General-partnership

Mentoring is so important in the world today. Having a mentor, as this book details, helps people reach the next level in their careers. Mentoring is truly invaluable. A tough thing though is finding a mentor. Where does one look? Well now there is a place to both find a mentor and also be a mentor to share your knowledge. The site is Advance Mentoring, www.Advancementoring.com

You can search to find a mentor in any industry, or to be a mentor, or even both. Now the job of finding a mentor has gotten much easier. The site offers over a tremendous number of members from over 40 countries, so you are sure to find a mentor or a mentee. Good luck. http://www.advancementoring.com

Noah Cirincione, CEO
Advance Mentoring
http://www.advancementoring.com

The original meaning of mentor was defined by the role that Mentor (a friend of Odysseus) played in educating Telemachus (Odysseus's son) while Odysseus was away on the Odyssey. The dictionary also mentions definitions of a trusted counselor or guide, tutor, or coach.

This book clearly is about mentoring as coaching in the business rather than the sports sense. Mr. Shea suggests that mentoring has more intervention than counseling or short-term teaching assignments, because it goes beyond the merely obligatory. As such, I think the book's concept falls short of the full potential to mentor or to be mentored. In particular, the book suggests not giving advice beyond posing questions to focus the learner's attention. I think that many people will construe that advice too narrowly and will miss the chance to tell stories from their own experience that are relevant to the mentee's (his word, not mine) needs. That is why I graded the book down one star.

In every other way, the book is very well done. Having been helped by many outstanding mentors over the years, I was interested to see how one should go about playing that role oneself. I found what I was looking for here.

Some may find the material a little on the light side about the special issues associated with mentoring people of the opposite sex, of vastly different ages, and different cultural backgrounds. But the book does have a sound process for being sure that the mentor and mentee share with one another what their objectives are, and continue to communicate with each other about how it is going. That should solve most problems. The book also has good material on how to interpret the words, emotions, and body language that people exhibit, and how to probe for unexpressed information. That should deal with much of the rest.

The book is designed to serve those who wish to learn how to assist in the development of other people, to suggest behavior that mentors should adopt and avoid, and to show how mentoring works in today's workplace.

The chapters cover (1) mentoring as an art (2)whether mentoring is for you? (3) understanding mentee's needs (4) positive behavior (5) behavior to avoid (6) mentor/mentee gains (7) special situations and (8) a brief summary.

Some of the book's strengths include lots of self-diagnostic questions, case studies with more questions attached, and a general background on the popularity of mentoring (leaders today see it as a way to fill in the gaps on their company's training programs). There is also a self-assessment tool available to you by toll-free call.

For those who have not had much mentoring, this book will be a real eye-opener. For those that have, it will be an encouragement to become involved as a mentor.

Reduce your communication stalls and prosper!

Donald Mitchell

Coauthor of The Irresistible Growth Enterprise (available in August 2000) and The 2,000 Percent Solution

(donmitch@fastforward400.com)

As a long time student of both astrology and Jungian psychology, I was delighted when I got my copy of "Secrets of Love & Partnership". The content is laid out in a clear easy to understand manner and the writing style was approachable and friendly. So what's the problem? The authors merge some concepts that don't seem to merge well and develop an astrological model of what we find attractive in romantic partners that I don't feel holds up to intense scrutiny. They begin by stating that we're initially attracted to those partners who's chart makes up for our own elemental weaknesses. If my chart is weak on water I'll be unconsciously looking for someone with a sun in Scorpio, a Cancer rising and 2 other planets in water to fill in the things I lack. I'm overstating here as an example - Banzhaf & Theler cover this topic in a perfectly acceptable well thought out manner. Where they seem to jump in the wrong direction is when they try and cobble Jung's concept of a contra-sexual archetype (the anima if we're men and the animus if we're women) on top of their discussion of elemental gaps.

According to the authors the Sun represents a man in his mature aspect and Mars represents him in his puer or son aspect. A man's Moon shows what his mature feminine archetype would look like and Venus represents the maiden or daughter aspect. Their discussion of the difference between these two views, Father, Son - Mother, Daughter is very good and easy to understand, the problem comes when they apply a model that might have appeared to make sense for a man, to a woman. They claim that the Moon represents the self for woman and the Sun represents her animus or inner masculine. This statement completely violates basic astrological theory (at least as I've understood it these 30 years). Astrologically the Sun represents the SELF for both men and women. This isn't a concept that can be changed simply because someone wants to fit a neat idea in a book.

