Striaght to the Point, Useful and Challenging
596723
Along the line of Let's Write a Short Story by Joe Bunting, I'm writing this review in a list format, so that I, too, can be straight to the point, yet include a lot of information.
1.  Accountability. Joe's book starts right out asking the reader to promise to write and submit a short story to a literary magazine. He engages his readers by making them accountable. There is a curious satisfaction in doing that as the reader feels part of the process as she reads.
2.  How-to details are succinctly described and not lost in a lot of verbiage. Sort of like a short story which must be, well, short. "Besides length, one of the major things distinguishing short stories from other literary forms is they usually feature one major event. In this way, short stories are event-driven rather than character-driven."
3.  The book has lots of helpful links just at the point where the reader is wondering how to approach a particular suggestion. These are like footnotes, only better, as the reader has the option to click and see so much more.
4.  He covers the five elements of storytelling in a short but complete list. This is a topic about which volumes have been written. Bunting assumes his readers (writers, after all) can fill in the spaces. Again, he mimics short story style in this way.
5.  Bunting has a way of challenging the reader to be the best he/she can be. He asks "What do you have to complete to die satisfied?" Wow! Talk about a cut-to-the-heart-of-the-matter question.
6.  The book also includes mundane but absolutely necessary notes on titles, correct format, fonts, weeding out weak words, spacing, margins and correct paragraphing for short stories.
7.  Oh, and finally, Bunting gives a concise accounting of rights and their reversion back to the author. He then proceeds to show what that author might do to republish the story.
I planned to write this review last week but got so excited about following the book's suggestions to revamp my own short stories that I needed more time. If that isn't a telling comment about the effectiveness of Let's Write a Short Story, I don't know what is.
3285979
This is actually Ryan Quinn - I use my wife's Amazon account.

When I was listening to this book, and I got to the chapter on the challenges of stepping out of your comfort zone, I was initially tempted to jump ahead to the solutions. The pragmatic side of me felt like chapters on the "challenges" of a certain topic are often just obligatory chapters included to persuade skeptics, and I just wanted to jump ahead to the practical parts. Since I was driving a car at the time, though, it was not a convenient time to jump ahead, and in the end, I was glad I didn't. I was surprised at how useful I found it to have the challenges laid out for me. And particularly to have them laid out for me with so many short but detailed and engaging stories. As a result, I was able to see that the challenges applied to me more than I thought they did, and that there were more ways in which my comfort zone affects me than I had taken the time to think about. It was worth the listen.

The whole book shared this effect. Molinsky takes a topic that is a real issue for most people in one way or another, but which has become clich, and instead dives in deeply, carefully, and in an engaging way. He shows that getting out of your comfort zone is more complex than just "sucking it up," but then distills the process of getting out of your comfort zone in to three categories (conviction, customization, and clarity) that you can easily remember because of the alliteration. And as important as his suggestions are for helping, the stories he uses to illustrate this are engaging as well as feeling real and relatable. Within 24 hours of finishing the book I began seeing applications for myself and for others.
4438766
Good  solid and direct  feedback on how to tackle this very challenging area of my life!
50542
well done and useful with just the right amount of background
4603845
Goals can be a very intimidating subject for many people.  This book takes that fear away by explaining why setting goals can appear to be challenging on the very first page.  Once Robert eases the reader's apprehension during the first couple of pages, the path is cleared for a very concise and simple approach to setting goals and seeing a major change in your life.

I consider myself fairly well versed in goal setting, but I found this book to offer me new insights in lessons that I had missed in the past.  I would recommend it for anyone who is taking the first step in goal setting, and I would also recommended it to those who consider themselves more seasoned.
3005188
Having many short chapters, this excellent book offers a worth reading and useful pastime for the ones interested in the art of thinking clearly, as the title suggests.

Most of the thoughts presented along the book are not new to me, but the author gives straightforward and clear explanations that clarify those thoughts. Dobelli goes straight to the point without lengthy and unnecessary reasoning, his arguments being too convincing and logical. In short, Dobelli pinpoints the main biased thoughts people have and how to overcome them.
3113419
I am currently studying Tactics, including online and in books.  Most of them are theme orientated, which is good, as my first name, my middle name, and my last name, is Tactics until I reach my goal of Expert player, but this book is different:  it is taken from positions in games (most from 2010-2011) where one move had instant impact in everything from winning a pawn, to causing instant resignation.  It is well written, easy to understand, and the author asks the reader to take up to 20 minutes to analyze the position and work through the candidate moves chosen with one bringing forth consequence.  There are 300 puzzles, no board needed, with the solutions in the back.  Of particular value is the written hint to help the club player know what to look for without the more obvious "find the fork" or "mate in 3" theme books.  Although these are of great value (I am working through them for pattern recognition) this is a fresh break and is causing me to do far more exploration of the position.  Interestingly, he gives a rating-type system of self-scoring, and although not as scientific as "Chess Exam" (Igor Khmelnitsky) which was based upon the responses of rated players from 1200 to Grandmasters (see review), it is useful for the likely intended audience which is likely the 1200-1700 players.  The book is small, and easy to carry about, and great for daily study in bed, or perhaps on commute or break.  It is packed with exciting positions which, each and every, appears to be equal, that is, equal, if not for the tactical breakthrough.

