education-economics

Concepts are useful but extremely basic. Nothing new here although a good reminder. The book is so Christian oriented (which I was not advised of when ordering) that it did not work for me.

What a wonderful fast and easy read! Although a considerable amount of the suggestions were not new to be, I found the tips to be good reminders of practical ways to save money. Despite the title, I read the book all in one afternoon. This would be an excellent graduation gift for high school and college graduates starting out on their own. I plan on sharing a number of the principles and ideas with my high school students.

Another mediocre career book, packaged as something "new".

In Career Smarts: 201 Guiding Principles From The World's Best And Brightest, Russell Wild has compiled a wealth of insights, practical trips, and basic wisdom with a practical value for anyone seeking to achieve success and personal satisfaction through their work. This advice and counsel is drawn from corporation executives, entrepreneurs, leadership trainers, business school faculty, psychologists specializing in work issues, authors and consultants. These experts offer insider perspectives on a series of subjects including leadership, creativity, corporate culture, interviewing, requesting raises and perks, communication, negotiation, job stress, kids and careers, dealing with problematic bosses, working at home, and much more. Career Smarts is practical, entertaining, invaluable reading for anyone entertaining the job market, employers seeking reliable workers, and entrepreneurs wanting to enhance their chances for success in today's highly competitive world.

If I had flipped through this book first, I wouldn't have bought it. For each major the author gives a one-paragraph description, a list of related occupations, a list of skills necessary and a list of "values and attributes", and other related information such as related extra curricular activities. There is a glossary at the end of the book to further explain the cryptic words in the occupations, skills and values list with 2 to 3-line sentences. For example, in describing "Marketing and Distribution", the "value and attribute" list is: achievement, prestige, wealth, desire for recognition and appreciation from others, creatitivy, outgoing, polite and friendly attitude, desire to serve and please others, tendency to be alert and ambitious, competitiveness and flexibility, energy, patience, poise, neatness, and self confidence.

As you can see, the content is extremely brief and most of it is just common sense.

The way that majors are listed is also not quite complete and logical (arranged alphebatically).

For a much better reading, I recommend "The College Majors Handbook : The Actual Jobs, Earnings, and Trends for Graduates of 60 College Majors", ISBN 1563705184. It has much better narative descriptions.

This book is packed full of information - I wish I could have benefited from it years ago, before attending college. It categorizes by field, gives a description, then lists numerous related occupations and training required for each. Additionally, it includes related activities, skills, organizations, etc. Salary information is not included -which, in my opinion, makes it an even more effective resource for finding ones genuine career interests.

This book was a frustrating experience. Partly this was due to it being some seven years old. The concepts of organisational development have gone forward a great deal since 1993. In addition, a major part of the text and even issues consist of direct quotes of other writers, some of them outdated even by 1993 standards. There is a lot of redundancy, and not nearly all of it can be justified by pedagogical reasons. For example, there is practically only one image (that takes a whole page to present six text boxes) in the book but it is repeated several times with only minor revisions. There is much extraneous text and the whole layout is very loose. This is outlined by the fact that every other point presented is according to Dubois either extremely critical or vitally important.

The stated idea of the book is to apply systems theory to performance improvement, but in practice Dubois suggests that organisations should think, what kind of competency they actually want to train or educate their employees for ... and design their performance improvement interventions accordingly. While this is a worthy issue, Dubois would have been able to squeeze his points to some 150 pages had he really tried. A major part of the extra pages go to justifying a prospective new fad, Strategic Systems Model (SSM), a prime example of an artificial TLA (three letter acronym), if you ask me. The point of SSM is to understand that things influence each other. I admit that this simple truth has often been forgotten in many organisations.

The most important thing that makes this book feel somewhat outdated is the fact that on several occasions Dubois focuses on training of management instead of the whole work force of an organisation. In my opinion, such division of labour and related training and education, has become more and more artificial.

The most useful chapters of the book focus on analysis of competence and competency requirements of an organisation. And some of the rest might be applicable on a more traditional organisation, not touched by the 1990's.

