Book Description
My new friends have begun to suspect I haven’t told them the full story of my life.
“Why did you leave Sierra Leone?”
“Because there is a war.”
“You mean, you saw people running around with guns and shooting each other?”
“Yes, all the time.”
“Cool.”
I smile a little.
“You should tell us about it sometime.”
“Yes, sometime.”
This is how wars are fought now: by children, hopped-up on drugs and wielding AK-47s. Children have become soldiers of choice. In the more than fifty conflicts going on worldwide, it is estimated that there are some 300,000 child soldiers. Ishmael Beah used to be one of them.
What is war like through the eyes of a child soldier? How does one become a killer? How does one stop? Child soldiers have been profiled by journalists, and novelists have struggled to imagine their lives. But until now, there has not been a first-person account from someone who came through this hell and survived.
In A Long Way Gone, Beah, now twenty-five years old, tells a riveting story: how at the age of twelve, he fled attacking rebels and wandered a land rendered unrecognizable by violence. By thirteen, he’d been picked up by the government army, and Beah, at heart a gentle boy, found that he was capable of truly terrible acts.
This is a rare and mesmerizing account, told with real literary force and heartbreaking honesty.
Customer Reviews:
Enlightening........2007-10-03
I think this is a wonderful book, so moving and beautifully written that you wonder how a person can manage to lead a "normal" life after experiencing what he has been through. The author tells the story matter-of-factly without whining or complaining about the hand he's been dealt. Because of this, it makes the story even more impressive.
Not just a good read, a book that enlightens is a must-read.
Fantastic book. Recommend for all ages!.......2007-10-02
This book is truly amazing. It is almost unbelievable to read about the lives of people like Ishmael, but it's true, and it's happening today. Yes, in some parts it is certainly hard to read, but it's worth it. It is better to be shocked and scarred by this book than ignorant to it. Ishmael is a wonderfully optimistic person, and I think we can all learn a lot from his courage. In his own words, Ishmael is not an expert on the history of Sierra Lione, but by putting a face and name to this story, you will still learn a lot from him! I recommend this book to anyone and everyone!
Easy to read, hard to digest.......2007-10-02
I read this book on my flight to D.C. a couple of months ago. It was probably the fastest I have ever read a book. It was very easy to understand and painted an incredibly vivid picture in my mind. The content is important and the way Beah wrote his story makes it accessible to all.
Painful but Poignant.......2007-09-27
This book is not for the fainthearted who wants a feel good story; this is tough book to read, however, it is an important book to read as well. So often us here in the west are isolated from the fact that there are tough places to live on this planet, places where people are forced to do unspeakable acts and are exposed to unimaginable acts of violence.
This book takes on the voyage of a young man named Ishmael, who lived in the war torn country of Sierra Leone. His life is completely turned upside down by the civil war in that country. Ishmaels story is first a story of losing his family, than of losing his innocence as he is forced to fight for the Countries Army that's fighting the "rebels". After that the story focuses on his rehabilitation in a place called Freetown and eventually his new life in the United States (although I would like to know more about how he is today).
The most amazing part of this story as an American who simply didn't understand the truth, is that this Ishmael was 12 years old and was killing people, not because he was an animal, but because he was drugged and forced to become one merely to survive. This is a concept that as westerners we look on and go oh that's too bad, but do we really take the time to understand that this happens all the time in the same world we live in? Do we take the time to understand that there is big world out there and for the most part it isn't that safe little havens we take for granted? I challenge anyone who reads this book to be able to look at the world the same again.
A must read.......2007-09-26
This book is very graphic in its detail of events. It will put you right there on the front line and in the eyes of danger. I felt as though I was there experiencing all that he had. Then again I could never imagine experiencing all that he did. Its a touching story that will bring back to reality on the issues that have been going on for ages.
Amazon.com
Here's another management parable that draws its lesson from an unlikely source--this time it's the fun-loving fishmongers at Seattle's Pike Place Market. In Fish! the heroine, Mary Jane Ramirez, recently widowed and mother of two, is asked to engineer a turnaround of her company's troubled operations department, a group that authors Stephen Lundin, Harry Paul, and John Christensen describe as a "toxic energy dump." Most reasonable heads would cut their losses and move on. Why bother with this bunch of losers? But the authors don't make it so easy for Mary Jane. Instead, she's left to sort out this mess with the help of head fishmonger Lonnie. Based on a bestselling corporate education video, Fish! aims to help employees find their way to a fun and happy workplace. While some may find the story line and prescriptions--such as "Choose Your Attitude," "Make Their Day," and "Be Present"--downright corny, others will find a good dose of worthwhile motivational management techniques. If you loved Who Moved My Cheese? then you'll find much to like here. And don't worry about Mary Jane and kids. Fish! has a happy ending for everyone. --Harry C. Edwards
Book Description
Here's another management parable that draws its lesson from an unlikely source--this time it's the fun-loving fishmongers at Seattle's Pike Place Market. In Fish! the heroine, Mary Jane Ramirez, recently widowed and mother of two, is asked to engineer a turnaround of her company's troubled operations department, a group that authors Stephen Lundin, Harry Paul, and John Christensen describe as a "toxic energy dump." Most reasonable heads would cut their losses and move on. Why bother with this bunch of losers? But the authors don't make it so easy for Mary Jane. Instead, she's left to sort out this mess with the help of head fishmonger Lonnie. Based on a bestselling corporate education video, Fish! aims to help employees find their way to a fun and happy workplace. While some may find the story line and prescriptions--such as "Choose Your Attitude," "Make Their Day," and "Be Present"--downright corny, others will find a good dose of worthwhile motivational management techniques. If you loved Who Moved My Cheese? then you'll find much to like here. And don't worry about Mary Jane and kids. Fish! has a happy ending for everyone. --Harry C. Edwards
Download Description
In this engrossing parable, a fictional manager is charged with the responsibility of turning a chronically unenthusiastic and unhelpful department into an effective team.
