"Not Scrapped, Not Useless, Not Forgotten"
593276
"New York City. 1931.  Amazing things were happening big and small..."  The Empire State Building was built, Babe Ruth hit his 611th home run, the Snickers candy bar was invented, the George Washington Bridge spanning the Hudson River was opened, and "on a sunny fresh day, the John J. Harvey fireboat was launched."  "There were 12 fireboats in New York City.  The Harvey was the largest, fastest and shiniest fireboat of them all."  It traveled up and down the river fighting fires on boats and liners and at the busy piers.  Fast forward to 1995.  New York no longer needed fireboats, and The Harvey was retired and sat rusting, waiting to be sold for scrap.  But then an amazing thing happened.  A group of friends decided to buy and save The Harvey.  They took her to a shipyard and fixed her up until she was bright and shiny and good as new.  "And once again the Harvey was on the water."  "But then on September 11, 2001 something so huge and horrible happened that the whole world shook..."  The John J. Harvey and her new crew knew they had to help.  "The water pipes were broken and buried.  And the fire trucks that had raced to the scene could not pump water.  The firefighters attached hoses to the Harvey..."  The Harvey worked around the clock for four days, until the fires were under control.  When it was finally time to go home, the crew had never seen anything so terrible, or felt so proud.  "The Harvey was a hero.  And everyone knew it."  Maira Kalman's marvelous tribute to the John J. Harvey and all the brave people who sprang into action on 9/11 is inspiring, and filled with history, drama, courage, determination, and triumph.  Her simple and straightforward text is complemented by her evocative, bold and busy illustrations that bring The Harvey's amazing story to life.  Together, word and art paint a vivid and uplifting portrait that is poignant and touching, but won't overwhelm children with frightening and lurid details.  Perfect for youngsters 5-9, Fireboat:  The Heroic Adventures Of The John J. Harvey is Ms Kalman at her best.  This is a book the entire family should read and share together, and is sure open important discussions and dialogue.
1579836
There are some interesting ideas to help us clear out our clutter. While I wouldn't be as drastic as she suggested, I found myself getting rid of stuff as I read. Those clothes herited when a friend died--out they go. The unfinished book--off to another home. I like her concept of asking "Does this spark joy?". If it doesn't then out it goes. No more guilty feelings about getting rid of stuff. If it served its purpose, then out it goes! I have more to go, but her book will help smooth the process.
1502524
Having become acquainted with the author several years ago, I cannot pretend to offer an unbiased review of his book.  I can only say that I found reading it to be rewarding.

As the title indicates, the author focuses on "Jewish secular endeavors" in the capital of Slovakia, now generally known as Bratislava, but also known as Pressburg or as Pozsony to its German and Hungarian populations.  Almost half the book is devoted to accomplishments by members of the Jewish community in the field of architecture, with the remainder devoted to accomplishments in a wide range of other fields, including (for example) painting, sculpture, science, medicine, philanthropy and commerce.

The author provides photographs of the people whose endeavors are featured, along with photographs or drawings to illustrate their accomplishments.  His brief description of each person's life often concludes with "perished in the holocaust," thus providing a somber reminder, if one is needed, of the fact that one's contribution to society meant nothing to those who were intent on eradicating the Jews.

I suspect that most people who are interested in the history of Bratislava -- or in the history of Slovakia generally -- will find this book to be a unique and valuable source of information.
2919497
An important book, actually: very useful for a collector.
2252403
The author's goal was to impress a general readership with the extraordinary work that engineers have done and still do, describing this aspect of American life -- the manufacture of useful products -- which is woefully under-reported and under-appreciated. He succeeds.
  This is not an engineering book, but describes the processes well enough not only to understand, but to just the right degree to enjoy the description. He also describes the lives of he people who do this work, again just to the right degree, as in enough to enjoy the story.
3713964
History used as a weapon rather than a road  map can be very misleading.  we have been able to create a pluralist society that has room for everyone.  We can not and should never forget what has made this nation the greatest place on the planet.
4962563
And that new thing is life.  It is Ms. Heller. Those complicit with Hitler's goals did not succeed in destroying the world that was her inheritance.  Paul Heller preserved it for her. Today, I am thankful for her having the generosity of spirit to share it with me.
2896483
As a bibliophile who hates to part with books, I no longer have to carry out the distasteful task of throwing them away. Unfortunately, most of us have books that we don't want. Every year, libraries are forced to discard old text books and extra copies of has-been bestsellers. Jason Thompson, in Playing with Books, offers a clever way to recycle, or, "upcycle," books that even the library used book sale doesn't want. The book features numerous projects for those unwanted books and pass texts. Instead of reluctantly tossing books into the recycle bin--where only a small percentage are recy-cled anyway--even an amateur can turn pages and book covers into objects both useful and beautiful. Some projects require only scissors, glue and a pair of eager hands. More complicated ones might necessitate a router or a jigsaw.