"Several factors, some of which are not under the control of HRD managers and staff, influence the potential effectiveness and efficiency of organization-based HRD. However, if its managers care enough, the HRD function can gain and maintain firm control of its performance improvement curricula, of how those curricula are translated into instructional programs, and of how its clients perceive the contributions of HRD to organization effectiveness or profitability. This book help you learn how to design and deliver effective and efficient performance improvement programs that enhance employees' job competence in ways that contribute to the achievement of an organization's strategic goals or objectives (from the Introduction)."

In this context, Dubois invites you to :

* "think systems" by learning some basic principles of systems theory and observing how they are applied to organization training or education.

* learn how to apply a Strategic Systems Model to create, implement, and maintain effective and efficient competency-based training or education systems in organizations.

* learn how to gain broad-based support within an organization for the training and/or education function(s) by taking a competency-based, systems approach to performance improvement.

* learn how to construct custom competency or performance models or menus for employee job performance.

* learn how to create a competency-based training or education curriculum system.

* learn how to create and implement organization or work unit-based curriculum systems which support the provision and maintenance of continuous-progress, competency-based training or education opportunities for employees.

* learn how to create the raw materials needed for competency-based instruction.

* learn how to monitor, evaluate, and maintain the performance of competency-based training and education systems.

* learn about the experiences and the results achieved by three large organizations which have created and implemented exemplary competency-based performance improvement systems.

I highly recommend this pioneering study to all executives and HR professionals.

Weak and terribly incomplete. Since when did "critical thinking" overlook the need for objective truth? Unfortunately this glosssy book, written by deeply sincere people, is worse than that.

Relativistic presuppositions doom this work to the category of new age silliness. As a book about trying to be smart and positive it's interesting but there's not much about critical thinking in here. The authors depend heavily on modern psychology to present theories of "critical thinking" that redefine reasoning as a thoughtful journey of introspection.

Worse, the use of worn-out psychobabble (overcoming our biases, etc.) and the undertone of mystical leftism, like using "thinking" to overcome larger human/societal problems, are essentially religious. For example, critical thinking is offered as a way of overcoming societal problems like "waste, suffering, and injustice". Worthy goals, no doubt, but can thinking cure moral problems? It's simply repackaged positivism. Turns out the authors even have a Center For Critical thinking in Northern California to promote their way of "thinking". And they speak in public high schools to evangelize the lost!

Let's be honest, the religious/moral assumption behind this approach is that we can uncover "truth" inside of us if we think long and hard enough. It's an incorrect assumption no matter how many smart people believe it.

Don't get me wrong, the authors are clearly bright people and they present their material in a fascinating way. But their presuppositions are essentially moral and spiritual and they pretend otherwise. The human mind is seen as the potenital savior of humanity This is the religion of humanism packaged as "thinking". Shouldn't be a surprise this came out of Northern California.

I paid hard money to fly this book from the USA and wish I had got it from the library. This topic does not lend itself to un-putdownability, but repeated attempts got me only to Chapter 3. I finished it in annoyance by speed-reading key paragraphs of each chapter and put it on the shelf.

Good points: literate and covers a breadth of good ideas, plus some nice-sounding exercises and challenges. I like the intellectual values chapters.

Bad points: No AHA! moments. No argument mapping. Diagrams that do not pull their weight and text that should be diagrammed. Woolly, wordy discussions of social conditioning and Milgram studies, that don't go near Cialdini's 'Influence' for impact. Exercises and quotes that speak of Noam Chomsky's idea of fairness.

This book's intention is to open a new (presumed redneck) student's mind so wide that the wind blows through, dusting it with the enlightened prejudices of his college environment.

Caught in the maelstrom of life? Looking for a way to make sense of the chaos enmeshing you? Critical Thinking: Tools for Taking Charge of Your Professional and Personal Life provides a method for unraveling the complexities of life and reweaving them into an integrated tapestry which gives meaning and purpose to the life of the individual and his/her relation to others.

