Michael Abrashoff Other than the sobering fact that real lives are regularly at stake, running a navy ship is a lot like running a business: leaders of both must get the most out of their crews to operate at peak efficiency and complete the tasks at hand. As commander of the highly acclaimed USS Benfold, Captain D. Michael Abrashoff irrefutably demonstrated how progressive management can succeed at sea; in It's Your Ship, he translates his methods into an approach that can also be applied by land-bound captains of commerce and industry. Describing "the ideas and techniques that I used to win my sailors' trust and, eventually, their enthusiastic commitment to our joint goal of making our ship the best in the fleet," Abrashoff cites embarrassing failures along with subsequent triumphs to illuminate the keys to his accomplished 20-month tenure aboard the guided missile destroyer. His suggestions: lead by example; listen aggressively; communicate purpose and meaning; create a climate of trust; look for results, not salutes; take calculated risks; go beyond standard procedure; build up your people; generate unity; and improve your people's quality of life. While hardly original on the surface, Abrashoff's course should provide practical direction and inspiration for any leader hoping for similarly positive results in similarly rigid organizations. —Howard Rothman

A.N. Agrawal

David Allen With first-chapter allusions to martial arts, "flow," "mind like water," and other concepts borrowed from the East (and usually mangled), you'd almost think this self-helper from David Allen should have been called Zen and the Art of Schedule Maintenance.

Not quite. Yes, Getting Things Done offers a complete system for downloading all those free-floating gotta-do's clogging your brain into a sophisticated framework of files and action lists—all purportedly to free your mind to focus on whatever you're working on. However, it still operates from the decidedly Western notion that if we could just get really, really organized, we could turn ourselves into 24/7 productivity machines. (To wit, Allen, whom the New Economy bible Fast Company has dubbed "the personal productivity guru," suggests that instead of meditating on crouching tigers and hidden dragons while you wait for a plane, you should unsheathe that high-tech saber known as the cell phone and attack that list of calls you need to return.)

As whole-life-organizing systems go, Allen's is pretty good, even fun and therapeutic. It starts with the exhortation to take every unaccounted-for scrap of paper in your workstation that you can't junk, The next step is to write down every unaccounted-for gotta-do cramming your head onto its own scrap of paper. Finally, throw the whole stew into a giant "in-basket"

That's where the processing and prioritizing begin; in Allen's system, it get a little convoluted at times, rife as it is with fancy terms, subterms, and sub-subterms for even the simplest concepts. Thank goodness the spine of his system is captured on a straightforward, one-page flowchart that you can pin over your desk and repeatedly consult without having to refer back to the book. That alone is worth the purchase price. Also of value is Allen's ingenious Two-Minute Rule: if there's anything you absolutely must do that you can do right now in two minutes or less, then do it now, thus freeing up your time and mind tenfold over the long term. It's commonsense advice so obvious that most of us completely overlook it, much to our detriment; Allen excels at dispensing such wisdom in this useful, if somewhat belabored, self-improver aimed at everyone from CEOs to soccer moms (who we all know are more organized than most CEOs to start with). —Timothy Murphy

armstrong

Richard Bach "Most gulls don't bother to learn more than the simplest facts of flight—how to get from shore to food and back again," writes author Richard Bach in this allegory about a unique bird named Jonathan Livingston Seagull. "For most gulls it is not flying that matters, but eating. For this gull, though, it was not eating that mattered, but flight." Flight is indeed the metaphor that makes the story soar. Ultimately this is a fable about the importance of seeking a higher purpose in life, even if your flock, tribe, or neighborhood finds your ambition threatening. (At one point our beloved gull is even banished from his flock.) By not compromising his higher vision, Jonathan gets the ultimate payoff: transcendence. Ultimately, he learns the meaning of love and kindness. The dreamy seagull photographs by Russell Munson provide just the right illustrations—although the overall packaging does seem a bit dated (keep in mind that it was first published in 1970). Nonetheless, this is a spirituality classic, and an especially engaging parable for adolescents. —Gail Hudson

Subroto Bagchi

Freddy Balle, Michael Balle The Gold Mine: a Novel of Lean Turnaround deftly weaves together the technical and human pieces of implementing lean manufacturing in an engaging story that readers will find both compelling and instructive. Authors Freddy and Michael Ballé have produced the first integrated and systematic approach to a set of ideas that have maximized value and minimized waste throughout the world. At the heart of the Gold Mine is Bob Woods, a curmudgeonly sensei coaxed out of retirement by his son Mike to help boyhood friend Phil Jenkinson save his struggling company. Despite terrific products and a backlog of orders, Phil’s company cannot generate enough cash from its operations to pay its bills. And so Mike enlists Bob to help his pal fix this crisis.

"You’re trying to deal with your mess as if it was a technical problem," Bob tells Phil. "Move this machine here, change this design there, which it is to some extent, but … it’s all about people. You have a leadership problem not just a production or business problem." As Phil begins to tackle the key challenges necessary to improve his company’s operations, he comes to understand the deeper points of lean. Readers will also draw powerful insights from his journey.

The Gold Mine presents all the key lean principles, ranging from well-known ideas such as pull and flow, to lesser-known yet equally important principles such as jidoka and heijunka. The book also reveals lean as a system—using a realistic story to show how the principles are interrelated and how they lead to useful tools such as kanban or 5S.

L.Cameron- Bandler

Richard Bandler

Richard Bandler

Richard Bandler

Richard Bandler, Steve Andreas, Connirae Andreas

Richard Bandler, John Grinder

Richard Bandler, Will Macdonald

Saradindu Bandyopadhyay

Kent Beck, Cynthia Andres Kent Beck's eXtreme Programming eXplained provides an intriguing high-level overview of the author's Extreme Programming (XP) software development methodology. Written for IS managers, project leaders, or programmers, this guide provides a glimpse at the principles behind XP and its potential advantages for small- to mid-size software development teams.

The book intends to describe what XP is, its guiding principles, and how it works. Simply written, the book avoids case studies and concrete details in demonstrating the efficacy of XP. Instead, it demonstrates how XP relies on simplicity, unit testing, programming in pairs, communal ownership of code, and customer input on software to motivate code improvement during the development process. As the author notes, these principles are not new, but when they're combined their synergy fosters a new and arguably better way to build and maintain software. Throughout the book, the author presents and explains these principles, such as "rapid feedback" and "play to win," which form the basis of XP.

Generally speaking, XP changes the way programmers work. The book is good at delineating new roles for programmers and managers who Beck calls "coaches." The most striking characteristic of XP is that programmers work in pairs, and that testing is an intrinsic part of the coding process. In a later section, the author even shows where XP works and where it doesn't and offers suggestions for migrating teams and organizations over to the XP process.

In the afterword, the author recounts the experiences that led him to develop and refine XP, an insightful section that should inspire any organization to adopt XP. This book serves as a useful introduction to the philosophy and practice of XP for the manager or programmer who wants a potentially better way to build software. —Richard Dragan

Topics covered: Extreme Programming (XP) software methodology, principles, XP team roles, facilities design, testing, refactoring, the XP software lifecycle, and adopting XP.

Leslie Bendaly

Chetan Bhagat In late 2000, a young boy in Ahmedabad, Govind, dreamt of owning a business. To accommodate his friends Ish and Omi's passion, they open a cricket shop. However, nothing comes easy in a turbulent city. To realise their goals, they will have to face it all — religious politics, calamities, unacceptable love and above all, their own mistakes. Will they make it? Can an individual's dreams overcome the nightmares offered by real life? Can we succeed despite a few mistakes? Based on real events, from the bestselling author of Five Point Someone and one night @ the call center, comes another dark, witty tale about modern India, where Chetan Bhagat brings out the ethos and isolation of an entire generation to the fore.

Chetan Bhagat Novel set in the context of the changing Indian IIT world, funy, but also insightful concerning Indian culture and modernization. excellent reviews. soon to be made into a major movie

Chetan Bhagat Press 1 for technical support.
Press 2 for broken hearts.
Press 3 if your life has totally crashed. . . .

Six friends work nights at a call center in India, providing technical support for a major U.S. appliance corporation. Skilled in patience–and accent management–they help American consumers keep their lives running. Yet behind the headsets, everybody’s heart is on the line.

Shyam (Sam to his callers) has lost his self-confidence after being dumped by the girl who just so happens to be sitting next to him. Priyanka’s domineering mother has arranged for her daughter’s upscale marriage to an Indian man in Seattle. Esha longs to be a model but discovers it’s a horizontal romp to the runway. Lost, dissatisfied Vroom has high ideals, but compromises them by talking on the phone to idiots each night. Traditional Radhika has just found out that her husband is sleeping with his secretary. And Military Uncle (nobody knows his real name) sits alone working the online chat.

They all try to make it through their shifts–and maintain their sanity–under the eagle eye of a boss whose ego rivals his incompetence. But tonight is no ordinary night. Tonight is Thanksgiving in America: Appliances are going haywire, and the phones are ringing off their hooks. Then one call, from one very special caller, changes everything.

Chetan Bhagat’s delicious romantic comedy takes us inside the world of the international call center, where cultural cross-wires come together with perfect pathos, hilarity, and spice.

Ruskin Bond In dull and dusty Pipalnagar, each day is like another, and 'there is not exactly despair, but resignation'. Even the dreams here are small. Adrift among them, the narrator, Arun, a struggling writer of detective novels in Urdu, waits for inspiration to write a blockbuster. Meanwhile, he seeks reassurance in love, and finds it in unusual places: with the young prostitute Kamla, wise beyond her years; and the orphan Suraj, homeless and an epileptic, yet surprisingly optimistic about the future. this is a memorable story about small lives, with all the hallmarks of classic Ruskin Bond prose: nostalgia, charm, underplayed humour and quiet wisdom.

Tony Bray All training programs—conventional, e-learning or blended learning-require thorough planning and design. The Training Design Manual guides trainers through a step-by-step design process leading up to the launch of a successful training course. Many publications include some element of design, but this Manual uniquely deals with the whole topic, from building the training design team, carrying out needs analyses, setting course parameters, designing individual sessions, to content delivery options— support materials, audio, visual aids and e-learning—to choosing venues, piloting the training course and launching and measuring the training program. Theory and concepts are followed by application. Readers work on a real topic; by the time they've read the book they will have designed a course. The book takes account of different learning styles by presenting a blend of text and graphics. An accompanying free interactive CD-ROM includes templates, activities and course materials.

Dan Brown The Da Vinci Code

Tony/ Buzan, Barry Buzan

Peggy Carlaw, Vasudha K. Deming Help your employees to excel in dealing with the public with this stimulating, fun-filled collection of customer service training games. Designed not only to teach important skills but also to spark enthusiasm and a high level of involvement in the participants, these games utilize entertaining and instructive techniques such as role-playing, charades, brainstorming, and debate. As a result of these exercises, employees will learn how to create a rapport with the customer, how to focus on the unique needs of individual customers, how to maintain a positive attitude, and more.

Saratcandra Cattopadhyaya

Cy Charney, Kathy Conway Comprehensive and user-friendly, The Trainer's Tool Kit has long been a valued guide for trainers and managers in need of a quick refresher. Completely updated with hundreds of ready-to-use techniques, The Trainer's Tool Kit provides valuable nuggets of here's-how-to-do-it information on training topics including:* the principles of learning * budgeting for training * when to use case studies * handling difficult learners * ice breakers * facilitation tips * flipchart do's and don'ts * learning contracts * overcoming resistance * rewards and recognitionIn addition to all the practical information included in the first edition, the book is now even easier to use. Updated material includes expanded coverage of retention programs such as mentoring and career and succession planning. Taking a fresh look at a broad range of ideas, The Trainer's Tool Kit shows how to achieve significant performance improvements through effective training in the current work environment.

Saratchandra Chattopadhyaya

Robert B. Cialdini Arguably the best book ever on what is increasingly becoming the science of persuasion. Whether you're a mere consumer or someone weaving the web of persuasion to urge others to buy or vote for your product, this is an essential book for understanding the psychological foundations of marketing. Recommended.

PETER CLAYTON

Mike Cohn The concept of user stories has its roots as one of the main tenets of Extreme Programming. In simple terms, user stories represent an effective means of gathering requirements from the customer (roughly akin to use cases). This book describes user stories and demonstrates how they can be used to properly plan, manage, and test software development projects. The book highlights both successful and unsuccessful implementations of the concept, and provides sets of questions and exercises that drive home its main points. After absorbing the lessons in this book, readers will be able to introduce user stories in their organizations as an effective means of determining precisely what is required of a software application.

Ann Cook The second edition of the highly acclaimed American Accent Training, now on 5 audio CDs, is for foreign-born students and business people working, traveling or studying in the United States and Canada. Through extensive intonation and pronunciation exercises, students learn how to speak with a standard American Accent. At the same time, listening comprehension improves dramatically. Supplementary materials included detailed nationality guides for eight languages (Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Spanish, French, German, Russian and Korean), access to a comprehensive website, and referral to a qualified telephone analyst for an individual diagnostic speech analysis. Also included are colored markers for written exercises, and a mirror to practice accurate pronunciation.

