5 comments about The Disney Way Fieldbook: How to Implement Walt Disney's Vision of "Dream, Believe, Dare, Do" in Your Own Company.

1. An extremely useful collection of tools. I'll use this book in my teaching and training and recommend it to others.



2. As a consultant myself that works with cross-functional teams, it is great to finally come across a book with proven activities that really work! This is a great tool to add to your repertoire. Individual activities are spelled out in terms of the benefits they provide, the materials required and specific guidelines on how to conduct them. This is a great contrast to the plethora of books on the market that promise great activities but provide nothing of value.



3. This engaging and enlightening book is as much fun to read as it is profitable to use. Structured like a theater script and written with a dramatic verve, it casts teamwork as human drama, and taps and energizes team members' innate will to succeed not just as individuals but as members of a group. This book, and its companion volume "The Disney Way," really stand out from the business book pack in their passion, good humor, and advice on creating the practical magic that makes a team even greater than the sum of its parts. Authors Capodagli and Jackson are really onto something with their "Dream, Believe, Dare, Do" guiding principles, and their business-wise and human-wise insights make their work essential reading for leaders of all types.



4. The Fieldbook is an excellent companion book to The Disney Way, and gives tons of helpful hints and exercises for implementing new Disney Way methods of organizing or structuring your business culture, so to speak. As a trainer, I found it extremely helpful, and highly recommend it.



5. the first thought is ....WHAt is DREAM, BELIEVE, DARE, DO ?????????
   
   Where is the mouse??? Then before long it pulls you in and you are hooked!
   
   As a role playing book team approach, i think for private business the concepts are perfect for team building . need to look real close at a missing link that is EQ (Emotional Intelligence).
   
   This part will go along with the 7 habits of highly effective People and should be showcased as well.
   
   It is not a ONE item of management fits all here, rather a blend of different skill set that can be brought to the table for employers and employees to learn from and grow together while achieving a better understanding of how we can better work, live, and succeed together.

5 comments about Understanding Construction Drawings.

1. This book is laid out like a text book course of study, which I like, however one important thing to note is that there is no answer key for the tests. The answer key is a seperate book and I have been unable to locate it. Fortunately I work for a General Contractor and have been able to have my co-workers check my answers for accuracy. But as far as being a good source for systematic learning, this book definitely is.



2. The book itself is generally good quality and well-written. I'm learning about construction & drawings for the very first time, so some info was hard for me to really understand - not enough explanation and, oh yeah - the DRAWINGS that are referred to throughout the ENTIRE book - uh... are NOT included! I HOPE someone sees this comment so that perhaps an addendum to the book's description could really warn buyers what they're in for by trying to save money on the used book. Honestly, you really lose at least half the value by not being able to refer to the plans...so: BUYER BEWARE!



3. The book is very informative how ever i feel some of the questions could have been a little more precise in what they were asking. I needed the book for my construction management class when i was taking another class on materials and methods for construction so a lot of information overlapped which helped concrete it in.



4. The book came on time however there was a page of the plans missing. Other than that everything was good.



5. The book does not match with the drawings that are included. It has a lot of type-Os. It's very difficult to understand.

2 comments about Woodworker's Guide to Veneering & Inlay: Techniques, Projects & Expert Advice for Fine Furniture.

1. I have done a great deal of veneer work over the course of my woodworking career and I found this book to be a good all around guide to veneering. If you are new to veneering and looking for a thorough how-to or are experienced with veneer and looking for a couple new tricks I think you will find something worthwhile in this book.



2. Jonathan Benson has compiled an impressive guide to veneering, useful to both novices and the seasoned woodworker. The generous use of photographs make each chapter easy to understand, especially in the more complex areas of veneer matching and problem solving. An important addition to any woodworker's library.

1 comments about Identifying Waste on the Shopfloor (Shopfloor Series).

1. The Abs Diet: The Six-Week Plan to Flatten Your Stomach and Keep You Lean for Life

5 comments about 1000 Chairs (Taschen 25).

1. Interesante como guía general.
   Buenas fotos, pero falto de contenido, y de pobre edición.



2. I make chairs (and other furniture) out of found wood. I bought this book out of profits from the sale of one chair, and within the first 50 pages, I had ideas for several more chairs I wouldn't have thought of on my own. I just look at the pictures; not particularly interested in the history or designer or derivation. If you want ideas for making chairs and you can figure out the construction details for yourself, this is a useful book.
   
   Well-made book, BTW. Isn't going to fall apart if I leave it in the shop and can stand up to a fair amount of sawdust.



3. The order came in quickly, book was in tip-top condition. You can cnsider this a quality book if you like chairs and the history and the evolvement of design in chairs. The pictures are fun to look at and you can marvel at the creativity of the designers.



