands.

Having experienced the disaster as a middle school student, I have only just begun to research Christa and her glorious rise as an educational icon. As someone who aspires both to be an astronaut and a teacher, I wept at the epilogue. Simply put, Christa was far from normal and average--she worked herself very hard and never seemed to complain.

Hohler did her justice in this chronicle of Christa's final field trip. It should be required reading of all students who wish to make something of their lives.

I first read this book back in 1989 when I was working for NeXT computer, and it has remained in my mind as a landmark book. I heard a presentation from a person from Allegeny college that referenced this book. He was discussing the fact that when people are given different tools they solve problems in different ways. If all you have is DOS you abiltiy to solve information problems will be based on what you can do with DOS. But if you had a NeXT... Since reading this book I have tried to apply these concepts to my teaching object-oriented programming and high reuse problem solving techniques. This book really helped me understand that using advanced computers is a lot more then just teaching people a different windowing system. It is about getting them to rethink they WAY they solve thier problems using the cognative styles enabled by advanced software systems. Tim Berners-Lee could never have drempt of the web from a DOS system. But from a NeXT...

hhfg

I re-read this book again this year (2002) after a decade of its first publication in 1988, it still looks amazingly current, especially consider internet's wide adoption since 1995.

It was as though the smart machines and their relationships with human workplace has not changed since 1988. Even in silicon valley where I work, with so many tech companies with managers trained in technology background, their orgazniations keeps failing by repeating the single-minded strategy - replace human with technology.

As long as corporate America keep ignoring the main advice of t this book - that to fully utilize technology you have to understand the non-technical aspects of it (historical, psychological, social) - real productivity gain might be limited, until maybe we move everything to Bangalore, India.

Zuboff's book should have been titled "The Future of Work and Power in the Age of the Smart Machine," because while the book does speak to the increasing computerization of the workplace, it does so in an historical context regarding how power has been and might be distributed between worker and manager. Automation is the effort to remove human skill from work, making humans the servants of the "smart machine." Informating is the way in which the computer can potentially change the workplace by distributing "management information" and power to the workers, making them co-equal partners in the enterprise. Zuboff suggests we still have a choice about which way to go, despite our self-protective impulses

I use this text in a course called "Work and Community" because it shows how various disciplines--history, philosophy, sociology, cognitive psychology --can inform discussions about how work is organized, and the kinds of power or authority relationships that workplaces, especially those where computers have changed the nature of work, abound. What's particularly interesting for me is the way Zuboff hits on the sort of literacy encouraged by computerized workplaces, and how information sharing requires real re-thinking of traditional roles of managers. In addition, the historical treatment of management as a developing professional competence would be critically enlightening for those who tend to study "business" as if it were merely a skill to acquire, rather than something with a history to be understood.

Hope we hear more from Andrew Tisbert in the future. Real ingenuity, great writer.

Enjoyed all of the stories in this collection - there were no duds. Most were engrossing, well written, and had novel ideas as any good sci-fi story should. Primarily, they were good reads. My disclaimer, I am married to one of the writers (the last story), so I may be somewhat biased in my judgment

Monkey See, Monkey Deduce - Starts with a bang and is a great first story in the series. Fun, charming, and packed with action (like E.T.). Presents the world through the eyes of a young, male, monkey very well. I especially liked the passage where a woman scientist introduces herself. "His noses sniffed... His Alpha nose picked up the sure sign of estrus. He puffed out his chests to impress her... 'Hi, Caps.' She bared her teeth, but he did not feel threatened."

Bottomless - An engrossing story about a simple goat herding boy who happens to live in a world that appears to be a bottomless pit. The boy is in for multiples shocks of a lifetime when he falls... A very well told yarn with strong character development and smooth transitions.

Flotsam - An extremely well told story about an alien race that resembles an amphibian. Their leader is enslaved to humans out of his feelings of moral obligation. This is a very sensuous story. I can feel his keen longing for the water under my fingernails as he sits marooned on a human ship resenting his bondage.

