Industrials Books

I thought this article provided good insights into government contracting and the future direction of this industry. Very helpful to those managing contracts and working with the DoD as a contractor.

I had the pleasure of hearing Mr. Cavadias speak on this journal at a symposium earlier this year in Washington. His insights into the government's need to invest more specialized and dedicated resources toward managing contracts rather than just awarding them is long overdue for action. Taxpayers' investments into government-outsourced services could be better protected if this common sense paradigm shift is provoked. I'm certain that the Congressional Subcommittee on Government Reform would agree with the premise of this journal because it makes good business sense.

This is an amazing article. We were completely lost in the administration of our performance base acquisition until we read this article.

This book contains every thing written in engineering control. Every topic is presented in full detail with helpful examples. If you don't know any thing about control, follow this book page by page and you will be a professional control engineer. You don't need to make any revision before using the book because the first four sections of the book are "Mathematical Foundations" which will give you the needed background to use the book efficiently. If you buy 10 books in various topics of control, you will still find things in The Control Handbook that are not available in your books. My advice is: " this book is a must"

Definetively the best reference on Control Systems. Every aspect of control is expertly covered, from the mathematical foundations to the applications in industry.

The Control systems handbook is the biggest, most comprehensive, and most prestigious compilation of articles on control systems available. With many contributions from many leading experts, this big book is organized in three major sections:
- Fundamentals of Control.
- Advanced Methods of Control.
- Applications of Control.

The enourmous and unique scope of this handbook, couple with its excellent organization, garanteed that it will become the standard reference in the library of any individual with a strong interest in Control Systems, or working with Control Applications.

If you are a control engineer, get this book now. Not only does it cover all (relevant) topics in the broad field of controls, it contains literally hundreds of references to more detailed treatments of everything. I want to read it all. Wow!

By Stephen Corrick Reprinted with permission...Joseph J. Romm was an Assistant Secretary of theUS Department of Energy. He obviously learned his lessons well. Hisbook, Cool Companies, makes an overwhelming case: Not only willreducing greenhouse gases not hurt companies' ability to compete, the action of reducing greenhouse gases (and industrial energy waste generally) offers the single easiest productivity booster, and among the shortest payback periods of any available to American industry today.

Cool Companies offers insights into the detailed processes by which all company sites-from industrial giants like DuPont and 3M all the way down to individual apartment owners-have used greenhouse gas emission reduction to drive many more dollars to their bottom line.

The only question one is left with after Romm so effectively makes his case is why the coal and oil companies are playing Chicken Little and screaming that reducing greenhouse gases will hurt American business. Obviously, the only American businesses they are referring to must be their own. The Wall Street Journal and the American Chamber of Commerce would be well served to get the true picture and start representing the needs and interests of the majority of their customers-whose interests, at this point, are often diametrically opposed to those of the fossil fuel industry.

Romm has done a great service with this book. There are a lot of people telling us we must act on climate, and a lot of theory on how. Too often, it is abstract and esoteric -- Romm gives practical, easy to follow examples of how the best in class cut costs; cut carbon; and boosted productivity.

If you work anywhere in corporate management -- Whether you are the Chief Operating Officer, The Chief Financial Officer, the Plant Manager, or the Environmental Manager, you need to run out and buy this book, and then read it, before your competitors do.

You'll find case study after case study of how the best companies cut carbon. From building design, to the office environment, to industrial processes on the plant floor, this book tells -- often in the words of the managers themselves -- how they did what they did. Not only the technologies they chose, but how they sold other managers, developed creative financing strategies(often getting projects financed off ledger, out of future savings for example), and obtained credit for cutting other emissions.

If you are an environmentalist or a regulator facing the prospect of a climate treaty, the examples Romm outlines show why the arcane debate about the cost of cutting greenhouse gasses is flat out irrelevant. Cool Companies save money by becoming more efficent.

Bottom line? If you read only one book on cutting greenhouse gasses -- make it this one.

The book should enlighten those equating the green movement with adverse economic impact. It simply doesnt have to be the case. Companies like Shell and Dow are realizing, the early birds will gain serious competitive advantages when adopting "cooler" operating philosophies including: lower operating costs in general, increased productivity, and lower carbon costs when they ultimately get implemented. Numerous verified examples are provided that cement what should be a common sense belief that reduction of waste (all types) lead to leaner more competitive companies.