Joe Cummings, Morgan Konn, China Williams, Becca Blond, Matt Warren Thailand was once an enigmatic paradise of pristine beaches, hidden temples and remote mountain refuges. Here's the secret: it can still be that way. Let Lonely Planet guide you past the world of the tourist brochures and into the true heart of the this glorious land.

• AUTHORITATIVE OPINION - incisive, candid reviews let you travel your way

• INSIDER'S PERSPECTIVE - from traveling with children to visiting tsunami-affected regions, our expert authors provide the definitive word

• THE WORLD'S BEST TRAVEL MAPS - meticulously checked and fully cross-referenced

• ACCOMMODATION FOR ALL BUDGETS - from sumptuous palace hotels to breezy beach bungalows

• EXTENSIVE LANGUAGE CHAPTER - you'll be ordering Singhas and chatting with locals in no time

Paul Davis, Mario Rinvolucri This resource book for teachers contains an exciting collection of activities that present and practice vital grammatical content in an original way. Each game is clearly introduced with a summary specifying the area of grammar to be practiced, the level it is aimed at, the time required and the material needed. The activity is then presented using a step-by-step approach.

Pascal Dennis

Esther Derby, Diana Larsen, Ken Schwaber See how to mine the experience of your software development team continually throughout the life of the project. The tools and recipes in this book will help you uncover and solve hidden (and not-so-hidden) problems with your technology, your methodology, and those difficult "people" issues on your team.

Project retrospectives help teams examine what went right and what went wrong on a project. But traditionally, retrospectives (also known as "post-mortems") are only helpful at the end of the project—too late to help. You need agile retrospectives that are iterative and incremental. You need to accurately find and fix problems to help the team today.

Now, Derby and Larsen show you the tools, tricks, and tips you need to fix the problems you face on a software development project on an on-going basis. You'll see how to architect retrospectives in general, how to design them specifically for your team and organization, how to run them effectively, how to make the needed changes, and how to scale these techniques up. You'll learn how to deal with problems, and implement solutions effectively throughout the project—not just at the end.

With regular tune-ups, your team will hum like a precise, world-class orchestra.

Robert Dilts

Robert Dilts

Robert B. Dilts

Robert B. Dilts

Robert B. Dilts, etc., Tim Hallbom, Suzi Smith

Roberts Dilts

Adrian Doff Teach English is a teacher training course that develops practical skills in the teaching of English as a second language. It can be used in a variety of situations: in-service courses for teachers working at the secondary school level or in language institutes, in pre-service training of secondary school teachers, and as part of a refresher course in practical methodology for more experienced teachers. It is especially designed to meet the needs of teachers whose first language is not English, who teach large classes in rigid classrooms with few resources, who follow a set syllabus and textbook, who have little control over course content or material.

Nancy Duarte

Robert Epstein In the modern economy, where most workers are knowledge workers, creativity and innovation are the most easily sustainable competitive advantages. In The Big Book of Creativity Games, Harvard trained psychologist Robert Epstein provides dozens of games and activities designed to stimulate creativity and generate innovation in the workplace.

Dr. Epstein describes the scientific principles of creativity that underlie the games, and how these principles can be applied to tasks like problem solving, new product development, and marketing. Timely and innovative, The Big Book of Creativity Games is the ideal book for managers to turn to whenever they need: Games that are easy to lead and fun to playExercises that go far beyond standard brainstorming techniquesInnovation jump-starters for team meetings and work groups

Robert Epstein One of the world's leading experts on behavioral change has translated proven stress-management and relaxation techniques into a unique collection of 50 upbeat games and exercises for trainers in all organizational settings. Dr. Epstein shows how science-based stress-proofing" can easily be applied to "inoculate" workers against stress. Included are flexible exercises designed to loosen up groups of different types and sizes, as well as techniques geared to help individuals cope with organizational change and interpersonal conflict.

Robert Epstein, Jessica Rogers This addition to the best-selling Big Book of Business Games Series is packed with over 40 original games and exercises managers can use to motivate their teams—and themselves. The Big Book of Motivational Games presents managers with a variety of games that can be customized to suit their specific needs and group size. The book provides games designed to: - Stop Procrastination - Beat burnout - Fight boredom - Boost performance - Overcome failure

Neil Fiore Originally published by Tarcher in 1988, The Now Habit has sold more than 58,000 copies, and is as relevant as ever!

Author Neil Fiore offers the first comprehensive strategy to overcome the causes of procrastination and to eliminate its deleterious effects. His techniques will help any busy person get more things done more quickly, without the anxiety and stress brought on by failure to meet the workplace's pressing deadlines.

This revised, redesigned edition includes a new introduction and a section that provides strategies to understand and deal with the complex role technology plays in procrastination today.

Roger Fisher, Daniel Shapiro Let's say you're trying to convince a new employer to sweeten its job offer to you. Or perhaps you're buying or selling a company. Or maybe you're even solving for peace in the Middle East. If any of these scenarios is yours, Roger Fisher, Daniel Shapiro, and their colleagues at the Harvard Negotiation Project have ideas that they would like to share. Fisher's previous book, Getting to Yes, stands today as a seminal work in negotiations theory. Businesspeople in a wide variety of industries have drawn from the book's tips for deal-making and its larger framework for "interest-based negotiation", which focuses on understanding each side's interests and working together to produce proverbial win-win outcomes. In Beyond Reason, Fisher and Shapiro go one step further.

To the authors' credit, they started this new book with a clear understanding of the previous one's chief shortcoming. Though Getting to Yes introduced a powerful paradigm for negotiations, it did not fully address a critical element of most deals: emotions, and the messy human details that can distract from purely rational decision-making. If both negotiators are consistently lucid, fair, and calm, the game has a certain set of rules, but if—as in most situations—the different parties get excited, angry, sad, insulted, and so on, then those rules change. That expanded focus forms the basis for Beyond Reason.

Fisher and Shapiro have structured this latest work around five key emotions which they identify as most critical to productive negotiations. Even though each situation has its own dynamics, they point to appreciation, affiliation, autonomy, status, and role as the most important for making each party comfortable enough to grasp the principles of rationality that maximize the chances for a win-win result.

Critics may deride this book as still too simplistic, too black-and-white, and unappreciative of life's shades of gray. The authors' pragmatic bent comes in the book's final two chapters. One takes readers through the overall process for negotiations—not just the parry-and-thrust of conversations with the other party, but also pre-conversation preparation. It's in this preparatory stage, the authors contend, where a thoughtful consideration of potential emotional dynamics can help prevent later problems. To synthesize many of the lessons they impart, Fisher and Shapiro then close their work by inviting guest commentary from the former President of Ecuador, Jamil Mahuad, who explains how he applied interest-based negotiations theory to highly charged negotiations between his country and Peru, on a border dispute in the late 1990s. It's this kind of real-life application of Fisher and Shapiro's theories that continue to give them relevance. —Peter Han

Ian Fleming

Ian Fleming, Allan J.D. Taylor A pocketful of proven tips and techniques on how to coach others to achieve outstanding performance. Long on learning impact, short on words, this book gets you to the heart of the subject, fast. For the expert or beginner, this is a self-learning aid, an instant checklist, and an ongoing source of ideas and practical help.

Patrick Forsyth All the do's and don'ts needed to make meetings successful. Covers advance preparation, chairing, controlling discussions, effective participation and use of minutes. Essential for both organizers and participants.

Patrick Forsyth The author begins by defining management, identifying the skills required and highlighting the different styles of management. The importance of reconnaissance and preparation prior to taking up the post is then dealt with before spotlighting the key issues facing managers on day one in the new job.

Thomas L. Friedman Updated Edition: Thomas L. Friedman is not so much a futurist, which he is sometimes called, as a presentist. His aim in The World Is Flat, as in his earlier, influential Lexus and the Olive Tree, is not to give you a speculative preview of the wonders that are sure to come in your lifetime, but rather to get you caught up on the wonders that are already here. The world isn't going to be flat, it is flat, which gives Friedman's breathless narrative much of its urgency, and which also saves it from the Epcot-style polyester sheen that futurists—the optimistic ones at least—are inevitably prey to.

What Friedman means by "flat" is "connected": the lowering of trade and political barriers and the exponential technical advances of the digital revolution that have made it possible to do business, or almost anything else, instantaneously with billions of other people across the planet. This in itself should not be news to anyone. But the news that Friedman has to deliver is that just when we stopped paying attention to these developments—when the dot-com bust turned interest away from the business and technology pages and when 9/11 and the Iraq War turned all eyes toward the Middle East—is when they actually began to accelerate. Globalization 3.0, as he calls it, is driven not by major corporations or giant trade organizations like the World Bank, but by individuals: desktop freelancers and innovative startups all over the world (but especially in India and China) who can compete—and win—not just for low-wage manufacturing and information labor but, increasingly, for the highest-end research and design work as well. (He doesn't forget the "mutant supply chains" like Al-Qaeda that let the small act big in more destructive ways.)

Friedman has embraced this flat world in his own work, continuing to report on his story after his book's release and releasing an unprecedented hardcover update of the book a year later with 100 pages of revised and expanded material. What's changed in a year? Some of the sections that opened eyes in the first edition—on China and India, for example, and the global supply chain—are largely unaltered. Instead, Friedman has more to say about what he now calls "uploading," the direct-from-the-bottom creation of culture, knowledge, and innovation through blogging, podcasts, and open-source software. And in response to the pleas of many of his readers about how to survive the new flat world, he makes specific recommendations about the technical and creative training he thinks will be required to compete in the "New Middle" class. As before, Friedman tells his story with the catchy slogans and globe-hopping anecdotes that readers of his earlier books and his New York Times columns know well, and he holds to a stern sort of optimism. He wants to tell you how exciting this new world is, but he also wants you to know you're going to be trampled if you don't keep up with it. A year later, one can sense his rising impatience that our popular culture, and our political leaders, are not helping us keep pace. —Tom Nissley

Where Were You When the World Went Flat?

Thomas L. Friedman's reporter's curiosity and his ability to recognize the patterns behind the most complex global developments have made him one of the most entertaining and authoritative sources for information about the wider world we live in, both as the foreign affairs columnist for the New York Times and as the author of landmark books like From Beirut to Jerusalem and The Lexus and the Olive Tree. They also make him an endlessly fascinating conversation partner, and we've now had the chance to talk to him about The World Is Flat twice. Read our original interview with him following the publication of the first edition of The World Is Flat to learn why there's almost no one from Washington, D.C., listed in the index of a book about the global economy, and what his one-plank platform for president would be. (Hint: his bumper stickers would say, "Can You Hear Me Now?")

And now you can listen to our second interview, in which he talks about the updates he's made in "The World Is Flat 2.0," including his response to parents who said to him, "Great, Mr. Friedman, I'm glad you told us the world is flat. Now what do I tell my kids?"

The Essential Tom Friedman </!— begin3pak ——>
From Beirut to Jerusalem
The Lexus and the Olive Tree
Longitudes and Attitudes </!— end6pak ——> More on Globalization and Development

China, Inc. by Ted Fishman
Three Billion New Capitalists by Clyde Prestowitz
The End of Poverty by Jeffrey Sachs
Globalization and Its Discontents by Joseph Stiglitz
The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy by Pietra Rivoli
The Mystery of Capital by Hernando de Soto

Mohandas Karamchand (Mahatma) Gandhi, Mahadev H. Desai Gandhi's nonviolent struggles in South Africa and India had already brought him to such a level of notoriety, adulation, and controversy that when asked to write an autobiography midway through his career, he took it as an opportunity to explain himself. Although accepting of his status as a great innovator in the struggle against racism, violence, and, just then, colonialism, Gandhi feared that enthusiasm for his ideas tended to exceed a deeper understanding. He says that he was after truth rooted in devotion to God and attributed the turning points, successes, and challenges in his life to the will of God. His attempts to get closer to this divine power led him to seek purity through simple living, dietary practices (he called himself a fruitarian), celibacy, and ahimsa, a life without violence. It is in this sense that he calls his book The Story of My Experiments with Truth, offering it also as a reference for those who would follow in his footsteps. A reader expecting a complete accounting of his actions, however, will be sorely disappointed.

Although Gandhi presents his episodes chronologically, he happily leaves wide gaps, such as the entire satyagraha struggle in South Africa, for which he refers the reader to another of his books. And writing for his contemporaries, he takes it for granted that the reader is familiar with the major events of his life and of the political milieu of early 20th-century India. For the objective story, try Yogesh Chadha's Gandhi: A Life. For the inner world of a man held as a criminal by the British, a hero by Muslims, and a holy man by Hindus, look no further than these experiments. —Brian Bruya

Malcolm Gladwell Blink is about the first two seconds of looking—the decisive glance that knows in an instant. Gladwell, the best-selling author of The Tipping Point, campaigns for snap judgments and mind reading with a gift for translating research into splendid storytelling. Building his case with scenes from a marriage, heart attack triage, speed dating, choking on the golf course, selling cars, and military maneuvers, he persuades readers to think small and focus on the meaning of "thin slices" of behavior. The key is to rely on our "adaptive unconscious"—a 24/7 mental valet—that provides us with instant and sophisticated information to warn of danger, read a stranger, or react to a new idea.