Customer Reviews:
Wonderful.......2007-10-10
A powerful message in a tiny package. Why not accept/promote attitudes that promote efficiency and growth?
Quick Read...Makes some GREAT points!.......2007-08-13
This book is a quick read for anyone...the story was interesting enough to keep my attention all the way through. Even though this book was depicting more severe circumstances than I have faced, I could still find ways to relate to the information. It's a nice reminder to practice good work habits every day!
Fish! A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results.......2007-07-16
The book is good for the use as a morale booster in the workplace. It is easily adaptable to a variety of environments.
Fish!.......2007-02-26
Received complete order in a reasonable amount of time and without any problems. Would order from them again.
Fish! .......2007-02-20
Good, and a light read. The ideas are powerful and worth taking time to think about.
Book Description
How to speed up business processes, improve quality, and cut costs in any industry
In factories around the world, Toyota consistently makes the highest-quality cars with the fewest defects of any competing manufacturer, while using fewer man-hours, less on-hand inventory, and half the floor space of its competitors. The Toyota Way is the first book for a general audience that explains the management principles and business philosophy behind Toyota's worldwide reputation for quality and reliability.
Complete with profiles of organizations that have successfully adopted Toyota's principles, this book shows managers in every industry how to improve business processes by:
- Eliminating wasted time and resources
- Building quality into workplace systems
- Finding low-cost but reliable alternatives to expensive new technology
- Producing in small quantities
- Turning every employee into a qualitycontrol inspector
Customer Reviews:
Great classic.......2007-10-10
I am on my third reading of this book. It is a classic and greatly enjoyable as well as educational and informative. I think every manufacturing professional should read it. I also recommend the book Lean Six Sigma That Works: A Powerful Action Plan for Dramatically Improving Quality, Increasing Speed, And Reducing Waste
Excellent book on the Toyota Way and Lean Manufacturing!.......2007-09-07
Jeffrey Liker clearly knows what he writes about. The book is the result of more than a decade of study, on site visits and interviews with several Toyota key people. It describes 14 toyota principles, which go through the Toyota Philosophy, the Toyota Production System, the relationship with employeees, customers, suppliers and partners, and a focus on continuous improvement. No wonder Toyota is one of world top most admired companies!
Very interesting is also the Japanese management principles and mindset - slow but determined, patient, self-reflection, learning by actuall observation and doing, consensus seeking, and managing for the long term.
By coincidence, yesterday (6/Sep/2007) the news came up that Jim Press (American Toyota President)was hired by Chrysler - I can imagine why.
Good Book on Toyota and Lean.......2007-06-30
A good book on the Toyota Production System (TPS) and Lean manufacturing. Liker does a good job of explaining both. I especially liked his cautions about mis-using Lean principles and pitfalls to failure.
Like most business books, the important stuff could have been expressed in many fewer pages. Liker almost gushes about Toyota to the extent that it somethimes reads as a vanity or promotional publication by Toyota - this makes me wonder if it really presents a balanced perspective.
Overall, I recommend it to anyone interested in Toyota or Lean.
Attitude Check.......2007-06-12
Great expose of the attitude of one of the worlds most impressive business organizations. Detailed, but not cumbersome. More than just another "how to" manual. A "must read" for decision makers in any business.
Yes, the book lives up to what the slip cover says........2007-06-10
Any business owner, manager or individual team member who wonders how companies improve should read this. If you wonder why some people love lean processes while others say it does not work should read this book.
I've been a manufacturing engineer since 1981, and I joined a lot of start-up companies because I love the growth and development phase of building a company up. Some worked, some did not. This book has a nice way of explaining what Toyota does and what the others fail to do.
Amazon.com
Fans of the National Geographic Channel's The Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan will be grateful for Cesar's Way, an accessible guide to help new and current dog owners better understand the needs of their beloved pets. If you are not yet a fan, try to catch a couple of episodes of the remarkable show--you will be amazed, impressed, and motivated to create a healthier, more fulfilling relationship with your dog. In Cesar's Way, Cesar explains that dogs are not complicated, and despite what various owners think--not human. They rely on three key elements in their lives: exercise, discipline, and affection (in that order). "Problem dogs" can be attributed to "problem owners," owners who don't understand and misinterpret their dog's behavior. Cesar's Way is really a training program for dog owners, with chapters devoted to understanding the "power of the pack," taking responsibility for "how we screw up our dogs," and learning how to manage aggression. Cesar's book (a must-have for new and old dog owners) moves beyond basic obedience school techniques, and teaches owners how to change unwanted behavior by better understanding their "best friends." --Daphne Durham
Exclusive Video from Cesar Millan
Watch the video
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Watch a Clip from the Show
Watch Cesar in action in this clip of The Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan, courtesy of the National Geographic Channel. Or, tune in on Friday nights, at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
Cesar Millan's Top 5 Tips for Going to the Dog Park
1. Make sure your dog is spayed or neutered, has all her shots, and is in good health. Under no circumstances should you bring a sick dog to a dog park!
2. Do not use the dog park as a substitute for the walk! If you drive to the park, leave your car a block away and take your dog on a vigorous walk of at least thirty-five minutes to drain some of her energy. Never take an over-excited dog to the park.
3. While at the park, don't "punch out" on your calm-assertive leadership. Be aware of your dog at all times, and take responsibility for her behavior.
4. A calm-submissive dog will not attract another dog's aggression--but an excited dog, a weak, timid dog, or an aggressive dog can become a fight-magnet.
5. Know your dog! If your dog has poor social skills, is overly fearful or is dog aggressive, or if you have not yet established your calm-assertive leadership with your dog, find a more controlled way to introduce her to the company of other dogs, such as "play dates" with one or two other dog owners.
Book Description
“I rehabilitate dogs. I train people.” —Cesar Millan
There are at least 68 million dogs in America, and their owners lavish billions of dollars on them every year. So why do so many pampered pets have problems? In this definitive and accessible guide, Cesar Millan—star of National Geographic Channel’s hit show Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan—reveals what dogs truly need to live a happy and fulfilled life.
