A crash course in re-evaluating what you've read over hundreds of times
923739
This goes on from there ... definitely concepts you won't find everywhere!
Don't try and read it in one sitting; let it sink in for a while before continuing.
4856056
I reordered this one because I moved and let go of my old one.  That was a mistake.  This book is a great resource, and fun to read.  I recommend.
2484078
As a former public library employee of 10 years, I have found this book to be a useful resource, and have seen its instructions successfully applied by workers with no conservation experience at all.  It would be an excellent go-to guide for any library technical services department.  The text is clear and methodical, designed to be as informative and practical as possible.  The photos clearly illustrate the text and techniques. Based on my own experience with this sensible, helpful, and quite harmless tome, I find the harshness of the first review to be disturbingly misplaced.  I highly recommend Basic Book Repair Methods.
2957756
I loved this book when it came out in the '80s.  Reading it was a life-altering experience for me.  I made permanent changes in the way I ate as a result of reading this book.  But as much as I loved the book then, it's a product of its time, and we now know so much more about nutrition and what comprises a healthy diet.  I recently browsed through it again just out of curiosity and was dismayed by some of the things I read, which I now know are wrong.  Read it with a grain of salt--or Mrs. Dash's.  Whatever.
3759123
What can MacMillian's editors be thinking?  All I can say is that I went from surprised to shocked at how much this has been lifted and rewritten from just a few major sources.

In the 1970s Frank Dawes realized a whole generation of those that spent their lives in service were dying off, and sought to rescue their stories before they were lost. He put ads out for letters and remembrances. When he came back from a vacation, he was snowed under with responses. The book resulting from his orignal research was "Not in Front of the Servants."  I found it eminently readable, and I read and reread it, finding it a great nighttime read.  To the point where I can easily recognise passages from it, and can probably quote it verbatim.  I have also read a number of other original works, such as Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management and other guides to hiring servants, or remembrances of life in service.

I wasn't surprised at the first reference in this book to his. But I grew increasingly not just dismayed, but shocked and later really irritated at how cleverly this author masked her repeated dipping into this same source by referring to it in different ways. First she referred to the actual book and author. Then at times,quoted only the author and not the book his words appeared in, as if we might not realize this was also from the same source. Then -- since his book was a compendium of tales from lives in service, sent in letters to him -- this author quoted the senders of the letters, forbearing to mention as she did she was pulling again from Dawes' book.

Basically this book seems to me a mere rewriting of Dawes original research, with a few quotes from Mrs. Beeton's and other books thrown in to make it not entirely a rehash of only his book.

I realise Dawes' book is 40 years old.  Perhaps the author and publisher think no one would recognise how much the author rehashed it. Perhaps this is par for the course for modern writers, or modern publishing.  But it seems to me this book, if not quite cribbing his work, sails pretty darn close to that. It felt close enough to it that I went from uncomfortable to angry. Maybe it is considered acceptable to summarize what seemed like a very few original sources and put them out rehashed as your own book. It certainly is a way to easily sell a book with a popular theme, without doing too much work of your own. But this was way too obvious if you knew the original work and how cleverly the author was referring to it by various means. The author listed a number of sources.  But too much of this book seemed a rehash of just a few.

Based on that, then, for the reader, I would say, just read Frank Dawes "Not in Front of the Servants", and if you want more, then Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management, Gorst's "Of Carriages and Kings" and Margaret Powell's "Below Stairs".  You'll get the same info, and most of the same stories, just from the very first of these, (Dawes's book).  There's nothing new or original in this one, and so just read the sources.
528623
I began reading Vonnegut almost 50 years ago, and I have read and re-read his novels over the years while admiring his prose, his storytelling and unique presentations, and sometimes laughing till I wept (and vice  versa).

I was unsure about this book when I selected it. Would this be some dry literary criticism, or just a snappy biography, and the answer is an emphatic "no". While Gregory Sumner's book would certainly be a great way to "teach" a survey of Vonnegut, it is an excellent guide to re-discovering him. It turns out to be a very intelligent and accessible survey of Vonnegut's work that is interwoven with the life events that helped shape his writing. The author synopsizes the books very crisply and accurately, and really whets your taste to revisit some of the ones you haven't read in twenty or thirty years.

If you enjoy the works of this truly great writer, this will make them even more enjoyable. It has a brisk style and forthright manner, that triggered in me a desire to go back and re-read some of the more forgotten titles of the man
429055
This is a reprint of a book originally published in the 19th century.  All the pages are readable but discolored by the aging of the material.  It is an amazing thorough study of how to prepare oneself to speak before the public.  Ancient and current  authors are included. If the advice and suggestions in the book  are  practiced thoroughly,  the reader will be an accomplished speaker.  I am amazed that the such book ever existed and  was published so many years ago.  It is a gem and one to be used over and over again, despite the troubling problem with the damage to the pages that can become tiresome while reading.  My suggestion is to put it away for a while,  and come back to it later.  A surprising coverage of what is current preparation for speakers  that was first published over a hundred years ago!
4224882
A collage of beautiful writings that require a unifying synthesis explaining the underlying reason for this shift in focus
4667836
i first read this book long ago when i was working at bear stearns as a stockbroker's assistant.  it was recommended to me at the time but i didn't truly understand the value and accuracy of the book until now.  like the previous reviewer, i ran across this book again 15 years later.  in the past year i've bought a dozen different sales books and browsed another dozen.  only after all this do i realize that i had a gem sitting on my shelf the whole time.
1718796
We were early adopters on the Kindle. I was lucky enough to think to get my order placed in time for a pre-Christmas delivery in 2007, and gave one to my wife.

