Book Description
The story of one young man's remarkable journey from corporate America to the Society of Jesus. James Martin leads you from his Catholic childhood through his success and ultimate dissatisfaction with the business world, to his novitiate and profession of vows as a Jesuit.
Customer Reviews:
read this book.......2006-11-17
If you are thinking of a religious vocation, this is the book for you. James Martin (Society of Jesus) was fresh out of college, making big bucks at GE, and living a party life in NYC when he realized how empty it all was. He needed something more in his life and, to the shock of his family and co-workers, entered the Society of Jesus.
The memoir covers Martin's college years, his job at GE, his enterance into the Jesuit order, as well as his novitiate in Boston and Jamaica. During these two years, Martin is challenged to live the life Christ is calling him to live. The memior ends with First Vows at a church in Boston, after which Martin flies to Chicago where he'll begin philosophy studies (the second stage of Jesuit formation).
This was an exciting book to read. I found myself in Martin's shoes, as I have at times thought of becoming a priest. But even if you're a career person, and aren't interested in religious life, read this book anyway--it's a great place to see G-d at work. Highly recommended.
Also recommended: The Gospel of Arnie
A Modern Vocation Story.......2006-07-01
When considering a vocation, this book might provide a little relief to those who hear that discouraging little voice whispering, "You're not holy enough." For that reason, I think this book could serve as a thoughtful gift to someone in the process of discernment.
The story of Fr. Martin hits on some pretty interesting topics. For example: his first career as a corporate man who makes good money, but is probably too overworked to enjoy it. Also, it's interesting to see those around him (e.g. friends, co-workers, etc) react to his discernment process and entrance into the Society of Jesus as a seminarian.
The real story, though, is Fr. Martin's own reflections on the meaning of his journey to the priesthood, and the comparisons to his life "in the world."
Personally, I identified (sadly) with his story of someone who "grew up" as a Catholic, and yet reached adulthood without a deep understanding of the Catholic Faith, its teachings or its traditions. Fr. Martin confronted his religious illiteracy, even if he felt silly asking what might have been seen as simple questions.
Possible Negatives
Fr. Martin is a "down-to-earth" person who lives in the real world. He is someone that is easy to identify with. He's a sinner--just like the rest of us. On the other hand, seeing his "warts," I sometimes felt that there was an ambiguous message about how to deal with our own imperfections. For example, should we see these imperfections and say, "that's just who I am"? Or, should we follow the Gospel message of Our Lord, to "Be Perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect"? (Matt 5:48)
Also, Fr. Martin clearly lived the Gospel message to serve those who are in need. I don't mean to belittle these good works which are worthy of imitation; but, sometimes I fear that people make temporal good works the primary goal of religion, instead of the salvation of souls.
Overall, I recommend Fr. Martin's enjoyable, well-written vocation story.
Another great book by Martin!!.......2006-05-07
I have not been disappointed yet by the work of James Martin, SJ. I appreciate the honesty of his experience. I believe that the issues he presents in this book that surround religious formation are well written. I do share the opinion of one customer reviewer on Amazon.com who presents a concern about Martin's lack of transparency on the issue of sexuality and the vow of celibacy. HOWEVER, having perhaps a unique insight into religious life from my own experiences in formation, I can attest to the fact that the vows of poverty and obedience are much more divisive in community life than celibacy - and that celibacy is more often the heated issue of those outside religious communities looking inward with curiosity.
I have shared this book with a number of other religious and lay people alike with the recommendation that this is another well-written James Martin book that is candid, humorous and honest.
You will not be disappointed.
Great story........2003-07-28
Martin's personal journey of faith, which eventually led him into the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), is quite a story. He was a young successful business man rising quickly through the corporate ranks at General Electric. But the "unseen hook" brought him to change dramatically - literally from riches to poverty. The reader gets a sense of Martin's sincerity as they journey with him through his younger years in business, and eventually, his experience as a Jesuit novice.
Though the story itself is powerful, I rated this book with only three stars because I found Martin's prose to be lacking at some points in the story. Perhaps I'm being harsh; forgive me.
I recommend this book to any reader who wishes to understand the Catholic preisthood better, especially those young men considering joining the Jesuits.
A Great Read.......2002-02-06
James Martin's book is just the right thing for anyone with an interest in the contemporary Catholic Church. It's especially helpful for those thinking of joining a religious order or becoming a priest--or those who are interested in why a person would make such a commitment in this day and age. Martin's writing style makes this a personal and provocative read. One of the reviewers on the back cover says Martin is a Thomas Merton for this time--perhaps, but in his own style. I'd highly recommend it to anyone with even a passing interest in religion.
Book Description
It’s the thick of the mid-1990s boom, and David M. Gross is racking up billable hours for a Manhattan corporate law firm and thinking that there must be more to life. Out of the blue, a friend calls with a tantalizing and risky proposal: How would he feel about moving to Bologna to help turn around a legendary, down-on-its-luck Italian motorcycle company, known for its dominance on the track and its inability to turn a profit? After a brief soul-search and popping his first (unintentional) wheelie during his maiden ride on the company’s monstrous superbike, he signs on.
And so Gross heads to Bologna, fabled home of marbled meats, radical leftist politics, and bespoke shoes, diving into his new life as the “corporate image consultant” to gearheads and learning to navigate the giddy mores of Bolognese society. He meets the CEO, who can relax only on planes between meetings; the manic, bellicose bike designer, convinced that only his genius can save the company; and the director of the museum, obsessed by the factory’s role in World War II. Gross sparks the business’s “spectacularization” with sexy ad campaigns starring factory workers who, when not on strike, strut to the espresso machine clad in Versace.
Above all, he falls in love with motorcycles, seduced by speed, and realizes that becoming a better rider means tapping into dormant parts of his self that, as it turns out, were just waiting to be unleashed. And when he picks up a handsome, young—and closeted—skinhead, things really get interesting . . .
In sensuous, hilarious, and wildly entertaining prose, Gross pens a wry yet ecstatic love letter to an uproarious city and its style-obsessed denizens, and to the motorcycle that gave him the freedom to live life at its very fastest.
Customer Reviews:
Ducati, the people.......2007-10-13
It's the little things about this book that make it worth while - the culture of Bologna, Evan Dando idiosyncrasies, drunk GP riders, Ducati's somewhat odd corporate world view. It's also in some ways the book's Achilles heal; Gross's writing isn't bad, but it falls short on a few occasions, possibly because of publishing house lawyers, where his portraits of people retreat to the glib and flat. It's sort of unfortunate (and I suspect that its mostly the publishing house lawyers); his portrait of his boyfriend. the people of Borgo Panigale, and his riding experiences are compelling. I'm surprised Ducati didn't want to sign off on this officially. It's what's best about them.