Gladwell includes caveats about leaping to conclusions: marketers can manipulate our first impressions, high arousal moments make us "mind blind," focusing on the wrong cue leaves us vulnerable to "the Warren Harding Effect" (i.e., voting for a handsome but hapless president). In a provocative chapter that exposes the "dark side of blink," he illuminates the failure of rapid cognition in the tragic stakeout and murder of Amadou Diallo in the Bronx. He underlines studies about autism, facial reading and cardio uptick to urge training that enhances high-stakes decision-making. In this brilliant, cage-rattling book, one can only wish for a thicker slice of Gladwell's ideas about what Blink Camp might look like. —Barbara Mackoff

Malcolm Gladwell Amazon Best of the Month, November 2008: Now that he's gotten us talking about the viral life of ideas and the power of gut reactions, Malcolm Gladwell poses a more provocative question in Outliers: why do some people succeed, living remarkably productive and impactful lives, while so many more never reach their potential? Challenging our cherished belief of the "self-made man," he makes the democratic assertion that superstars don't arise out of nowhere, propelled by genius and talent: "they are invariably the beneficiaries of hidden advantages and extraordinary opportunities and cultural legacies that allow them to learn and work hard and make sense of the world in ways others cannot." Examining the lives of outliers from Mozart to Bill Gates, he builds a convincing case for how successful people rise on a tide of advantages, "some deserved, some not, some earned, some just plain lucky."

Outliers can be enjoyed for its bits of trivia, like why most pro hockey players were born in January, how many hours of practice it takes to master a skill, why the descendents of Jewish immigrant garment workers became the most powerful lawyers in New York, how a pilots' culture impacts their crash record, how a centuries-old culture of rice farming helps Asian kids master math. But there's more to it than that. Throughout all of these examples—and in more that delve into the social benefits of lighter skin color, and the reasons for school achievement gaps—Gladwell invites conversations about the complex ways privilege manifests in our culture. He leaves us pondering the gifts of our own history, and how the world could benefit if more of our kids were granted the opportunities to fulfill their remarkable potential. —Mari Malcolm

Malcolm Gladwell "The best way to understand the dramatic transformation of unknown books into bestsellers, or the rise of teenage smoking, or the phenomena of word of mouth or any number of the other mysterious changes that mark everyday life," writes Malcolm Gladwell, "is to think of them as epidemics. Ideas and products and messages and behaviors spread just like viruses do." Although anyone familiar with the theory of memetics will recognize this concept, Gladwell's The Tipping Point has quite a few interesting twists on the subject.

For example, Paul Revere was able to galvanize the forces of resistance so effectively in part because he was what Gladwell calls a "Connector": he knew just about everybody, particularly the revolutionary leaders in each of the towns that he rode through. But Revere "wasn't just the man with the biggest Rolodex in colonial Boston," he was also a "Maven" who gathered extensive information about the British. He knew what was going on and he knew exactly whom to tell. The phenomenon continues to this day—think of how often you've received information in an e-mail message that had been forwarded at least half a dozen times before reaching you.

Gladwell develops these and other concepts (such as the "stickiness" of ideas or the effect of population size on information dispersal) through simple, clear explanations and entertainingly illustrative anecdotes, such as comparing the pedagogical methods of Sesame Street and Blue's Clues, or explaining why it would be even easier to play Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon with the actor Rod Steiger. Although some readers may find the transitional passages between chapters hold their hands a little too tightly, and Gladwell's closing invocation of the possibilities of social engineering sketchy, even chilling, The Tipping Point is one of the most effective books on science for a general audience in ages. It seems inevitable that "tipping point," like "future shock" or "chaos theory," will soon become one of those ideas that everybody knows—or at least knows by name. —Ron Hogan

Seth Godin “Gotta get me some of that New Marketing. Bring me blogs, e-mail, YouTube videos, MySpace pages, Google AdWords . . . I don’t care, as long as it’s shiny and new.”

Wait. According to bestselling author Seth Godin, all these tactics are like the toppings at an ice cream parlor. If you start with ice cream, adding cherries and hot fudge and whipped cream will make it taste great. But if you start with a bowl of meatballs . . . yuck!

As traditional marketing fades away, the new tools seem irresistible. But they don’t work as well for boring brands (“meatballs”) that might still be profitable but don’t attract word of mouth, such as Cheerios, Ford trucks, Barbie dolls, or Budweiser. When Anheuser-Busch spends $40 million on an online network called BudTV, that’s a meatball sundae. It leads to no new Bud drinkers, just a bad case of indigestion.

Meatball Sundae is the definitive guide to the fourteen trends no marketer can afford to ignore. It explains what to do about the increasing power of stories, not facts; about shorter and shorter attention spans; and about the new math that says five thousand people who want to hear your message are more valuable than five million who don’t.

The winners aren’t just annoying start-ups run by three teenagers who never had a real job. You’ll also meet older companies that have adapted brilliantly, such as Blendtec, a thirty-year-old blender maker. It now produces “Will it blend?” videos that demolish golf balls, Coke cans, iPhones, and much more. For a few hundred dollars, Blendtec reached more than ten million eager viewers on YouTube.

Godin doesn’t pretend that it’s easy to get your products, marketing messages, and internal systems in sync. But he’ll convince you that it’s worth the effort.

Seth Godin You're either a Purple Cow or you're not. You're either remarkable or invisible. Make your choice.

What do Starbucks and JetBlue and KrispyKreme and Apple and DutchBoy and Kensington and Zespri and Hard Candy have that you don't? How do they continue to confound critics and achieve spectacular growth, leaving behind former tried-and true brands to gasp their last?

Face it, the checklist of tired 'P's marketers have used for decades to get their product noticed -Pricing, Promotion, Publicity, to name a few-aren't working anymore. There's an exceptionally important 'P' that has to be added to the list. It's Purple Cow.

Cows, after you've seen one, or two, or ten, are boring. A Purple Cow, though...now that would be something. Purple Cow describes something phenomenal, something counterintuitive and exciting and flat out unbelievable. Every day, consumers come face to face with a lot of boring stuff-a lot of brown cows-but you can bet they won't forget a Purple Cow. And it's not a marketing function that you can slap on to your product or service. Purple Cow is inherent. It's built right in, or it's not there. Period.

In Purple Cow, Seth Godin urges you to put a Purple Cow into everything you build, and everything you do, to create something truly noticeable. It's a manifesto for marketers who want to help create products that are worth marketing in the first place.

Seth Godin A tribe is any group of people, large or small, who are connected to one another, a leader, and an idea. For millions of years, humans have been seeking out tribes, be they religious, ethnic, economic, political, or even musical (think of the Deadheads). It’s our nature.

Now the Internet has eliminated the barriers of geography, cost, and time. All those blogs and social networking sites are helping existing tribes get bigger. But more important, they’re enabling countless new tribes to be born—groups of ten or ten thousand or ten million who care about their iPhones, or a political campaign, or a new way to fight global warming.

And so the key question: Who is going to lead us?

The Web can do amazing things, but it can’t provide leadership. That still has to come from individuals— people just like you who have passion about something. The explosion in tribes means that anyone who wants to make a difference now has the tools at her fingertips.

If you think leadership is for other people, think again—leaders come in surprising packages. Consider Joel Spolsky and his international tribe of scary-smart software engineers. Or Gary Vaynerhuck, a wine expert with a devoted following of enthusiasts. Chris Sharma leads a tribe of rock climbers up impossible cliff faces, while Mich Mathews, a VP at Microsoft, runs her internal tribe of marketers from her cube in Seattle. All they have in common is the desire to change things, the ability to connect a tribe, and the willingness to lead.

If you ignore this opportunity, you risk turning into a “sheepwalker”—someone who fights to protect the status quo at all costs, never asking if obedience is doing you (or your organization) any good. Sheepwalkers don’t do very well these days.

Tribes will make you think (really think) about the opportunities in leading your fellow employees, customers, investors, believers, hobbyists, or readers. . . . It’s not easy, but it’s easier than you think.

John Gray Relationship counselor John Gray focuses on the differences between men and women—men are from Mars, and women are from Venus, after all—and offers a simple solution: couples must acknowledge and accept these differences before they can develop happier relationships. In this unabridged version, Gray gives a spirited delivery of his message, especially when role-playing typical male/female interactions. Although it takes some time to adjust to his slightly nasal tone, the information is sound and gives both men and women helpful hints on improving themselves and their union. (Running time: 9.5 hours, 6 cassettes) —Sharon Griggins

Paul Gray, Lucy Ridout The Rough Guide to Thailand''s Beaches and Islands is the ultimate guideto these glorious destinations. From the enchanting and little-knownislands of Ban Krud and Suan Luang to the hip beach resort of PakNam Pran. A full-colour 24-page section introduces the highlights, withstunning photography of the best the islands have to offer. This new edition includes two brand-new full-colour inserts: ''Southern Thai Food'' and ''Sea Kayaking''. The authorsprovide expert recommendations on all the top places to visit, from the best party beaches andluxury resorts to remote national park islands and bases for diving,snorkelling and kayaking. The guide includes full coverage ofBangkok, the main point of arrival, a sophisticated metropolis andgateway to the coasts. There are detailed maps for every region andinformed advice on activities - from Thai cookery and boxing to scuba-diving and white-water rafting.

Carolyn Greenwich "Fun and Gains" is an exciting new book for trainers, managers, team leaders, supervisors, and human resource personnel. This book is a collection of games, activities, competitions, stories and anecdotes to assist users in motivating an energizing staff, quickly and easily! The activities and material focus on improving staff reliability, professionalism, attitude, productivity and communication. This will help you revitlalize staff performance, stimulate new ideas, create winning attitudes, inspire new goals, increase sales and productivity, and promote an exciting, motivated work environment.

John Grinder, Richard Bandler

John Grinder, Richard Bandler

John Grinder, Richard Bandler

John Grinder, Richard Bandler, Connirae Andreas

John Grisham Before he was sent to federal prison for treason (among other things), Joel Backman was an extremely powerful man. Known as "the broker," Backman was a high roller—a lawyer making $10 million a year who could "open any door in Washington." That is, until he tried to broker a deal selling access to the world's most powerful satellite surveillance system to the highest bidder. When caught, Backman accepted prison as the one option that would keep him safe and alive, since the interested parties (the Israelis, the Saudis, the Russians, and the Chinese) were all itching to get their hands on his secrets at any cost. Little does he know that his own government has designs on accessing that information—or at least letting it die with him. Now, six years after his incarceration, the director of the CIA convinces a lame duck president to pardon Backman, and the broker becomes a free man—and an open target.

The Broker marries the best of John Grisham's many talents—his ability to immerse himself in the culture of small town life (in this case, Bologna, Italy), and his uncanny mastery of the chase. The first half of the book focuses on Backman's transformation from infamous power broker to helpless victim in his own game. Upon his release from prison, Backman is taken into "protective custody" and whisked off to Italy where he is assigned a new identity, and a tutor to help him blend in. Sure he is on the run, but some readers may feel that Backman's time spent in Bologna is a bit too leisurely—readers join him on an almost cinematic tour through the Italian town, complete with language and history lessons. Impatient readers will be happy to know that the final half of the novel is classic Grisham—a fast-paced, thrilling cat and mouse chase pitting Backman against the numerous agencies that want him dead—as the broker makes a move to take back his life. —Daphne Durham

Exclusive Video Interview with John Grisham

Watch the interview (high bandwith)Watch the interview (low bandwith)

Grisham: The Books

A Time to Kill, 1989The Firm, 1991The Pelican Brief, 1992The Client, 1993The Chamber, 1994The Rainmaker, 1995The Runaway Jury, 1996The Partner, 1997The Street Lawyer, 1998The Testament, 1999The Brethren, 2000A Painted House, 2001Skipping Christmas, 2001The Summons, 2002The King of Torts, 2003Bleachers, 2003The Last Juror, 2004The Broker, 2005

Essential Grisham
Amazon Editor Favorites

A Time to Kill
The Firm
A Painted House
The Client
The Rainmaker
The Pelican Brief

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Bestselling Grisham
Amazon Customer Favorites

The Last Juror
Skipping Christmas
Bleachers
The Testament
The Partner
The King of Torts

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If You Like Grisham, You'll Love...

John LescroartRichard North PattersonDavid BaldacciLisa ScottolineRobert CraisMichael CrichtonHarlan CobenDennis LehaneKen Follett

Best Grisham Books on DVD

A Time to Kill
The Pelican Brief
The Client
The Firm
The Rainmaker
The Chamber

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Kay Halsey, Lulu Grimes Thailand has an increasingly well-known and well-loved repertoire of dishes, some more familiar than others. This culinary journey guides readers through Bangkok's markets to the seafood freshly cooked on the beaches of the Gulf of Thailand, to the sweet-makers of Phetchaburi province to the rice-growing hill tribes of the northern region.