This is clearly a step up for those of us who are doing pattern recognition and fits the niche perfectly between the "mate in 2" books and the strategic books due to the positional equity that appears in the real games.  The author has done a great deal of research in choosing professional games of late and finding the exciting game-changing positions.  This gives the book a certain feel of tension and excitement, bringing the reader 'into' the battle.

My intention is to work through the book several times, as I hope that some pattern recognition (remove the defender, for example) will become instinctive.  The author's sober comments and advice is encouraging and helpful.

***** Stars.
1510940
I am reviewing a copy of "The Together Leader" by Maia Heyck-Merlin that I received at no cost through the Amazon Vine program.

This was somewhat an odd pick for me because I'm not in a formal leadership role and I'm not at a not-for-profit, which is the primary audience of the book. But what spoke to me is that I struggle is in organizing multiple competing deadlines while keeping in-progress towards longer-term project goals, and this book seemed to be designed with that balance in mind.

I was not let down - in fact, I continue to delve into this masterful workbook and find new nuggets. Ms. Heyck-Merlin has created a very accessible resource that is immediately useful even as one reads through it. The chapters are short, to the point, and friendly in the sense that there are no strange keywords, deep theories about human nature, or woeful dependence upon expensive resources. She wrote this with the idea that it be useful, and it shines through from chapter 1 forward. The introduction to each concept is brief and there are multiple examples, mostly from school administrators or teachers, of to implement. The idea isn't to stick with one thing but rather to do whatever works.

It turns out that the focus on school administrators works quite well for my work, even though I work in I.T. Our Agile project management has a just-in-time focus which emphasizes breaking down longer-term goals into shorter-term results that can be targeted in a day's work or less. However, Agile is not meant to connect a functional team member with a year-long goal, or a goal that exists outside of the scope of the current project. So the concepts laid out in "The Together Leader" fill in that gap nicely. Indeed, for continual career development it is essential to look beyond the current project or even the next project and to see where you and your organization are going in the next six months to year.

I also have to call out the number of resources that Ms. Heyck-Merlin provides on her website. She is a true believer in her work, knows it does great things for those who use it, and wants to evangelize the tools that work.

Five stars for the first time management book I've gotten excited about in at least five years.
4963517
This book's been enjoyable and useful to read. There are some sections which didn't give me a lot of value, and I think some hard trimming to shorten the book's length would have been useful, but overall it's been a positive addition to my bookshelf.

I don't line up 100% with Berkun's approach to project management - he seems to be  heavy on loading up on extensive documentation up front, and he's seemingly tepid about specs being a conversation vehicle between stakeholders and developers. I'm adamant that specs need to evolve with the stakeholders, analysts, devs, testers, and other team members being active participants in the process.

Those nits aside, I got great value out of a number of Berkun's chapters, particularly those around leadership and trust, decision making, and recovering when things go wrong. He's also got exercises at the end of each chapter which help get thought-provoking juices flowing.  Additionally, there's a lot of small, useful details in this book as well, ranging from writing good e-mails to advice on running meetings.

Overall it's been a good read and I'd happily recommend it.
2458407
The author achieves the hard task of explaining the subject in a very simple and, at the same time, intelligent way. The MATLAB m-files are short, educative and full of useful tricks. The book is well motivated, focused in the essentials and easy to read. I am very fond of most of Prof. Trefethen writings and this book is no disappoitment. It contrasts starkly with the lack of mathematical insight in most of the engineering collocation literature, but at the same time has a hands-on approach to the problems. This book should be useful to anybody interested in solving PDE in regular geometries.
1337932
Another great piece.  I am an avid follower and this book does not disappoint in more interesting concepts of spiritual growth.  This latest book is certainly challenging at many level: both at the individual level as well as at the group level.  Examples drawn to explain the concept were focused on Gary and his wife, Linda, which was a little monotonous and I wish that more examples were used so I could relate to the lessons. Gary took great care to repeat the lesson a number of times, which does help as there were many new points, for me at least, and I needed to be reminded what I was suppose to be learning.  It is definitely a moderately more 'advanced' relative to other books previously written by Gary, but I think it is one of his deeper teachings.  There were also summaries at the end of each chapter to help reaffirm the key points raised in the chapter.  Definitely a book that I will come back to again.  I love it when I know there are still lessons for me to grasp and struggle with.  All I know is how much I have advanced since i first read the 'seat of the soul'!
22938
Concise and clear guide to the stated topics. It's not overwhelming with excessive description - just "cuts to the chase" with clearly understandable examples. Language is one of my easier efforts, but I still find this a very useful tool. Should be excellent for those who find it more of a challenge, or didn't get good instruction in school.
3614499
The author seeks to provoke a useful mindset. He goes from pithy macro principles, and fills in with micro examples and a few practical keys for implementing.