Visual Reading.......2007-09-13
There are not many people who can go to the best schools,become a lawyer,end up as a creative director at a major Italian motorcycle company, and have the ability to write a completely visual memoir.I love a visual book filled with all the right things----and this book has it.
I could completely relate to the corporate politics, the shoe obsessed Italians, the anorexic girl friend, the closeted boy friend,the bisexual boys,and the hysterical art director.The story is unique because it is Italian but it is also a New York story. We all kill ourselves at the gym, starve to be thin, and play the corporate politics game. If you are at all creative you have had more than your share of temper tantrums.
David's book is all of this and more. It is so visual and passionate that even the company reporting is completely interesting. It is "Fast Company" and it is a fast engrossing read. I loved it------ I am ready for the next book. Thanks David!
Unique in so many ways!.......2007-09-04
This book has quietly created a new genre: it is part travelogue, part business book, part memoir--and throughout all of its parts, defined by an incredible level of character development and a fresh, compelling voice. I can not recommend it more highly. It reminds me of Paul Theroux with a business twist. Just read it. You wont be sorry.
Living in the Fast Lane.......2007-09-02
Gross, David M. "Fast Company: A Memoir of Life, Love and Motorcycles in Italy", Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007.
Living in the Fast Lane
Amos Lassen
I love books like David Gross' "Fast Company" because they tell so much about learning how to live. What we have is a journey and this is a journey of life. Gross takes us on a ride that is an exciting trip of understanding how to experience a new country a new career and a new relationship all at the same time. He meets personal challenges that are similar to the personal challenges all of us meet and his persona story becomes our own.
Leaving the legal profession to go to Italy and ride a cycle is a brave move especially since life in Italy is very different from what a Wall Street lawyer is accustomed to. Gross comes across as a rebel who will not be tied down to corporate America and leaves it all to find himself in a foreign country. He goes to Italy to advise a motorcycle company on how to go public and in doing s takes the Ducati ride of his life. What is so amazing is how there is a tinge of sexuality in almost all that he writes whether it be the Italian coutryside or the social classes of the country.
I have never been really interested in riding a motorcycle but after reading this I want to get out and buy a bike and hit the road. Gross explains his love for life in the way he shows his love for babies and his view of the world as theater with all of us being bit players on the world stage. His love for his fellow man is reflected in the way he related his love affair with another man.
The book entertains completely and is filled with wealth and humor and honesty above all else We get such a unique picture of Italy and a wonderful look at the loneliness of what it is to be an American living in a foreign country. The characters that Gross gives us are wonderful; a group of misfits, lost and lonely souls, and those with very sharp egos. Reading the book is like what I imagine a ride on the autor's motorcycle might be.
We get a look at the inside of a company with its wild personalities and clashes of interests that manages, despite executives who preen, to produce motorcycles that have dominated the world of racing and are recognized everywhere in the world, For a book about the motorcycle business there is also a great deal of sex.
As I said before, the book itself is a motorcycle ride. Gross gives such astute observations on everything from being an American lawyer, to describing the countryside of Italy, to corporate branding and relationships that are unfulfilled that you really feel that you are there with him. His talent for description is vivid so much so that I see myself sitting down beside him and having a cappuccino while observing the Italians walking by.
A word or two about the author--he is a gay man who is looking for a partner and he spent time looking for young sex partners. Ashe lives in Italy, he seems to turn back the clock and become younger. He enters a world that few of us have the opportunity to enter and he lets himself go and takes us with him.
brilliant evocation of Italy, gay life, and (the avoidance of) a mid-life crisis.......2007-09-01
This book was a very odd experience for me to read. I know the author professionally and lived in Bologna, had even done some work in Ducati and so have met many of the principal protagonists. However, what I know of David and the company is all from the outside: this book, which is written in an elegant and lively style, portrays it from the inside, very personally. It can be read on a number of levels.
First, there is David's career: he was going the corporate lawyer route, but felt he wanted something different, so he chucked it all when the CEO of Ducati suddenly offered him as job. He left a stable, if stressful, environment for a rollercoaster of career, essentially re-making the brand of the most interesting motorcycle company around - and moved to EUrope in the process. Now, a lot of people would want to do such a thing, but lack the guts. David really did it and changed his life in the process. When you read about this, you feel his inspiration, his fear, and his courage.
Second, there is the story of the company: Ducati was on the verge of bankruptcy, another "Italian" company with unique engineering excellence but poorly run. He and his boss took it over and re-made its image, turning it into a kind of lifestyle brand in addition to continuing to make great bikes. Interestingly for me, this is what I wrote about when I met David, and it is an amazing story. The detail you get is far more personal and introspective than what I wrote (for a business school).
Third, there is David the person. He is gay, seeking a partner and fun, and in wonder of Italian culture and Bologna. Even though I lived there for 4 years, I often felt he was writing about an entirely different place than the one that I knew: I was raising kids rather than chasing young sex partners; I aged there, I didn't feel like I got younger (as David did). Again, David evokes the scene with truly wonderful style, a window into an experience that few Americans will ever know. I do not mean the gay scene, so much as the way you can become a different person when you learn a language and insert yourself into a cultural milieu that you want to embrace. It is one of the most stimulating and fun things that you can do (I have done it 3 times), though few Americans can even conceive of it and have no idea what they are missing. David gets this and wonderfully succeeds in portraying it.
Finally, though I was never a motorcycle afficianado, David introduces the reader to that world. Even better, he alludes to how he was changing it, or at least changing Ducati to fit into it. Once again, it is a world and culture few of us would enter. His "letting go" to become a serious rider is a major theme in the book, in a way what holds it together as a literary work. And it does cross the bar into literature, in my opinion. One can only hope that David will write more.
Warmly recommended.
Book Description
The greatest articles from the hottest business magazine of the past decade
Since 1995, Fast Company has been the place to turn for cutting-edge business ideas and profiles of amazing companies and their leaders. This hardcover collection gathers the magazine's best and most enduring articles, the ones that generated the most buzz and the deepest insights.