Kinship - Although well written, was not one of my favorites. Extended scenes where Alexander is jacked into the net and approaches a bright light source (as in Nuromancer, Snow Crash) seems to have been overdone. Also did not agree with the seeming moral of the story, that physical existence was more important than cerebral existence.

In Memory - Presents an interesting world where a person can scan-in his entire brain along with his personality and memory into a computer. A geek who has uploaded himself is presented with an interesting problem when he discovers his memory bank is faulty... but then the story seems to end abruptly just as it was getting good. Please, I am waiting for a little bit more!

The Key - still reading this one. Reminds me of Talisman.

Cancilleri's Law - about a young man entranced by a woman frozen in time. This also seemed too short. The story behind the woman that will explain her reaction and her fate when she is brought into the future may need more development.

Sleep Sweetly, Junie Carter - a feminine story about the wife of an officer, who suffers through long waits (or sleeps) during her husband's trips. There are catty scenes and fashion screams. But my favorite part was Junie's junkie like addiction to the sleep chamber. I almost think that the exquisitely physical longing described might be modeled after the writer's real-life experience with a drug stronger than pot -- but I think it's just being a good writer.

Conversation with a Mechanical Horse - really enjoyed this story. Reminds me of Princess Bride.

The Weapons of the Lord Are Not Carnal - I am still puzzling over the moral of this story. Is the monk's soul really dammed or does he just think he is dammed. (He may not be dammed because he has become the "incorruptible seed" that will spread God's good works.) It's humorous that the monk suspects his soul may be dammed when he stops feeling emotional torment. FYI, the writer plays in a heavy-metal band.

Sunrunners - a good, clean, fun in the tradition of Asimov's short stories. There are pockets of rich minerals to mine, moon rovers to romp around in, and a beautiful girl to win. No complicated emotions, and not too much danger.

Shipwoman - one of my favorite stories. It is really sad the author did not live to see her story published. It conveyed the world-view according to humans who have evolved on an oceanic world very well. I liked the people's names. At first I thought they all had odd names, and then realized why. The final scene, where the newly adapted shipwoman desperately tries to escape the huge air bubble descending ominously upon her, is very moving.

Last Days of the Mahdi - a spy thriller set on the throes of a religious war. The descriptions in this story are just beautiful. The spy who uses myriad of disguises, his subconscious religious responses caused by his training (and part of his disguise), the sites and sounds, are wonderfully done. In the end, I felt as if I can see with my own eyes the sunrise in the holy city that could be the fulfillment of the Prophecy.

Asleep in the Forest of the Tall Cats - clearly more of a fantasy than science fiction. It has a lot of dream sequences that later blend in with reality. The descriptions are pleasing, languid, and sensuous as well as modestly erotic.

The Plastic Soul of a Note - a strong story with a poignant ending and therefore a good last story in the series. At its best when describing how the pianist experiences his music. His description of idée fix as like an elusive lover that goes away but keeps on returning, each time a little transformed; his visceral reaction to the beauty of a Bosendorfer; his agonizing doubts about whether his music can still soar; and his final performance of Chopin Preludes where he describes his hand movements and the different mood and phrasing of the pieces -- were beautiful. Having played both piano and violin during my college days, I could readily feel what the pianist was feeling and feel my fingers move involuntarily during parts of the story.

Writers Of The Future: Volume XX is the 20th anniversary edition of the L. Ron Hubbard presents Writers of the Future anthology. Featuring 15 amazing, original stories showcasing rising creative talent in speculative fiction, all winners of the Writers of the Future contest, Writers Of The Future: Volume XX is an anthology that transcends imagination and transports the reader into the most mind-blowing and exciting new worlds. All the pieces within have never before been published, and the professional judges who screen the submissions include such well-known story weavers as Orson Scott Card, Larry Niven, Anne McCaffrey, Andre Norton, Frederik Phol, and much more. Award-winning black-and-white illustrations, also judged for their expertise, enhance the mass-market edition of this world-spanning and immensely entertaining collection.