From his appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show to his roster of celebrity clients to his reality television series, Cesar Millan is America’s most sought-after dog-behavior expert. But Cesar is not a trainer in the traditional sense—his expertise lies in his unique ability to comprehend dog psychology. Tracing his own amazing journey from a clay-walled farm in Mexico to the celebrity palaces of Los Angeles, Cesar recounts how he learned what makes dogs tick. In Cesar’s Way, he shares this wisdom, laying the groundwork for you to have stronger, more satisfying relationships with your canine companions.
Cesar’s formula for a contented and balanced dog seems impossibly simple: exercise, discipline, and affection, in that order. Taking readers through the basics of dog psychology and behavior, Cesar shares the inside details of some of his most fascinating cases, using them to illustrate how common behavior issues develop and, more important, how they can be corrected.
Whether you’re having issues with your dog or just want to make a good bond even stronger, this book will give you a deeper appreciation of how your dog sees the world, and it will help make your relationship with your beloved pet a richer and more rewarding one.
Learn what goes on inside your dog’s mind and develop a positive, fulfilling relationship with your best friend
In Cesar’s Way, Cesar Millan—nationally recognized dog expert and star of National Geographic Channel’s hit show Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan—helps you see the world through the eyes of your dog so you can finally eliminate problem behaviors. You’ll learn:
• What your dog really needs may not be what you’re giving him
• Why a dog’s natural pack instincts are the key to your happy relationship
• How to relate to your dog on a canine level
• There are no “problem breeds,” just problem owners
• Why every dog needs a job
• How to choose a dog who’s right for you and your family
• The difference between discipline and punishment
• And much more!
Filled with fascinating anecdotes about Cesar’s longtime clients, and including forewords by the president of the International Association of Canine Professionals and Jada Pinkett Smith, this is the only book you’ll need to forge a new, more rewarding connection with your four-legged companion.
Also available as a Random House AudioBook
Customer Reviews:
great book.......2007-10-07
Very interesting book. I recommend it. It is more in depth than the television show and he also talks about his life in it.
Cesar shows how naive most pet owners are.......2007-10-06
From the sympathetic crocodile lover neighborhood in Florida that got a gardener killed because they passed laws against extracting crocs from their neighborhood to the San Francisco mother that got her child killed by her pitbull, Cesar shows the naive and stupid world of pet lovers and owners that these beasts are still amoral creatures, not moral understanding humans. As Cesar said in the Oprah Winfrey show, the biggest mistake most pet owners make is to humanize their animals and that's what gets them in trouble. According to Cesar, it's not that animals are better or lesser than humans, it's just they are not human.
I love Cesar!.......2007-10-04
This book is an easy read. It gives a fair amount of background as to how Cesar Millan got his start as well as the method behind his madness. Anecdotes and straight-forward advice give the reader some general ideas as to how they might curb certain pet behavior issues. You can agree or disagree with Cesar's training methods, but you have to admit the guy genuinely cares about AND has a way with both dogs and people.
vague.......2007-10-02
Though his basic ideas make sense, the book fails in that it never gets around to specifics. For example, Cesar tells you never to let your dog go in the door first. OK, fine...but how? Never let your dog walk ahead of you on the leash. OK, fine...but how? What can you actually do to stop the dog from going ahead of you? If you are like me, and are having problems with a dog that is physically stronger than you are, this book will not be very helpful. After reading this book I still have no idea how I'm supposed to hold back an exuberant and powerful animal so I can walk ahead of her.
Cesar Milan- the dog Magician.......2007-09-26
Cesar Millan, is THE DOG MAGICIAN!! He has a rare, very gifted way of just knowing what is 'inside a dogs head'! Most of us humans do not have this. The book is excellent and will help many of us dog lovers to understand our wee dog friends better and give them a better life!! By Sheena from Scotland.
Book Description
A new edition of the revolutionary bestseller, with four million copies in print. Allen Carr’s innovative Easyway method—which he discovered after his own 100-cigarette-a-day habit nearly drove him to despair—has helped millions kick smoking without feeling anxious and deprived. That’s because he helps smokers discover the psychological reasons behind their dependency, explains in detail how to handle the withdrawal symptoms, shows them how to avoid situations when temptation might become too strong, and enables them to stay smoke-free. Carr discusses such issues as nicotine addiction; the social “brainwashing” that encourages smoking; the false belief that a cigarette relieves stress; the role boredom plays in sabotaging efforts to stop; and the main reasons for failure. With this proven program, smokers will be throwing away their packs for good.
Customer Reviews:
The only book I've seen on Amazon with no rating below four stars.......2007-10-08
Allen Carr knows your pain. He has walked the walk. This is the first completely sensible advice I have ever seriously taken to heart about how profoundly stupid it is to smoke, even casually (if there is such a thing--I now know there is not!) I've read the book over and over again and haven't touched or craved a cigarette since. The problem is that smokers are reluctant to read this book. They fear it. They won't touch it. It was sent to me by the publisher and it sat on my desk for months before I actually cracked it open. Then it took a few more months for me to read it. I wish I had received this book when I was in my twenties, rather than thirties. I could have saved myself a decade of smoking! Please buy this book. It will save your life.
IT WORKS!!!.......2007-10-07
I was a smoker for 10 years... at one point, I was smoking 2 packs a day. I came across this book and bought it, not with the intent to quit smoking, but out of curiousity. After reading reviews of people who said they read this book and quit smoking, I just wanted to know what this book said. This book opened my eyes to see smoking for what it is and made me see smoking as I had never seen or though of it before.. Let's just say this book works. After reading the book, I quit smoking.. I don't crave cigarettes and don't even think about smoking. Please, do yourself a favor and READ THIS BOOK!!!
This is a must buy!.......2007-10-05
This book turns your mind around and enables you to see cigarettes for what they really are.