These outstanding pieces include:
• “The Brand Called You” by Tom Peters
• “Free Agent Nation” by Daniel Pink
• “In Search of Courage” by John McCain
• “Malcolm Gladwell: The Accidental Guru” by Danielle Sachs
• “Are You on Craig's List?” by Katharine Mieszkowski
• “Everything I Thought I Knew About Leadership is Wrong by Mort Meyerson
As Jim Collins writes in his foreword: “Imagine you could sit at Thomas Jefferson's dinner table and listen in on the conversation during the late 1700s. That's the way I like to think of the best articles in Fast Company collected in this wonderful book. Reading them is like listening in on a series of fascinating conversations with some of the best minds and creative thinkers of a generation.”
This is the perfect book for Fast Company's hundreds of thousands of devoted fans—and for others who missed these great articles the first time around.
Customer Reviews:
The pleasure of enjoying their (fast) company once again.......2006-08-29
This is an anthology of 32 articles which commemorate, indeed celebrate Fast Company's "ten years of the most innovative ideas in business," selected and co-edited by Mark N. Vamos and David Lidsky, the magazine's editor and senior editor, respectively. Obviously, each reader must decide which subjects are of greatest interest to her or him. As a long-time subscriber, I read most of them when they first appeared and was especially grateful to renew acquaintances with these:
Mort Myerson explains that almost everything he once believed about leadership proved wrong and why (by 1996) he had become convinced that values and IPOs are not mutually exclusive. Based on recent media accounts, many CEOs still haven't realized that.
Daniel Pink shares his thoughts (in 1998) about what he characterizes as an emerging "free agent nation." My guess (only a guess) is that even he did not realize when he wrote this article how many significant changes had yet to occur in the American workplace.
In an article written in 2000, Ron Lieber examines the problems which temporary workers ("free agents") encountered when employed by Microsoft.
In "Grassroots leadership: U.S. Military Academy" (2001), Keith Hammonds explains how a combination of monotomy and creativity in the training of cadets produces young men and women who are well prepared to lead others.
In 2003, Jennifer Reingold wrote an article in which she catches up with Tom Peters who (at that time) was struggling to regain his influence as a business thinker.
And then in 2005, Danielle Sacks offers a profile of Malcolm Gladwell, "The Accidental Guru," whose observations about "tipping points" and "blink" decision-making continue to generate mixed reactions.
Check out the brief comments about the 32 articles in the Contents section and then reconnect with some old favorites as well as with other material you may have missed. I acknowledge the difficulty Vamos and Lidsky must have experienced when making their selections and commend them on a consistently readable and thought-provoking collection of articles. Predictably, some now seem more dated than others. But that is a highly subjective judgment of mine which probably reveals more about me than about those articles which seem less significant to me today than they did when I first read them.
Great overview of great magazine.......2006-07-09
This book hits on all the big business ideas of the last decade, ideas that Fast Company helped discover and explain. Great explanations that put each story in context today.
Average customer rating:
- Great food, but accurate?
- My new favorite cookbook!
- Fast, Healthy, Delicious...and You'll Shed a Few Pounds Too!
- NO LOW FAT COOKING FOR ME!!
- A must buy for the busy new cook
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Pillsbury: Fast and Healthy Cookbook: 350 Easy Recipes for Every Day (Pillsbury)
Pillsbury Company
Manufacturer: Clarkson Potter
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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General
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Healthy
| Special Diet
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Low Fat
| Special Diet
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Natural Foods
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Low-Fat Diet
| Special Conditions
| Diets & Weight Loss
| Health, Mind & Body
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Pillsbury Good for You!: Fast & Healthy Family Favorites
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The Everything Healthy Meals In Minutes Cookbook: Quick-And-Easy Recipes For Shedding Pounds Fast (Everything: Cooking)
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Pillsbury: One-Dish Meals Cookbook: More Than 300 Recipes for Casseroles, Skillet Dishes and Slow-Cooker Meals (Pillsbury)
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Pillsbury Fast and Healthy Cookbook: 350 Easy Recipes for Every Day
Accessories:
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Tanita BC533 Glass Innerscan Body Composition Monitor
ASIN: 0609600850
Release Date: 1998-03-24 |
Customer Reviews:
Great food, but accurate?.......2007-05-08
I've had this book forever.
I cooked out of it for years and then in my last move, lost the book. I came across it again recently. With me being on weight watchers, the nutritional information is really handy....or is it? I have found several of the recipies to be way under the actual calories and fat.
It's still a really awesome little book, but if you are concerned about the nutritional information, you may want to double check the values.
My new favorite cookbook!.......2006-12-10
After searching long and hard for a quick and healthy cookbook, I purchased this one. This pillsbury cookbook is just what it states; "fast and healthy". However, it is so much more! First of all I love all the pictures. As a somewhat inexperienced cook, I really like to know how something is going to look before I make it. Once I discovered how delicious and easy the recipes were, I ventured into making the non-pictured recipes as well. And to my delight, they turned out great!
Another thing that I like about this book is that each recipe doesn't have a million ingredients listed nor are the ingredients weird or difficult to find in the stores. I have found almost everything I needed in Walmart Supercenter which is where I do the majority of my shopping.
Finally, this book is different from other "healthy" cookbooks out there in that the recipes are not only healthy, but they have some actual "taste" to them as well. Sometimes I forget that I'm actually eating a low-fat meal!
I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to keep their diet under control but does not want to spend all day in the kitchen slaving over the stove!
Fast, Healthy, Delicious...and You'll Shed a Few Pounds Too!.......2003-07-24
I have owned this book for several months now but not until recently have I taken it out and actually used some of the recipes. Well actually, I have taken up Weight Watchers again and I was looking for some recipes that wouldn't remind me that I was dieting. I just finished a Garden-Fresh Tuna Salad Sandwich (4 points) that was just packed with flavor with just a scant 3 grams of fat. The photograph of the sandwich is what caught my eye and that is one of the big selling points of this and other Pillsbury cookbooks.
The book begins with a comprehensive discussion called, 'A Guide to Healthier Eating'. Here you will find information about the soon to be amended Food Pyramid and just what is meant by a 'serving'. The authors then give the reader the 'Seven Steps to a Healthy Diet' which include suggestions for improving your food intake. Additionally, there is a glossary of health and food-related terms, some suggestions for using the nutritional information included in the book and some suggested menus combining some of the recipes.
Like many cookbooks, Fast and Healthy covers the culinary experience from Appetizers to Desserts. Aside from the many beautiful photos, the book is replete with many sidebars. These give the user tips that will enhance not only the recipe, but the expertise of the cook as well. Nutritional information for each recipe is provided and dietary exchanges for diabetics are also included. Weight Watchers clients like myself can easily calculate the Winning Points from the information provided and most of the recipes will fall into weight loss plans. For the chocolate lover, who can resist Cocoa Mocha Brownies or Double Chocolate Chip Cookies....two and one point respectively???
