education-economics

I've been teaching "Third World Politics" for about 10 years and have yet to find the "perfect" textbook. "Southern Exposure" comes closest to meeting my expectations. I look forward to using the book and hope that my students will enjoy it as much as I did.

Having just finished reading Southern-Exposure from cover to cover (but not in one sitting), I feel compelled to give you some positive-positive feedback! As one who now teaches only graduate seminars on international rural development, I wish I had read something like this years ago.

I began international development work for Michigan State University in 1960, and worked in Nigeria until after the Biafran war had started in 1967. Since then my wife and I have had numerous international assignments in many different countries -- some the same places in which you give small cases. Our longest periods of residential assignments have been in Nepal and then in India and Bhutan. But prior to that each of us has worked with rural people in the many different parts of the Global South -- in Africa, Asia, and Latin America -- for UNICEF, for FAO, for host governments, etc.

If only we could have read a book like this in 1960! Over the years, we have prepared dozens of professionals for international development work; and had hundreds in class. Your back cover says: "This book will become a widely adopted introductory text on development issues for undergraduate students..." It will also become widely used for graduate students! Actually, I have already assigned it for a book review by one of the students in my current on-line graduate seminar.

As I'm writting my graduation thesis on marketing for schools, I'm really intertested in any book on this subject. I found in Kotler the one that best fits my research job. If any of you guys know about anything about this subject, I would appreciate if you notified it to me. Thanks!!

This is the definitive manual on marketing schools and colleges. In addition to containing tons of helpful stategies, the most important part of the book is that it articulates what marketing really is. It's not "sales," it's not "promotion," it's a two-way street that forces the institution to be flexible and adapt to the market. If you are charged with marketing an educational institution, you need to read this book. Most importantly, you need to make sure the people who are the obstacles in a successful marketing plan's path (and they exist in every school and college) read it as well. The only bad thing about this book is that it's out of print. If you can find one - BUY IT!!! Better yet, petition the publisher to bring out another edition.

"Teaching English in Japan" is a very practical resource for those who wish to teach English in Japan. It is not an anecdotal book, and the writing style is more of what you would find in a textbook.

There is some excellent advice on obtaining visas, and a good introduction to the various types of English teacher positions available, from the informal "coffee shop school" to the more formal JET program. The book gives a brief glimpse of Japanese history and culture, but that is not a majority focus.

Fully half of "Teaching English in Japan" is focused on practical, specific English teaching skills. There is a good introduction to pronunciation mistakes common to Japanese learners, as well as a solid coverage of grammar and tenses that occur in English, but not Japanese. A chapter is devoted to creating lesson plans, and another chapter introduces various teaching styles and tools.

If you want to teach English, but have never done so before, this book will give you a good idea of what will be expected of you. Don't expect to memorize every lesson in the book. It is a valuable reference to pack along to Japan, and pull out again and again.

for anyone considering going to teach english in Japan this is THE BOOK to start you on your journey. very practical resource which takes you through all the steps involved, from how to get a job, info on cultural issues, plus a whole section devoted to lesson planning for the novice teacher. I can also recommend 'Make a Mil-Yen' by Don Best and 'Learning to Bow' by Bruce Feiler.

This book is about what it takes to get a good job in manufacturing (Honda, for example) or services (insurance) and how the schools are failing to provide students with the "new basic skills" which will enable them to get these jobs. The analysis of what's wrong is similar to other analyses, and it is accurate: the average high school graduate doesn't know very much and doesn't really care that he doesn't know much. My quarrel with this book is that the authors underestimate the difficulty of changing the situation. Improving operations at Honda in Marysville, Ohio, is NOT the same thing as trying to produce high quality students. Schools have become social service agencies, and learning enough to get a good job at Honda is only one of many purposes the schools serve, and on any given day it may not be the most important

This is an excellent and realistic book, with no quick fix solutions. It shows that schools need to teach not only basic math and reading, but also the ability to work in groups and to communicate effectively, as well as to solve problems. High school graduates need these skills to get good jobs. Simple solutions such as charter schools, choice, and more tests will not suffice. Hard work and perseverence at the local school level is needed.