This book is a natural correlative of a previous book by Paul: Critical Thinking: What Every Person Needs to Survive in a Rapidly Changing World. However, the current book is not about 'survival' but about 'taking charge'. It deals with the fundamentals of critical thinking and their necessity and applicability in making the decisions which give direction to one's life. It's a book of questions, not answers,-- questions about one's thinking which as Paul and Elder state in a graphic, pg. 45, "your thinking controls your emmotions and your decisions". This book not only presents a mirror in which to see oneself through questions, but also presents the challenge to look honestly into the mirror with a view to improving the image.

Critical Thinking: Tools for Taking Charge of Your Professional and Personal Life is written in a readily understandable and easily readable style. This a book for Everyman. It is a book to be not only read, but lived.

This book is a how-to guide for creating curriculum. It provides the recipe for school district curriculum directors, administrators, and teachers. The first five chapters focus on the district's role in curriculum creation, while the last three focus on the classroom teacher. Chapters 7 and 8 are valuable for new teachers who may be struggling with creating courses that are meaningful and that are of quality.

I started reading this book thinking I was going to find a nice simple section on what kids should be taught and are taught these days. Instead I am bombarded by a number of sections that have nothing to do with the subject. On the other hand, it is a nice book if you want to spend your already wasted life reading some boring stuff.

The previous reviewer missed the point of both the book and the series it is a part of. These are short, condensed reviews of subjects, for reference and refreshing.
If you want a teaching book by this author (Omer Carey), check the used section for "Financial Tools for Small Businesses", a 1983 275pg paperbook so good it still sells for 25-35$US. Its a meaty, practical course with lots of real world, substantial case studies/exercises to work through. Even if all you want to do is learn how to interpret annual reports, its a winner. It is pre-spreadsheet software (at least for many folks), so you'll want to supplement it by identifying the corresponding Excel functions to accomplish the math. (But try it by hand first, you'll learn more.)

It gives some information about financial management in layman's terms, but it could do a better job giving explainations and details about finance topics

I was excited by the possibility of a suitable overview of information seeking, I obtained the book a.s.a.p. I was willing to forgive the high price in favour of a good text.

It was downhill from there: Unfortunately the text of Donald Case's book fails to impress on any level.

For the scope of the subject matter the book is surprising in the selection of items included and omitted. With some areas appearing rather bald in references and general coverage.

By giving focus to a selection of models that embrace need and sources, and in different aspects e.g. information overload, the portrait is skewed.

To use this book in teaching it would require much more support from supplementary texts and journal articles to correct the omissions.

I cannot recommend this text to students nor to academics seeking a suitable class text.

I'm currently enrolled in a doctoral program in Information Science and, while this book isn't the sum total of all LIS knowledge, I've found it invaluable as a reference on Information Seeking. Few other places will you find this level of literature review laid out in such a compact way. I use it nearly every day in my studies and I'm grateful that Don Case wrote it. It's a roadmap and guidebook for my studies.

- A reader from Texas

This book is more of a general overview of the experiences of several engineers rather than an exact how to book. While interesting, the reader may be dissappointed to find that it is not as practically applicable as the title suggests.

I originally bought this book awhile ago to get an idea on what engineering was and what I might expect as an engineer and it was really helpful. Recommended to all future engineers.

The summary for this book is deceiving as it does not have the solutions to the questions in the text. It has new questions and their solutions. If you are looking for the answers to all the problems in the text, get the solutions manual!

THIS IS THE BEST BOOK FOR THOSE WHO ARE INTRODUCING AT THE WORLD OF FINANCE. IT'S WELL WROTE AND VERY CLEAR. I'VE USED A LOT OF BOOKS IN MY CARREER AND NEVER FIND ANOTHER ONE LIKE THIS. I RECOMMEND IT FOR ALL THE STUDENTS IN FINANACE AND BUSSINESS AND FOR THOSE WHO WANTS TO START IN THE FINANCE STUDY