I approached my own boss with these ideas and received a chuckle in response. Its an uphill fight out there, hopefully the more people become informed, the easier it will be. This book is a great one to hand to a nay sayer. (I plan on sending a copy to both my boss and President Bush for Christmas)

This is an ambitious project. It has the usual problems of ambition: sometimes it touches on areas which the author doesn't know very well. But the author also seems to know an awful lot, so that even the things she doesn't know well seem to be productively dealt with. It is not so much that anything she says is particularly new, but the scope of vision is. It cuts across political theory, sociology, management studies, macro-economics, international relations. It looks at the micro level as well as the macro level, and several intermediate levels too, of corporate capitalism. And it brings together a coherent picture, not wholly new but amazingly big. On the whole, the achievement outweighs the defects. It deserves the highest rating.

My first impression: another conspiracy theory (CEOs villains, principal shareholders super-villians), with a bit more jargon than usual thrown. Then Enron, Xerox, and on and on -- so a closer look. My second impression: this is an extraordinary book, prophetic, profound ... Once I get used to the jargon, the know-it-all air of it, it grows on me. No conspiracy here -- just the systems and structures of this crazy world intermeshed, and here I get a sense of both the beauty and the terror of trying to simply understand it.

I have just given this a more or less cursory reading so far, paying more attention to the sections on "managerialism" and philosophy. I think it's great. I agree with the other reviewer. Must read again. Particularly strong in being concise and clear about broad areas without being simplistic.

It's in three parts. The first lays out (obsessively I thought) the methodology for studying corporate capitalism from a philosophical perspective. The second is the key part. In it the role of managerialism in corporate capitalism is examined by looking at the micro-issue of executive pay, with unexpected results. Gupta suggests that managerialism as normally understood doesn't really exist at all, is a vacuum. The third part is a detailed, and for the informed, fascinating study of some well-known neo-liberal thinkers (with the odd inclusion of Manneheim there).

I read Gupta's other book, on 11 September -- Replication of Violence it's called -- in UK and thought it is terrific. Strangely we don't seem to have it here yet. Came to this as a result. A rewarding experience.

In Corporate Games Alan and Damon describe, in detail, the many faces of the corporate players. They have creatively constructed the book outlining 25 different personality types, with each chapter describing a scenario to help the reader better understand, identify, and deal with each one of these personalities. One of the most valuable sections (found in each chapter) are the instructions for interaction, the partners/alliances and the long term effects.

The book uses humor, images and is filled with a wealth of knowledge on this subject. Alan and Damon are obvious experts in this field.

I work in a small 20 person company. In my career, I have worked for multi-thousand person corporations all the way down to my current employeer's size. Maybe it's the current business environment, but never before have the games been so intense at work. If someone isn't trying to stab me in the back, they are kissing up to the boss or attempting to make another employee look bad in some way. It's a vicious place.

After reading Corporate Games, I feel in control of my situation with a thorough understanding of these players wrecking havoc on my day. The book has small humerous chapters that really depict today's business environment. At the end of each chapter there are several sections designed to assist a reader in resolving and avoiding issues with these game players. This book has become my reference to uncovering and working with these individuals.

Don't wait until you are totally frustrated to get help. Get this book and read it now! Stop the madness at work and put a little brightness in your day.

My workplace is full of games. Every day I wake up and dread going to work and feel totally frustrated at the end of the day. After reading Corporate Games, I am finally understanding some of these personalities who are causing my pain at work and learning to avoid many of the situations which left me feeling helpless.

I recommend this book to anyone in business. It has become my guide to uncovering personality difficulties at work.

This is one of the best collections of papers I have seen! Top notch researchers of organizations contributing to one of the most novel ideas of modern study of organizations coming from an interdisciplinary perspective. I wish it was somewhat cheaper but for such a rare book I would definitely have our schools library get it.

As a student of social capital, I found this volume of invaluable help in understanding the positive and negative effects of networks in and of organizations. Especially the distinction the editors make between social capital and social liability is useful and makes so much sense. And all the big shots have a chapter in here. A great resource. The reference list alone is worth the money. I will keep reading these chapters.