August 31, 1998

Puzzled by the differences among Light, Lo-cal and Lean? Deciding among Full, King, and Queen. Good Morning America Consumer reporter Janice Lieberman, writing with Jason Raff, takes on a plethora of such mysteries in Tricks of the Trade: A Consumer Survival Guide. With chapters on electronics, groceries, insurance, and more - plus appendices on "How to Complain" and listings on consumer-protection services - Lieberman marshalls an impressive array of anti-ripoff strategies."

I was mainly interested in reading this book to to help me buy a diamond ring for my girlfriend. However once I started reading I realized that the book contained a wealth of information that was relavent to my day to day purchases. Also, there are many interesting and amusing scam stories. The only negative part of the book is that Janice Lieberman's picture is too small.

Edward Bailey commands the field of "plain English" applied to business writing. This is a complete, modern--and highly readable--summary of everything you need to know about writing memo's letters and resumes and doing oral presentations. It lacks a section on e-mail. The resume and cover letter sections use examples which may not match for all industries, and the letter format (showing "Writer/typist") is outdated in the Internet Age.

Want to improve your writing? Want to improve your presentation skills? There's not a better book on the shelves! A must if your serious about your career. In only hours, your writing will improve -- colleagues will notice.

This guidebook on how to approach all aspects of the MBA application process is very helpful, and I strongly recommend it. However, one must be realistic when applying to the top MBA programs, and this aspect needs to be emphasized more. Interested in studying finance, I was fortunate enough to get into one of my top choices (Univ. of Chicago), but failed to get into a number of other programs that are equally or less competitive. This surprised me since I have substantial international work experience with excellent grades and a high GMAT score, and I devoted a great deal of time and effort to my essays. I know that my letters of recommendation were also very strong. Because of the sheer volume of highly qualified applicants, even if you follow all of the recommendations in this book, you may not get in. Unless you have a 3.7+ GPA and a 730+ GMAT and incredible work experience, I would recommend that you apply to more schools than Montauk suggests: go for at least 8 if you can manage it.

Also, some of the overly detailed recommendations by Montauk are questionable. For example, when you dress for the evaluative interview, he says that your shirt should be professionally cleaned, pressed, and starched. That's a bit over-the-top. If I'm going to be evaluated negatively for wearing a self-ironed shirt, then the interviewer and the school can go to hell. Let's get real. Nevertheless, most of the recommendations are insightful and helpful.

If you are applying to a top MBA program, good luck! It's an exhausting process, but hopefully you will be rewarded in the end with an acceptance letter. If so, I know you will agree that it's definitely worth the effort!

This year I got accepted to two well-known programs, and this book helped me a lot. every aspect of the admissions process is covered: essays, interviews (this was especially helpful), work experience, ratings,etc. Most importantly, this book gives you a very good idea of what your application should look like. This, of course, is only half the battle. You still have to accumulate some work experience, do your best on the GMAT, and so on. Nevertheless, this book will certainly help. Buy it as soon as you start thinking about applying, not 2 weeks before the application deadline. I would also ignore some of these one-star revews here. They really exaggerate the book's shortcomings and downplay its numerous strengths. Also, just a word of caution. The competition is so intense, it is absurd. The smartest people get rejected from top MBA programs, so unless you are Enstein, apply to at least 4-5 programs, if possible.

I'll keep this simple. I liked the book - it gives general and specific advice about the whole MBA admissions process. I suggest you read it at least the year before you start the whole process (including taking the GMAT). And if, like me, you pick it up in the middle of the whole process, it can still help you.