Realizing that I probably wouldn't have thought to give her one unless I thought they were a good idea, she returned the favor in July of 2008. In the meantime I'd read a couple of books on hers, and helped her to find a host of good sites to download really good books that are in the public domain.

So by the time I got mine, I had everything set up. Betty presented me with some of my favorite type of books new from Amazon with my birthday, but I was really ready to dig into some Perry Mason, re-read Tarzan, Swiss Family Robinson, and some other classics I either hadn't read in decades or had somehow missed altogether.

Over the course of a few weeks I found that the stack of real books on my bedside table was going curiously untouched. Mulling it over, I realized that I'd gotten spoiled. I didn't really want to go back to having to turn pages, remember bookmarks, find lost places, or breath dust and mildew anymore. I certainly didn't want to carry heavy books on vacation or business trips again!

I look with pity at people toting around regular books now. In short, I've become a Kindle snob! LOL

Some early reviews listed drawbacks of Kindle. What they were really, was going thru a period of adjustment.

* Accidentally hitting the Next Page button? VERY rarely happens after a couple of days. It happens a lot less frequently than when I used to sit a real book down and lost my place by accident.

* Less content on a 'page'? Won't bother you.

* Waiting for the page to change? My wife and I, without prior discussion, found that we both naturally 'time it' so that we hit next page a few moments before we actually read the last words on the page. The page changes as we do, and so our reading is continuous. I never understood how people thought this was any worse than the much more severe 'real life' page change, anyway. When I started doing this I mentioned it to her, and found that she'd been doing it all along too.

Here's what I love, in addition to the points mentioned briefly above:

* Ability to adjust the text size. You just can't do this with a book unless you also carry around one of those 'page sized magnifiers' ... what a pain those are!

* Recovering room in our house. Books were slowly edging us out of our own home! LOL Now we have more than ever but the new ones take up no physical space.

* Never losing a book. Ever misplaced a book you were in the middle of reading, or can't find the one book you've just decided you MUST re-read? This is not an issue with the electronic versions. Just don't lose your Kindle!!!

* No waiting to get the book you really want. No trips to the bookstore or waiting for a postal delivery. The book you want is literally seconds away from being ready to read.

* Savings. If you work it smart, your Kindle will pay for itself, possibly several times over. ebooks generally cost less than the print versions, and there are THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of truly enjoyable books in the public domain that cost you only a bit of time to track them down and download them from the net. Get the free Mobi-pocket software ... it will become a good friend to you. ;-)

There's a lot more to enjoy about Kindle, but I've hit the highlights of my experience. You'll find others of your own once you have used one!
1663552
How to Reassess Your Chess, 4th Edition is a major rewrite (not just an update) of author Silman's classic that has helped chess students revolutionize their game and get better at not just playing chess but truly understanding it. I have the 3rd edition and the change is a quantum leap forward. I will speak about the differences but I also believe that this new edition needs some stand-alone review. In a nutshell, this is a must-have book.

Jeremy Silman has for years espoused the concept of imbalances on the chess board and has steered students toward making use of those imbalances and formulating plans regarding them. He has written two books in particular about imbalances, this one and one called The Amateur's Mind. (I do not count the Reassess Your Chess Workbook as it's an extension of the 3rd edition of Reassess Your Chess.) The basic ideas are very much the same - make use of minor pieces and the differences in how powerful they are in relation to your opponent's pieces, control of important squares, making use of space advantages, using the initiative to your advantage and so many more. These imbalances, when realized and then taken advantage of, can mean the difference between winning a very satisfying game and wondering where the game was lost.

He starts with a brief intro to the meaning behind the imbalances and quickly glosses over them. Much more important in the introduction, though, is the notion of planning. He explains his philosophy of planning and also explains where his ideas have changed over the years, a sign that he has learned from his own work as well.

After this introduction, he expands greatly on each type of imbalance and on the usefulness of each piece on the board. There is some overlap between these chapters, of course. Included in each chapter is the presentation of the concept, one or more instructive games that further expand on his point, and also some self-tests that give the reader a good opportunity to self-test the understanding. This is an excellent formula and it has worked well in his other books.

This book has taken on the same visual format as Silman's book on endgame study, which is a larger-page, clear font print that is easy to read and understand. My biggest complaint with the 3rd edition was that the typeface was absolutely dreadful and looked like a copy of a copy of a copy in several places, and the font was too small. New in this edition is the extensive index that breaks down where to find specific ideas and concepts, and it also lists where players' games have been referenced so that finding a specific player's instructive game is a lot easier. I have no complaints with the format at all.