This book is a winner. It provides a very useful and comprehensive overview of the field of social capital/social networks and organizations. By addressing the topic both from the level of individuals within organizations and from the level of orgs themselves, the book provides an excellent introduction to and theoretical deepening of the field. Moreover, the concept of 'Corporate social capital and liability' as suggested by the editors in the volume and their respective chapters provides a very useful framework for the study of networks and social capital within an organizational context. Especially their focus on social capital and liability as OUTCOMES of networks, rather than as networks themselves is a fundamental idea that definitely advanced my understanding of the topic of social capital. Their discussion that social structure may have social capital/liability outcomes at different levels of analysis was an eye opener to me. Read it! The only downside to the volume is its price. Make sure your library gets the book for you!

The author's name is incorrectly listed as "Alberta Smith". It is actually Albert A. Smith, Jr.

Mr. Smith's book is the seminal treatment of the subject of coupling of electromagnetic fields into transmission lines. Equations are derived and presented for uniform and non-uniform fields, balanced lines, and unbalanced lines over a ground plane. The material is applicable to many real engineering problems commonly encountered.

The author's name is incorrectly listed as "Alberta Smith". It is actually Albert A. Smith, Jr.

Mr. Smith's book is the seminal treatment of the subject of coupling of electromagnetic fields into transmission lines. Equations are derived and presented for uniform and non-uniform fields, balanced lines, and unbalanced lines over a ground plane. The material is applicable to many real engineering problems commonly encountered.

A. A. Smith's treatise must be the definitive work on field-to-wire coupling. His formulas are repeatedly used to test and verify results from method of moments (MOM) and other codes, and after becoming familiar with his closed-form solutions (which by the way are easily brought into MathCAD) they become an essential tool for predicting EMC interactions. He covers the effects of incident electric and magnetic fields to single and paired wires over an image ground plane, lossy wires and shielded cables. It's a thin book, but every page is worth the price of the book when you need it - and you'll need it often if you're involved in EMC analysis.

I had no idea that this book could be ordered new, I imagine I saw it and ruled it out, not finding a photo of the cover and seeing the price. I imagine second hand copies are bought as much as new ones...

In any case, I cannot recommend this book stronger than I do. The book is a course on macroscopic Thermodynamics in the best sense (statistical comes in a different book from the same author). It is not new concepts that must be sought, but the brilliant introduction to the classical corpus. Direct language, rigorous and developed but brilliantly simple examples and discussions solidly address the entire conceptual background of thermodynamics, providing many points of view and building consolidated, flawless notions in the reader.

Apart from pedagogy, Kestin trains the reader to think properly and effectively in thermodynamic terms. An infinite subject, sometimes an obscure way of seeing nature, as many students end up thinking of thermodynamics, becomes clarifying and miraculously powerful for the mind of the future engineer.

Many thermodynamics books fall into either labyrinthian mathematical exercises or problem-solving recipes. This book ought to be bought by the reader who wants to learn and apply thermodynamics, who needs to think thermodynamically. Or simply the reader who wants to grow in knowledge. Introductions, recipes, plays with internal energy, heat, entropy and work should be looked for elsewhere.

The tittle says it all...

The only thing I want to say is to Amazon (and resellers):

Please make up your mind of what volume are you selling. It's simple: there are two: I (basic) and II (advanced). DIfferent book, different ISBN, different all... Still, when yoy try to purchase, you get confused results...

Otherwise, the best book of thermodynamics in two millenia (at leat).