Basically - when you're sitting alone in that room while prepping for your GMAT, or staring at a computer screen while typing up yet another attempt at soul-baring in an essay, the book gives you some important guidelines and things to avoid. I especially like the parts where admissions people from colleges are quoted. In the end though - you write the answers and you smile during the interviews. Just make sure you know exactly "Why X College" and "Why an MBA".

It's a good read with commonsense advice - a good weapon as you hack your way through the admissions process.

This book by Silicon Valley legend Randy Komisar, beginning with its title, took me a while to get into, I have to admit. I was way into it (page 60+ or so) and still wondering what the big deal about it was. This is the reason why I give it four stars: it takes a while to hook you. But if you stick to it, Komisar has a wealth of experience to share with you, from his first days in the East Coast, litigating, all through his experiences with tech giants such as WebTV, Tivo and Apple.

The main idea presented by Komisar is that you don't need to postpone your life's dream for later, by playing it safe and engaging in what he calls the Deferred Life Plan. To convey this idea, he presents the reader with the process through which he takes Lenny (an entrepreneur at heart, driven by money, who comes to him for advice) in his pursuit to push his Business Plan for Funerals.com into the attention span of some Silicon Valley VC that Komisar knows. Initially a great idea conceived as a community-building scheme, leveraging the Web to assist those in grief due to the loss of a loved one, Funerals.com had evolved into a very basic money-making scheme that didn't have much of a spark to it, tied to the sale of cheaper caskets by leveraging the efficiencies that the Web can bring about.

In the end, if you take away the Silicon Valley specifics, Komisar's point remains not just valid, but a healthy proposition to lead life driven from within, by passion for what you do and pride rooted in leaving a legacy behind you, instead of ambition and short-term gratification. Highly recommended reading for those who are searching for their mission in life, as well as those who are considering pursuing the entrepreneurial path in their lives.

This book worked for me on several levels, and I would encourage anyone to read this, even if you aren't planning to start your own company.

First, the book is what I classify as a business adventure - my favorite kind. The overarching framework is a fictional thread about a guy trying to start an Internet business, Funerals.com, with his primary goal of getting rich in 2-3 years. Randy Komisar, the author, uses this storyline to illustrate what he as a virtual CEO/angel investor looks for from people wanting cash for a new business.

But to illustrate how he came to his views (what is important and why), Komisar gives us glimpses into his life, including important roles at successes such as WebTV and failures like GO (see the book "Startup" for more details on this story).

Interestingly, he takes great pride in his adventures at GO, a company that lost tens of millions of dollars and died. This probably illustrates his primary theme, life is about the journey. Don't measure success by dollars in the bank.

The book also works as a great "lessons learned" for life. Komisar, in the fictional part of the story about Lenny and his funerals.com, asks Lenny, "Would you be willing to do this for the rest of your life?" Once again, from Komisar's point of view, life (not just business) is about the journey. But Komisar's question is also very important for making his decision whether a person should receive his funding, recommendation, or help (you will have to read why).

Lastly, the book is very short, and most people will be able to read it in a day or two at most. It works well on a business trip or just as a break between larger books.

A short book with an engaging fictional story, interesting glimpses into the real world of angels, VCs and startups, and some good sage advice about business and life. Not a bad deal.

You may not have heard of Deferred Life Plan or Whole Life Plan, but you definitely have come to think about life's meaning and many would have preached you about living for the life rather than earning for the life, though many actually do the opposite. This is an old concept, but the author spent many years of professional experience to finally "taste" it, and he candidly shared that with readers, many of them are probably indulged in the cash in cash out Internet make-riches mentality these days. I'm sure this book can inject a new meaning of professional life to readers, so it did to me.

The narrative short story format made it a very interesting read, I pulled an almost all-nighter (till 5am) to finish the second half. The writer(s) cleverly blended the main story (how Randy was pitched on a online funerals ideas by a would be entrepreneur) with Randy's previous professional lives, back and forth but smoothly, linking it to some well-known storied of the Valley, giving the book a much broader perspective and making it much more convincing.

