Nice tips, but misleading title
921586
This author has an upbeat, positive voice and message. I like it! There are some grammar and spelling mistakes that need to be edited, because they take away from the professionalism of the book - but I don't hold that against the author. Typos and editing mistakes happen, even among good writers - but they should be dealt with before publication.

Although I enjoyed the tips for the most part - my biggest complaint, which kept me from giving it more stars, was that the title is completely, totally off. I was under the impression that it would have advice, insight and tips on HOW to become an entrepreneur, or start your own home-based biz, etc. - so that you know, as the title says, you "never apply for a job again" -  - but it was nothing like that. I strongly urge the writer to change the title. In fact, I think the SUBtitle used would work better as the title: "The ultimate guide to live your lifework (or life work)." Or even "the ultimate guide to working with your heart center," or something...
3044389
I thought this was a good read that summarized legitimate health tips!  I thought this would be a good book for a P.E. class.  It does a good job of giving good summaries of information with out going overboard with details (which could make the book boring).  I gave the book a 4/5 merely for the title.  I don't think it really shows the reader what they are getting into....yes, the book talks about blood pressure and weight training but overall it gives tidbits on many health tips.  I just don't think the title gives the book justice.

I was given a copy of this book for an honest review.
3762506
I gave the book three stars rather than four or five because it doesn't deliver what the title promises and the cover is all hype -- but the book does deliver some very worthwhile guidance.
What to Do (WTD) will be best suited to the midlife career changer with valuable skills -- self-motivated folks who just need direction. I like the book's down-to-earth no-nonsense tone.
Good parts:
List of career-killers -- not new to anyone who's been out in the world, but well-stated and worth reviewing
Discussion of interviewing for information and network: very realistic
Discussion of internet job search is right on!
Discussion of starting a business is better than average (but I like my own "are you ready" checklist better!)
Salary negotiations section is excellent
Weak parts:
Self-assessment (lists of values and skills were very ordinary and won't be helpful to most)
Recommendation to take tests: rarely useful for mid-career managers or professionals
Relocation section: My book on this topic, Making the Big Move, is two hundred pages long -- two pages can't do justice to the topic and may be misleading.
I wish the author had focused more on interview and resume strategies; interestingly, she does not include a discussion of resumes at all.  I suspect that her strength lies in the nuts-and-bolts of job search and I wish she had included more on those topics.
I had to smile when I read her section on how to find a career counselor. Everyone who writes a book includes a  list of "must have" qualifications for an advisor and, amazingly, those qualifications are all held by the author!
With a degree in counseling, this author urges us to find a vocational counselor. However, vocational counseling experience helps younger job seekers. Midlife, mid-career professionals need different sources of help.  Recent books that target this market tend to be written by experienced professionals who have advanced degrees and life experience.
There are valuable nuggets here  and I wish the author would write a meaty book, based on what she knows well, rather than an overview that is too sketchy in some places to be a useful guide.
272452
This book consists of lots of tips, think Martha Stewart's "Good Things" but with no pictures. Most of the tips don't need pictures, but some tips definitely could have used them. The tips are all over the map and not necessarily decorating related.

I'm sure I wasn't the only one hoping for more "before and after" room arrangement pictures, but you're not going to get any in this book.

In a way, it suffers from a sense of being old-fashioned, as when she suggests putting a desk behind a sofa, and not facing it against the wall. Well, unless you are willing to spend big bucks to re-wire and re-carpet to hide electrical cords, you are NOT going to put a desk facing the middle of a room any more because of the tripping hazard, since even if you do bundle the cords up, they still have to be plugged into an outlet. What she suggests might work for the "kiddie table" that lots of people have in their living room, but no sofa is going to "hide" your computer, printer, etc. She seems to be oblivious to the idea of the modern home desk with the need to plug in the computer, printer, modem, phone, task light, etc.--the days of the executive desk with nothing on it but perhaps a blotter and pen are LONG gone.