What the authors would have us believe is that EVERY woman is caught in the trap of "projecting" her inner self (her sun sign) onto every male she meets. Now according to Jungian psychology this can and does happen, BUT it is directly related to a woman's level of individuation and not to the placement of planets. A woman, just like a man, is perfectly able to carry and develop her own sun without resource to a male partner.

If you don't know much about astrology or Jungian psychology, this is not the book to read to get an introduction to either. Not because it's not clear and well written but because you'll form some wrong conclusions if you believe all of what you read. A fact made even more difficult by the fact that 90% of everything in the book is fine and it's only the 10% that drive their conclusions that is flawed.

If you know Jungian psychology and astrology the book might be of some interest, if only to be controversially thought provoking. Does Venus really carry our immature image of self if we're women? Why? Does Mars carry our girlhood image of Mr. Right? Is there an image of Mr. Right that we can define in a cookbook format (mars in Virgo means you're attracted to man like this....)

In the final analysis the book fails because it attempts to take a variety of deeply complex subjects (anima/animus, projection, individuation, astrology) and meld them together in a simple cookbook format that anyone without prior knowledge of any of the subject areas can understand. Unfortunately for the authors, the nature of sexual attraction is simply too multifaceted and too mysterious to be reduced into a few tables in one slim paperback

Jungian debate aside, Banzhaf/Theler's book is pretty informative. Their lay-out is simple and clear. The book is divided into feminine and masculine expression. In the feminine section, each of the twelve signs are discussed in terms of their Venus/Moon expression. A basic chart summary for that particular planet's feminized energy is located on the left page. On the right page, the authors further explore the planet's symbolism in essay form--which can run to about three pages in length. For the masculine section, the planet's sun/mars expression is summarized in a chart located on the left page, while on the right page, again, they offer an in-depth essay.

The feminine chart is layed out as follows: archetype, element, type, style and taste, mature form, naive or distorted form, strength, problem areas, relationship strengths, relationship problems, basic mood, eroticism, places and situations where she may be encountered, basic principle.
The masculine chart is layed out as follows: archetype, element, type, basic attitude, mature form, naive or distorted form, strength, problem areas, relationship strengths, relationship problems, type of assertiveness, sexuality, typical professional areas, basic principle.

Overall, this book is a handy reference and the authors make it so because of their well chosen key-words and their simple and logical layout.

The book provides a 360 degree perspective on business alliance. It captures both the difficulties and opportunities involved in developing business alliance. It also outlines the resources and skills needed. The values of business alliance are also incorporated into the competitive advantage framework. The book is filled with detail to 'walk the talk', but the content tend to be ocasionally repetitive.

Lehman is one of the main scholars currently writing about US involvement in Bolivia. His essay "Revolutions and Attributions" for the journal Diplomatic History is the pinnacle of historical work on the issue of US support of the Bolivian nationalists who came to power in 1952. This book is very much a generalized history, but Lehman does offer his own points and emphasizes certain important themes. He also does a great job on dealing with the contemporary period. I would highly recommend this book as an introduction to the very interesting story of US involvement in Bolivia. For a reader not familar with Bolivian or Latin American history, it is also a good introduction for those areas of study.

Working as a cost/commercial manager, project manager and contract administrator in the construction industry, this book has always been a reference source. It covers a wide range of relevant topics without going to deep

This book is the proceedings of a conference sponsored by NATO whereby researchers into Li ion batteries were brought into one place to share ideas. The hope was for a synergistic effect of disparate ideas being commingled in unexpected ways, leading to advances in energy storage density or easier/cheaper manufacturing steps.

It is unclear to what extent they were successful, seen from a vantage point of several years later. Yes, there certainly have been increases in performance of commercially available batteries of this type. Presumably, some of this might have been due to that conference. But the overall impression from this text is that of a mature field. Improvements seem incremental. Which is not a detraction on the researchers themselves, but on the very nature of the field. Diminishing returns despite the sometimes strenous and ingenious approaches in several papers.

