Lots of buried treasure here
341609
It's been awhile since I read a book that I wanted to recommend to career and business clients. This one makes the cut

Other authors have attempted to describe what Alboher calls "slash careers," with considerably less success. What makes this book work is the emphasis on realism. Alboher offers numerous examples. We learn about teachers who become real estate agents and fashion models, lawyers who become artists and writers, and at least one banker who does hip-hop.

Because so many stories can be overwhelming, I do not recommend attempting to read the book in a single sitting. Instead, read a little here and there and begin to take notes.

The second part of Alboher's book attempts to be a "how-to," but continues to use stories as examples. I believe Alboher's guidelines are unusually realistic and thoughtful. She covers points that might escape the new slash careerist, such as legal and ethical conflicts of interest, inviting specialists to supplement her knowledge. For example, she asked a workplace specialist to create 10 guidelines for balancing parenting and career. A flextime specialist explains the need to focus on economic reasons for flextime, not just good intentions. And a coach presents an excellent "ask your friends" exercise that would help almost anyone exploring a new field.

I particularly resonated to the section on boundaries between the two careers. In my own case, I still maintain a career consulting website. But I also offer copywriting and website marketing services, based on what I learned from this site. I find my clients don't have a problem, but marketing consultants often become critical and advise me to drop one or the other. Alboher answers the question, "How much to tell?" correctly: "It depends."

Finally, at the end of the book, Alboher presents some examples of resumes, bios and other promotional material. It's important to view these pages as possibilities, not models. Alboher carefully points out that some people have totally different resumes for their careers, while others offer creative combos. Apart from being slash examples, the resumes could be viewed as models of resume-writing. The "Billy Shakes" bio is not to be missed.

So what's not to like?

Well, I couldn't help noting that most (though not all) of Alboher's examplary slashers were on the young side -- rarely over 40, let alone 50 or 60. My clients tend to be mid-career professionals and they'll gain a lot from this book. But they may have trouble seeing themselves in many of the stories.

Second, nearly everyone in this book seemed to fall into a second career by accident and to achieve great success, apparently without effort. There's little sense of planning or decision-making. In contrast, Herminia Ibarra's Working Identity takes readers through struggles of ordinary career changers who conducted research and attempted to create a process. Alboher quotes briefly from Working Identity and I believe these books nicely complement one another.

Toward the end we do hear about a few conflicts, as when a teacher took too many absences to pursue his wrestling career. But surely some people set out to seek a slash, only to find they lack aptitude or interest as they explore further.

These quibbles do not represent fatal flaws. I plan to recommend this book to a few of my current clients as soon as I finish posting this review.
2723556
For the genealogist/historian interested in English history, this book provides a look at a little-known (at least to me) resource, the parish chest, which potentially (should it survive fire, invasion, riots and pestilence) holds birth, baptism, death, titles, and such tidbits as 'records of touching for the king's evil.'  There are thousands of parishes across England, and potentially thousands of parish chests.  Even finding the chest should provide an adventure and a story worth telling.  This is a great enrichment to the history/story of English villages and towns, families and kin, and all the fascinating minutiae of life in earlier times.
1749594
If you enjoy the treasures you find at estate sales you'll love this story. The family wants to liquidate everything. While hired to clean and price things they unearth some secrets. Tragedy and secrets are finally exposed. It's an interesting who-done-it.
3341184
I was thrilled to read this book, it had lots of history information on the area and a lot on my own  families history.  Jessie's and his mothers  testimony at the end of the book was a great treasure  find.  I am very thankful to Robert Peabody for putting this book together.
4705769
There are nuggets of gold on almost every page.  A book to be treasured and read many times over.  What a blessing!
3496545
This book, while handwritten, is a fantastic historical reference to the South Platte area.  Unfortunately, the area has been severely altered after 3 big fires (one of which was the biggest in Colorado history).  Some of the roads that access these areas are closed, and some other rocks featured in this book are privately owned, and now off limits.  That makes this book more valuable.  Part of its value is its scarcity - I don't know how many were printed, but I'm sure it isn't many.  It is a book bound with ring-clips and carboard stock.  It will likely only be of interest to those people who either climb or have climbed in the region, but it does provide some interesting insight into the area before the age of the beautiful guidebooks we have nowadays.  Interestingly, there are routes and rocks featured in this early print that are NOT featured in the 88 or 97 printing.  Climbing book junkies like myself will prize owning this.
4858108
Places that can be of interest and value! Had one not had the finds in this book, a trip to The Chez Republic would have been more difficult
3724383
I get the impression that the author spent a few years buried in the Convair archives at the San Diego Aerospace Museum digging up all of this arcane information. Given the sheer numbers of entries and the limits on how big a given book can be, I don't much miss a lot of data on each entry. Probably, there isn't much available on a lot of these prujects, because they were (mercifully) terminated at an early stage. It is facinating to review the Consolidated penchant for flying boats and amphibians of all sizes, shapes and roles.
265260
I actually thought I had read this already but realized that was The Island Of Lost Maps by Miles Harvey I had read once I saw it referenced in the text. Similar storylines in that both books are about map thieves and take you deep into the weird and wild world of map collecting and the cartographic archives at libraries where thieves prey on the unprepared.

The book is about one thief, E. Forbes Smiley III. No, you can't make up a name like that nor can you make up this much larger than life character and his tale of crime.