I liked this book, but not in the same way as her first book. I did not really see it as a follow-up to her first book, but really a totally different book. I hope she writes another book that is a true follow-up to her first book, dealing with all the other rooms she left out.
1695269
This book is gorgeous and shows many aspects of decorative painting technique-- but its title is misleading. It is not the "complete" guide-- the artist/author is using acrylic paints only, not the traditional china paints. The disadvantage of acrylics is that they are not recommended for eating surfaces, which Hauser acknowledges. In my mind, that makes them inappropriate for dinnerware. True china paints, fired in a kiln, are much more appropriate for this purpose. Her designs and painting techniques can probably be used with china paint, but one would have to know how to mix and fire the paints.  A better choice for china painting would be&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Porcelain-Painting-With-Uwe-Geissler-A-Schiffer-Craft-Book/dp/0887408990/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Porcelain Painting With Uwe Geissler (A Schiffer Craft Book)</a>&nbsp;That said, Hauser's projects are lovely for purely decorative pieces.
2176836
this is a really good book with a lot of useful info, but it doesn't hardly go into detail as to HOW to do what the author suggets. good ideas, promotes the right attitudes, but little instruction. if you're the type who needs to read a book to learn how to be more succesful with women, which everyone reading this must be, then you will certainly need a book that goes into more depth. it's good for just about what the title suggests.. a pocket guide. I guess it would be a good book to carry with you so you can read it in your downtime, just to keep the ideas fresh in your mind, but I would choose a different book for when you really knuckle down and study
3614341
It's an alright book. There are lots of useful tips, and lots of rather obvious ones. I think this would be a *great* book for a web newbie; if you read Frauenfelder's [...], however, you're already up on at least 1/3rd of these tips. If you read technology blogs and news sites regularly, then you know another 1/3rd.

I debated giving it four stars; it feels like a "three and a half" to me. Maybe I'd rate it higher if more of the material were new to me.

Still, recommended if you can buy it at or near the $10 amazon rate.
550329
While I found the book informative and a good read, there are better references out there for the first time or seasoned gardener.

Based on the title of the book, I expected to find several garden plans built for smaller spaces.  Instead, the main garden plan in the book is 3000 sq ft (50' x 60') which is FAR from being small in my region.  A few smaller plans are included but they don't have the same detailed planting summary that is devoted to the larger plan.  (How many vegetables can I grow in the smaller plans?)

The sowing and transplanting dates are based on the authors' hardiness zone and there is no zone chart for anyone outside the NY-Connecticut area.  Everyone can easily find this information online but it seems like a strange omission in a gardening book.

There's a handy dollar and crop yield chart for the 3000 sq ft garden but I would have preferred a concise summary table of all vegetables that includes sowing dates (# of weeks from last/first frost), planting depth, yield per plant, etc. that could be adapted to a garden of any size.

The section on insect and disease control is too simplistic for any gardener. Instead, the authors could have described the common pest or disease problems that can affect vegetables included in the book's garden plans.

There could also have been more than a passing mention on how to store the fruits of your labour.  I'm sure families won't have any trouble eating most crops as they are harvested, but how does one manage 100 heads of fennel or 540lbs of eggplant?  (Yes, the "small-plot" 3000 sq ft garden plan in this book includes these yields!)

Book layout/format:
The book's large type size, wide margins, and sparse layout are easy on the eyes but not visually interesting.
There is no photography (except for a small photo of one of the author's children) and very few line illustrations in the book.
750676
Title is misleading. Don't think you're getting a book jammed with individual tips. There are good tips, but it's also limmed out with what I think of as summaries of good practice in the areas of casting, presentation,etc.  So, some new little tips to consider as well as reminders of solid basics. Just the thing to get me enthusiastic and hopeful again after a not so great day on the water.
823387
Came by accident on this book. The introduction tells the story on how a teenager manages to succeed in getting a higher-paid part-time job than other teenagers by 'beating the system'. That is an excellent story but the rest, unfortunately, doesnt really deal with climbing the social ladder or how to get the job you want. The 50 tips are quite mixed. Some tips are quite interesting and useful. Some other tips are completely not ethical like stealing in the supermarket or other frauding tips.
This book does not really tell you how to beat the system but to take advantage of the system by lying, faking and cheating. In my opinion, some tips can be quite useful to you (not all of them, at your own risk). What I see in this book is that it reveals a truth about our system, that you need to lie sometimes in order to survive. If you say the truth, people may take advantage of you (especially by opportunists). If you lie, you may either be able to protect you either take advantage of the situation. Here we are in an urban jungle and sometimes that the only way for us to survive. A question: what is lying to a liar?
To summarize, this book seems to me one of these another 'anarchy' books. It has nothing more than these 50 tips and it would have be niced if it contains more analysis like why the author decided to choose this way (lying) and not the other ways.
594850
Pro - the book has a nice layout with helpful tips, and well written directions with plenty of accompanying pictures
Con - much of the information contained within can be found for free elsewhere: I've found similar information/tutorials for free on the author's website or by doing basic web searches; but, if you don't have regular internet access than this book is a great resource.
4048662
While I really liked this book, I didn't feel that it was terribly original. The tips in here are not novel, but it's nice to have them compiled into one place.
3867164
Overall this is a good book on writing, however, I felt as if it concentrated too much on teaching the reader how to write well, rather than what I bought it for: how to revise well. There's a lot of general writing advice in here about motivations, conflicts, resolutions, plotting, choosing a point of view, showing and not telling, reading dialogue aloud, identifying the protagonist, and so on. This is all well and good, but it doesn't directly have that much to do with revising. The author should have assumed we knew all that stuff already from the countless other books on writing out there, and concentrated more on the process of revision; being good at revisions is more than just being good at writing.