The Food of Thailand features a myriad of dishes that make up modern Thai cuisine: from traditional green, red, and panaeng curries, eaten by every Thai, to salads like som tam and laap, redolent with herbs and chillies, and coconut-based soups, including the famous tom khaa kai.

To partner the recipes, special pages explore the essence of Thai food and cooking techniques. Subjects include: - Making fish sauce - Preparing som tam - Mixing and pounding curry pastes - Carving fruit.

About The Food of... series A culinary journey around the world.

Each book in The Food of series is a comprehensive introduction to the world's great cuisine. These books feature more than 100 delicious recipes that highlight each country's culinary treasures. With instructive color photographs throughout, each recipe helps readers choose and identify produce, from vegetables and flavorings to street snacks, sweets, and colorful and exotic fruits. Feature sections explore the essence of each culture's food and cooking techniques.

Mark Hancock Pronunciation Games is a photocopiable resource book for use with students at pre-intermediate level and above. Each activity is designed to raise awareness of an aspect of English pronunciation. The Teacher's Pages offer clear instructions, background information, and suggestions for adaptation.

Mark Hancock, Sylvie Donna The best-selling English Pronunciation in Use is a comprehensive reference and practice book suitable for self-study or classroom work, and is now available with a unique, new CD-ROM for additional interactive practice. This pack contains the best-selling English Pronunciation in Use Intermediate, four audio CDs and a CD ROM that gives extra practice exercises, games and tests for self-study learners wanting to improve their pronunciation.

Alison Hardingham, Charlotte Ellis The workplace team has become one of the most crucial components of many organizations. But the kind of teamworking that organizations need has evolved, with the emergence of temporary and virtual teams and a greater need for flexibility.

Now trainers, managers, and team leaders have the help they need! Packed with exercises, The Ultimate Team-Building Toolkit addresses essential issues like:

* The role of the team leader in building team identity * The need for "alignment" as groups become committed to a common goal * Team culture as a competitive advantage

Perfect for "just-in-time" situations, the book contains commentary on each exercise, as well as suggestions on how to use them to build the ultimate team!

Philip Holman, Derek Snee To deliver more from less (more sales, profits, etc from fewer resources) you must understand in detail your organisation's operations or processes. The Improving Efficiency Pocketbook challenges four areas of operations: The design (Why are things done in a certain way?) The plan (Is there a better way to meet demand?) The controls (Are the right things being measured?) The way improvements are made (Are you involving your people, customers and suppliers?) The book follows a 6-stage model, with each of the stages covered by a separate chapter. The consistent and systematic application of the tools and techniques contained in this pocketbook will improve both the efficiency and effectiveness of your processes and resources.

James C. Humes

Greg Iles Hailed by Dan Brown (The Da Vinci Code) for his "utterly consuming" suspense fiction, New York Times bestselling author Greg Iles melds forensic detail with penetrating insight into the heart of a killer in a southern town.

Some memories live deep in the soul, indelible and dangerous, waiting to be resurrected....Forensic expert "Cat" Ferry is suspended from an FBI task force when the world-class odontologist is inexplicably stricken with panic attacks and blackouts while investigating a chain of brutal murders. Returning to her Mississippi hometown, Cat finds herself battling with alcohol, plagued by nightmares, and entangled with a married detective. Then, in her childhood bedroom, some spilled chemicals reveal two bloody footprints...and the trauma of her father's murder years earlier comes flooding back. Facing the secrets of her past, Cat races to connect them to a killer's present-day violence. But what emerges is the frightening possibility that Cat herself has blood on her hands....

Eric P. Jensen "This book is filled with classroom implications and instructional suggestions based on research. Classroom teachers, school administrators, professional development trainers, college/university faculty, and parents would all benefit from this information."
-Andrea Rosenblatt, Associate Professor
Barry University

"I have used the information from this book in many of my trainings. The 'What This Means to You' sections translate technical information into everyday language for the reader. This is truly a book that makes, has made, and will continue to make a contribution to the field."
-Steve Hutton, Area Coordinator
Kentucky Center for Instructional Discipline

Adopt a teaching approach aligned with the brain's natural way of learning!

Borrowing research from the disciplines of neuroscience, biology, and psychology, brain expert Eric Jensen offers an easy-to-understand explanation of the relationship between learning and the brain, helping educators increase student motivation and achievement. The author shares empirical data and provides in-depth information about the impact of physiological effects, sensory stimuli, and emotions on learning. Updated and streamlined, this second edition offers:
A set of brain-based principles for informed decision makingLow-cost teaching strategies that teachers can implement immediatelyReader-friendly language accessible for both novice and veteran educatorsEasy-to-follow chapter outlines and helpful text boxes to emphasize key points

Written for teachers, teacher leaders, and administrators, this comprehensive text demonstrates how brain-compatible learning environments can work to optimize learning in the classroom, reduce discipline problems, overcome learning difficulties, and increase graduation rates. (20071213)

O'Connor Joseph Coaching with NLP shows new as well as experienced life coaches how to apply the secrets of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) in their life and business coaching practices. Helping coaches to better understand the reality of how their clients think, and how to help them achieve life, and professional goals.

A.P.J. Abdul Kalam When A.P.J. Abdul Kalam wrote India 2020: A Vision for the New Millennium with Y.S. Rajan in 1998, little did they expect the magnitude of the response they would get. The idea that India could actually be a developed nation in a short time rather than remain condemned to a subsistence diet of marginal improvements and promises struck a chord among readers. The book continues to be a bestseller.

Ignited Minds: Unleashing the Power Within India goes the logical next step and examines why, given all our skills, resources and talents, we, so obviously capable of being the best, settle so often for the worst. What is it that we as a nation are missing? For at the heart of Ignited Minds is an irresistible premise: the people of a nation have the power, by dint of hard work, to realize their dream of a truly good life.

Kalam offers no formulaic prescription in Ignited Minds. Instead, he takes up different issues and themes that struck him on his pilgrimage around the country as he met thousands of school children, teachers, scientists and saints and seers in the course of two years: the necessity for a patriotism that transcends religion and politics; for role models who point out the path to take; and for confidence in ourselves and in our strengths.

Who was he to write on so large a theme, he wondered as he started writing this book. But at the end, Kalam's humility notwithstanding, this may well prove to be the book that motivates us to get back on the winning track and unleash the energy within a nation that hasn't allowed itself full rein.

Asha Kaul This step-by-step guide to making effective and convincing presentations includes advice on: how to plan a presentation - choosing the right content, duration and sequencing for maximum impact; understanding the audience and interacting with it; the aesthetics of the presentation including using Power Point and other visual aids and special effects; and choosing the appropriate style of delivery

John Keay Written in the 1970s, Into India achieved classic status and remained in print for twenty years. John Keay has since written more specialized studies of India and elsewhere, including a major new history of the subcontinent.

Norman L. Kerth With detailed scenarios, imaginative illustrations, and step-by-step instructions, consultant Norman L. Kerth guides readers through productive, painless retrospectives of project performance.

Whether your shop calls them postmortems or postpartums or something else, project retrospectives offer organizations a formal method for preserving the valuable lessons learned from the successes and failures of every project. These lessons and the measurements they yield foster stronger teams and savings on subsequent efforts.

For a retrospective to be effective and successful, though, it needs to be safe. Kerth shows facilitators and participants how to defeat the fear of retribution and establish an air of mutual trust. One tool is Kerth's Prime Directive: Regardless of what we discover, we must understand and truly believe that everyone did the best job he or she could, given what was known at the time, his or her skills and abilities, the resources available, and the situation at hand.

Applying years of experience as a project retrospective facilitator for software organizations, Kerth reveals his secrets for managing the sensitive, often emotionally charged issues that arise as teams relive and learn from each project.

Don't move on to your next project without consulting and using this readable, practical handbook. Each member of your team will be better prepared for the next deadline.

R.M. Kharb

Soheir Khashoggi Set against the bustling backdrop of New York City and the exotic splendor of Jordan, Mosaic is a story of love and betrayal, of a clash of cultures and traditions—-and one woman's struggle to rebuild her life.

Like many working mothers, Dina Ahmed has become adept at juggling her family and her work. She's the owner of Mosaic, a thriving floral design business, and has been blessed with success, beauty, and, most important, a happy family.

But when she returns home one day to discover that her six-year-old twins have vanished, Dina is forced to admit that her life and her marriage were not as perfect as she'd once believed. After many desperate phone calls—-and anxious hours spent piecing the puzzle together—-Dina accepts the terrible truth: Her husband, Karim, has taken the twins to his homeland of Jordan to raise the children with his family there.

The authorities can do nothing to bring Dina's children back, and even her father's contacts in the U.S. State Department are of little help. Karim's family is wealthy and powerful, and even though Dina is half Arab herself, her options are limited.

Distraught, but determined to fight, Dina travels to Jordan to confront her husband and to enact a desperate plan to get her children back—-but at what risk?

Biyani; Kishore Personal accunt of a versatile entrepreneur. on film, dance festivals, retailing in the changing context of Indian consumerism. lots of useful information on the Indian way of business and contemporary Indian culture

Richard Koch In 1897, Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, in his study of the patterns of wealth and income, observed that the distribution of wealth was predictably unbalanced. He first discovered this pattern in 19th-century England and found it to be the same for every country and time period he studied. Over the years, Pareto's observation has become known as the 80/20 principle.

Now in 1998, Richard Koch takes a fresh look at the 80/20 principle and finds that the basic imbalance observed by Pareto 100 years ago can be found in almost every aspect of modern life. Whether you're investing in stocks, analyzing company sales, or looking at the performance of a Web site, you'll find that it's usually 20 percent that produces 80 percent of the total result. This means 80 percent of what you do may not count for much. Koch helps you to identify that 20 percent and shows you how you can get more out of your business, and life, for less.

C.R. Kothari

Gary Kroehnert Games Trainers Play Outdoors presents exercises and activities that are designed to meet a wide variety of training goals and requirements while being conducted outside of traditional classroom environments. Author Gary Kroehnert draws on his extensive corporate training background to focus on the type of "low-risk," teamwork-oriented training games that have proven time and again to improve problem-solving skills, promote team productivity, and dramatically reduce turnover.

Steve Krug Usability design is one of the most important—yet often least attractive—tasks for a Web developer. In Don't Make Me Think, author Steve Krug lightens up the subject with good humor and excellent, to-the-point examples.

The title of the book is its chief personal design premise. All of the tips, techniques, and examples presented revolve around users being able to surf merrily through a well-designed site with minimal cognitive strain. Readers will quickly come to agree with many of the book's assumptions, such as "We don't read pages—we scan them" and "We don't figure out how things work—we muddle through." Coming to grips with such hard facts sets the stage for Web design that then produces topnotch sites.

Using an attractive mix of full-color screen shots, cute cartoons and diagrams, and informative sidebars, the book keeps your attention and drives home some crucial points. Much of the content is devoted to proper use of conventions and content layout, and the "before and after" examples are superb. Topics such as the wise use of rollovers and usability testing are covered using a consistently practical approach.

This is the type of book you can blow through in a couple of evenings. But despite its conciseness, it will give you an expert's ability to judge Web design. You'll never form a first impression of a site in the same way again. —Stephen W. Plain

Topics covered:User patternsDesigning for scanningWise use of copyNavigation designHome page layoutUsability testing

Matthew Van Kyrk All the information a first-time owner should

Nitya Lacroix

Craig Larman Agile and iterative methods have emerged as the most popular approaches to software development, and with good reason. Research (examined and cited in detail within this book) shows that iterative methods reduce the risk of failure, compared to traditional models of development. This book is an efficient introduction for both managers and practitioners that need a distilled and carefully organized learning aid for the hands-on practices from planning to requirements to testing and the values that define these methods. The author also provides evidence of the value of switching to agile and iterative methods. By studying this book, the reader will learn to apply the key ideas in agile and iterative development, the details and comparison of four influential iterative methods (Scrum, Extreme Programming, Evo, and the Unified Process), answers to frequently asked questions, and important related management skills. The book's goal is quality information that can be quickly understood and applied.

R.K. Laxman

Norman Lewis Do You Always Use the Right Word?

Can You Pronounce It — and Spell It — Correctly?

Do You Know How to Avoid Illiterate Expressions?

Do You Speak Grammatically, Without Embarrassing Mistakes?

If the answer to any of these questions is NO, you ought to read Word Power Made Easy. Now thoroughly revised to eliminate outmoded references and to to reflect current idioms, it remains the best and quickest means to a better vocabulary in the English language.

Each chapter ends with review. Each section ends with a progressive check. Numerous tests will help you increase and retain the knowledge you acquired. Word Power Made Easy does more than just ass words to you vocabulary. It teaches ideas and a method of broadening knowledge as an integral part of the vocabulary building process.