by Cristobal

I am a professor at Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Medellin. My teaching activities are related with thermodynamics and transport phenomena. I know the book by Kestin on thermodynamics (A course in Thermodynamics, revised printing, Volume 1, 1979, Washington: Hemisphere Publishing Corporation; I could not get the volumen 2); this is one I use preferably in my teaching of the subject, together with the book by K. Denbigh, the book by H. Callen, and, lately, the book by Kondepudi & Prigogine. In my opinion, one of the features of the book is the abundance of details used by the author to explain the different concepts. Those details may seem sometimes very overwhelming, but if one insists in going through them, it would pay later in the form of a better comprehension of the items. According to my own conception of teaching of a science like thermodynamics, Kestin's book is the most appropriate to present the different aspects of the subject. In which senses is this book different from others on the same subject? I will refer briefly to some of them. Chapter 2: Temperature and Temperature Scales. The treatment of this theme remembered me the book by Zemansky, a true classic. Here Kestin is excellent. Chapter 4: Work. This is the only book I know that makes a comparison between the concept of work in mechanics and the definition of work in thermodynamics. As a professor, I witness the real confusion in students when they go from physics courses to thermodynamics courses; they often think that there is a mistake somewhere. Chapter 6: Introduction to the Analysis of Continuous Systems and the First Law of Thermodynamics for Open Systems. This is another proof of Kestin's honesty and perfectionism: most of the books on thermodynamics, at undergraduate level, extend the application of the laws of thermodynamics to open systems without any reference to the required assumptions to do that. They forgive that properties like temperature, energy and entropy have sense only in systems at equilibrium, and open systmes are not. Kestin, as far as he is concerned, introduces the principle of local state, only an approximation that allowed the development of the thermodynamics of irreversible processes since the beginning of the 20th century. I think details like this must be known by students and people interested in the subject. In an interesting idea, the author introduces two chapters -7 and 8- to "provide the necessary descriptive background for a physical understanding of a variety of systems"; doing so, there is an interruption in the exposition of the zero (ch.2), first (ch.5), and second (ch.9) laws of thermodynamics, but it can be tolerated in view of the goal of the author. Other novelties include: there is a clear distiction between quasistatic reversible and quasistatic irreversible processes, something you do not find in some books; there is also a distinction between classical thermodynamics(the real subject of the book) and statistical mechanics (statistical thermodynamics); some statistical concepts are used but in an appropriate way: when they contribute to a deeper understanding of the subject. Finally, I do not hesitate to recommend this book, mainly to teachers of the subject. Unfortunately our universities are shortening time devoted to the teaching of subjects like thermodynamics to introduce other subjects; but even in these cases a book like the one I have commented is very useful for a teacher: He or she can select those themes he or she wants to emphasize, what requires a good knowledge of the subject, something that Kestin's book can provide with absolute certainty. In spite of my difficulties in written english , It has been very pleasant to comment this book for you. Is my english understandable? Sincerely,

German R. Gomez Apartado aereo: 51482 Medellin, Colombia South America

In writing my book: "The day when politician will debate about our genes, Understanding the soul of electronicdemocracy.co.uk" which is currently under editor review, I look for a book to assess the characters of historically successful capitalist leaders.

Written as 6 biographies, it is the best books to understand the characters, values and morals of 6 great entrepreneurs in order to consider the individual factor in the system.

This is an excellent collection of articles describing people, firms, and nations that succeeded in modern capitlism. Looking a the four most successful economies of the past two centuries: England, US, Germany, and Japan- Prof. McCraw's expertly edited and coherent collection of articles gives the reader a flavor of what made for great success in the capitalist economy. Each country has three articles: a firm, an entrepenure, and the country itself for a total of 12 articles each written by true experts. McCraw's understanding of capitlism is somewhat skewed toward the modern, however on the whole the book is extremely balanced. Of partiuclar note, is Prof. David Moss's article on the Deutch Bank which dicusses the succcess, failures, rewards, and dark side of capitalism.

The book covers the history of capitalism in great detail outlining the major turning points and how it has evolved to shape modern capitalism. A definite must read for whoever is interested in the nature of a capitalist society.

This book opens a whole new powerful path to creating a lean office. It
is not about trying to manipulate and adapt shop floor techniques to the
office but rather about a simplistic team based approach in creating
lean processes. The methods keep lean simple and straightforward. If I
had to pick only one book on the subject of creating a lean office this
would be the book, it is a great addition to my ready references!

Excellent book!! It reflects the 13 forms of waste commonly found in the office, and a definition of waste that pertains specifically to the office. It is then backed by team-based techniques designed to eliminate the waste creating lean processes, which are then automated utilizing the existing software. Well written, easy to understand, and designed specifically for the office.

A. Dufresne
Lean Office Project Manager

The techniques discussed in the book were not about trying to apply lean shop floor techniques to the office but rather about applying lean office techniques to the office to fully eliminate the 13 forms of waste found in the office. This work opens a whole new dimension of what can be accomplished especially when applying the current computer system to automate the newly created lean office processes. This book will become "the classic" in regards to creating a lean office well beyond anything else out there.

E Landau