They are not your friends and they really don't calm you down, help you to think straight or help you cope. They are merely a vehicle for a drug which is nicotine and smoking simply relieves your withdrawal symptoms.
This book was my first step in becoming a successful non-smoker.
You will not regret reading this book and this comes from someone who smoked for 30 years and had tried stopping numerous times. Please read if you are considering becoming nicotine free.
IT Worked (for me).......2007-10-04
Anyone who uses nicotine products would benefit from this book. I read the book and was able to quit (three weeks without a cigarette as of this writing). But more importantly, Allan Carr gives the reader some mind opening truths about smoking. Whether you quit smoking or not after reading the book, you'll see the truth in yourself about the nicotine.
So, I recommend the book. It was written twenty-some years ago, but the truth ages very well, indeed.
Now, honestly, the quitting wasn't "easy" for me, but I was able to stop smoking. I was a pack a day smoker for thirty some years, six or seven real attempts to quit. This time is different,I'm not miserable trying to sneak cigarettes. I'm not punching walls. The cravings are gone. I've never had this happen before. I'm really a non-smoker.
My intention was to come back to this review in six months and tell those interested if I was still a non-smoker, which I believe is a better review of the book.
I don't know how and I don't know why but..........2007-09-28
It worked for me too. I am EIGHT months "smober" this month and I don't miss the evil weed one bit. The first few weeks were a bit difficult but not nearly as difficult as pre-Allen Carr. I was a former pack a day smoker for at least 15 years and I too had tried everything else under the sun.
Just give it a try with an open mind. It is repetitive and it does tell you lots of stuff you already know. Don't worry about it. Just read it. Sometimes it seems silly. It doesn't matter. Just read it. Smoke to your hearts content while doing it, but read it.
Book Description
Investing is all about common sense. Owning a diversified portfolio of stocks and holding it for the long term is a winner’s game. Trying to beat the stock market is theoretically a zero-sum game (for every winner, there must be a loser), but after the substantial costs of investing are deducted, it becomes a loser’s game. Common sense tells us—and history confirms—that the simplest and most efficient investment strategy is to buy and hold all of the nation’s publicly held businesses at very low cost. The classic index fund that owns this market portfolio is the only investment that guarantees you with your fair share of stock market returns.
To learn how to make index investing work for you, there’s no better mentor than legendary mutual fund industry veteran John C. Bogle. Over the course of his long career, Bogle—founder of the Vanguard Group and creator of the world’s first index mutual fund—has relied primarily on index investing to help Vanguard’s clients build substantial wealth. Now, with The Little Book of Common Sense Investing, he wants to help you do the same.
Filled with in-depth insights and practical advice, The Little Book of Common Sense Investing will show you how to incorporate this proven investment strategy into your portfolio. It will also change the very way you think about investing. Successful investing is not easy. (It requires discipline and patience.) But it is simple. For it’s all about common sense.
With The Little Book of Common Sense Investing as your guide, you’ll discover how to make investing a winner’s game:
- Why business reality—dividend yields and earnings growth—is more important than market expectations
- How to overcome the powerful impact of investment costs, taxes, and inflation
- How the magic of compounding returns is overwhelmed by the tyranny of compounding costs
- What expert investors and brilliant academics—from Warren Buffett and Benjamin Graham to Paul Samuelson and Burton Malkiel—have to say about index investing
- And much more
You’ll also find warnings about investment fads and fashions, including the recent stampede into exchange traded funds and the rise of indexing gimmickry. The real formula for investment success is to own the entire market, while significantly minimizing the costs of financial intermediation. That’s what index investing is all about. And that’s what this book is all about.
JOHN C. BOGLE is founder of the Vanguard Group, Inc., and President of its Bogle Financial Markets Research Center. He created Vanguard in 1974 and served as chairman and chief executive officer until 1996 and senior chairman until 2000. In 1999, Fortune magazine named Mr. Bogle as one of the four "Investment Giants" of the twentieth century; in 2004, Time named him one of the world’s 100 most powerful and influential people, and Institutional Investor presented him with its Lifetime Achievement Award.
Customer Reviews:
Valuable Investment Advice.......2007-10-02
I have been "investing" for years without a sustainable strategy. The information provided in this book is educational, reassuring and eye-opening. Mr. Bogle showed that Investing need not be complicated and provided many examples and facts to support his assertions. If you need good, sound proven financial advice from an industry giant, this is invaluable and a must-read book. I bought 5 copies (one is audio CD) and gave them to my friends and sister.
An aptly titled book.......2007-08-14
As a professional portfolio manager since the 1960's [now retired] I most highly recommend this book. I have purchased copies for my adult children, as well as for some for-profit and non-profit boards on which I serve. I am telling all that this easy, one-day read has the potential to be a financial life-enhancing event, if they agree with the basic premise. And that there is no reason not to agree with the premise. I very much like that Bogle includes supporting data at the end of every section. A true five-star book.
Index investing is good but not perfect.......2007-08-08
I don't disagree with the doyen of Index investing.
There is no doubt that Index investing is the best way to maximize returns using a passive "buy and hold" strategy
and in many ways superior to most actively managed funds.
However, what the book fails to explain is the fact that Index investing is not immune to systematic risks. The index will crash if there is a bubble similar to what we witnessed in 2000. Index funds are based on efficient market hypothesis- if all known information is already factored into the price, there is no room for arbitrage.
But,if all investing were to become index based, EFT and electronic, who will actively seek information other than what is disclosed as per law by publicly traded companies? We should not forget that dot coms and Enron were also part of the index at some point. The duration of holding is also relevant, as investors close to retirement still need to follow the good old rule of thumb, your age is the %age of bond/money market holdings in your portfolio,which probably explains why even Vanguard is offering life cycle funds.
If not for John Bogle and Vanguard, we would not even had an alternative to complacent, fee-hungry fund managers.