Jeffrey Liker How to speed up business processes, improve quality, and cut costs in any industry

In factories around the world, Toyota consistently makes the highest-quality cars with the fewest defects of any competing manufacturer, while using fewer man-hours, less on-hand inventory, and half the floor space of its competitors. The Toyota Way is the first book for a general audience that explains the management principles and business philosophy behind Toyota's worldwide reputation for quality and reliability.

Complete with profiles of organizations that have successfully adopted Toyota's principles, this book shows managers in every industry how to improve business processes by: Eliminating wasted time and resourcesBuilding quality into workplace systemsFinding low-cost but reliable alternatives to expensive new technologyProducing in small quantitiesTurning every employee into a qualitycontrol inspector

Robert W. Lucas All learners are not created equal, so it's important for trainers and educators to create the proper environment in which all participants can maximize their potential. People Strategies for Trainers provides readers with dozens of tips and strategies for dealing with societal issues related to learners, showing them how to create training materials, and set up the learning environment. In addition to older and younger learners, people with disabilities, and those who speak English as a second language, readers will learn how to communicate in challenging situations, and with different types of learners including:

* talkers
* poor listeners
* distracted, shy and inconsiderate participants
* show-offs
* class clowns
* and more.

A practical book that helps trainers put theory to work, People Strategies for Trainers contains a wealth of tools and resources that will help trainers address diverse styles and needs, even in unexpected and difficult circumstances.

Robert William Lucas Coaching can play a significant role in maximizing employee performance. It can also be instrumental in improving your management performance. Now, with this practical guide, you'll discover the essentials of coaching, including how to do it, when to do it, and why it is necessary in today's business environment. This book also addresses ways to coach employees with special needs, including underachievers, overachievers, and those with disabilities.

Robert, W. Lucas "Trainers have to be creative if they want their participants to feel excited, challenged, and involved. The Creative Training Idea Book is packed with instructions for using activities, games, puzzles, toys, and props to increase energy and active participation in the classroom, and reveals how to think creatively about training in any situation. Based on the author's nearly three decades of training experience, this invaluable resource gives trainers the tools to adopt a fun, energetic approach that will make for a stimulating learning environment. Readers will learn new methods for: * setting the right tone * uncovering participant needs * grouping participants and selecting leaders * avoiding and reclaiming turned-off learners * encouraging and rewarding participation * and much more! Filled with checklists, forms, resources, and dozens of ""Bright Idea"" blurbs, The Creative Training Idea Book will help trainers and their learners achieve maximum learning results."

Editors of In Style Magazine Wouldn't you love it if your hair always looked as if it had just been perfectly cut and styled? Have you ever wished you could figure out the most flattering makeup look for your features? Getting Gorgeous: The Step-by-Step Guide to Your Best Hair, Makeup and Skin has the answers. The experts at In Style will take you every step of the way to finding the best looks and products for your skin, eyes, lips, hair, body, nails and more.

Filled with famous faces, illustrated charts and step-by-step makeup application techniques, Getting Gorgeous provides quick, easy and comprehensive advice for every face shape and type. The book also features hundreds of classic beauty products that have appeared in the magazine's highly regarded annual "Best Beauty Buys" survey, which enlists more than 100 Hollywood beauty experts- including dermatologists who've tested the products on themselves- to determine the best goods on the market. But the real power of Getting Gorgeous is how it celebrates individual beauty. All the information in this book is offered with the understanding that everyone has a unique and compelling beauty all their own. The trick is identifying your greatest strengths and making the most of them. After all, the key to feeling great is looking your best.

Donald V. McCain, Deborah D. Tobey Facilitation skills are critical for today's successful business leaders, managers, and learning professionals. Do your key leaders and managers have the skills needed to be great facilitators? This book is your all-in-one train-the-trainer resource to guide development of 1 and 2-day instructor led courses in this vital business and organizational skill. Facilitation Skills Training demonstrates step-by-step how to set up effective training from creating an effective learning environment to the use of media in the class. Skills practice exercises are also part of this practical guide. Background information from learning theory to handling difficult participants is also provided. The book includes everything you need for success plus a CD-ROM with all learning activities, handouts, assessments, training instruments, and tools for immediate application.

Dave Meier Discover how today's corporations are benefiting from accelerated learning to speed training time, improve results, and reduce costs.

Accelerated learning is the use of music, color, emotion, play, and creativity to involve the whole student and enliven the learning experience. The Accelerated Learning Handbook is the first definitive book to explain state-of-the-art accelerated learning techniques to trainers and teachers, and features 40 techniques designed to save money while producing far better results.

Leading expert Dave Meier provides an overview of the background and underlying principles of accelerated learning, and reviews the latest supporting research results. Training professionals will look to The Accelerated Learning Handbook to: Improve the long-term value of trainingCut course development time by halfDiscover tips for music- and computer-based learning

David Mercer A complete guide to every aspect of creating a variety of different websites using Drupal. A trove of well-considered and practical information is presented in a logical and intuitive manner so that you can either build up your site step by step by reading from cover to cover or, alternatively, focus on your specific needs by diving into each chapter as required.

This book has been written against the latest release v4.7.

Drupal is one of the most popular content management systems on the internet. Based on PHP/MySQL, its power and flexibility combined with its exceptional design mean it is already on the way to becoming the de facto standard for CMS Websites. Drupal’s modular design and structured source code make it both highly flexible and easily extended and modified. Drupal is extremely scalable, making it ideal for both a simple personal website as well as an industrial strength commercial or institutional web presence.

Drupal is a model open source project in that it has a large, friendly community of people who contribute to the project in various ways. Drupal is not only free and easy to use, but this community provides on going mutual support.

This book will suit anyone who has a need to create a content rich website. Whether you are:

- Adding a personal web page
- Building a forum
- Writing a collaborative book
- Retailing goods
- Creating a blog
- Launching a community Website

Drupal’s power means choosing an initial pathway can be daunting. The flexibility and power of its content management features mean the right approach needs to be taken. This book takes you from initial set up through site design and creation in a series of carefully structured steps. While there are a few advanced topics that are beyond the scope of the book, all of the core stages of creating a website using Drupal are covered in detail.

Chapter 1 introduces you to the world of Drupal and looks at where Drupal comes from, where its going and what it can offer you. Because it is important to understand the nature of the tasks which lie ahead, it also discusses how to plan and build your website, taking a sneak preview of the book's demo Website in the process. Finally, we scrutinize the Drupal community and learn how to make the most of Drupal as an organized, living entity and not just a piece of software.

Chapter 2 deals with how to get everything you need up and running on a development machine and also briefly looks at how all the requisite technologies gel together to produce your working Drupal site. Once everything is up and running, and after looking over some of the more common installation problems, the chapter presents a short tour of Drupal in order to give you an idea of what to expect.

Chapter 3 looks at the most general settings which all Drupal administrators need to contend with. Everything from determining your site's name to dealing with the cache or file system settings gets treated here before we look at more focused and complex issues in the chapters to come.

Chapter 4 sees us adding functionality to the newly created site. The focus of this chapter is really on modules and how they can be added and enabled, or even how to obtain modules that are not part of the standard distribution. Since blocks are often required to display the functionality provided by modules, this chapter ends off with a discussion on how to control blocks.

Chapter 5 concerns itself with the topic of access control. Drupal has a sophisticated role based access control system, which is fundamentally important for controlling how users access your site. This chapter will give you the information you need to implement whatever access controls you require.

Chapter 6 gets to the heart of the matter by beginning the book's coverage on content. Working with content, what content types are available, administering content and even a discourse on some of the more common content related modules serve as a basis for moving to more advanced content related matters that follow in the next chapter.

Chapter 7 gives you the edge when it comes to creating engaging and dynamic content. While this chapter doesn't require you to be an expert in HTML, PHP and CSS it does introduce you to the basics and shows how, with a little knowledge, extremely powerful and professional content can be created. That's only half the story, because later on it looks at categorization and how this particular feature of Drupal sets it apart from everything else out there.

Chapter 8 gives you a run down of how attractive interfaces are created in Drupal through the use of themes. As well as discussing briefly some of the considerations that must be taken into account when planning your website, it ends off by looking at how to make important modifications to your chosen theme.

Chapter 9 really adds the icing on the cake by looking at a host of more advanced topics. From creating flexible content types and generating revenue from ads, all the way through to building dynamic content using Ajax, you will find something to enhance your website and add that something special.

Chapter 10 takes a pragmatic look at the type of tasks you will need to be proficient in in order to successfully run and maintain a Drupal site. Whether its setting up cron jobs or making backups of your database, everything you need to do throughout the course of running your newly created website will be covered here.

Appendix A deals with the all important topic of deployment. Because all major work should be done on a copy of your Website on a development machine, this appendix presents a sound process for taking the finished product and making it available for public consumption on your host site.

Lesley Morrissey

Raymond Murphy

r k narayan The Finest Fiction of R.K. Narayan The Man-Eater of Malgudi Talkative Man Short Stories Edited with an introduction by S. Krishnan

R. K. Narayan Formerly India’s most corrupt tourist guide, Raju—just released from prison—seeks refuge in an abandoned temple. Mistaken for a holy man, he plays the part and succeeds so well that God himself intervenes to put Raju’s newfound sanctity to the test. Narayan’s most celebrated novel, The Guide won him the National Prize of the Indian Literary Academy, his country’s highest literary honor.

R. K. Narayan Four gems, with new introductions, mark acclaimed Indian writer R. K. Narayan’s centennial

Introducing this collection of stories, R. K. Narayan describes how in India "the writer has only to look out of the window to pick up a character and thereby a story." Powerful, magical portraits of all kinds of people, and comprising stories written over almost forty years, Malgudi Days presents Narayan’s imaginary city in full color, revealing the essence of India and of human experience.

R. K. Narayan This is the story of Nataraj, who earns his living as a printer in the little world of Malgudi, an imaginary town in South India. Nataraj and his close friends, a poet and a journalist, find their congenial days disturbed when Vasu, a powerful taxidermist, moves in with his stuffed hyenas and pythons, and brings his dancing-women up the printer's private stairs. When Vasu, in search of larger game, threatens the life of a temple elephant that Nataraj has befriended, complications ensue that are both laughable and tragic.

R. K. Narayan For Raman the sign painter, life is a familiar and satisfying routine. A man of simple, rational ways, he lives with his pious aunt and prides himself on his creative work. But all that changes when he meets Daisy, a thrillingly independent young woman who wishes to bring birth control to the area. Hired to create signs for her clinics, Raman finds himself smitten by a love he cannot understand, much less avoid—and soon realizes that life isn’t so routine anymore. Set in R. K. Narayan’s fictional city of Malgudi, The Painter of Signs is a wry, bittersweet treasure.

R. K. Narayan A venerable tiger looks back over his life from cubhood and early days roaming wild in the jungle. Trapped into a miserable circus career he is then sold into films (co-starring with a Tarzan) until, finding the human world too brutish and bewildering, he makes a dramatic bid for freedom.

R. K. Narayan, S. Krishnan A master of observation, subtlety and gentle wit, R.K. Narayan has few rivals when it comes to bringing alive people and places. Most of his timeless novels are set in the fictional town of Malgudi, located somewhere in South India, a town as real to his readers as any they will find on a map. This volume contains three quintessential Malgudi novels - Swami and Friends, The Bachelor of Arts and The Vendor of Sweets.

R.K. Narayan Chandran, a good-natured, popular, rather dreamy student who works hard to pass his exams, falls in love with Malathi, a beautiful young girl in a green sari. But the course of true love does not run smoothly; while some customs can be forgotten, others must be strictly observed.

R.K. Narayan In the enchanted world of Malgudi, ten-year-old Swami is growing up in exciting times. India is beginning to stir in its great struggle for independence. Swami, however has been immutably moulded by his British rulers, and wouldn't dream of missing cricket practice.

R.K. Narayan

Carolyn Nilson Effective team building through training games. Carolyn Nilson's Training Games for Trainers reveals the fastest and most effective techniques to meet the demand for team-building in any organization. Over 100 ready-to-use games, exercises, and activities help you to build, implement and maintain work teams. Each game is self-contained­­with templates, answer sheets and explanations of objectives and procedures. You'll find games for: group/individual empowerment; organizational change readiness; personal skill building; work definition; role fulfillment; task/process evaluation; conflict resolution; much more.

Carolyn, Ph.D Nilson, Carolyn Nilson No one knows training better than the American Management Association. Since 1923, the business community has turned to AMA for practical training and business tools to improve individual and organizational performance. Now, for the first time, the most successful exercises and training techniques used by this preeminent organization's seminar leaders have been collected in The AMA Trainers' Activity Book. Readers will find 25 activities on topics including:

* Getting from Seminar to Workplace * Learning and Creativity * Communication and Connection * Influence, Compromise, and Problem Solving * Management and Leadership

A special activity template gives readers all the information they need at a glance. Easily adapted for use with both individuals and teams, these exercises represent the combined efforts of the very best the industry has to offer.