As you can tell, I like this book. I am a big fan of Pillsbury's cookbooks and this one is going to be a good friend over the next three months...and well beyond!
NO LOW FAT COOKING FOR ME!!.......2003-04-05
Why do you keep inserting low fat and diet books into my lifestyles and favorites???? That's a real no-no for a fat man who enjoys his food and is happy being fat!
A must buy for the busy new cook.......2003-02-25
This book is a must buy for the new cook who wants to make GREAT meals that are also FAST and HEALTHY. This book has changed my family's life, we use it every time we cook to make a delicious meal that anyone in the house can make in minutes. Move over Betty Crocker, Pillsbury is in the house!
Book Description
In The Rules of Business, the writers and editors of Fast Company distill the major ideas and principles of the world of business into fifty-five essential rules. These rules are elaborated on and enhanced by quotes and insights from over 200 business leaders, practitioners, and thinkers into what is sure to be an essential desk reference for managers, professionals, and executives-to-be.
Published on the tenth anniversary of the magazine, Fast Company's The Rules of Business features the essential principles behind today’s most important business topics, from customer service to innovation, from strategic thinking to leadership and management. The book introduces each category with a two-page commentary, and weaves two to four essential rules throughout every chapter. At the end of each chapter a boxed, bulleted “Fast Take” section gives readers specific takeaways they can use in their day-to-day work. The heart of each chapter, however, is the quotes and insights on the subject culled from the great minds in business, both living and historical—leaders and thinkers such as Machiavelli and Jack Welch, Adam Smith and his invisible hand and Tom Peters on marketing Me, Inc., Michael Porter on (what else?) strategy and A.G. Lafley, Jeff Bezos on the perils of hiring the wrong person and Bill Gates on the value of information technology, Anne Mulcahy and Warren Buffett, and many more. Fast Company's The Rules of Business is the ultimate desk reference.
From The Rules of Business
Rule #1
The first rule of business is the same as the first rule of life: Adapt or die.
“What gets measured, gets done.”
—Peter Drucker
Rule #8
Nothing is more overrated than a new idea. Ideas by themselves are worthless. It’s what you do with them that matters.
“Bet on the jockey, not on the horse.”
—Malcolm Forbes
“Best practices usually aren’t.”
—Christopher Locke, co-author, The Cluetrain Manifesto
Rule #49
If it is not right, don’t do it; if it is not true, don’t say it.
“If you think you’re too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito in the room.”
—Dame Anita Roddick, founder, The Body Shop
Customer Reviews:
Quotes for Success!.......2006-02-23
These 2 quotes are not from the book, but are quotes about quotes:
"The wisdom of the wise, and the experience of ages, may be preserved by quotations" - Isaac Disraeli
"It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read a good book of quotations" - Sir Winston Churchill
This book is basically a collection of quotes. Some are extremely powerful and some are well-not so powerful. I'm a big believer in quotes, here are a few from the book:
On change, "Adapt or Die" The first 10 pages are about change and how business is constantly evolving and how those that can't keep up are doomed.
"Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration. Yes, sir, it's mostly hard work." - Thomas A. Edison
"A half-backed strategy well executed will be superior to that marvelous strategy that isn't executed very well." - Allan Gilmour, vice chairman Ford Motor Co.
"The only new thing new in the world is the history you don't know." - President Harry S. Truman
"Good leaders are curious; they spend a lot of time trying to learn new things." - Jeffrey Immelt, CEO, GE
There are lot of good inspirational quotes in this book. It's a good book to have on your desk and glance at time and again.
By Kevin Kingston author of, A 20,000% Gain in Real Estate
My blog: http://www.bloglines.com/blog/KevinKingston
Rules of Business and Essential Ideas by the Fast Company.......2005-11-13
The author provides pearls of wisdom on a plethora of complicated
business topics and decisions. For instance, we are asked to
anticipate or embrace change early. Ideally, this should take
place when things are going well. Sometimes, success breeds
difficulty in unlearning bad habits or undoing complacency.
Very often, the identification of key facts will precipitate
change. The author believes that customer service is part of the
job. We are asked to learn from failure rather than wallow in it.
Intuition is part experience and part talent; however, we should
act upon our best instincts or feelings. The preferred decision-
making process should involve the following:
- framing questions
- fact finding
- analysis and conclusions
- learning from experience and mistakes made previously
Good process design should be common sense. Simplicity and
ease of use by customers are the premier concerns. The corporate
logo should be "faster, cheaper and better" . We should learn
from the people in the trenches because they are aware of the
practical dimensions of new ideas/processes. In addition,
the author provides a timeframe of from 7-10 years to introduce,
perfect and implement new techniques, designs and processes.
The acquisition is worth the price charged for the reader who
will implement the contents dispassionately.
Here's some great wisdom that's even fun to read!.......2005-11-06
I've looked forward to getting my monthly copy of the magazine Fast Company for an number of years. Now they have have "hit another home run" with an excellent book.
It's a fun, easy read with an three excellent indexes in the back. The first, "Sources" gives the source for each quote found in the 22 different chapters. The second is an "Index of Quote Titles", and the third is and Index of Authors, i.e. the people who gave the business wisdom quote.
This is also an excellent "idea starter" for short, meaningful motivational talks.
Try it, you'll like it and probably will buy a friend a copy!
Book Description
Dinnertime is often one of the few times that busy families come together every day.
Pillsbury Doughboy Family Pleasing Recipes helps to make it a time to enjoy one another's company while savoring hearty, wholesome food. Here are 170 recipes that every member of the family will like--from Shell Pasta Chili Special to Giant Confetti Oatmeal Cookies. In addition, there are simple tips for getting kids to join in the fun of meal preparation, dressing up an everyday menu for festive entertaining, and putting meals on the table in record time. Of particular appeal to busy cooks are "sight recipes" that don't require a standard written recipe with ingredient list and steps, but rather a photograph and a quick description of how to assemble the dish in just one or two quick steps at home. They're the ultimate in ease and convenience! Full-color photographs and a cheerful, inviting design help to make this one of the cookbooks that busy moms, dads, and even kids will pull off the shelf night after night for meals the whole family will love.
Customer Reviews:
Pillsbury does it again!.......2007-03-09
Great book. Actually fun just to look at the pictures! Easy to follow recipes.
Book Description
Discover why being a "fast second" is often more financially rewarding than being at the cutting edge.