The Best Advice Ever.......2007-08-06
The Facts Are In The Numbers
There is a repetitive theme in this book, not redundance. And it's supported by expert analysis, portfolio comparisons, and the numbers: "humble arithmetic." Over time Index Funds out-perform most managed mutual funds. The longer the amount of time, the more detrimental the damage - if - you own managed funds. "Where returns are concerned, time is your friend. But where costs are concerned, time is your enemy."
Bogle notes (like so many others) how fund advertisements mislead and outright lie by stating that "X fund has an annual average return of 12% per yer," but omits the costs: portfolio transaction costs, Load charges, 12-1bs, and taxes accrued on realized gains. (And inflation must always be factored.) The S&P 500 rose by an average of 12 percent for twenty years, but most managed mutual funds got far, far, lower returns than that.
The 4 E's: Enemies of Equity investors are Expenses and Emotions, according to Warren Buffet.
Financial Intermediation has created enormous fortunes for those n the fields of managing other people's money.
One example:
Merrill Lynch is the largest brokerage firm in the world. One of its biggest marketing and profitable successes also created one of the biggest losses for investors. At the height of the bubble in 2000, Lynch launched two new funds: the "Focus Twenty" and the "Internet Strategies" Fund. Like clockwork, at the height of the bubble frenzy the consumers were drawn in. The best time to sell a fund is the worst time for consumers to buy it. $2 billion dollars poured into Merrill Lynch. "Internet Strategies" sank almost immediately and lost 86 percent, while the "Focus Twenty" (which comprised the top 20 favorite stock picks of Merrill Lynch managers) lost 28% in 2000, 70% in 2001, and 39% in 2002 (p. 106). Ouch. A lot of funds declined in this three-year period, but not nearly as much. Funds chosen by managers earn 40 percent less than index funds, in general (source, NY TIMES).
But it's not just John Bogle that states this. Bogle hits home with his "Don't take it from me" passages throughout the book, quoting and sourcing what other financial minds say about managed vs. index funds, and organizational and individual investment psychology. There are tons of exhibits and tables with comparisons. Sources are provided throughout.
Relation to 401K and IRAs:
IMO, regular non-IRA (non tax deferred) index funds can be a vehicle that supersedes endangered Defined Pension Benefit Plans for those wanting to add more than the limits, or simply supplement the IRA and 401K limits to retirement accounts. Or, add more diversification and control over one's portfolio. Indexing can also be useful for those that don't have the two tax-deferred options available to them and is another choice because of low taxation and low expense costs.
Including indexing another but related topic, company pensions can inhibit and limit the worker. They often anchor employees into a company or industry. Many want to change, but stay and wait to cash out. The pension fund makes the rules. They tell you how long to stay to receive X amount.
This the best investment book I've ever read. It's also been the most honest.
Greatest Investing Book Ever!.......2007-07-28
What an incredible, straight forward book about investing! It should be required reading for every high school class in the country. Another great job Mr. Bogle!
Amazon.com
Change can be a blessing or a curse, depending on your perspective. The message of Who Moved My Cheese? is that all can come to see it as a blessing, if they understand the nature of cheese and the role it plays in their lives. Who Moved My Cheese? is a parable that takes place in a maze. Four beings live in that maze: Sniff and Scurry are mice--nonanalytical and nonjudgmental, they just want cheese and are willing to do whatever it takes to get it. Hem and Haw are "littlepeople," mouse-size humans who have an entirely different relationship with cheese. It's not just sustenance to them; it's their self-image. Their lives and belief systems are built around the cheese they've found. Most of us reading the story will see the cheese as something related to our livelihoods--our jobs, our career paths, the industries we work in--although it can stand for anything, from health to relationships. The point of the story is that we have to be alert to changes in the cheese, and be prepared to go running off in search of new sources of cheese when the cheese we have runs out.
Dr. Johnson, coauthor of The One Minute Manager and many other books, presents this parable to business, church groups, schools, military organizations--anyplace where you find people who may fear or resist change. And although more analytical and skeptical readers may find the tale a little too simplistic, its beauty is that it sums up all natural history in just 94 pages: Things change. They always have changed and always will change. And while there's no single way to deal with change, the consequence of pretending change won't happen is always the same: The cheese runs out. --Lou Schuler
Book Description
The Change Survival Kit is an A-Mazing Way to Deal with Changes in Your Work and in Your Life. It reminds you to use what you discovered in the "Cheese" story - and enjoy it!
The kit contains:
A copy of the #1 Hardcover Book
12 Animated Reminders
24 Screen Saver Prompts
12 Desktop Wallpapers
Photo-Top Mouse pad
FREE! Multi-Level Maze Game
Customer Reviews:
It's an OK book.......2007-10-04
Just like most of the people, I got this book from my employer (I hope it's not a sign of restructuring :)).
I'm afraid that I do a too good job of reviewing the book one would no longer need to buy it anymore. In essence, the whole book can be summarized in about 10 statements. In all fairness though, these are insightful and worth meditating on statements.
So, like I said... An OK book.
Thought Provoking.......2007-10-03
The book is an easy and quick read but the story will put thoughts in your head that you will think about for years if not a lifetime. Life brings us all challenges so this book is for all of us... That is, unless your life is perfect.
Genuinely Insulting..........2007-09-29
Genuinely insulting to the independent thinker. Yeah I know, it's been said countless times but I felt the need to reinforce that notion. If you're someone that's more comfortable being a follower and having your life and work environment structured for you then you're more likely to enjoy this book and find something meaningful in it. If you're someone that uses logic and reason to guide your decisions then don't waste your time or money on this rehashed brainwashing manual. This is a book written for unquestioning, mindless followers, not a book for leaders. But a tool that leaders would use to try and control their subordinates.
who moved my cheese.......2007-09-21
Light, but nevertheless thought provoking reading. Good for an hour or so by the fire.