J. D. O'Connor This is the new edition of a highly successful and widely used text on pronunciation. It provides a systematic and thorough introduction to the pronunciation of English to help intermediate and more advanced students improve their production of the spoken language. After a short introduction to pronunciation problems the author explains how the speech organs work; he then deals with each sound separately before dealing with words in combination, rhythm-patterns and intonation. Practice material is given at intervals throughout the book. The particular difficulties of the speakers of certain other languages are noted, and remedial exercises provided. A recording of all the practice material in the book is available on cassettes.

Joseph O'Connor The author includes exercises to help create rapport with others; influencing skills; understanding and using body language; how to think about and achieve the results you want and more.

Joseph O'Connor "A monumental feat...the organization of the fundamentals of training into a practical primer and valuable reference for anyone who wants to know more about designing effective ways to train."—Christina Hall, M.A., The NLP Connection

Joseph O'Connor, John Seymour NLP skills are proving invaluable for personal development and professional excellence in counselling, education, and business.

James Patterson James Patterson's #1 New York Times bestseller combines two unforgettable love stories in a novel that's impossible to put down. Jennifer returns to the resort village where she grew up to help her ailing, beloved grandmother-and ends up experiencing not one but two of the most amazing love stories she's ever known. The first is completely unexpected. In a series of letters that Jennifer finds, her grandmother reveals that she has concealed a huge secret for decades: Her great love is not the man she was married to for all those years. And then comes the biggest surprise of all: Just when she thought she could never love again, Jennifer finds herself caught up in the greatest flight of exhilaration she's ever known. But just as unexpectedly, she learns that this new love comes with an unbearable cost. Jennifer doesn't think she can survive the pain-but the letters she's been reading make her think that love may help her find a way.

Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, David Maxfield, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler An INFLUENCER motivates others to change..

An INFLUENCER replaces bad behaviors with powerful new skills..

An INFLUENCER makes things happen.. .

This is what it takes to be an INFLUENCER.. .

Whether you're a CEO, a parent, or merely a person who wants to make a difference, you probably wish you had more influence with the people in your life. But most of us stop trying to make change happen because we believe it is too difficult, if not impossible. We develop complicated coping strategies when we should be learning the tools and techniques of the world's most influential people. . .

But this is about to change. From the bestselling authors who taught the world how to have Crucial Conversations comes Influencer, a thought-provoking book that combines the remarkable insights of behavioral scientists and business leaders with the astonishing stories of high-powered influencers from all walks of life. You'll be taught each and every step of the influence process-including robust strategies for making change inevitable in your personal life, your business, and your world. You'll learn how to: . ..Identify a handful of high-leverage behaviors that lead to rapid and profound change..Apply strategies for changing both thoughts and actions..Marshall six sources of influence to make change inevitable... .

Influencer takes you on a fascinating journey from San Francisco to Thailand where you'll see how seemingly �insignificant� people are making incredibly significant improvements in solving problems others would think impossible. You'll learn how savvy folks make change not only achievable and sustainable, but inevitable. You'll discover why some managers have increased productivity repeatedly and significantly-while others have failed miserably. . .

No matter who you are, or what you do, you'll never learn a more valuable or important set of principles and skills. Once you tap into the power of influence, you can reach out and help others work smarter, grow faster, live, look, and feel better, even save lives. The sky is the limit�for an Influencer. . . .

Are you an Influencer ? .

Find out at www.influencerbook.com . .

�You don't have to be a manager to realize that no one likes being told what to do. Yet lectures are still the main way we try to get people to change their behavior. Fortunately, social learning academics have been studying alternatives for decades. Patterson and his fellow consultants have now collected their findings in this engaging, example-rich book. The key message is hardly new, but it has gotten more sophisticated: Managers need to get out of the way and facilitate, not manage, the process of change for employees. They can do this by offering vicarious experiences, restructured environments, peer pressure, and frequent tests-all geared so that people embrace the change as authentic to them, not imposed by an outsider. Missing are only success stories of organizations that persuaded managers to drop their controlling habits and choose to be mere facilitators.�-John T. Landry, Harvard Business Review .

Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler The authors of the New York Times bestseller Crucial Conversations show you how to achieve personal, team, and organizational success by healing broken promises, resolving violated expectations, and influencing bad behavior

Discover skills to resolve touchy, controversial, and complex issues at work and at home—now available in this follow-up to the internationally popular Crucial Conversations.

Behind the problems that routinely plague organizations and families, you'll find individuals who are either unwilling or unable to deal with failed promises. Others have broken rules, missed deadlines, failed to live up to commitments, or just plain behaved badly—and nobody steps up to the issue. Or they do, but do a lousy job and create a whole new set of problems. Accountability suffers and new problems spring up. New research demonstrates that these disappointments aren't just irritating, they're costly—sapping organizational performance by twenty to fifty percent and accounting for up to ninety percent of divorces.

Crucial Confrontations teaches skills drawn from 10,000 hours of real-life observations to increase confidence in facing issues like:

*An employee speaks to you in an insulting tone that steps crosses the line between sarcasm and insubordination. Now what?
*Your boss just committed you to a deadline you know you can't meet—and not-so-subtly hinted he doesn't want to hear complaints about it.
*Your son walks through the door sporting colorful new body art that raises your blood pressure by forty points. Speak now, pay later.
*An accountant wonders how to step up to a client who is violating the law. Can you spell unemployment?
*Family members fret over how to tell granddad that he should no longer drive his car. This is going to get ugly.
*A nurse worries about what to say to an abusive physician. She quickly remembers "how things work around here" and decides not to say anything.

Everyone knows how to run for cover, or if adequately provoked, step up to these confrontations in a way that causes a real ruckus. That we have down pat. Crucial Confrontations teaches you how to deal with violated expectations in a way that solves the problem at hand, and doesn't harm the relationship—and in fact, even strengthens it.

Crucial Confrontations borrows from twenty years of research involving two groups. More than 25,000 people helped the authors identify those who were most influential during crucial confrontations. They spent 10,000 hours watching these people, documented what they saw, and then trained and tested with more than 300,000 people. Second, they measured the impact of crucial confrontations improvements on organizational and team performance—the results were immediate and sustainable: twenty to fifty percent improvements in measurable performance.

Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler, Stephen R. Covey Foreword by Stephen R. Covey, Author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

A PAPERBACK ORIGINAL

"Most books make promises. This one delivers. These skills have not only helped us to change the culture of our company, but have also generated new techniques for working together in ways that enabled us to win the largest contract in our industry's history."—Dain M. Hancock, President, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics

A powerful, seven-step approach to handling difficult conversations with confidence and skill

"Crucial" conversations are interpersonal exchanges at work or at home that we dread having but know we cannot avoid. How do you say what needs to be said while avoiding an argument with a boss, child, or relationship partner? Crucial Conversations offers readers a proven seven-point strategy for achieving their goals in all those emotionally, psychologically, or legally charged situations that can arise in their professional and personal lives. Based on the authors' highly popular DialogueSmart training seminars, the techniques are geared toward getting people to lower their defenses, creating mutual respect and understanding, increasing emotional safety, and encouraging freedom of expression. Among other things, readers also learn about the four main factors that characterize crucial conversations, and they get a powerful six-minute mastery technique that prepares them to work through any highimpact situation with confidence.

Randy Pausch, Jeffrey Zaslow

Judy Pearsall, William R. Trumble

Barry Penney Culture Smart! is a new series of travel guides written for the traveler on the go. Each volume is a quick, accurate guide to customs and etiquette.

Outstanding features of CULTURE SMART! * All the essential cultural and etiquette points are covered, making you confident in a variety of situations. * You will know what to expect in each particular culture. * You will learn how to behave in specific social and business situations. * Essential attitudes and values are clearly explained. * You will find each topic a quick, easy read due to the concise writing style. * Laid out in a clear and easy-to-read format. * Each book has the same look, page count, and organization for reference use. * Small and light, it tucks into your pocket or purse for on-the-go use. * Your Culture Smart! books are written by a staff of experts consult on world travel as a profession.

Be smart! Take Culture Smart! along when you travel abroad!

Murray Peter

Mary Poppendieck, Tom Poppendieck "This remarkable book combines practical advice, ready-to-use techniques, anda deep understanding of why this is the right way to develop software. I haveseen software teams transformed by the ideas in this book."

—Mike Cohn, author of Agile Estimating and Planning

"As a lean practitioner myself, I have loved and used their first book for years.When this second book came out, I was delighted that it was even better. If youare interested in how lean principles can be useful for software developmentorganizations, this is the book you are looking for. The Poppendiecks offer abeautiful blend of history, theory, and practice."

—Alan Shalloway, coauthor of Design Patterns Explained

"I've enjoyed reading the book very much. I feel it might even be better than thefirst lean book by Tom and Mary, while that one was already exceptionallygood! Mary especially has a lot of knowledge related to lean techniques inproduct development and manufacturing. It's rare that these techniques areactually translated to software. This is something no other book does well(except their first book)."

—Bas Vodde

"The new book by Mary and Tom Poppendieck provides a well-written andcomprehensive introduction to lean principles and selected practices for softwaremanagers and engineers. It illustrates the application of the values andpractices with well-suited success stories. I enjoyed reading it."

—Roman Pichler

"In Implementing Lean Software Development, the Poppendiecks explore moredeeply the themes they introduced in Lean Software Development. They beginwith a compelling history of lean thinking, then move to key areas such asvalue, waste, and people. Each chapter includes exercises to help you apply keypoints. If you want a better understanding of how lean ideas can work withsoftware, this book is for you."

—Bill Wake, independent consultant

In 2003, Mary and Tom Poppendieck's Lean Software Development introduced breakthrough development techniques that leverage Lean principles to deliver unprecedented agility and value. Now their widely anticipated sequel and companion guide shows exactly how to implement Lean software development, hands-on.

This new book draws on the Poppendiecks' unparalleled experience helping development organizations optimize the entire software value stream. You'll discover the right questions to ask, the key issues to focus on, and techniques proven to work. The authors present case studies from leading-edge software organizations, and offer practical exercises for jumpstarting your own Lean initiatives. Managing to extend, nourish, and leverage agile practicesBuilding true development teams, not just groupsDriving quality through rapid feedback and detailed disciplineMaking decisions Just-in-Time, but no laterDelivering fast: How PatientKeeper delivers 45 rock-solid releases per yearMaking tradeoffs that really satisfy customersImplementing Lean Software Development is indispensable to anyone who wants more effective development processes—managers, project leaders, senior developers, and architects in enterprise IT and software companies alike.

Mary Poppendieck, Tom Poppendieck Lean Software Development: An Agile Toolkit Mary Poppendieck Tom Poppendieck Forewords by Jim Highsmithand Ken Schwaber *Adapting agile practices to your development organization *Uncovering and eradicating waste throughout the software development lifecycle *Practical techniques for every development manager, project manager, and technical leaderLean Software Development: An Agile Toolkit Lean software development: applying agile principles to your organization In Lean Software Development, Mary and Tom Poppendieck identify seven fundamental "lean" principles, adapt them for the world of software development, and show how they can serve as the foundation for agile development approaches that work. Along the way, they introduce 22 "thinking tools" that can help you customize the right agile practices for any environment. Better, cheaper, faster software development. You can have all three—if you adopt the same lean principles that have already revolutionized manufacturing, logistics and product development. *Iterating towards excellence: software development as an exercise in discovery *Managing uncertainty: "decide as late as possible" by building change into the system.*Compressing the value stream: rapid development, feedback, and improvement *Empowering teams and individuals without compromising coordination *Software with integrity: promoting coherence, usability, fitness, maintainability, and adaptability *How to "see the whole"—even when your developers are scattered across multiple locations and contractors Simply put, Lean Software Development helps you refocus development on value, flow, and people—so you can achieve breakthrough quality, savings, speed, and business alignment.

price pritchett

Paul N. Friga Ethan Rasiel

Tom Rath DO YOU HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO DO WHAT YOU DO BEST EVERY DAY?

Chances are, you don't. All too often, our natural talents go untapped. From the cradle to the cubicle, we devote more time to fixing our shortcomings than to developing our strengths.

To help people uncover their talents, Gallup introduced the first version of its online assessment, StrengthsFinder, in the 2001 management book Now, Discover Your Strengths. The book spent more than five years on the bestseller lists and ignited a global conversation, while StrengthsFinder helped millions to discover their top five talents.

In its latest national bestseller, StrengthsFinder 2.0, Gallup unveils the new and improved version of its popular assessment, language of 34 themes, and much more (see below for details). While you can read this book in one sitting, you'll use it as a reference for decades.

Loaded with hundreds of strategies for applying your strengths, this new book and accompanying website will change the way you look at yourself — and the world around you — forever.

AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY IN THE NEW & UPGRADED EDITION OF STRENGTHSFINDER 2.0
(using the unique access code included with each book)

* A new and upgraded edition of the StrengthsFinder assessment

* A personalized Strengths Discovery and Action-Planning Guide for applying your strengths in the next week, month, and year

* A more customized version of your top five theme report

* 50 Ideas for Action (10 strategies for building on each of your top five themes)

* The more user-friendly StrengthsFinder 2.0 companion website, with a strengths community area, library of downloadable discussion guides and activities, a strengths screensaver, and a program for creating display cards of your top five themes

Tom Rath, Barry Conchie

Nick Ray Discover Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos & the Greater Mekong

Take a slow boat down the mighty Mekong past remote jungles, ancient temples and intriguing hill-tribe villages, p.23
Get up close and personal with wild elephants in Laos, p.285
Trek to secluded waterfalls through Khao Yai National Park in Thailand, p.156
Explore magnificent Angkorian temples without the crowds in Cambodia's Preah Vihear Province, p.223

In This Guide:

Full-color chapter on the region's ancient wonders, from majestic Angkor Wat to World Heritage-listed Lijiang.
Border crossings chapter to help plan your adventure, with info on which borders are open and a map with marked crossings.
Visit lonelyplanet.com for up-to-the-minute reviews, updates and traveler insights.

Satyajit Ray 19 tales of detection by Ray's master sleuth, Feluda. includes new material. trans, Gopa Majumdar

Satyajit Ray All of the Feluda stories that Ray wrote are now available together in a two volume set, of which this is the first. For the first time ever, the stories are arranged in chronological order of composition, and one can note Feluda's development from an unkown amateur detective to a famous professional private investigatior.

Satyajit Ray

Satyajit Ray collection of stories from a master of suspense and intrigue, 20 tales on the peculiar and supernatural. a new edition including a new translation of Fotikchand, an adventure story about a kidnapped boy suffering from amnesia. Translated from Bengali by Gopa Majumdar. Revised ed.

Romilla Ready, Kate Burton Practical tools for greater personal power and effec tiveness.

Transform your thinking to tackle any situation - at work, home or within

Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP) is a commonsense system of everyday psychology that has enhanced million of lives.  By showing you how to monitor and adapt your thinking, NLP can help you break free from negative thoughts and cultivate more useful inner beliefs about yourself and your world.  Neuro-linguistic Programming For Dummies is the easiest way to feel NLP's many benefits - starting today.

Discover how to:

Recognise the way you manage emotional states

Break away from bad habits

Become a more confident presenter and communicator

Build rapport with a diverse range of people

Live and work more productively with others

Understand what makes great achievers tick

Garr Reynolds Presentation designer and internationally acclaimed communications expert Garr Reynolds, creator of the most popular Web site on presentation design and delivery on the net — presentationzen.com — shares his experience in a provocative mix of illumination, inspiration, education, and guidance that will change the way you think about making presentations with PowerPoint or Keynote. Presentation Zen challenges the conventional wisdom of making "slide presentations" in today's world and encourages you to think differently and more creatively about the preparation, design, and delivery of your presentations. Garr shares lessons and perspectives that draw upon practical advice from the fields of communication and business. Combining solid principles of design with the tenets of Zen simplicity, this book will help you along the path to simpler, more effective presentations.

William Rice A complete guide to successful learning using Moodle
- Straight-forward coverage of installing and using the Moodle system
- Working with Moodle features in all learning environments
- A unique course-based approach focuses your attention on designing well structured, interactive, and successful courses

A complete guide to successful learning using Moodle, focused on course development and delivery and using the best educational practices. Moodle is relatively easy to install and use, but the real challenge is to develop a learning process that leverages its power and maps effectively onto the content established learning situation. This book guides you through meeting that challenge.

This unique book gives you more than just a guide to the Moodle software; it uses Moodle as a route to better teaching, more motivated students, and more successful courses. Moodle is the leading Open Source learning management system. Using Moodle, teachers can easily construct richly textured web based courses. A course can consist of a number of lessons, with each lesson including reading materials; activities such as quizzes, tests, surveys, and projects; and social elements that encourage interaction and group work between students.Moodle E-Learning Course Development shows you how to use Moodle as a tool to enhance your teaching. It will help you analyse your students' requirements, and come to an understanding of what Moodle can do for them. After that you'll see how to use every feature of Moodle to meet your course goals.

The social constructionist learning philosophy is at the heart of Moodle: we all "construct" knowledge through interation with one another and with learning materials in a social way. Moodle E-Learning Course Develelopment will show you how to add static learning material, interactive activities, and social features to your courses so that students reach their learning potential. Whether you want to support traditional class teaching or lecturing, or provide complete online and distance learning courses, this book will prove a powerful resource throughout your use of Moodle.

- Understand what Moodle can do, how it compares to other e-learning packages, and how it can support your teaching strategies
- Install the Moodle software on your own computer or a server, and understand your way around it
- Know how to create different kinds of courses. Moodle can support courses where the group works through the classes with a shared schedule, or where individual students work through at their own pace, or courses where students are free to explore the different topics in their own time. This book will show you how.
- Understand all of Moodle's learning features. Moodle provides features for managing course content, interactive resources, and social activities such as forums and wikis. This book explains what each of these features are, how they work, and most importantly how and when to use them effectively.
- Manage students – so that you can ensure that the right students are going to the right classes; allow students to enrol themselves, or invite students to join a course. You can even set up commercial courses where students pay to sign

William Rice is an experienced trainer and expert on learning and teaching practices. This experience and expertise forms the foundation of his approach: What do we want to teach? How would this best translate into a course? How best can Moodle support these course objectives?Of course, the book contains everything you'd expect from an introduction to Moodle: clear step-by-step instructions, plenty of screenshots, explanations and guides through the many features and options that you have to choose from. Throughout the book, William develops an example course. He uses this example to explore the sort of decisions, design considerations, and thought that goes into developing a successful course.

This book is written for everyone who wants to get the most from Moodle. Beginners to the software will get a thorough guide to how the software works, and some great ideas for getting to a good start with their first course. More experienced Moodlers will find powerful insights into developing more successful and educational courses.

Mario Rinvolucri, Paul Davis

Dan Roam

Ed Rose Magic tricks add flair, excitement, and entertainment to any workshop or training program-but most trainers and speakers don't use magic in their presentations because they think it's too difficult. In this heavily illustrated book, corporate training manager and magician Ed Rose explains 50 of the most effective, and easiest-to-perform magic tricks for emphasizing and illustrating key learning points in any presentation. Within no time, you'll be adding magic to your training courses-and getting enthusiastic applause, plus greater energy and participation, from every audience.

Mike Rother, John Shook When John Shook worked at Toyota he noticed that the senior experts on the Toyota Production System often drew simple maps when on the shop floor. These maps showed the current physical flow of a product family and the information flow for that product family as they wound through a complex facility making many products.

Johanna Rothman, Esther Derby Great management is difficult to see as it occurs. It's possible to see the results of great management, but it's not easy to see how managers achieve those results. Great management happens in one-on-one meetings and with other managers—-all in private. It's hard to learn management by example when you can't see it.

You can learn to be a better manager—-even a great manager—-with this guide. You'll follow along as Sam, a manager just brought on board, learns the ropes and deals with his new team over the course of his first eight weeks on the job. From scheduling and managing resources to helping team members grow and prosper, you'll be there as Sam makes it happen. You'll find powerful tips covering: Delegating effectivelyUsing feedback and goal-settingDeveloping influenceHandling one-on-one meetingsCoaching and mentoringDeciding what work to do—-and what not to do...and more.

Full of tips and practical advice on the most important aspects of management, this is one of those books that can make a lasting and immediate impact on your career.

J. K. Rowling Starred Review. Potter fans, relaxthis review packs no spoilers. Instead, we're taking advantage of our public platform to praise Rowling for the excellence of her plotting. We can't think of anyone else who has sustained such an intricate, endlessly inventive plot over seven thick volumes and so constantly surprised us with twists, well-laid traps and Purloined Letter-style tricks. Hallows continues the tradition, both with sly feats of legerdemain and with several altogether new, unexpected elements. Perhaps some of the surprises in Hallows don't have quite the punch as those of earlier books, but that may be because of the thoroughness and consistency with which Rowling has created her magical universe, and because we've so raptly absorbed its rules. We're also seizing the occasion to wish out loud that her editors had done their jobs more actively. It's hard to escape the notion that the first three volumes were more carefully edited than the last four. Hallows doesn't contain the extraneous scenes found in, say, Goblet of Fire, but the momentum is uneven. Rowling is much better at comedy than at fight scenes, and no reader of the sixth book will be startled to hear that Hallows has little humor or that its characters engage in more than a few fights. Surely her editors could have helped her find other methods of building suspense besides the use of ellipses and dashes? And craft fight dialogue that sounds a bit less like it belongs in a comic book? Okay, we're quibbling. We know these minor nuisances won't dent readers' enjoyment, at least not this generation of readers; we couldn't put Hallows down ourselves. But we believe Rowling, and future readers, deserved even better. Ages 9-12. (July) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

J. K. Rowling, Mary GrandPré As his fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry approaches, 15-year-old Harry Potter is in full-blown adolescence, complete with regular outbursts of rage, a nearly debilitating crush, and the blooming of a powerful sense of rebellion. It's been yet another infuriating and boring summer with the despicable Dursleys, this time with minimal contact from our hero's non-Muggle friends from school. Harry is feeling especially edgy at the lack of news from the magic world, wondering when the freshly revived evil Lord Voldemort will strike. Returning to Hogwarts will be a relief... or will it?

The fifth book in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series follows the darkest year yet for our young wizard, who finds himself knocked down a peg or three after the events of last year. Somehow, over the summer, gossip (usually traced back to the magic world's newspaper, the Daily Prophet) has turned Harry's tragic and heroic encounter with Voldemort at the Triwizard Tournament into an excuse to ridicule and discount the teen. Even Professor Dumbledore, headmaster of the school, has come under scrutiny by the Ministry of Magic, which refuses to officially acknowledge the terrifying truth that Voldemort is back. Enter a particularly loathsome new character: the toadlike and simpering ("hem, hem") Dolores Umbridge, senior undersecretary to the Minister of Magic, who takes over the vacant position of Defense Against Dark Arts teacher—and in no time manages to become the High Inquisitor of Hogwarts, as well. Life isn't getting any easier for Harry Potter. With an overwhelming course load as the fifth years prepare for their Ordinary Wizarding Levels examinations (O.W.Ls), devastating changes in the Gryffindor Quidditch team lineup, vivid dreams about long hallways and closed doors, and increasing pain in his lightning-shaped scar, Harry's resilience is sorely tested.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, more than any of the four previous novels in the series, is a coming-of-age story. Harry faces the thorny transition into adulthood, when adult heroes are revealed to be fallible, and matters that seemed black-and-white suddenly come out in shades of gray. Gone is the wide-eyed innocent, the whiz kid of Sorcerer's Stone. Here we have an adolescent who's sometimes sullen, often confused (especially about girls), and always self-questioning. Confronting death again, as well as a startling prophecy, Harry ends his year at Hogwarts exhausted and pensive. Readers, on the other hand, will be energized as they enter yet again the long waiting period for the next title in the marvelous, magical series. (Ages 9 and older) —Emilie Coulter

J.K. Rowling Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter #2) Hardcover by Scholastic FUN

J.K. Rowling In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling offers up equal parts danger and delight—and any number of dragons, house-elves, and death-defying challenges. Now 14, her orphan hero has only two more weeks with his Muggle relatives before returning to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Yet one night a vision harrowing enough to make his lightning-bolt-shaped scar burn has Harry on edge and contacting his godfather-in-hiding, Sirius Black. Happily, the prospect of attending the season's premier sporting event, the Quidditch World Cup, is enough to make Harry momentarily forget that Lord Voldemort and his sinister familiars—the Death Eaters—are out for murder.

Readers, we will cast a giant invisibility cloak over any more plot and reveal only that You-Know-Who is very much after Harry and that this year there will be no Quidditch matches between Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. Instead, Hogwarts will vie with two other magicians' schools, the stylish Beauxbatons and the icy Durmstrang, in a Triwizard Tournament. Those chosen to compete will undergo three supreme tests. Could Harry be one of the lucky contenders?

But Quidditch buffs need not go into mourning: we get our share of this great game at the World Cup. Attempting to go incognito as Muggles, 100,000 witches and wizards converge on a "nice deserted moor." As ever, Rowling magicks up the details that make her world so vivid, and so comic. Several spectators' tents, for instance, are entirely unquotidian. One is a minipalace, complete with live peacocks; another has three floors and multiple turrets. And the sports paraphernalia on offer includes rosettes "squealing the names of the players" as well as "tiny models of Firebolts that really flew, and collectible figures of famous players, which strolled across the palm of your hand, preening themselves." Needless to say, the two teams are decidedly different, down to their mascots. Bulgaria is supported by the beautiful veela, who instantly enchant everyone—including Ireland's supporters—over to their side. Until, that is, thousands of tiny cheerleaders engage in some pyrotechnics of their own: "The leprechauns had risen into the air again, and this time, they formed a giant hand, which was making a very rude sign indeed at the veela across the field."