Which is a pity. Because one of the great bottlenecks in wireless computing has been the inability of batteries to offer the same performance increases as that of computer memory and disk storage, which follow approximately Moore's Law of doubling in density every two years or so.

I have decided to integrate my interview with Keld (Co-author) and book review together because the book also emphasises the strengths and ideals of Keld's company Market Watch.

From the back jacket of the book "An international study based on over 20,000 negotiations revealed that a huge amount of time is wasted on producing deals that are often of only marginal merit. This book will help you identify the deals which are worth doing and set you on the right track to make them profitable.

Negotiating Partnerships will take you through dozens of areas where additional value can be found, to make win-win partnership deals that really work for you. You will learn how to identify opportunities and conclude better deals at the same time as making the other party feel good."

The book has definitely made good its promises.

My favourite bits:

Good and Bad Negotiators (Chapter 2), Checklist (pg 63) - These are set out in a very clear manner

Added Value and 4-Step Model (Chapter 5) - My last foray with the term Added Value was while lecturing Macroeconomics! Yet again, the authors expertly highlight these concepts in very workable fashion.

The back Appendix 1 and 2 are also good guidepost to accelerate your application of these models.

This book is authoritative and highlight the experience of the authors. It is essential reading for HR, Management and Corporate Strategists.

A very good business book!

Colin Ong TS
Founder/Managing Director

MR=MC Consulting
http://www.mrmc.com.sg
http://www.mrmc.com.sg/12n

We are starting a new partnership and this book contained everthing we needed to prepare partnership agreement and pointers to other legal forms required. Would have had to pay an attorney to prepare agreement without this book. We only payed for a review. Saved us big bucks!

If you are interested in NGO-Government partnerships and the history/dynamics there of, BUY THIS BOOK. This is a subject that is not extensively written on and Ian Smillie hits the nail on the head with this compilation.

It is important to note, however, that this text does NOT deal with NGOs in the Global South.

A simplistic piece of Biblical propaganda. Ignores the reality of long, committed, and rewarding homosexual relationships. As a psychotherapist (already suspect to the Christian Right) this serves as continued avoidance of the question "did God create homosexuals?" This topic is simply to confusing for the rigid "black and white thinking fundamentalist Christian" I hope people interested in the subject will also research more scientific based literature for balance. I am the person who treats your children after their suicide attempts. For their sake, I hope the reader will broaden their scope.

John Stott is one of my favorite authors. He is a respected theologan and commentator. John Stott's book The Cross of Christ is a classic book.

Unfortunately, this book falls far short of the theological rigor one expects of John Stott. He takes a complex theological and scriptural issue and treats it in simplistic terms, without giving adequate coverage of the issue.

This book is a sad disappointment. It is hardly worth reading and is definitely not worth purchasing.

This is obviously a sensitive topic and judging by the types of reviews, a difficult one to understand from a biblical perspective. John does a decent job of trying to gain common ground between homosexuals and heterosexuals. What may be the cause for concern is really just each readers interpretation of the Bible or lack there of. Romans is very explicit about the issue. Along with God's grace comes repentance and sanctification. A process that the Bible calls all sinners to strive for. Homosexuality, bisexuality and promiscuous heterosexuality are sins like alcoholism, infidelity, murder, addictions, and any other thing that heterosexuals do as well. In fact, we're all sinners. Welcome to the club. Grace and forgiveness is a gift from God and John does remind us of God's grace and what results from his grace. Yes, even for the homosexual as well as the heterosexual and bisexual. It may be difficult to recommend this book to anyone bereft of God's grace or word. Although I would recommend the Bible over this book as a more complete source of how God feels about homosexual behavior, I would say that overall, John has tried to reach out and bridge a gap often filled with rhetoric, from believers to non-believers and all those in between. Tolerance is not a virtue. Tolerance seems to be the "new" answer for all religions and beliefs except Christianity. No one seems to be very tolerant of Christianity. Outdated? Hardly. Revealing is more to the point and no one likes to be shown their depravity. Not even heterosexuals. I would argue that John has tried to focus us to God's word so we see that tolerance doesn't solve our problem, it merely amplifies the sin on both camps and perpetuates our depravity.