I highly recommend this relatively short read.
3542016
I really appreciate how the author takes a room by room approach going through each step to help us focus on progress. This book has challenged me to keep moving and it's given me specific tools in which to do this task. Time to get to work!
25334
When I got the opportunity to read and review this book, I was rather excited about it, as I haven't read a book specifically on the topic of leadership in quite some time. This book did not disappoint. While it is aimed at individuals who are in a corporate or ministerial position of leadership, and my only role of leadership currently is that of parent, I still was able to glean a lot of good from this book.

In this book the author outlines five essentials for good leadership.

The first is competence. The author advises those in leadership positions to focus on developing their strengths and delegating their weaknesses. He says that you will be most valuable to your organization if you focus on doing what only you can do and improving yourself in the areas you're most needed. I liked the analogy he gave, that if you're juggling several balls, and you drop a few of them, you'll be able to juggle the ones left over far more skillfully, and chances are that someone else will gladly pick up the balls you dropped, as your weaknesses may be their strengths. The basic concept here is that less is more.

The second essential is courage. The author says that chances are, many people see the changes that need to be made, but it takes courage to actually step out and start making those changes, and that is part of what defines a leader.

The third essential is clarity. This is one that stood out to me as I was reading the book, because so many examples of it that I've seen and experienced personally came to mind. Basically, in the midst of uncertainty, the one who is able to give clear directions is the one who will be seen as a leader. The leader doesn't have to be certain about decisions, but directions given need to be clear in order to be followed. Clarity and confident decision making instill confidence in those who are following.

The fourth essential is coachability. This section of the book gave a lot of great advice on why one needs a coach and also how to go about finding one.

The fifth essential is character. The author starts out by saying that positions of leadership can be attained without character, but that there is a difference between being followed and being worthy of being followed. I also really liked what the author said here about how illogical it is to violate the principles of God as a means of maintaining the blessings of God.

Overall I found this to be a really good book, and I'm glad to be able to add it to my growing personal library. It is a short book, easy to read, and rich in positive teaching.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
2484718
A lot of RPG guides are lacking, leaving out critical details or useful methods, or reducing everything to random table rolls that don't hang together very well. This book takes a methodical, useful, well-thought-out approach for creating an RPG world.

I would have added one more step during realm development: aggregating subordinate realms into their larger entities. It's perhaps implied, but there's no step that calls out the process. For example, if a barony, county, or duchy gets its authority from a king, you should figure out where that king is. You might take a duchy-sized realm and decide it's the king's own personal domain, and then you can assign other baronies and counties to that kingdom. Similarly, if you've got a very large realm that you're calling a kingdom or empire, you could break it down into some counties.

The book's population densities are *extremely* sparse, and probably not sustainable. I'll grossly oversimplify Central Place Theory into this rule of thumb: For a given settlement in one category, it takes about 6 other settlements of the next smaller category, within reach, to sustain it. A major city needs about 6 minor cities within reach. A minor city needs about 6 towns within reach. A town needs about 6 villages within reach.

What's within reach? For a medieval European-like population density, here's another rule of thumb: Divide the population by 100. (Divide by 10 if you want a much sparser population; this is just a fudge factor anyway.) That's the distance, in miles, to the next settlement of equal or larger size. Start with your largest settlement, say, a great city of 50,000. The next great city would be at least 500 miles away. Now you need six surrounding cities in order for the great city to thrive. Say they each have a population of 15,000. Divide by 100, and you find that these lesser cities should be about 150 miles from each other and the great city, if the great city is going to thrive. That's about 6 hexes at the 24-mile scale. Each of these lesser cities needs six towns, and suppose they each have a population of 2000. The towns should be about 20 miles from each other and their city (adjacent hexes at the 24-mile scale). Now each town needs about six villages (e.g., pop. 800). Those villages will be about 8 miles from each other and their town - too small to show at the 24-mile scale. You can subdivide further if you want pocket settlements surrounding each village. Another rule of thumb: Divide the village population by 1000 to determine how far the cultivated area radiates out, in miles. A village of 800 has farmland reaching out about 0.8 miles. If the villages are 8 miles apart, and the farmland extends only 0.8 miles, what's in between? Abandoned land, unfarmable land, minor wilderness, trackless forests, etc. Fudge all these numbers to your heart's content, but if you want to create something plausibly sustainable, don't make things TOO sparse.

While the book doesn't mention any particular game system explicitly, it was clearly born out of the AD&D2 system. That's not a big deal, because you can easily substitute your own game system's alignment concepts and creature types.

All in all, the book is a great resource for building your own RPG world.
2497589
Amongst several medium reads, this is one of the most useful.

Why is this book worthy of a five star? (A five star review means that I love this book)

- There is is a methodical approach towards bettering one's self

- The subject flow is smooth

- The title is clearly explained and then the concept of expansion is dealt

- Each chapter is accompanied by a worksheet (Provides clarity)

- The book's structure is clear and useful

- The user would appreciate this book better than the reader.

- A fine effort

Readability 4.25/5
Understandability 4/5
Lay out, structure 4/5
Value for money 4.5/5
Usefulness 4.5/5