"L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future, Volume XX," edited by Algis Budrys, collects 15 tales from the Writers of the Future contest for 2003. The collection is illustrated by winners of the Illustrators of the Future International Illustration Program. Interspersed among the stories are essays on writing, art, and science fiction by L. Ron Hubbard, Robert A. Heinlein, Robert Silverberg, Vincent di Fate, and Kevin J. Anderson. The stories fall into the genres of science fiction and fantasy. The selections that impressed me the most are as follows.

"Monkey See, Monkey Deduce," by Jonathan Laden: a powerful story about an experiment in scientifically enhanced intelligence. This story gripped me from its great opening line: "He screamed from all his mouths, then covered all his ears." "Bottomless," by Luc Reid: follows a hero in his travels through a world that exists along the edges of a seemingly bottomless pit, lit by a "Sun Thread" suspended in the center of the pit and running its length. It's a richly imagined world, with compellingly rendered geography and culture. "In Memory," by Eric James Stone: about a brilliant mathematician whose consciousness is duplicated and projected into a supercomputer. This is a powerful, disturbing story that deals with memory, time, and family ties.

Other standouts: "The Weapons of the Lord Are Not Carnal," by Andrew Tisbert: follows a cyborg whose spiritual quest takes him to a friary on Mars. "SunRunners," by Matthew Champine: an exciting adventure that imagines Earth's moon as a sort of wild west frontier. "Last Days of the Mahdi," by Tom Pendergrass: Set in Egypt, this suspense tale involves genetically engineered spies. It's a vividly written story that draws on Islamic culture and prophecy. Among the essays, I particularly enjoyed Kevin J. Anderson's "False Summits," which uses mountain climbing as a metaphor for a writing career. Overall, I found this to be a fine anthology. The collection as a whole features truly compelling themes and characters and takes the reader to some truly fantastic places. I especially recommend this collection to those who love science fiction.

Fabulous stories by new sci-fi authors including Gabriel Koch's terrific time travel thriller Cancilleri's Law. You should enjoy every story in this book if you enjoy sci-fi/fantasy!

A nice, small, readable book...great for plane trips or a couple of hours under a beach umbrella. Affirms the belief of reincarnation.

First of all, does RobbyK12 have something against this author. Two comments and he hasn't even read the books. Take it from me, buy it. It's a whole lot better than the $1.50 movie (can be delivered right to your door)......and with what you'll save on popcorn, you can OWN them.

This book is exactly what ANYONE who keeps making the same stupid mistakes over and over again absolutely needs. Not that it will correct your bad habits, it will certainly make you think twice about why you make the decisions you make.

Do I agree with her ideas? I'm not sure, but I can say that Dr. Kaehr's "Lifestream" exercise is absolutely fantastic. This is the perfect exercise for any individual who needs to stop and smell the roses. And it could be the wake up call you need to get on with your life and start living.

Another thing, I"ve realized after doing the exercise, I have a lot less anxiety. I have heard so many times that I needed to relax and not let the little stuff bother me. I never knew how to relax, or meditate, or just stop and think about what was really most important to me. This process is the best therapy I've experienced. I taught me how to relax. It cost me ten bucks and I can do it on my terms. Beats the h*** out of writing stuff down, wadding up the paper and throwing in the trash can. It's a heck of a lot cheaper and certainly MORE EFFECTIVE.

Thank you Dr. Kaehr for sharing your knowledge and giving me a simple solution to help deal with daily obstacles.

This book has been out for a few months now and I've yet to find any reviews on it. Meanwhile, I can't understand why the editorial description of this book is so inadequate. Is the publisher even remotely interested in selling this book? I'd find it helpful if there were some excerpts published... something to give me a clearer idea of what I'd be buying.