4. If you just want to see alot of chairs with basic information, this is the way to go. Real pretty.



5. Wow! This is book is insanely full of colorful photos and interesting information about each chair. In fact, my boyfriend has his own copy... he loves it that much!

5 comments about Building a Straw Bale House: The Red Feather Construction Handbook.

1. I first became aware of straw base houses when I visited friends who had built one high in the Colorado rockies. In spite of the bad winters in that location, they reported that they very rarely used any heating beyond opening the drapes on the south facing windows. I don't know what the R-value of a bale of straw might be, but it is high.
   
   They also reported that in the few years they had lived there they had had virtually no maintenance. I had imagined little cracks in the exterior covering and furry little critters living in the walls. But they reported that nothing like this had occurred.
   
   This book is put out by the Red Feather Development Group. They are a non-profit group chartered to provide low cost but efficient housing on indian reservations. They have been developing straw bale contruction for houses over many years, many buildings.
   
   This handbook is not exactly a complete primer on building a straw bale house, to me it is an idea book. There's not much here, for instance on plumbing, heating, wiring and so on. Fair enough, those things are much the same for any house, and well understood by architects and contractors. What this book does is talk about building the house itself, the wall structure, supporting the roof, the things that are unique to building with Straw Bales. There are lots of pictures, illustrating lots of points that you wouldn't think of unless you had been there and done that.
   
   Highly recommended!



2. This book gives an over view of the process to build a home using straw bale construction that is used by the Red Feather Development Group. Modeled after Habitat for Humanity they help tribal members living on Indian reservations achieve home ownership. The book takes you through the building process with many photos and diagrams. There is also pictures and discriptions of straw bale homes that are still lived in after 80 years, showing that sustainable housing is not a passing fad.



3. This was really a good book and I would recommend it very much.



4. I found this book to be very helpful with pictures and building concepts easy to understand by the layman. The chapters are well layed out on each step of the building process and gives a lot of good tips both in dealing with the building code requirements and common sense ideas to building a straw bale house. While the houses in this book are architectually simple, a rectangle shape, the ideas can be use in more complex designs.



5. Frankly, I like this book, despite my 2-star rating of it. It has some excellent information in it as well as excellent photos, and it is well laid out. However, it is intended for very specific and limited uses, which are not really disclosed in the product description. So, read on to learn what I had to discover about its limitations through trial and error:
   
   This is NOT a book on the theory and history of straw bale construction. It spends very little, if any, time outlining the different styles of bale construction, nor the variety of techniques and details that have been tried over the years, nor the many factors - environmental, structural, practical - affecting a particular construction project that might make the builder choose one technique or detail over another. If you are a new owner/builder at the conceptual stage, trying to decide if a bale house is right for you, or how exactly to build the bale house that is best for you, this is NOT the book you want.
   
   This book focuses on one philosophy of design only. It is a guide, not on how to build a bale house, but on how to build one specific bale house. What I find troubling is that it does not even explain, in most cases, why the methods being described were chosen. If you already know a good deal about bale construction, you will quickly read between the lines to see why the authors consider their chosen techniques most suitable for their situation - I did, and quickly determined that little in the book was applicable to my own situation. Ok, fair enough. But, if you do not already understand the basics of straw bale architecture, I can easily imagine the reader following this book down what might well be the wrong path for his or her own project and, at best, wasting a lot of time in the design stage considering inappropriate techniques. At worst, the reader could end up making some very poor and costly choices without realizing why they are poor.
   
   So, what is this book good for? It presents a straight-forward, step-by-step guide to project planning for a particular type of builder attempting a particular type of project. It does not present enough technical details or drawings to be a comprehensive construction manual (what book does?), so it will not take the place of preparing blueprints or having them prepared for you. But, it is nonetheless an excellent place to start IF AND ONLY IF you are...
   
   1) ...Poor, or otherwise interested in building a small, simple, budget-oriented house for a single family. Don't get me wrong: the house this book describes is perfectly sound, perfectly livable, and should last longer than most conventional houses, but it is definitely "no-frills." Frankly, all Americans should be focusing on more modest, economical, and sustainable housing, regardless of income level. Be that as it may, if you are wanting something bigger - multiple stories, luxury oriented, more architecturally unique - you will not find it here.
   
   2) ...Part of a large community or very large family interested in helping you build this house quickly through a massive and intensive volunteer effort. If your access to volunteer resources is more modest and your construction schedule, therefore, more relaxed, you could well run into serious problems trying to follow the path laid out in this book. If you plan on hiring only professionals to build your house for you, well, you probably shouldn't build a bale house in the first place, but at the least you will need to find different books.
   