Basically, I felt as if the author were treating the reader as a first year English Literature student, as if all this stuff were new to us, when, for a large portion of the book's audience (professional writers), most of the book's contents we know by now, often by heart. I bought the book to learn how to revise what is already (I believe) a decently written story, not to learn how to identify that story's antagonist or to decide whether to use third person or first person perspective or to make sure the first scene has a hook.

Still, it did have a few decent tips, especially near the beginning with the list of things to look for when going over your writing. And it was only three bucks, it was more than worth that small price to me just for the few tips I found useful. So I'd recommend it, but beginners will find it the most helpful. For everyone else, it's largely a review.
958436
The title is misleading. The book contains good and practical advice for incoming earning middle class who want to look and behave like old money individuals (I am saying this without being pejorative). But I don't like the way that the author flags the phrase "old money" every paragraph. Also there are a lot of judging in the name of old money! (Old money will never do that... this is not how old money does it, etc.) Otherwise an easy read. The content is a bit thin.
4377661
This is a handy book for the beginning gardener. You get planting, watering, and fertilizing tips on 14 herbs, 26 veggies, and 10 fruits that grow fairly well in Georgia. The pictures are nice, and the planting tips are, for the most part, accurate. I took issue with some of the entries, though. For example, the section on apples failed to discuss some of the better varieties now on the market, and the section on asparagus failed to discuss how seriously you need to amend the soil to get a decent crop. The info in this book is about what you'd get on the backs of good seed packets, without having to buy the seeds. If you are a veteran gardener or are looking for in-depth discussions, this book is not for you.
2834863
I liked a lot of the tips in this book.  But they could have put more effort into a nice table of contents, cover and organization.
1705757
The title of "The Complete Idiot's Guide To Writing Business Books" is misleading, since the book doesn't actually teach the reader how to write a business book. Only 10 pages of the book (in the brief chapter "Voice, Point of View, and Style") deal with any aspect of writing a book.

Instead the author provides material (divided into six sections) on:
* Testing your business book idea
* Writing your proposal and sample chapter
* Finding an agent and other helpers
* Finding a publisher and negotiating a contract
* Writing and publicizing your book
* Using your published book to enhance your career

And while the content is well presented, I am left wondering, "Where is the material promised by the book's title?" There are much better, and more thorough, books on the topics of:

Developing book proposals: "Bulletproof Book Proposals" by Pam Brodowsky and Eric Neuhaus, Michael Larson's "How To Write a Book Proposal", or "Nonfiction Book Proposals Anybody Can Write" by Elizabeth Lyon

Finding a literary agent: "How To Get A Literary Agent" by Michael Larson

Publicizing and marketing your book: "From Book To Bestseller" by Penny Sansevieri, Steve Weber's "Plug Your Book", and "1001 Ways To Market Your Books" by John Kremer

Too bad "The Complete Idiot's Guide To Writing Business Books" doesn't deliver on the topic of writing business books - I'm sure many entrepreneurs aspiring to write business books could use a good business book-writing manual.