As a geographer, I'm fascinated by maps anyway but also to learn why and how people get into very niche areas of collecting old maps. The way history literally unfolds via how maps evolve is another story worth telling, but the thievery and lack of transparency in much of this niche part of the collectibles' world would even dumbfound art thieves. The amounts of money people pay for maps is also jaw dropping given I found most of these maps less than beautiful artistically. Historically significant but attempts at "art" in their drawing only makes me wonder, how the heck did people read these maps in the Age Of Exploration let alone the Colonial Age?

I won't give away any of the plot, but the book is obviously written because the thief got caught. Even though you know the end, go along for the ride. You won't be disappointed.
2438085
This is part of a series highlighting significant finds from the UK Portable Antiquities program.  Metal detectorists bring in their finds.  Anything gold or silver is considered treasure but it really is all treasure to us archaeologists.  This book focused on Oxfordshire but there are ones for other counties too.  I liked the organization which focused on the chronology beginning with the introduction, a chapter on the landscape, and then the finds from the Stone Age right thru to modern times.  Also, since you can only pick 50, it concentrates the mind wonderfully.  All finds are accessible via the database from the PAS as well.
361475
Those who have come to look forward to Sara Marie Hogg's regular Monday blog posts can find all of them and more collected in this book. There are all kinds of mysteries here, all based on real events. Worth your time.
286566
THIS BOOK WAS SO MUCH LIKE THE MYSTERY ABOUND IN ST.AUGUSTINE,FLA. SOME MAY FIND IT A LITTLE OUT THERE,BUT YOU HEAR A LOT OF THIS TYPE OF SWAMP LIVI OLD PERSON HERE AND CAN STILL FIND THESE STORIES HERE. YOU MUST SEE IF YOU BELIEVE TO ENJOY.
1202639
I enjoyed the vitality and depth of Adrian Lee's exploration of haunted areas of the Midwest. He and his team contacted the original and long-dead residents of these locations by using electronic tools and psychic abilities. The information received was then researched by Adrian using historical documents on file, usually in musty basements and backrooms. Adrian's book provides fresh insights and details on tales of these locations, in some cases finding the tales to be impossible and unfounded, like at the admittedly haunted Forepaugh's restaurant. In other locations he reveals surprising information that was nearly lost to time, like the long-removed maid's bell in the Christie House. You will enjoy his description of the locations, and the spookiness of the voices he contacts, just wanting to get their stories told before disappearing into time.
1955220
I found Riches Stored in Secret Places to be quite the learning tool for going deep into a verse and asking yourself 5 important uestions that you answer as you are studying a passage.  I really enjoy this author.
367547
"One woe is past. Behold, still two more woes are coming after these things." -- Revelation 9:12 (NKJV)

If you are like me, you probably read each novel in the 39 Clues series at high speed. I wanted to find the next clue, to see who would be a double-dealer next, and to learn who had done what to whom in the past. As a result, a lot of the details didn't exactly stick like glue in my head. If so and you cherish the stories, you'll appreciate having a chance to see a lot of the information you've read presented in a more organized, concise form in The Black Book of Buried Secrets. You'll also see lots of veiled references to the Vespers.

Surprise, surprise! There's a new 39 Clues series coming beginning with Vespers Rising by Rick Riordan, Peter Lerangis, Gordon Korman, and Jude Watson on April 5, 2011. Naturally, you'll need to refer back to the Black Book of Buried Secrets to make the most sense out of that new series.

So if you liked the first ten books, this eleventh one is an essential reference for the next series of ten.

The book has a tongue-in-cheek opening where Rick Riordan provides a fictional story for the book's origin in his role as a Janus operative. From there, you read profiles of the Madrigal, Lucian, Ekaterina, Tomas, and Janus branches of the Cahill family starting with a brief summary and then looking at the founders, continuing with the agents, and ending with descriptions of their home bases. Some of the fictional stories about founders and agents are quite humorous.

The book is illustrated with photographs and images of some of the characters. These were unpleasant surprises in some cases because the people didn't look to me the way the stories had portrayed them. See what you think of the photograph of Grace Cahill, for instance. I'm not sure I would have wanted her to be my grandmother.

A few of the descriptions of historical figures looked to me as if they came out of Classics Illustrated comic books rather than history books. So don't plan to write any school papers for history class based on these thumbnail sketches.

But it's all in good fun. Have a ball!
239268
It has been a long time since I was in the library (I think it was high school).  I thought the internet would provide me with most of my needs now but I was amazed at how much I was missing. This is a fun book that really has gotten me involved.  I have been down to the local library about 5 times now and many of the answers to the 100 questions can be found there.  I also like the combination of different types of information that is needed.  I love mysteries and what can be better than an actual 300 year old mystery?  Puzzles have always intrigued me and I know that this game can be solved.  I have a sister living in another state and she was able to identify some information that was really close to her.  It seems like a team game and I am hooked.  No more lotteries or bingos for me.  I want to earn this money and with a little luck and ingenuity, I will.  Of course it is not a million dollars, but overall it seems to offer more value because you actually have to work for it.  I can't wait to finish all the questions and put the clues together.  I wonder where it will lead me in America?  Digging up a treasure box is worth the time and effort.
277077
Muirhead's Mysteries is nothing short of a delight - a cornucopia of press clippings, personal correspondence and informative nuggets from the deepest, darkest (and surely dustiest!) corners of the world wide web.
As a first-class researcher, Richard has a talent for unearthing all manner of weird and wonderful stories about the natural world. There are some truly strange tales to be told within these pages including those of flying snakes, showers of snails (ew!), giant lizards and ridiculously large spiders (double 'ew!')...I could go on, but it's better if you pick up a copy for yourself to browse. You certainly won't be bored!