If you get there first, you'll lead the pack, right? Not necessarily! The skill-sets of most established companies, say strategy experts Constantinos Markides and Paul Geroski, are far better suited to scaling up newly created markets pioneered by others (in other words, being "fast seconds") than to creating these markets from scratch. In
Fast Second, they explore the characteristics of new markets, describe the skills needed to create and compete in them, and show how these skills match up with different types of companies. Drawing on examples of successful fast-second firms such as Microsoft, Amazon, Canon, JVC, Heinz, and many others, they illustrate how to determine which new markets have the potential to be successful and how to move into them before the competition does, when to make a move into a new market, how to scale up a market, where to position a company in the market, and whether to be a colonizer or a consolidator.
Order your copy today!
Download Description
Why being a "fast second" is often more financially rewarding than being at the cutting edge
If you get there first, you'll lead the pack, right? Not necessarily! The skill-sets of most established companies, say strategy experts Constantinos Markides and Paul Geroski, are far better suited to scaling up newly created markets pioneered by others (in other words, being "fast seconds") than to creating these markets from scratch. In Fast Second, they explore the characteristics of new markets, describe the skills needed to create and compete in them, and show how these skills match up with different types of companies. Drawing on examples of successful fast-second firms such as Microsoft, Amazon, Canon, JVC, Heinz, and many others, they illustrate how to determine which new markets have the potential to be successful and how to move into them before the competition does, when to make a move into a new market, how to scale up a market, where to position a company in the market, and whether to be a colonizer or a consolidator.
Constantinos Markides (London, UK) is author of the bestselling strategy book All the Right Moves (23,000 copies sold) and Professor of Strategic and International Management at London Business School and Harvard Business School. Paul A. Geroski (London, UK) is Professor of Economics at London Business School whose specialties include competitive strategy and market structure.
Customer Reviews:
Easy read for someone who want to get into new markets.......2007-09-16
This book primarily focuses on the concept of Radical Innovation. As mentioned in the book, the questions that get answered are:
- should the companies create these radical markets or get them created
- when to enter radical new market
- how to scale it and how to position.
Chapter about where do radical innovations come from is quite interesting.
Another concept that I come to learn is the difference between Colonists and Consolidators.
The section "Further Reading" is a good chapter-by-chapter breakdown of various sources that the authors tapped into. Lot of good stuff in here.
It is one of the required readings for MBA capstone project at Babson College.
In short, recommend this book.
Analytical. Good academic support for the relevant strategy.......2007-07-04
The main theme of the book is:- "Established corporations should subcontract the creation of new, radical products to start up firms and concentrate their efforts on consolidating the markets because the skills, mindsets, and attitudes required for creating a radically new market not only differ from those needed to grow and consolidate the market but also conflict with one another." If you buy in the above, you will be satisfied with the tons of well written samples and analysis which can be helpful to support any relevant strategic proposals to the board in real life. However, I am obliged to warn passionate readers of the need to remain skeptical of the suggestions of the authors to put their strategy into real practice. No matter what, recommended as a good business read!
Fast Second Review.......2007-05-08
I believed this book was excellent. Anyone that is in the business industry should read this book especially finance career bound individuals. The author breaks down and analyzes what pioneers of certain products have done wrong to lose the market to a "fast second" company. Some reviews of this book claim the author has gone into way to much detail on his examples. In fact, the details will help you further understand the point. One chapter is devoted to what characteristics firms have that are the inventors of the product and what character tics firms have that dominant the market. Additionally, the author lists several companies that have the substantial market share of everyday products we use and you will be shocked to find out who the actual creator is. However, he claims that very rarely do companies become both the inventor and the dominant producer of the product. After reading the book I do believe it would be difficult to do both, but with research ahead of time, as many of the companies discussed in book have failed to do, companies can invent and become the dominant producer of the product.
Demythologizing Radical Innovation.......2006-08-29
In his previously published All the Right Moves (1999), Constantinos Markides asserts that "superior strategy is all about finding and exploiting a unique strategy in the company's business while at the same time searching for new strategic positions on a continuing basis." First he explains how to create and execute such a strategy and then locate its most favorable position; then he explains how to prepare for strategic innovation which will strengthen that position. In the final chapter, he concedes that "designing a successful strategy is a never-ending quest. Even the most successful companies must continually question the basis of their business and the assumptions underlying their 'formula for success.' (In fact, in one way or another, this is what most successful companies have done to get where they are.) New who/what/how positions are constantly popping up around the mass market, and established companies must be on the lookout for them. Like a modern-day Christopher Columbus, each company must set out to explore its industry's evolving terrain, searching for new and unexploited strategic positions."
In this his newest book, Markides and co-author Paul Geroski explain what a "fast second" strategy is and how to formulate it as well as how "smart companies" using that strategy have been able to bypass radical innovation to enter and dominate new markets. They identify and then examine four quite different types of innovation: Major, Radical, Incremental, and Strategic. "Our thesis is that it is impossible to offer proper advice on how to create or colonize new markets without first understanding where new markets come from, what they look like, and what it takes to succeed in them." They focus on demand and supply-side influences, arguing that, in the main, "most radical new technologies are pushed onto the market from the supply side." Therefore, radical innovations are by nature disruptive. For both customers and producers. Moreover, radical new markets are rarely created because of demand or customer needs. "Instead, they are created in a haphazard manner when a new technology gets pushed onto the market."
Others have their own reasons for why they admire this book so much. Here are two of mine. First, Markides and Geroski (in effect) call for a "Time Out!" on initiatives to create or respond to disruptive technologies, suggesting that less heat and more light are needed insofar as assumptions about such technologies are concerned. In this book, as noted, they identify four types of innovation and explain the significant differences between and among them. Each requires different strategies and tactics. This is especially important before decision-makers "set sail" in search of what Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne characterize as "blue oceans" (i.e. uncontested market space). Without really understanding the nature of the given technology and market, decision-makers will be victimized by what Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert Sutton characterize as the Doing-Knowing Gap." This book will be invaluable to those who struggle to get appropriate align of strategy and market.
I also admire what Markides and Geroski share because their insights challenge another durable but questionable assertion: that larger, established organizations can become more "entrepreneurial" by developing cultures and structures of much smaller, start-up firms. This challenge will, I hope, require decision-makers to re-evaluate their own assumptions about pioneering, creating new products and/or services for new markets, the proper role of internal R&D, etc. With all due respect to Markides and Geroski's material, however, I think it would be a fool's errand to implement, without rigorous scrutiny, all of their opinions and recommendations.