If you are expecting the type of information you got in Ms Begoun's first book, you want get it in this one.

For instance, I used the BEST BUYS list in the first book extensively and found it to be reliable. This edition has thirty or so items in each category with no mention of the best prices. Also, in her first book I often disagreed with Ms. Begoun on products I have personally used as did many of the blind test groups. There are no test groups in this edition just facts, formulas and ingredients.

I also found her own product line in the book a little too self promoting.

Unless you are in need of a list of ingredients in cosmetics I can't see any point in this book as a reference.

As a self-confessed cosmetics junkie,and a person who has to take extra-special care of my skin,I found this book to be the utterly perfect guide.I agree with Ms. Begoun's views on matte,realistic colors,but even if I didn't,the information on the efficacy of both cosmetics and skincare would be enough reason to buy this book. She states right from the beginning that her views on cosmetics colors are her own,and I agree that the trend towards shiny and/or bright colors has taken over the industry almost to the exclusion of more sophisticated colors.The factual information on ingredients is wonderful-I always had an instinct of doubt about the trend to "natural" ingredients and new-agey ad copy,and now I know why.
As far as Ms Begoun's own product line,I am looking forward to trying it. I think it's wonderful that she put her money where her mouth is and came up with a product line that will meet the shortcomings of the products she reviewed. To me,that only makes sense.If this line meets its claims(which are not unrealistic and don't promise to give you "inner serenity" or eternal youth),then she has done many women a service.And the point she makes of sunscreen is wonderful. Scientists have noted that it's not so much the natural aging process that destroys skin,it's the effect of the sun over time that plays the biggest role.Our great great great grandmothers were ahead of us in this respect!
I know I'll still buy some high-end products,just for the "luxury" aspect of them(Trish McEvoy's lipgloss compact is one-there's hardly anything in there,but the credit-card size of the compact got me,and the tiny lipbrush in there is actually quite workable). But I'll do so forewarned and forearmed with knowledge,not because I've been taken by hopelessly unrealistic hype.
Oh,and I ESPECIALLY appreciated the info on foundation and powder tones. My skintone,like that of the largest percentage of women,is indeed based on yellow tones,and it's only in recent years that cosmetic companies have even begun to acknowledge this.What took them so long? I want to enhance and refine my face,not change or mask it.(The book reinforced many things concerning this that I'd already found to be so,ie Aveda,amongst a very few others,having a decent range of foundations and powders with yellow tones.And Prestige and Jane,two drugstore lines,having a good selection of colors and textures-I was actually very surprised and pleased with Prestige,as I usually scorn low-end makeup.)
Great book,can't wait for the update!(I'm looking forward to the review of "KissMe" mascara by Blinc-I hope it's safe, as I love this stuff,LOL).

Wow, what an amazing book! It's chock-full of information on THOUSANDS of skin care and makeup products. The reviews are organized by product line, and you will find everything from celebrity indulgences like La Mer to department store staples like Lancome to mass merchandisers like Maybelline to drugstore bargain brands like Wet -n- Wild. At the start of the book, Paula describes exactly how she evaluates and rates the products. Although she hasn't personally tested every product (some of her recommendations are based mainly on the product's ingredients), with her makeup reviews in particular, the extremely specific nature of her comments makes it clear that she's actually tried the many of the items. She includes her own line, Paula's Choice, in her reviews, but other than recommending her products (along with many others), I didn't feel that she was self-advertising. I also found her general information on skin care to be very helpful--for example, I now have a much better understanding of the different factors involved in acne prevention. Similarly, her explanations and glossary vastly increased my knowledge of various ingredients and product claims, such as the difference between AHAs and BHAs, the truth behind terms like "non-comedegenic," and the usefulness of miscellaneous exotic contents. I believe that this book has made me a much more informed consumer: I am now better able to read product labels and to select the best product for my needs. I particularly like the "Paula's Picks" feature, and I definitely plan to try some of her recommendations. An indispensible and unique reference book!