That being said, I'd really like to buy this book. I've heard the author on "Coast to Coast AM with George Noory" and she's quite interesting. However, if I don't see a better description or some reviews, I'm not ordering it. Surely the author of this book must have some friends or colleagues that could write a review here and provide a better description of the book's contents.

Can some kindhearted soul out there give the author a hand and get the information out there?

Take this little book and either read a page or chapter at a time. Or read it all at once. Shelley gives us something to think about regarding our past and how we can change. She is able to connect the seeming simple things that we let pass by unnoticed. We leat to make these connections with this book. Thought provoking!

Although this book is not long, it has some great info in it. I couldn't put it down once I started it. It talks about past lives and how they affect your present life and the choices you make. It talks about the future, and how we control the outcome. What I liked best was that the book has very interesting meditations for healing your heart, a past life regression, and a look into the future for the best outcome of any situation. I can't wait to try them out.

Very well written and even entertaining in places, this book has lots of nuts and bolts you won't find in other primers, like the best explanation of First Notice Day and Last Trading Day I've seen anywhere. The section on choosing a broker is not very useful, but everything else is. You get a good treatment of Fundamental Analysis in addition to Technical Analysis, and two chapters on moving average systems, which Kleinman considers THE most valuable trading tools. If you're looking to start trading futures (mastery takes 5-10 years), make this one of the first five books you read.

Having read more than 50 books on trading and the markets, it took me by surprise to find so much fresh material in this one. The strategy overviews were great- like the flexibility value of synthetic calls and puts, the use of backspreads to profit from volatile moves, or the correct way to pyramid, to give just a few examples. I've found that a majority of books on trading are either largely autobiographical or else they only cover the same old ground in some form or another (cut your losses, let your profits run, don't get emotional, yada yada yada)- but this one actually offers fresh, workable strategies and valuable insights. If you trade, or are thinking about trading, definitely pick this one up.

Kleinman takes the mystery out of the commodities market. I wish I would have had this book before I attempted my series 3! It would have made the process much easier. The NFA should make this required reading.

An extremely well written primer for the novice and polisher for the expert. An absolute plethora of information and advice for those at any stage of commodity trading. The "bible" for traders.

WOW. What a powerful, easy to understand book about the whole ball of wax. If you are looking for THE book on Futures and Options, how they work, the reason behind price changes and an easy to understand system to trading look no further! A heart felt thanks Mr. Kleinman on a real work of art.

This terrific new book from two of the world's best-known and respected marketers - Stan Rapp and Chuck Martin - contains a powerful surprise for the reader. The title suggests that it might be about the authors' special take on e-marketing -- it turns out to be that, and much more.

The authors actually tackle a full range of enterprise issues from integrating IT and marketing functions to strategic partnerships to email marketing. Their points are substantiated with dozens of examples and numerous case studies. The effect is a convincing and eye-opening presentation of the extent to which marketing does, and should, pervade every aspect of business today.

The thread that that pulls the authors' observations together is the customer-centric philosophy pioneered by co-author Stan Rapp in his and Tom Collin's book, "MaxiMarketing," published in 1986. The result is a well-organized unfolding of ideas and solutions that help the reader understand how new technologies, such as the wireless Internet, might be used to build customer relationships while simultaneously improving a firm's operating efficiency.

Obviously, the authors are high-level thinkers. Many of their ideas stimulated new ideas for my own business, which is the whole point of a book like this. For example, their discussion of how to turn products into "offerings" by surrounding them with value-added services was especially interesting and helpful.

Perhaps the greatest value of the book is that its seven "imperatives" provide the basis for a sound strategic direction. Follow them and there's little doubt the book will live up to its promise of "dominating" the competition. That's especially helpful these days when change is so rapid and so much is new and untested.

Read this book and be prepared for some very powerful ideas and new directions not just for marketing, but for the entire business.