It remains for each reader and her or his associates to formulate what Markides and Geroski refer to as a "dominant design," one which lays the groundwork for the rapid expansion of the given market and which not only shapes the nature of the near-term competition in that market but will be a significant influence on market competition thereafter.
Being 1st Guarantees Nothing!.......2006-04-03
Advanced Technology is not the only road to innovation. In fact, technology alone often leads to failure for a couple of reasons: 1) Even with a patent, your concept will be worked around - especially by those with deep pockets, and 2) Technology is highly overrated, it's much more important to serve genuine needs without all the bells and whistles that simply confuse consumers.
Fast Second shows time and time again that you don't need to be the first horse out of the gate to win the race. From a strategic viewpoint, being second gives you the distinct advantage of seeing what works and what doesn't - before committing scarce resources. Also, it's been said that The Second Mouse Gets the Cheese!
Markides and Geroski point out significant advantages for larger enterprises. For example, most big companies find it difficult to create radical innovations. However, large enterprises excel at scaling up markets.
Fast Second is segmented into eight compelling chapters that will definitely stimulate your creative mind:
1) Spotting the real innovators
2) Where do radical innovations come from?
3) From new technologies to new markets
4) Colonists and consolidators
5) From colonization to consolidation
6) Racing to be second: when to enter new markets
7) The changing basis of competition
8) Creating the markets of the twenty-first century
While not concisely set out in the test, you may want to consider acting as a fast second by looking at the competition for sources of inspiration. Observing what works and what doesn't in the marketplace sets up the opportunity for real-time strategic experiments.
"The ability to learn faster than your competitors may be only sustainable competitive advantage." - Arie de Geus
------------------
Michael Davis, Editor - Byvation
"Business Success through Innovation"
Average customer rating:
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Fast Company: Winning Season
Rich Wallace
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Book Description
Manny Ramos is the fastest guy on the Hudson City Youth football team—maybe even the fastest in his school—so the new track club seems perfect for him. His light weight could finally be a benefit instead of a curse! When he first sees the enormous indoor sporting complex where he'll race some of the fastest guys around, Manny is awed. Will his time in the 800 meters be any competition for guys who've been racing for years? Manny is determined to put in the time and effort to be a track contender He's finally found his sport.
Book Description
Attending Hamburger University, Robin Leidner observes how McDonald's trains the managers of its fast-food restaurants to standardize every aspect of service and product. Learning how to sell life insurance at a large midwestern firm, she is coached on exactly what to say, how to stand, when to make eye contact, and how to build up Positive Mental Attitude by chanting "I feel happy! I feel terrific!"
Leidner's fascinating report from the frontlines of two major American corporations uncovers the methods and consequences of regulating workers' language, looks, attitudes, ideas, and demeanor. Her study reveals the complex and often unexpected results that come with the routinization of service work.
Some McDonald's workers resent the constraints of prescribed uniforms and rigid scripts, while others appreciate how routines simplify their jobs and give them psychological protection against unpleasant customers. Combined Insurance goes further than McDonald's in attempting to standardize the workers' very selves, instilling in them adroit maneuvers to overcome customer resistance.
The routinization of service work has both poignant and preposterous consequences. It tends to undermine shared understandings about individuality and social obligations, sharpening the tension between the belief in personal autonomy and the domination of a powerful corporate culture.
Richly anecdotal and accessibly written, Leidner's book charts new territory in the sociology of work. With service sector work becoming increasingly important in American business, her timely study is particularly welcome.
Customer Reviews:
Engaging book, debateable premise.......2006-07-03
When all is said and done, American consumers are more alike than they are different. This truth of human psychology provides the bedrock of our mass production economy; it is possible to create core products that millions of people will buy, and it is possible to design methods of presontation and marketing that millions of people will respond to. Consistancy beats creativity. That said, individuals, even those who aren't considered wildly creative or in any way eccentric still need to shave off 5 - 10% of their personalities to find their fit in cultures devoted to providing a consistant product or approach to business.
Dr. Leidner's study of how this morphing of individual to group collective focuses on two job classes at diverse ends of the American economic experience. On the one side is McDonalds, whose counter and burger flipping positions, even if in many instances filled by students on their way to something far different, have also become a shorthand for employment of last resort among those with few skills, options, and long term prospects. On the other end of the study is Combined Insurance Company of America (CICA), a subsidiary of Aon Corp. CICA is a sales driven company, and sales - dispite the field's high washout rate - remains for those who do it well the highest paying profession in America.
Early on Dr. Leidner suggests that there is irony in the fact that these companies, which rely on structure and standardization to a degree uncommon in their respective fields, were formed by highly dynamic individualists, Ray Krock and W. Clement Stone respectively, who challenged convention and relied on personal instinct in building their empires. It makes for a nice sentence or two, but most people who build empires, be they Krock and Stone, or Henry Ford, Andrew Carnegie, James Hill, Michael Dell, Sam Walton, etc use a different approach to building than will subsiquently be needed to maintain and expand those companies. Even a company as wildly creative as Apple Computer needs to instill a degree of structure within the organization if only so it doesn't fall prey to entrophy.
Still, organizational struture isn't the theme of the book, instead it is what happens to people whose jobs involve working directly with customers, human interactions, that realm of life where individual personality is most apt to express itself, but who are told to conduct those exchanges with the same routine and scripting of a working standing at a machine and mass producing parts on an assembly line. Because McDonalds is a recognizeable American icon most of the attention given this book - including the other review on this site - focuses on the chapters dealing with the fast food giant. I found the chapters about Combined Insurance Company far more interesting. I work in sales and during my second year in the field I joined (and have since left) CICA in Virginia during the time that Leidner was doing her research and observations in the company's midwestern operations.
Leidner focused on the company's Life divison, even as she stated that the Accident Indemnity divison which I sold in, practiced the greatest reliance on standardized presentations and scripting in general. In her assessment the company's philosophy of reliance on a tightly structured sales system came at the expense of individualism and forced sales reps to subliminate elements of their own personalities and as such had to struggle with feelings of inauthicity and a loss of self.
To a degree her assessment makes sense, and as CICA gave her full access to the company's sales school, as well as interivews and field time with new agents and managers, her studies did reflect what her subjects cited as their actual experiences. That said - and dispite CICA giving her more cooperation and acceptance than some at McDonalds gave her - I feel that she didn't do as complete a job of putting CICA in its proper place within the evolution of sales methods over the past 100+ years.