Overrated.......2007-09-17
This book has been considered a classic by many and used widely in the corporate world. In my opinion, however, if you are seriously considering reinventing yourself or improving how you manage life, this book won't get you there. Change doesn't come about with a superficial one-hour read. Consider a book like "The Path of Least Resistance" by Robert Fritz. It will take more time and effort, but I think it's a seminal work in the field of human motivational theory. If you give it a chance, it might transform you.
Mario Alonso, Ph.D; author of "Family Business Survival: Six Key Tasks Required for a Successful Family Business" www.AlonsoStrategyConsulting.com
Book Description
“We're going to raise traders just like they raise turtles in Singapore.”
So trading guru Richard Dennis reportedly said to his long-time friend William Eckhardt nearly 25 years ago. What started as a bet about whether great traders were born or made became a legendary trading experiment that, until now, has never been told in its entirety.
Way of the Turtle reveals, for the first time, the reasons for the success of the secretive trading system used by the group known as the “Turtles.” Top-earning Turtle Curtis Faith lays bare the entire experiment, explaining how it was possible for Dennis and Eckhardt to recruit 23 ordinary people from all walks of life and train them to be extraordinary traders in just two weeks.
Only nineteen years old at the time-the youngest Turtle by far-Faith traded the largest account, making more than $30 million in just over four years. He takes you behind the scenes of the Turtle selection process and behind closed doors where the Turtles learned the lucrative trading strategies that enabled them to earn an average return of over 80 percent per year and profits of more than $100 million. You'll discover
- How the Turtles made money-the principles that guided their trading and the step-by-step methods they followed
- Why, even though they used the same approach, some Turtles were more successful than others
- How to look beyond the rules as the Turtles implemented them to find core strategies that work for any tradable market
- How to apply the Turtle Way to your own trades-and in your own life
- Ways to diversify your trading and limit your exposure to risk
Offering his unique perspective on the experience, Faith explains why the Turtle Way works in modern markets, and shares hard-earned wisdom on taking risks, choosing your own path, and learning from your mistakes.
Customer Reviews:
Shell Game.......2007-10-01
The reviews would have you believe that this book is a great tutorial on trading. It's not. Instead, I found it to be jargon filled, difficult to understand, and internally inconsistent. Save your money.
Below the Moving Average of Expectations.......2007-09-01
I rarely like to trade against the market, but if the reviews on this board are the market, then I'm short. Like most of the reviews here, I was lured into buying this book primarily by the mystic surrounding the Turtles. Now, as far as my curiosity about how that 1980s bet began and played out, I was not disappointed. Faith spars no ink on letting the reader into how the Turtles were formed and what is was like trading within the group. What was missing, I thought, was anything approaching the hype. Faith gives short srift to some of the actual trades made, instead choosing to focus on general requirements that might have not been common then, but are standard practice for today's active commodities trader. Perhaps that statement is proof of just how successful the bet was. If so, praise be to the Turtles -- but this doesn't make the book worth the time or the money.
Interesting and Informative.......2007-08-31
Easy to read and captivating for those interested in the trading "lore." Also provides simplistic insight into systematic trading - not bad for those just getting into the game.
A real turtle speaks.......2007-08-22
This book is the real deal. No hype or BS. Very refreshing to finally see the real turtle rules explained in context by someone who lived them. You read the exact rules the turtles used AND why they had those rules. In a market full of books by posers this book shines.
This book has what all the other trend following books don't: A deep understanding of trading as a game of risk and clear thinking. The most valuable and enjoyable features of this excellent book is the clarity of the ideas expressed. This is only possible from someone who deeply understands them. Reading this book was a pleasure (except for the self involved foreword by Van Tharp).
Had high expectations but were not met by a long shot............2007-08-17
This book was supposed to teach you the way the turtle traders made millions, this book has some basic trading strategies that you can find in any other trading basics book. Jim Cramer's books teach you much more than this one, dont waste your money.
Amazon.com
Paper or plastic? Neither, say William McDonough and Michael Braungart. Why settle for the least harmful alternative when we could have something that is better--say, edible grocery bags! In Cradle to Cradle, the authors present a manifesto calling for a new industrial revolution, one that would render both traditional manufacturing and traditional environmentalism obsolete. Recycling, for instance, is actually "downcycling," creating hybrids of biological and technical "nutrients" which are then unrecoverable and unusable. The authors, an architect and a chemist, want to eliminate the concept of waste altogether, while preserving commerce and allowing for human nature. They offer several compelling examples of corporations that are not just doing less harm--they're actually doing some good for the environment and their neighborhoods, and making more money in the process. Cradle to Cradle is a refreshing change from the intractable environmental conflicts that dominate headlines. It's a handbook for 21st-century innovation and should be required reading for business hotshots and environmental activists. --Therese Littleton
Book Description
A manifesto for a radically different philosophy and practice of manufacture and environmentalism
"Reduce, reuse, recycle" urge environmentalists; in other words, do more with less in order to minimize damage. As William McDonough and Michael Braungart argue in their provocative, visionary book, however, this approach perpetuates a one-way, "cradle to grave" manufacturing model that dates to the Industrial Revolution and casts off as much as 90 percent of the materials it uses as waste, much of it toxic. Why not challenge the notion that human industry must inevitably damage the natural world, they ask.
In fact, why not take nature itself as our model? A tree produces thousands of blossoms in order to create another tree, yet we do not consider its abundance wasteful but safe, beautiful, and highly effective; hence, "waste equals food" is the first principle the book sets forth. Products might be designed so that, after their useful life, they provide nourishment for something new-either as "biological nutrients" that safely re-enter the environment or as "technical nutrients" that circulate within closed-loop industrial cycles, without being "downcycled" into low-grade uses (as most "recyclables" now are).
Elaborating their principles from experience (re)designing everything from carpeting to corporate campuses, the authors make an exciting and viable case for change.