Although some can be  constructed by a child, others are sophisticated enough for one adult to give to another. Envelopes and boxes assembled from book pages make fine enclosures for gifts, and the author even includes instructions so you can top off your gift box with an exquisite bow fashioned from yet another page. Decorative book pages are converted into a book bag--an old book carries your new books!

Thompson's imagination has taken flight. Every time I pick up the book I am amazed at a project I missed before.
1556343
From the lean historian and Shingo Prize winning author of&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Better-Thinking-Better-Results/dp/0972259120/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Better Thinking, Better Results</a>&nbsp;comes this thought provoking workbook.

Provided the reader can accept the imperfections, "work in process" feel and brutally straightforward tone, this book provided more impactful reflection than from any of the over 100 titles in my lean library.

"I write books to help me understand things so that I can help other people understand things." quote from:&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/REAL-LEAN-The-Keys-to-Sustaining-Lean-Management-Volume-Three/dp/0972259163/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">REAL LEAN: The Keys to Sustaining Lean Management (Volume Three)</a>

A prolific lean historian and author who admits to writing for discovery, Bob Emiliani offers numerous brilliant insights, amongst the "noise" of his own thinking process.  His pioneering work on the role of Respect for People and non Zero Sum thinking strikes us as especially useful.

Summary:  Several years ahead of his time, this frank book which challenges why the vast majority of organizations fail in the long run with lean, is a refreshing source of new reflections, especially for those leaders determined to be in the small minority who succeed.

Our team looks forward to testing the efficacy and side effects of this powerful medicine.

Also of interest may be his other works {reviews to follow}, including:
<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Real-Lean-Understanding-the-Lean-Management-System-Volume-One/dp/0972259112/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Real Lean: Understanding the Lean Management System (Volume One)</a>
<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Real-Lean-Critical-Issues-and-Opportunities-in-Lean-Management-Volume-Two/dp/0972259147/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Real Lean: Critical Issues and Opportunities in Lean Management (Volume Two)</a>
<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/REAL-LEAN-Learning-the-Craft-of-Lean-Management-Volume-Four/dp/0972259171/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">REAL LEAN: Learning the Craft of Lean Management (Volume Four)</a>
2793330
This is third edition of a book on surviving B-17 bombers. The author reports on the status of 48 basically complete and 11 partial airframes; this out of a total of 8,680 units.

The book is a bit like a family album brought up to date at reunions. But, unlike a family where members die while others are born, the B-17 family, while static in count, is improving with age. While the number of airworthy B-17s slipped from 14 in 1990 to 12 in 2008, the next few years could see the count rise by as many as five. Concurrently, a number of aircraft have been restored to near-new though static condition with two others - the equally legendary Memphis Belle and Ole Betsy/The Swooze - in the loving hands of the National Museum of the US Air Force.

Author Thompson begins the book by describing the drawdown and scrapping of the B-17 after World War Two. He covers post-war military uses Before moving to civilian uses. This broad overview is then followed by the meat of the book. Thompson works his way through the surviving, complete aircraft in numerical order by serial number, providing a history of the individual aircraft and a current status report. The sections vary from two to five pages and include photos from across the plane's lifetime. This is followed by brief reports on partial aircraft and unrecovered airframes. The book closes out with seven appendices that are a bit bureaucratic in nature addressing issues such as cross-referencing military serial numbers and civil registration. It is here that the book's only shortcoming can be found. One appendix lists B-17 appearances in movies; it has not been update past 1995.

As another reviewer said, this is a book for B-17 lovers...saying that is the highest complement that can be given.
4182994
Keeping for posterity and collection. Keep hope alive!
1613592
This planner gives me enough space to be creative, enough structure to be clear, and leaves nothing wasted. I plan to gift it to my fellow planner enthusiasts!
3697448
Pioneers, Engineers, and Scoundrels: The Dawn of the Automobile in America
by Beverly Rae Kimes

Birthdays are good. Really.

Think about it. Birthdays mark the more-or-less-successful achievement of surviving another year. Some do find more celebratory ways to observe these anniversaries of survival than others. Case in point: SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) observed its 100th birthday in 2005 and, among the ways it chose to observe its centenary, it published a book. More to SAE's credit, it wasn't a self-centered book about itself but rather a seminal tome about the very beginnings of the auto industry--authored by a very special person with an impeccable reputation for careful research and equal care with the writing.

That stellar author was Beverly Rae Kimes (1939-2008). Some of you reading these words may not be familiar with Ms Kimes. But look in nearly any issue of Automobile Quarterly--if her name isn't on the masthead under "staff" (and even when it is), look for articles with her byline. They are, simply and irrefutably, among the best--the best researched, the best writing of the best-told stories and articles. Then there are the Krause published Standard Catalogs--Bev Kimes' name is prominent as one of those who made these publications not merely possible, but a reality. There's more...but you get the idea.

In Pioneers, Engineers, and Scoundrels she has told those best stories in another way; weaving the early days of automobiles and automobiling in America into a whole that enables the reader to easily understand which events and developments were happening when and when they were concurrent or paralleling one another. As her book traces the morphing of the horseless carriage into real automobiles, she reveals the people--rascals and even those less colorful, more pedantic--who made it happen.