   3) ...West of the Mississippi and building in a very dry environment. All throughout this book you will find details - 3 string bales, metal rebar inserted into the bales, moderately sized roof overhangs, cement-based plaster with ground-to-ceiling stucco mesh - that are either unique to the West or generally appropriate to a desert or prairie climate. For builders in other areas, most of this book likely does not apply to you.
   
   4) ...Interested in a load-bearing straw bale design. See my note on rebar, cement plaster, and stucco mesh above. There is also much in the book on full structural window and door bucks as well as building a roof-bearing-assembly top plate. Of course, there is nothing wrong with load-bearing bale walls, but in many parts of the country they are no longer the most widely-accepted design solution.

5 comments about Special Edition Using Microsoft Office Project 2003 (Special Edition Using).

1. Tim Pyron's Special Edition Using Microsoft Office Project 2003 is enhanced with an accompanying CD and provides direct answers to effectively manage computerized office projects. Highly recommended both as an instructional guide and as a continuing reference, Special Edition Using Microsoft Office Project 2003 includes answers on project development and implementation, as well as tracking progress and adjusting to changes, developing final reports, and more.



2. I picked this up as I was in the middle of several complex Project plans for network upgrades and migrations, as well as a mass rollout of Office 2003. I'd used previous versions of Project before but never really learned how to use it.

   By the time I finished the first 10 chapters, I had already tripled my Project knowledge...and the really cool stuff was yet to come. Project, like Visio, is an extremely complex application that most people never crack the surface as far as usability goes. Anyone who is doing heavy Project Management needs to use Project, this is the book to learn by.




3. I have three other project books on my shelf but whenever I run into a tough situation, this is THE book I go to. No other books out there (not even the self proclaimed bible) explains features as in depth as this book does. I especially like the section on leveling and how it explains the 7 factors used to resolve conflicts. This is a must have for all serious users of MS Project.



4. Using Microstoft Project 2003 by Tim Pyron
   It's exactly 2.000 inches thick, which, I believe, must have been one of the publisher's criteria. If you've used Project for years on a daily basis and want to know even more, it's for you. If you want to learn Microsoft Project, don't buy this book. It's a direct violation of the "Say what you need to, as simply as you can" rule from 8th grade English. Do yourself a favor. Forget about MS Project and buy Mindjet's MindManager software. You can learn that in an afternoon and it's far more powerful software.



5. I am not a very experienced Project Manager.
   I bought the book as I was going to participate in Projects in my organization and planned to equip myself with everything I could about it.
   
   Also, I took 2 Microsoft Oficial Courses (beginner and intermediate) on Microsoft Project 2003 that costed my organization about $200.
   
   I give it 5 Stars because the book has every topic there is about Microsoft Project 2003 that I have come to need (and more).
   
   However, if you are new to MS Project consider that it might pay you more to take some courses. You will learn in them all the backbone knowledge to succesfully manage projects without having to spent alot of hours reading the book.
   
   Remember that this book is very extensive on each topic, it's excellent for reference or advanced use specially when you're an experienced project Manager since you will learn stuff you didnt know you could do.
   But if what you're looking for is learning Project 2003, I think its faster and more practical to take a course.

No comments about Design of Machinery with Student Resource DVD.

5 comments about Jim Tolpin's Table Saw Magic, Second Edition.

1. The book was very good a need to have in the shop



2. This book is a more a of brief review of table saw technique and jigs. The chapters are not very detailed and don't actually contain any directions for doing most of cuts or processes. The most frustrating thing is where he will say "just use this very handy jig" and then gives a very crude drawing of the jig with no explanation of how to build it or even a basic layout. A MUCH better book is Kelly Mehler's The Table Saw Book.



3. Several good reviews on this book, all are correct IMO. This book is very thorough.... I thought I knew a LOT about TS's, but this book taught me even more. Some very useful jigs, safe work methods (very critical when cutting small strips), great set up instructions, and, great charts on type of blades to use. If you use a TS, there is something extra you will learn if you buy this book...



4. Tolpin has put together a grand book on the table saw. A little bit of tricks, some jigs, when it's good and possible to use it and things to build for safety. Some things he wrote about I would not use. I believe that it's safe to use, but... I don't think I'll be cutting any circles with my saw, but if anyone asked me if you can, I'll say "Yes", you can do it safely. I'll keep this publication close to my saw for the future.



5. As a new owner of a quality table saw and following the suggestions of a woodshop instructor friend, I purchased this "manual" to better understand the proper and safe use of a powerful table saw.
   Most of my woodworking education has been, "self-taught" and as I age I appreciate the benefits of following safe practises and still having ten fingers.

No comments about IT Essentials: PC Hardware and Software Companion Guide (3rd Edition) (Companion Guide).