Customer Reviews:
Required reading.......2007-10-11
This book should be required reading by all CEOs, and all engineering, architecture and design students. (I read it as a class assignment in Sustainable Interior Design). The author dismisses the idea that "ecological" has to equal "sacrifice" and points out that our problems will require more than band-aid type fixes. He proposes a radical rethinking of the way we approach design and manufacturing and backs it up with rational thought and real world examples. Despite its heft (literally, it weighs a ton because of the unusual paper stock), it's not a "heavy" read. It's very engaging and thought provoking. Highly recommended.
Additional recommendations: watch the movie "Who Killed the Electric Car"
Great bookI.......2007-10-09
I'm a student so it's really hard for me to find time to read books that aren't required for a class. No time! Anyway, great book, easy to read and compelling ideas. Definitely recommended.
A pleasant read.......2007-09-24
Definitely would recommend this to anyone who would like to learn about how societies will/should change to conform to the processes of nature. Significant change need to occur to shape a planet where humans can survive for a longer duration (than the current forecast). This means alleviating environmental threats that were initially caused by our own doing.
A must for anyone developing products.......2007-09-19
This book put a new light on the manufacturing process. I am currently studying to be an engineer, and upon reading this book, I feel I have gained important insight into how to ethically create products. The focus of the book is to show that being "less bad", as the current way of thinking promotes, is not the right mentality to have. Instead the book proposes that products need to be looked at in a renewable sense, that is, how can it be completely reused to make something new when its useful life has been spent (hence Cradle to Cradle and not Cradle to Grave). I found the book to be very inspirational and look forward to applying its ideas in my career.
2107: "You People Lived in Filth!" - A sort of book review of Bill McDonough and Michael Braungart's Cradle to Cradle.......2007-08-18
One hundred years isn't a long time. Yet, in the last one hundred years we can account for radical changes in the expectations that we - in the West at least - have concerning the standards of the food we eat and the conditions that we live in. We readily expect that our waste will neatly leave our homes, our malls, our schools, workplaces, and public spots en route to some place where it disappears from sight and smell forever. In fact, we rarely think about whether our waste ends up burnt, buried, or recycled, nor whether the food we dine on is thoroughly inspected and safe. We can think back to 1907 as a period in which there was nothing in the way of food safety standards (though a movement in that direction was initiated as a result of Upton Sinclair's novel The Jungle, which was published that same year). Nor was there any notion of labor rights, environmental protection, and many of the sanitation procedures that we often take for granted nowadays.
Looking back through history ever further, to the crowded city streets of Paris, London, or Rome in the 17th and 18th century, reveals a more distasteful reality of how people lived. The blood of slaughtered animals, along with human excrement and other waste flowed through the sewers of these magnificent cities. "How did people live like this?" we might wonder. We shutter to think about living in such conditions, which allowed for the rapid spread of pestilence and sickness, not to mention unthinkable stench. While this may still be the experience of too many in the developing world, a signal of the progress and greatness of the modernized West has been our ability to escape the condition of living in our own waste.
Yet I've wondered recently how those living in 2107 will look upon the collective condition of the world as it stands today? Will they think that we live in filth? Despite the fact that we can split atoms, fly space crafts around the solar system, cure many illnesses, make electricity from the sun's rays, and communicate with each other in a myriad of digital ways, I wonder if they will ask why we still chose to live in our waste? I think that they will find it extremely perplexing that a society as developed as ours, who has the self awareness and knowledge about the harm that we inflict on ourselves and for posterity - not to mention the multitude of living systems that we are embedded in - refused to develop a different course for humanity.
When I say that we live in filth I mean that we continue to choke on unsafe air from the cars we drive and the outdated and dangerous ways that we engage in mass industrialization. I mean that we continue to produce millions and millions of consumable products made from an array of unsafe chemicals that we know little about and which we simply burn or bury after we use them one or two times. I find it so perplexing that industry continues to spends so much time and energy developing products that will only be used for a small fraction of time by consumers, yet will spend hundreds of years in landfills (I'm thinking especially of the enormous amount of plastic packaging that most products come in, only to be discarded immediately).
We dump many of the items that we have no more use for into ever expanding landfills that are getting closer and closer to the places we live and the sources of water we eventually come to drink. We are, in effect, living in our own waste. We put zero amount of effort into thinking of ways to design the same products that we rely on daily so that they are not harmful for humans or the environments in which we live. Scratch that, we have the technology and the know how for making safer and better products, however we lack leaders (both political & business) with the will, courage, and vision to bring humanity into the next industrial revolution. The first industrial revolution centered on extracting resources from the Earth (with little thought of replacing them) and putting these resources through production processes that have amounted to harming both human and non-human life for many years to come. The next industrial revolution will be about reengineering the production of consumer goods so that the stuff we make is in accordance with our natural environment. It will be about plastics that are biodegradable and the eradication of materials that are not. It will be about more intelligent approaches to designing buildings, which will utilize natural light, wind patterns, and the surrounding ecosphere to produce happier places to work and live, and which no longer rely on burning fossil fuels for cooling, heating, and sanitation. It will be about re-conceptualizing how we design, plan, and imagine the cities that most of humanity has come to chose to live in.
I'm currently drinking a soda out of a plastic bottle made from polymers derived from petroleum. This bottle, which not only is derived from the most contested resource of our time (though clean water is quickly taking its place) will be intact for those living in 2107 to view and touch as an artifact of an era which may be known in the future as one of reckless disregard, ignorance, and waste. Even the popular notion of recycling many of the products that we use only serves to slow down the rate in which we are harming ourselves. Recycling for many products is really a process of downcycling - a term coined by Bill McDonough and Michael Braungart in their book Cradle to Cradle. The process of recycling a product essentially causes it to loose its quality each time it is put through the recycling process (assuming that individuals keep recycling each new plastic reincarnate). Even though I will recycle this bottle, and it will become another plastic product again, it will eventually have to be disregarded after going through a few recycles. Alas, we are really just slowing down the rate by which synthetics eventually reach our waste graveyards or incinerators. In addition, while it is thought to be a socially responsible activity, the process of recycling releases into the atmosphere dangerous toxins emitted by the burning of plastics during the recycling process.