This is a rewrite, not a revision, so even if you have an older edition this book is very different than it once was. All of the examples are different. Silman has done extensive analysis with the computer. He has revised his methods of planning. He has stated clearly that this book targets players in the 1400-2100 range - perfect for me and for most players. It's all new and definitely improved.

How to Reassess Your Chess, 4th Edition is an absolutely essential book on chess for any player who wants to improve his or her game. It presents a fabulous system for analyzing the game in progress and provides invaluable help for those looking to get better. It's a quantum leap forward from previous editions and is worth the price.
4138109
It links you to areas of the book and back to where you were up to again.  Very helpful book!
840742
Oh boy, I read this ages ago!! I remember loving it then, looks like it is time for a reread before I write up a proper review!
1797146
In his little book on the "well-read life" author Steve Leveen (the CEO and co-founder of Levenger) offers readers advice on how to get more mileage from their reading. His book is divided into five chapters. The fifth is given over primarily to concluding remarks. The third and fourth have to do with the rewards and history of, respectively, audiobooks and reading groups. The meat of Leveen's argument lies in the fifty-odd pages that make up his first two chapters, "Uncovering the Books That Will Change Your Life" and "Seizing More from Your Reading."

Leveen argues that readers will gain more from their reading by approaching the business of books systematically. The usual "accidental and ad hoc" means of selecting titles to read is unfortunate, he believes, because it is more likely to lead to unfulfilling reading experiences that "may dampen your enthusiasm, causing your reading to languish, sometimes for long periods." He advocates developing an extensive list of "candidates for your attention," that is, a list of books in which one is interested, either because of their subject matter or author or because they were recommended by friends or in reviews. The list is to be organized by subject headings and augmented throughout one's life. As a second step, Leveen suggests that readers acquire a great many of the books on their list. He is fully in favor of possessing a personal library that contains more books than one could possibly read so as to have a wide selection of quality books always at hand. (That sentiment may go some way toward alleviating the guilt of compulsive book buyers over their purchases.)

In his second chapter Leveen distills the recommendations of earlier authors on the art of reading and retaining information. He discusses, for example, Mortimer Adler's advice on approaching books as if from a high altitude: one scans a book first to get an idea of its structure, then reads it superficially to pick up its main arguments before sitting down, finally, to a serious analytical reading of the book. Leveen also discusses a variety of note-taking practices.

The reading approach Leveen advocates will not be for everyone. His suggestion that readers direct their reading by developing an organized list of book candidates will be of use almost exclusively to those who are interested in pursuing a course of private study through the reading of nonfiction. Readers with less serious goals in mind probably won't find that particular idea--which is, after all, one of the main points of the book--pertinent to their own situation. Leveen should perhaps have made more of this distinction between fiction and nonfiction reading in his text. His cursory look at the subject of engaged reading won't satisfy those who are serious about becoming more active readers themselves. But Leveen provides a great service in introducing his audience to the subject and pointing to books that will provide further information. His quick read will definitely be of interest to the readers on your shopping list.

Reviewed by Debra Hamel, author of Trying Neaira: The True Story of a Courtesan's Scandalous Life in Ancient Greece
3676206
My first copies were trade paperbacks, which wore out. Ive since replaced with Kindle copies. Periodic re-reads are like brain candy: lots of fun!
4633037
You'll re-consider the way you think about new businesses or products
3926195
Richard Bolles has published a new version of this book every year. I read it first in college and used it extensively when I worked as a career counselour. I also used it for career seminars. I can honestly say that every edition seems to be quite different from previous versions, so it is not a waste of money at all to buy a more recent version. (the most recent editions seem to talk about online job search, appropriately enough)As a writer, I can admire his work for its readability, sense of humor and gritty realism. Bolles tells some remarkable stories and while not directly applicable to your career area, they make you aware of how similiar job searching is regardless of your field. Before reading this, you should be aware of what this book is NOT: it does not provide resume advice nor does it provide very much advice about general trends in the job market. This book is a sobering dose of reality, but the interesting thing is that the reader finds this information heartening rather than disappointing because it unmasks many of the treacherous parts of the job search process. As such, this book is a great gift for a loved one who is out of work. It will make them feel good about themselves, and that is good, because a lot of unemployed approach job searches with a chip on their shoulder.
I used the exercises in the book with clients to help them analyze what they wanted in an ideal job because clients really had little idea what was important to them. Other readers might find that part helpful. I was a little surprised to find that the 2000 edition was smaller than previous versions. Bolles decided to reduce some of the religious/spiritual stuff and to cut out some of the reference lists (with the internet, a lot of references can be put online).
Overall, I was not impressed by how Parachute covers online job searching aside from discussing generalities. People really need to learn more about job boards like monster and how freelancing opportunities are opening up that never before existed.
Another thing is that I thought it was unnecessary to deemphasize the spiritual component in the latest version of the book. I'm not superreligious, but his stuff on the spiritual element added a unique perspective to the book and was nondenominational enough not to offend anyone. In summary: this is a milestone of a book. Bolles has spent his entire life making each version of the book better than the last. His effort shows.