Dr. Leidner seemed at times to subscribe to the myth of the 'natural born salesperson'. The hired gun who shot from the hip, said whatever came to mind, and sold circles around everyone else b/c of inate abilities that couldn't be studied, quantified, or taught. This misconception has long bitten at the heals of anyone who dared argue that sales can be taught. In the 1890's when John Henry Peterson organized the first sales schools for NCR reps, and wrote the first standardized sales manual, which he demanded his reps follow - at the risk of being fired even if they met quota while using other methods there has been a debate over whether selling is a learnable skill or an artform that one either has or hasn't. People in the latter camp react to any approach to standardize the field in the same way a literary writer reacts to romance and mystery novelist who churn out and sell formulaic fiction by the boatload.
It has been my observation over 20 plus yrs that people who enter sales with the latter view often washout and return to other fields when they find that doing it by the seat of their pants doesn't work. CICA's training wasn't so much about denying indiviual initiative, but about giving the individual agent tools that worked (this afterall is the field where Elmer Wheeler, the man remembered for coining the phrase 'sell the sizzle, not the steak' found that a sales rep could increase his sales 500% just by omitting two words in his closing sentence).
Reading Dr. Leidner's account of new hires trying to deal with CICA's methods in 1987 I was reminded of some of my long forgotten impressions from sales school. At the time I watched my classmates, most of whom were new to sales and with little previous knowledge of the history of the field, its inovators, and groundbreakers, or of the principles of human behavior that drove the methods, react defensively and with uncertainty to what they were being taught. My impression at the time was that CICA could have generated greater acceptance of its methods if some time had been given to validating the underlying principles - which that minority of us with prior sales backgrounds knew to be true. Dr. Leidner's interviews suggested that some of the new agents she spent time with struggled with the same thing.
As such, what she terms a stuggle to keep subverting the self, and losing one's individuality to scripted methods, may in fact have been an individual lost in a tool chest or weighed down by a tool belt such that they somehow failed to see themselves for what they really were, craftsmen provided with world class tools, whose success or failure would depend on how they as individuals used those tools.
A Prophecy Fulfilled?.......2001-03-21
Hungry and tired of the banality of couscous, hara (a tomato based soup) and tajine that I had been eating in Morocco for the past four months, I burst through the doors of one of the McDonald's in the city of Casablanca. I was on a mission. I had dragged several of my friends by train, bus, taxi, and foot for the singular purpose of eating a Big Mac. I was feed up. I needed food that I could trust to be produced in some standardized fashion, that would be clean and well cooked. I also needed to use a bathroom that was clean. This "quest" occurred during a foreign exchange to Morocco during the fall of 2000. But the story begins much earlier perhaps in 1994 when I was 12 or 13. My father had taken me to our local Borders bookstore in the suburbs of Philadelphia to hear a lecture about McDonald's of all things (I was home schooled at the time and going to lectures such as these was a continual part of my education). Robin Leidner's lecture was probably my first exposure to sociology and I believe one of the causes that lead to a radical shift in my adolescent thinking. Never again was the world the same. In a sense, Robin Leidner gave birth to my "sociological imagination." Ever since I have also been fascinated by McDonald's as an indicator of American culture. There is something awe inspiring about the success of McDonald's and its guarantee of a certain quality of food, cheer, and service no matter where in the world I should travel. (The phenomonem of McDonald's seems reminscent of something one might find in a dystopian post-industrial science ficiton story.) That at, one time, 7% of US workers had worked at McDonald's at one time or another, speaks to the influence of McDonald's in the lives of Americans. On the other hand, the routinization that has been key to McDonald's success raises questions of alienation, autonomy and robotization of employees for the sake of profit. Ever present is the conflict between self-identity and existence in a corporate world that requires all things to be standerdized. Dr. Leidner provides insight into corporate culture that many of us will at sometime or another participate in. It would be good judgment to know what we are getting ourselves involved in. I, for one, have learned to appreciate the significance of McDonald's organizational structure, while being cogent of the impact of its corporate values on the individual and society. There is a sense of empowerment in "decoding" society and locating ones position in society and it is my hope that others, outside of academia, will read Leidner's book and become consciouse of their organizational context. There is the sense of a prophecy fulfilled. After first seeing Dr. Leidner and reading of the expansion of McDonald's to Morocco, I have, seven years later eaten at the first McDonald's in Morocco, always with "Fast Food, Fast Talk" in mind. The impetus for this has always been to see for myself if Dr. Leidner was right: could McDonald's really be the same everywhere? It would seem that my life has already come full circle. As the result of my first exposure to sociology from Dr. Leidner, I am currently studying the sociology of work and occupation!
Amazon.com
The tale of Amazon.com is well known to anyone who follows the stock market, the book business, the Internet explosion--heck, it's hard to imagine not knowing at least a piece of this extraordinary story. But few, it would seem, know the entire story, and it's these gaps that Robert Spector's Amazon.com: Get Big Fast attempts to fill (or at least the information available in early 2000, when the book was published). For example, those who know about Amazon.com's paradigm-shifting influence on the book business may not know it wasn't even the first online book retailer, or the second or the third. (It was preceded by clbooks.com, books.com, and wordsworth.com, the last of which beat Amazon.com to the Internet by almost two years.) Those who've heard quirky stories about Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos--for example, that he built his own desk out of a door, and that his mother bought the desk at an online charity auction in 1999 for $30,100--may not know that he was a studious overachiever from an early age. As a 12-year-old in Houston, he was even profiled in a book on gifted education in Texas. And those who marvel at the company's multibillion-dollar stock valuation may not know that it was broke and nearly out of business in the summer of '95.
Put it all together and you have a book that should be interesting to many different readers. As a pure business read, it certainly provides a blow-by-blow account of an important company's critical decisions. And anyone looking for a brief history of e-commerce will see how one idea--Bezos's realization in 1994 that Web usage was growing 2,300 percent a year--set the entire online retailing phenomenon in motion. If nothing else, that last fact should propel parents to pay very careful attention to their kids' math scores. Had Bezos, a summa cum laude Princeton grad in computer science, not realized the implications of exponential growth ... well, let's just say you wouldn't be reading this review right now. --Lou Schuler
Book Description
In Amazon.com Jeff Bezos built something the world had never seen. He created the most recognized brand name on the Internet and became one of the richest men in the world. He was recently named Time magazine's Person of the Year and was crowned "the king of cybercommerce."
Yet for all the success and all the media exposure, the inside story of Amazon.com has never really been told. In this revealing, unauthorized account of Amazon's astounding rise, Robert Spector, journalist and bestselling author, gives us the fastpaced, behind-the-scenes true story of the company's creation, its tumultuous present, and its uncertain future.