What is radically different about the world from 1907, or 17th century European cities, is that we fully understand the consequences of continuing down the path we are on. Furthermore, we have the knowledge and creative ideas of how to alter that path. What we lack, sadly, is the will to cause massive social change in how we consume and live. McDonough and Braungart's text urges product designers, city planners, and architects to approach their designs with the future of humanity in mind. Interestingly, they are not saying that we need to save the planet, for the planet will still be here long after homo sapiens has expired. Their message is that we need to save ourselves from the harm we are inflicting on ourselves. Their cradle-to-cradle philosophy urges designers to make products that can easily be disassembled after their use and put back into the production cycle as something else. In this sense, products should have an immense shelf life, being able to become that same product again or easily transformed into some other consumer product. The idea is to rid ourselves of the current approach to production which is based on a cradle-to-grave approach: extract resources from the Earth to make consumer products which are then discarded (thrown away) into landfills or burnt up in incinerators, expelling unknown synthetic chemicals into the ecosphere which we rely on for life.
It's time for us to recognize that the approach to mass production and living brought on by the industrial revolution is antiquated. If anything, it's insulting that humanity has yet to update itself from what seems to be such an archaic paradigm of not only how we make things, but what are relationship ought to be with the multitude of living systems that we are embedded in. All other living species exist in an interdependent cyclical system in which their "wastes equals food" for some other set of beings. It's high time that we apply this age old and ubiquitous principle to how we manufacture and produce all the things that we need to live as well.
Book Description
Toddlers can drive you bonkers…so adorable and fun one minute…so stubborn and demanding the next! Yet, as unbelievable as it sounds, there is a way to turn the daily stream of “nos” and “don’ts” into “yeses” and hugs…if you know how to speak your toddler’s language. In one of the most useful advances in parenting techniques of the past twenty-five years, Dr. Karp reveals that toddlers, with their immature brains and stormy outbursts, should be thought of not as pint-size people but as pintsize…cavemen.
Having noticed that the usual techniques often failed to calm crying toddlers, Dr. Karp
discovered that the key to effective communication was to speak to them in their own primitive language. When he did, suddenly he was able to soothe their outbursts almost every time! This amazing success led him to the realization that children between the ages of one and four go through four stages of “evolutionary” growth, each linked to the development of the brain, and each echoing a step in prehistoric humankind’s journey to civilization:
• The “Charming Chimp-Child” (12 to 18 months): Wobbles around on two legs, grabs everything in reach, plays a nonstop game of “monkey see monkey do.”
• The “Knee-High Neanderthal” (18 to 24 months): Strong-willed, fun-loving, messy, with a vocabulary of about thirty words, the favorites being “no” and “mine.”
• The “Clever Caveman” (24 to 36 months):
Just beginning to learn how to share, make friends, take turns, and use the potty.
• The “Versatile Villager” (36 to 48 months): Loves to tell stories, sing songs and dance, while trying hard to behave.
To speak to these children, Dr. Karp has developed two extraordinarily effective techniques:
1) The “fast food” rule — restating what your child has said to make sure you got it right;
2) The four-step rule — using gesture, repetition, simplicity, and tone to help your
irate Stone-Ager be happy again.
Once you’ve mastered “toddler-ese,” you will be ready to apply behavioral techniques specific to each stage of your child’s development, such as teaching patience and calm, doing time-outs (and time-ins), praise through “gossiping,” and many other strategies. Then all the major challenges of the toddler years — including separation anxiety, sibling rivalry, toilet training, night fears, sleep problems, picky eating, biting and hitting, medicine taking — can be handled in a way that will make your toddler feel understood. The result: fewer tantrums, less yelling, and, best of all, more happy, loving time for you and your child.
From the Hardcover edition.
Customer Reviews:
Love it.......2007-09-11
I bought this book because Dr. Karp's book The Happest baby on the Block saved my sanity. His advise really works, and helped me feel as if I had some control, and ways to cope with an unpredictable child. Even if only half of his advise works for your child it is worth it. Good luck.
Terrible book.......2007-09-06
Here is the book, in summary:
Your child acts like a caveman and pretty much is a cave man in every way. You act like a cave man too so that he understands you and he is happy.
Read the above paragraph 500 times. The end.
Good But Not Great!.......2007-09-02
I was expecting the amazing tips and tricks that Happiest Baby on the Block offered. I liked it but it wasn't as good as his previous book.
not the baby book..........2007-08-09
I loved Karp's baby book! Could not have made it through the first few months w/out it. Do NOT like this one though. I recommend 123 Magic 2-12yr old.
Very helpful with my 2-year old! .......2007-07-12
Dr. Karp provided specific examples with direct guidance about how to respond to challenging behavior. I tried the "fast food" response and it worked. I would skip to Chapters 8 & 9 if I didn't have enough time to read the entire book. These chapters were the most helpful.
Books:
- A Man of Faith: The Spiritual Journey of George W. Bush
- A Passover Haggadah
- Alter Your Life
- Battling Unbelief: Defeating Sin with Superior Pleasure
- Behold a Pale Horse
- Bird Songs
- Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality
- Buddhism For Dummies (For Dummies (Religion & Spirituality))
- Buddhism without Beliefs
- Catholicism for Dummies
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- High Profile
- The Secret
- Pocketful of Pearls
- The Classical World: An Epic History from Homer to Hadrian
- The Artist as Monster: The Cinema of David Cronenberg
- The Illustrated on the Shoulders of Giants: The Great Works of Physics and Astronomy
- The South Beach Diet Quick and Easy Cookbook: 200 Delicious Recipes Ready in 30 Minutes or Less
- Shark Tank: A Novel
- No More Blue Mondays: Four Keys to Finding Fulfillment at Work
- Permanent Job Loss and the U.S. System of Financing Unemployment Insurance
General
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
A Thousand Splendid Suns
Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time
The Road (Oprah's Book Club)
Infidel
Suite Francaise