Long before her fourth installment appeared, Rowling warned that it would be darker, and it's true that every exhilaration is equaled by a moment that has us fearing for Harry's life, the book's emotions running as deep as its dangers. Along the way, though, she conjures up such new characters as Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody, a Dark Wizard catcher who may or may not be getting paranoid in his old age, and Rita Skeeter, who beetles around Hogwarts in search of stories. (This Daily Prophet scoop artist has a Quick-Quotes Quill that turns even the most innocent assertion into tabloid innuendo.) And at her bedazzling close, Rowling leaves several plot strands open, awaiting book 5. This fan is ready to wager that the author herself is part veela—her pen her wand, her commitment to her world complete. (Ages 9 and older) —Kerry Fried

J.K. Rowling This must-read fantasy takes you inside Hogwarts again for Harry's 6th year. What's in store for the wizard and his friends? What danger does his greatest enemy have planned? And who is the half-blood prince? Find out in this long-awaited adventure!\nWinn

J.K. Rowling Say you've spent the first 10 years of your life sleeping under the stairs of a family who loathes you. Then, in an absurd, magical twist of fate you find yourself surrounded by wizards, a caged snowy owl, a phoenix-feather wand, and jellybeans that come in every flavor, including strawberry, curry, grass, and sardine. Not only that, but you discover that you are a wizard yourself! This is exactly what happens to young Harry Potter in J.K. Rowling's enchanting, funny debut novel, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. In the nonmagic human world—the world of "Muggles"—Harry is a nobody, treated like dirt by the aunt and uncle who begrudgingly inherited him when his parents were killed by the evil Voldemort. But in the world of wizards, small, skinny Harry is famous as a survivor of the wizard who tried to kill him. He is left only with a lightning-bolt scar on his forehead, curiously refined sensibilities, and a host of mysterious powers to remind him that he's quite, yes, altogether different from his aunt, uncle, and spoiled, piglike cousin Dudley.

A mysterious letter, delivered by the friendly giant Hagrid, wrenches Harry from his dreary, Muggle-ridden existence: "We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." Of course, Uncle Vernon yells most unpleasantly, "I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL TO TEACH HIM MAGIC TRICKS!" Soon enough, however, Harry finds himself at Hogwarts with his owl Hedwig... and that's where the real adventure—humorous, haunting, and suspenseful—begins. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, first published in England as Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, continues to win major awards in England. So far it has won the National Book Award, the Smarties Prize, the Children's Book Award, and is short-listed for the Carnegie Medal, the U.K. version of the Newbery Medal. This magical, gripping, brilliant book—a future classic to be sure—will leave kids clamoring for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. (Ages 8 to 13) —Karin Snelson

J.K. Rowling, Mary GrandPré For most children, summer vacation is something to look forward to. But not for our 13-year-old hero, who's forced to spend his summers with an aunt, uncle, and cousin who detest him. The third book in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series catapults into action when the young wizard "accidentally" causes the Dursleys' dreadful visitor Aunt Marge to inflate like a monstrous balloon and drift up to the ceiling. Fearing punishment from Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon (and from officials at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry who strictly forbid students to cast spells in the nonmagic world of Muggles), Harry lunges out into the darkness with his heavy trunk and his owl Hedwig.

As it turns out, Harry isn't punished at all for his errant wizardry. Instead he is mysteriously rescued from his Muggle neighborhood and whisked off in a triple-decker, violently purple bus to spend the remaining weeks of summer in a friendly inn called the Leaky Cauldron. What Harry has to face as he begins his third year at Hogwarts explains why the officials let him off easily. It seems that Sirius Black—an escaped convict from the prison of Azkaban—is on the loose. Not only that, but he's after Harry Potter. But why? And why do the Dementors, the guards hired to protect him, chill Harry's very heart when others are unaffected? Once again, Rowling has created a mystery that will have children and adults cheering, not to mention standing in line for her next book. Fortunately, there are four more in the works. (Ages 9 and older) —Karin Snelson

Neil Russell-Jones The Decision-making Pocketbook explains how to make balanced choices that address needs and the real issues, choices that minimise risks and add value. It covers everything you need to know on the subject, from understanding the key components of a decision to a framework for decision-making with methodologies and case studies. It also looks at the differences between individual decision-making and reaching consensus within a team. Techniques to help you analyse the risks, identify possible outcomes and make informed choices are described. One reader remarked: 'A pragmatic approach, showing how to ensure management by design rather than chance'.

Neil Russell-Jones For anyone responsible for managing change or handling imposed change. Explains what change is and why it is necessary, why some change needs proactive management, the effects of change on people, how to gain commitment, how to manage it. Includes examples of success and failure

Dilip M Salwi

Dilip M. Salwi

Jyoti Sanyal

Edward E. Scannell, John W. Newstrom Get any training session off the ground fast­­or jumpstart one whenever it lags­­with the more than 400 proven activities in the bestselling Games Trainers Play series. Their names may range from ``Tombstone Planning'' to ``The `Nobel' Prize Winner,'' but these brilliant offbeat, unexpected, disarming, fully reproducible games have one serious mission: to coax even the most reluctant groups to talk, laugh, think, and work together. Page after page of fun, easy-to-plant tearout exercises help you: break the ice and get particpants acquainted; shake up outworn habits and perceptions; challenge with thought-provoking brainteasers; test learning and retention; develop communication and listening skills; bring out and involve particpant-leaders; win back lethargic, distracted, low-energy groups; encourage creative problem-solving; boost or reinforce a group's self-image; forge cohesive work teams that value group effort; facilitate transfer of training to the job.

Kathy Sierra, Bert Bates It has taken four years, but with Head First Java the introductory Java book category has finally come of age. This is an excellent book, far more capable than any of the scores of Java-for-novices books that have come before it. Kathy Sierra and Bert Bates deserve rich kudos—and big sales—for developing this book's new way of teaching the Java programming language, because any reader with even a little bit of discipline will come away with true understanding of how the language works. Perhaps best of all, this is no protracted "Hello, World" introductory guide. Readers get substantial exposure to object-oriented design and implementation, serialization, neatwork programming, threads, and Remote Method Invocation (RMI).

Key to the authors' teaching style are carefully designed graphics. Rather than explain class inheritance (to cite one example) primarily with text, the authors use a series of tree diagrams that clarify the mechanism far more succinctly. The diagrams are carefully annotated with arrows and notes. Also characteristic of the unique teaching strategy is heavy reliance on exercises, in which the reader is asked to complete partial classes, write whole new code segments and do design work. Though there's little discussion of why the exercises' correct answers are what they are, it's clear that the practice work was carefully designed to reinforce the lesson at hand. If you've waited this long to give Java a try, this book is a great choice. —David Wall

Topics covered: The Java programming language for people with no Java experience, and even people with no programming experience at all. Key concepts read like a list of Java features: Object oriented design, variable type and scope, object properties and methods, inheritance and polymorphism, exceptions, graphical user interfaces (GUIs), network connectivity, Java archives (JAR files), and Remote Method Invocation (RMI).

Eshwar Sundaresan

Helena Sunnydale

Doni Tamblyn, Sharyn Weiss To produce changes that last beyond the classroom, training games must engage restless audiences, keep them interested­­and make learning fun!

The Big Book of Humorous Training Games uses witty, engaging games to create memorable lessons in numerous basic training topics, including customer service, teambuilding, creative problem solving, time management, and more. Step-by-step instructions work with dozens of reproducible handouts and worksheets help trainers and speakers minimize preparation time­­and maximized training success.

Roopa Pai & team. The Publisher's other Books,Portrait of Kerala,Bengaluru and Karnataka and Maps & More Kerala are already popular titles on amazon site. This book also,like the others,is a world class publication and probably only one of it's kind published in India. Ticket Bengaluru offers: *A concise,but illuminating history of the city and it's people and reflections on what makes it so popular. *The lowdown not just on fancy,expensive,tourist-magnet restaurants but also on unpresupposing little dives that are huge favourites with locals. *A whole section dedicated to children's Bengaluru,great for visitng and resident families. *Information on all kinds of activities you can do in the city,from getting a massage to going paragliding and learning to dance the Salsa. *Recommended itineraries and trip planning advice for both days out and weekends away. *Fun and informative,dope on famous residents,'Only in Bangalore' phenomena,the best hotel rooms in the city,and more.

Rosalyn Thiro, Jonathan Cox, Marcus Hardy, Tim Hollis, Lesley McCave, Sean O'Connor This colorful and thoughtfully arranged guide provides easy access to Thai history and culture, religion and politics, music, sports, and festivals. From Chiang Mai to Bangkok, Phuket to Ko Samui, the many pleasures, diversions, sites, and activities are detailed in a conveniently usable format. Orchid parks and elephant training centers, wats and Buddhas, beaches, treks, museums, and rainforests—it—it's all there to peruse and choose. With lists of hotels and restaurants, information on shopping, whitewater rafting, golf, diving, Thai massage, and lots of maps and pictures, Dorling-Kindersley has put together a guide that's both practical and beautiful.

JOHN TOWNSEND

John Townsend This title takes a practical approach to all aspects of structuring and delivering a training course or seminar. It covers learning theory, the learning environment, preparing to train, training delivery, audio visual support, and group and individual exercises. A feature of this edition is the inclusion of the so-called "facilitraining rainbow", an innovative model designed to help trainers identify which delivery style is most appropriate for their particular situation. "The Pocketbook Series" comprises more than 60 titles in the areas of training, personal development, management, customer care, sales and marketing and finance.

John Townsend, Paul Donovan A comprehensive guide covering alll stages of facilitation, from planning through to implementation. Interpersonal skill, including attitudes and values, and session skills, including energizing and problem solving, are all dealt with at length.

John Townsend, Paul Donovan How successful is your training? What impact has it made? The Training Evaluation Pocketbook explains - succinctly, visually and with abundant informative examples - how to measure your training results. Authors Paul Donovan of the Irish Management Institute and John Townsend of the Master Trainer Institute have, following their successful collaboration on The Facilitator's Pocketbook, teamed up once again to produce what is set to become another pocketbook classic. In order to 'demystify' the process of evaluating training events, the pocketbook identifies nine possible outcomes to measure: reaction to training, satisfaction with the way training was organised, knowledge acquisition, skills improvement, attitude shift, behaviour change, organisational results, return on investment and psychological capital.

John Townsend, Paul Donovan Shockingly, 90 per cent of all training is a waste of time according to one US investigation, either because the training is not transferred into the workplace, or the training design/delivery is poor or the participants are unable/unwilling to learn. The Training Needs Analysis Pocketbook will ensure that your people development solutions are tied to the organisation's strategic plans and objectives. The authors' aim is to simplify TNA and to demonstrate that it can be strategic, rewarding, career-enhancing and, even, fun! The book is divided into three sections: 1. The Training Needs Investigation: an easy-to-follow process which will take you through all the steps of a professional TNA. 2. The 10 Point Training Plan: the document, spreadsheet or wall chart where you can record all your notes from the Training Needs Investigation and plan for each training course or event. 3. The Tool Box: to help you do a great job at every step of the TNA process.

John Townsend, Jacques Favier Definitions of creativity; techniques for creative problem solving and idea generation; templates for trigger cards; ways to overcome resistance to innovation; and much more. Full of techniques to help revolutionize ways of thinking.

Brian Tracy Focal Point is author and motivational speaker Brian Tracy's latest guide to professional and personal development. Combining the basic principles of career success and life balance he has advocated in the past with anecdotes for inspiration, the book proposes a unified approach to simultaneously achieving improvement at work and at home. The crux is finding the "focal point" in all pertinent areas—business, family, finances, health—and then launching a seven-step "personal strategic plan" that "helps you identify exactly what is most important to you ... identify what you need to do to achieve your most important goals (and) determine the steps you have to take to get from wherever you are to wherever you want to go." Tracy shows quite explicitly how to incorporate the specific phases of the process, including Values, Vision, Goals, Knowledge and Skills, Habits, Daily Activities, and Actions, into a drive for long-term growth and overall advancement. Not all who follow Tracy's program will find their incomes doubled and work hours pared while their personal relationships blossom, of course, but anyone who applies it diligently should see definite improvement. —Howard Rothman

Lynne Truss A bona fide publishing phenomenon, Lynne Truss’s now classic #1 New York Times bestseller Eats, Shoots & Leaves makes its paperback debut after selling over 3 million copies worldwide in hardcover.

We all know the basics of punctuation. Or do we? A look at most neighborhood signage tells a different story. Through sloppy usage and low standards on the Internet, in e-mail, and now text messages, we have made proper punctuation an endangered species.

In Eats, Shoots & Leaves, former editor Truss dares to say, in her delightfully urbane, witty, and very English way, that it is time to look at our commas and semicolons and see them as the wonderful and necessary things they are. This is a book for people who love punctuation and get upset when it is mishandled. From the invention of the question mark in the time of Charlemagne to George Orwell shunning the semicolon, this lively history makes a powerful case for the preservation of a system of printing conventions that is much too subtle to be mucked about with.