SAE, the publisher, merits a scant mention in the narrative mainly because the organization was understandably every bit as young as the fledgling industry, yet both are inextricably intertwined. The men, with names recognized and associated with one car or another, were often the same men who were influential officers of this then-new professional organization. Examples include the first president of SAE, Albert L Riker, the chief engineer who developed the Locomobile's gasoline engine. Cadillac's Henry Leland was SAE's president in 1913, which was (irony or not?) the same year that his allegiance (employment) went from GM to Ford. Regardless of which manufacturer he served, during his SAE presidency Leland toured Europe. Upon his return he warned any who would listen to him that Europe, "would soon erupt and America should be ready." Leland himself would be ready, willing, and able--as evidenced by his work developing the Liberty aircraft engines.

Kimes conveys her reader back into the 1920s. Then, by the time she and her reader arrive at the epilogue, there's the neat ribbon she has tied around the entire package that resolves the stories, the careers and lives of each of those key automotive pioneers. Equal kudos are due to Kimes for the writing and to SAE for publishing. The reader is the ultimate winner.

Copyright 2009, Helen V Hutchings (speedreaders.info)
1384832
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. Santayana's seminal quote, while often dismissed as trite, has the ring of truth to carry it forward.  Rebecca Gordons newest book is an attempt to give us, as a nation, an opportunity to remember a past that wed much rather forget.

While I initially had some measure of discomfort with the evocation of the Nuremberg Trials, mainly because of the scope of the Holocaust seems so much greater than that of the so-called War on Terror, Gordons thorough and meticulous account of the multitude of crimes committed by nearly a generations worth of American politicians was incredibly persuasive.  She has clearly done her homework - as evidenced by her ability to not only cite chapter and verse of applicable International Law, but also to guide the reader through her argument with documented facts and, in many cases, the words of the accused themselves.

She pulls no punches and spares no one.  Even the current administration is called to account for its advocation of drone strikes as a cleaner method to fight our own Dirty War.  It is particularly dismaying to realize that what could have been a legacy of renewal for the Obama administration, after two terms of bitter political divide and the weariness of nearly a decade of war, will be forever marred by a continuation, if not escalation, of the mistakes of its predecessors.

This book has particular relevance today, in the heat of an unprecedented level of bellicose campaign rhetoric and an increasing frequency of attacks in Europe and the Middle East.  Our next president will have to make a choice on how to deal with ISIS, whether or not to take us into a third decade of an undefined war, and whether or not to bring an end to an indefensible treatment of fellow human beings.  I would hope that each and every candidate for elected office, from municipal to federal level, takes a few hours to read this book and think hard about how far we have removed ourselves from our humanity.  Because while our elected officials are, indeed, responsible for their own actions, we are the ones that not only put them there - we are the ones that keep them there.

I look forward to a new Nuremberg.
3540755
Freedman and Abrahamson make a marvelous case for driving the burgeoning legions of neatniks and professional organizers out of town (think Jesus and the moneylenders here).

  Feel guilty about being a little messy and disorganized? Don't. Einstein was, and he got by nicely. Ditto Bill Gates. The authors debunk the "dangers" of a range of messiness from simple closet clutter (so, remember those baseball cards you tossed 50 years ago that now would be worth a Duke Snider-ish ransom?) to socio-political disorganization (Arnold Schwartzenegger, of all people, - a slob? Yo, what gives?)

  What gives is very simple - sometimes it takes, (ugh!) poop, to make things bud, grow and flourish. Creative types have a history of being a bit disorganized (hey, remember, no mess in Alexander Flemings' lab, no penicillin, and think about that the next time you're down for the count with a terminal case of the sneezies.)

  Rigid organization and planning? Fine and dandy concepts, indeed, but the authors sprinkle more than a few grains of salty resiliency and flexibilty on 'em. The pro organizers may be appalled by seat-of-the-chinos, on-the-fly planning but the Marines (Yup, THOSE Marines!) have a saying -  "plan too far ahead - plan twice". You gonna call a Marine an undisciplined, messy thinker, not me, pal.

  Freedman and Abrahamson trace the history of mess from medeival times to the present (and hope for more of it in the future).

  After reading "A Perfect Mess:", I casually tossed it aside - and left it there. The authors would have understood perfectly.
1781263
A delightful tale of the important contributions of folks who were in danger of being forgotten by history.
The specifics are historically important. The theme of women who took their talents to their full potentials is perhaps more subtle, but at least as important to inspire readers to no be held back or shut down by the expectations or prejudices of others.
3630623
This book is worth buying as it provides some insights and photos of the Staffordshire Hoard that I've not seen elsewhere.

The hoard, for those who don't follow such things, is probably the biggest and most diverse example of preserved original material we have found showing the ancient metalwork techniques of the British Isles. It shows native examples objects made by casting, carving, chasing, repouse, soldering, inlay, hammering and lots more. It demonstrates design motifs which have been largely lost and those which have changed over the centuries.