This book is fine for the commoner who accounts for 80% of the population. The other 20% will find this a total waste of time. Of course, the 20% of the population with brains would never even pick up this book. Every counselor I ever knew would tell me to read this book back when I was unsure of my future toward the end of my college career 15 years ago. I didn't have the money for the book, so I basically read through it at B. Dalton Booksellers in Denton, TX. What an incredible waste this book is. Instead, stop lining the pockets of this preacher and say no to this book. Anything that is a best seller in the United States must be flawed, because like I said before, 80% of the population are idiots. People need to start thinking for themselves and stop buying this garbage. If you are in the 80% idiot group, you will disagree with this review and probably buy it out of spite. Well, go ahead moron. The other 20% will know where I'm coming from, but most of you would never be enough of a loser to be reading a review on this book and even contemplating buying it. The only reason I've spent the time on this is to possibly persuade one person that this book is a scam and maybe they'll spread the word and this book will eventually go away.

I recently read Bolles 2002 edition after finding myself unexpectedly jobless (first time for that when it wasn't my choice). Two versions of his book have been taking up shelf space on my wife's bookcase for years, but I have never had occasion to pick them up and even thumb through them. Finally, I have.

There are literally thousands of books on the market that help with the job search process, covering everything from writing the perfect resume to addressing the career prospects of the photolithography portion of the semiconductor industry. This book covers none of that. What this book does, and does extremely well, is present the job-search process as it should be done; without limiting the process by applying it solely to a single industry. It doesn't cover the intricacies of cover letters and the specific variations of your resume (there are other books to do that). It does walk you through the path of your job search, holding your hand as appropriate.

Why hold your hand? Well, if you're following the more usual job search, you probably won't want the hand-holding. However, one of the more valuable aspects of the book is clear insight into just what works and what doesn't; and once you hear that, you'll probably want some hand-holding ('cause it's really different from what we all were told and what we'd all like it to be). Furthermore, if you're really serious about your job-search, some introspection is going to be required (what is it you really want to do, and where do you really want to do it?). Most of us enjoy that about as much as a tax audit, but Bolles' book manages to make this effort, if not enjoyable, at least tolerable.

So if it's so good, why doesn't it get five stars? Two reasons. First, networking, which is arguably the most important piece of the job-search process, gets discussed as a tool, rather than a process, making its entire presentation a little on the choppy side. Second, this really needs to be two books (more accurately, a single book and a workbook). Bolles has gone back and forth from one book to two books (sold as a single volume), with this version presented as a single book. I'd find keeping a workbook open while I'm referring to the main text much more valuable than having to page back and forth through a single volume.

Regardless of these dings, it's an essential book. I'd recommend reading it even if you're not looking for a job, and not just because, in this economy, we're all likely to be looking for work shortly. Bolles' focus on what it is you'd like to do, and the ease with which he guides the reader through the process are worth the read regardless of your employment status.

Yesterday, I nervously dialed the phone number to my job interviewer. It was Tuesday and he had promised he'd let me know about the job by last Friday.

I had followed the book, "What Color Is My Parachute," to the letter. I had a perfect resume and cover letter. I dressed up for the interview, prepared my list of questions to ask during the interview, memorized all the tips, and most importantly, emailed a thank you note afterwards.

Despite all this, I was still nervous about getting the job. I haven't even graduated with my undergraduate degree yet, meaning I have no experience. If I got the job, it was going to be my first job after college.

To my surprise, he said, "I emailed you about the job. Can you start May 11th?"

"That," I replied, "would be awesome."

Based on that experience, I heartily recommend the book on the interviewing techniques alone. However, that's not all I got from this book. I got a great system that determines what job I'd like to be in. Not only does the book ask about career interests, but on the part of the country I want to live in and the working conditions I prefer, which are two categories I never even considered. I recommend this book to everyone who needs to get a job these days and wants an edge on the competition. Because of this book, I am happily on the start of a long career.