I really enjoyed this book and benefited a lot from its excellent content as it was easy to follow and presented E-marketing as it should really be: more MARKETING and less E, or less Technical Mumbo Jumbo.
Being an IT Business consultant, I highly recommend this book to anyone in the IT Business especially technical people who need to bridge their gap between Technology and Business knowledge.

Cheers.

Amr Selim
IT Business Consultant

Commit the Seven Imperatives to memory, but not as a mere mantra. This an essential tool bag ready to go to work. 'Max-e-Marketing in the Net Future: The Seven Imperatives for Outsmarting the Competition in the Net Economy' are seven elegantly crafted and clarifying doses of excellent advice that will de-fuzz the out-of-focus business models of many dot.coms, and for that matter, help any company struggling to straddle and merge the old ways of doing business with e-business. Concise examples from over 200 companies from American Express to zoho.com are cited and explained. Real-world case studies and real-world top executives exclusively interviewed, coupled with Martin and Rapp's own considerable depth and breadth of experience, make this juicy reading. Their perspective is bulls-eye. Once begun, I didn't put it down. Using Martin and Rapp's premises for avoiding pitfalls and grasping opportunities, our dot-com has redefined and refined our own business model so completely that we now have a clear path to profitability. We even take the author's message to the Fortune companies we now call on. 'Max-e-marketing In The Net Future' is all about really getting really real.

Max-E Marketing is a book that I read in an evening, put to work in a day, and will be absorbing for some time to come while evaluating and implementing the seven imperatives in my own business environment. I found the pairing of co-authors Stan Rapp and Chuck Martin to be a master stroke. The combined power of their marketing savvy, e-business vision, and journalistic discipline yields a clarity of thought and usefulness of principle that should help any business executive who is determined to outsmart the competition in the Net Economy. But what really sets this book apart is the rich mix of real-world examples. They represent a range of companies and industries so broad that every reader will find a way to relate to every major point. The seven imperatives each reflect straightforward click-and-mortar business strategy, yet they are presented here as marketing strategy. Lest a reader miss the point of that, the authors deliver the message one more time in imperative number seven: "Make business responsible for marketing and marketing responsible for business."

Commit the Seven Imperatives to memory. But not as a mere mantra. This is an essential tool bag ready to go to work.

"Max-e-Marketing in the Net Future: The Seven Imperatives for Outsmarting the Competition in the Net Economy" are seven elegantly crafted and clarifying doses of excellent advice that will de-fuzz the out-of-focus business models of many dot.coms, and for that matter, help any company struggling to straddle and merge the old ways of doing business with e-business. Concise examples from over 200 companies from American Express to zoho.com are cited and explained. Real-world case studies and real-world top executives exclusively interviewed, coupled with Martin and Rapp's own considerable depth and breadth of experience make this juicy reading. Their perspective is bulls-eye. Once begun, I didn't put it down.

Using Martin and Rapp's premises for avoiding pitfalls and grasping opportunities, our dot-com has redefined and refined our own business model so completely that we now have a clear path to profitability. We even take the author's message to the Fortune Companies we now call on. "Max-e-marketing In The Net Future" is all about really getting really real.

MINDBOOSTER: A modern fairy tale
A story fascinating the reader with it's realism. Five stars!

A quick delightful read on lives on young people! Might also make a good gift for those tweens and teens in your life.

MINDBOOSTER: A modern fairy tale
A rip roaring good story, Mindbooster follows the discovery and marketing of a mind-stimulating drug - all the way from the laaboratory to the halls of Congress. Should be made into a movie!

A gripping, fast-paced fantasy set in a future some seventy
years from now. An unexpected discovery made in a pediatric hospital initially appears of relevance to the military in connection with the development of artificial intelligence. Triggered by test-results leaked to the media, private industry develops a new agricultural product yielding significant impact on the national economy. This story represents educated entertainment at its best!

This delightful story is about infusing a kid's curiosity into the general public for life. What if Curiositin ever became a reality - maybe in a hundred years? This is a fun read, particularly for those who've had to do with the government. Makes a nice Xmas present.