By talking to friends, confidants, early employees, rivals, publishing executives, stock analysts, and venture capitalists, Spector goes beyond the "official story"-the glib, polished, media-savvy statements that Bezos feeds to the press-and presents in unprecedented detail the real facts of the company's beginnings, innovations, business practices, and strategies, and its vision of the future. Further, he explains what the Amazon story means for conventional business, e-commerce, and ultimately the consumer.
Bezos's first employers tell how the experience he gained at their firms prepared him for creating Amazon.com. Early investors reveal the details of Bezos's initial pitch for money. Former company insiders divulge how painstakingly Amazon.com's internal systems were put together.
And the story becomes more compelling all the time as Amazon finds itself under attack by the formerly Internetchallenged behemoth retailers, by online startups trying to eat Bezos's lunch, and by impatient investors waiting for the company to turn a profit. (Amazon lost an incredible $720 million in 1999.)
Amazon.com's emergence as an e-commerce powerhouse has set off tremors around the world, jolting the "bricks and mortar" retailing giants, and forever changing the way everyone does business. But has Jeff Bezos finally run out of time? Will his great achievement be remembered as a footnote to the opening era of the Internet age? Or will this wily, overachieving self-described nerd triumph once again and surprise fans and foes alike?
Customer Reviews:
The story of Amazon.......2007-04-12
I love Amazon.. both to shop and to analyze, but I found this book to be a little slow. Regardless, Jeff Bezos is someone to stand in awe of. I wish my mind were that sharp.
Fascinating Story.......2006-07-10
This book really conveys the drama of the creation and building of Amazon.com by Jeff Bezos. Its really a biography of Amazon's founder, Jeff Bezos, through about 1999, ending before the .com crash.
There are a couple parts where the story drags, but generally, there was much more drama and interest than I expected. The story is skillfully told and the writing is clear, and after reading this book, I intend to look for the others that this author, Robert Spector, has written.
I strongly recommend this to anyone who wants to track the rise of Amazon.com. It was published too soon to provide the author with the opportunity to analyze the aftermath of the fantasticly overheated internet marketplace that led to the dot.com bust, but you can see how he examines all the elements from the perspective of 1999. Spector doesn't forecast the fall, but you can see all the excess and unmistakable signs of what is to come. I would love to see a Second Edition.
A SHORT HISTORY OF AN E-COMMERCE GIANT.......2005-12-20
Amazon.com is probably the most cited online business of all times, and it will certainly be the case for the next ten years or so. Therefore, this little yellow paperback book is a must-read for those who do not know that the "e" at the beginning of e-commerce does not stand for "easy". Indeed, similar to its counterparts, Amazon.com was also born in a garage and then became an e-commerce giant in less than five years. This extraordinary story also proves that the industry clock-speed of e-commerce markets is really high, as demonstrated by Haim Mendelson in his novel book "Survival of the Smartest".
In his book, Robert Spector starts the history of Amazon.com from where it all began-the garage, and takes the reader smoothly to where it stands now-the peak. After reading this book, the reader learns about the customer-centric view of this company, the advantages of the so-called "get big fast strategy" in e-commerce, and finally why profit should not be the first priority of an online company during its initial years of operation.
Although this is intended to be a leisure book, it can well be adapted as a supplementary book for undergraduate and/or master's business students at universities. It will certainly make the course more enjoyable and down to earth.
Dr. Yasin Ozcelik
www.misworld.org
Good book, needs updating again.......2005-09-28
This book does a great job at telling the Amazon.com story. Nice to hear that an entrepreneur actually planned their business and didn't just get lucky.
Now that we've hit 2005, it would be great to get another update (the current final chapter is a bit of an update from couple of years ago). What is the story behind their profit? Stock? The door desks?
Overall....a good, quick read.
well-written and thoughtful, but pulls its punches.......2005-08-26
More than 4 years after the dotcom crash, we should be getting some perspective on internet companies. Perhaps most fundamentally, what does it take to build a highly profitable internet company? Which companies are still overvalued? Are they 50% overvalued, 10x overvalued or what? Sadly, books offering such wisdom do not seem to be around. There are plenty of books about the disasters, but much more interesting would be an analysis of the handful of successes or maybe-successes.
In the absence of such a work, this is respectable. It is well-written and carefully researched. It was finished in 2000, when things were starting to fall, but still had a long way to go. So you had to be unusually perceptive to see things clearly. Spector does seem to have seen most of the issues, he just does not push them far enough.
There is much fascinating detail and much to learn, although you sometimes have to read between the lines. For example, Amazon's software should be an engineering case study in the difference between effective and efficient. It was incredibly inefficient, because the original designers (by their own admission, according to Spector) knew nothing about the finer points of relational databases, but it was effective - it rarely went down. Since Amazon was able to raise money on absurdly favourable terms, the fact that poor software design gave a huge hardware bill maybe did not matter much.
I guess I have found Amazon the single most puzzling, most confusing, and hence most interesting dotcom company. I have fairly consistently been wrong in my predictions. I thought it would be mainly a back-catalogue business (because that is what I mainly use it for); I was wrong - although it currently seems to be making renewed efforts to expand that segment. I thought its costs would be far lower than Barnes & Noble; I was wrong. I thought the attempt to sell everything was just a cynical move to fool investors; I was wrong, in one quarter electronics outsold media.
But the jury is still out on long term profitability etc, so this is an interesting source of information.
Books:
- Inside the Not So Big House: Discovering the Details that Bring a Home to Life (Susanka)
- Ladies of the Lair (Dragon Knights, Books 1 & 2)
- Life with Jeeves (A Jeeves and Bertie Compendium)
- Like Wolves on the Fold: The Defence of Rorke's Drift
- Live and Let Die (James Bond Novels)
- Make Peace With Anyone: Breakthrough Strategies to Quickly End Any Conflict, Feud, or Estrangement
- Marketing in the In-Between: A Post-Modern Turn on Madison Avenue
- Mastering Black and White Digital Photography (A Lark Photography Book)
- Microsoft SharePoint 2003 For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech))
- Midnight Rain
Books Index
Books Home
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- A First Course in Information Theory
- Walking Taylor Home
- Seventeenth Century Literature And Culture
- Saying No Is Not Enough: Helping Your Kids Make Wise Decisions About Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Dru
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My Life With the Saints
Becoming Who You Are: Insights on the True Self from Thomas Merton And Other Saints (Christian Classics)
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