Careers Books

I wish I had the benefit of this book when I graduated from college nearly 30 years ago. I felt the same struggle between what the business world expects and my authentic self. I chose the latter trying to save the world and the financial rewards that my peers received by playing the game essentially passed me by. If you want to succeed in this dog eat dog world and get to the top, then this is your book. I gave to a neighbor who just turned 25 and wants to make money. But the rub is how much do you sacrifice of your real self to make it in the business world.

Practical, insightful advice to help grads assimilate to the real world. Great to learn about the professional climate and how you can fit in!

At age thirty-two, I found this book to be enlightening, informative and life-changing. Alexandra Levit writes in a wonderfully warm, readable style that's the perfect combination of personal and professional. I've been working for over fifteen years, so I've had to learn some of the corporate world's lessons the hard way-developing a corporate persona, maintaining a positive attitude, and not "shoulding" all over myself. I also appreciate the excellent advice for goal-setting, saying no gracefully, and polishing my interpersonal and communications skills. Throughout the book, Levit clearly and concisely outlines how to get ahead and what mistakes to avoid. My only complaint is that I didn't have this book when I was in college! I urge all college students to read this and refer to it often, because the knowledge and skills you'll learn will help you not only at work but also in transforming other areas of your life.

Great practical advice about how to navigate the often heavily steeped in politics world of corporate America. This author is insightful, but has a sense of humor as well. Readers will benefit from reading this book because she offers key pieces of advice that can be applied immediately. I especially like the section that deals with how to get along with co-workers, and why it's important to have friends at work. Too many books advise not talking too much to anyone at work, and she gives a more realistic viewpoint that twenty somethings can relate to.

Anne Brown, Author
Grad to Great

This book would be perfect required reading for anyone who intends to work in a business after they leave school. For those of us much longer in the tooth than the author, we forget just how much newbies do not know about the business world. Her insights are honest, refreshing, often humorous and absolutely bang on. I can just imagine how fantastic an employee she became through this introspection. If you read it so it helps you guide new employees, or for your own growth, there is something for everyone in it. Organized, easy to read and quick.

This is a handy self-help book for the person who either is a horrible speller or gets tripped up by the occasional (not ocaissonal) word. Each chapter gives a diagnostic test on a particular spelling problem: double letters, ei/ie, plurals, apostrophes, etc. If you are strong in a given area, you can skip the exercises and jump ahead to the next section. The book presents some spelling rules that I wish had been explained to me in school; the rule about doubling a final consonant when adding a suffix to a word is elegant. I now understand why "referral" has a double-r and "reference" does not.

I would have rated this book a lot (not alot) higher if there weren't so many typographical errors. Maybe that's one of the hidden bonuses of the course (not coarse) -- you know you have improved when you can spot the misspellings (not mispellings). Here are some examples:

- In one of the very first diagnostic tests you have to determine which of the words is spelled correctly: (a) absence (b) changable (c) enviroment (d) immediatly. They give the answer as *a, c, d,* which is absurd. Only (a) is correct.

- In an exercise to check the correct usage of double letters there is this sentence about a shepherd: "... he swung his star in a wide arc over his head in triumph." This is very poetic, but the imagery eludes me. What they meant to print was *staf* so that you could correct it to "staff."

- Just below that on the page you have to underline the correct spelling in a given pair of words: "2. disc, disk." Well, both are correct; it depends whether you are talking about a CD or a floppy. Further on there is "7. clef, cleft." Again, both are correct; one is a musical sign and the other is a dimpling of the chin. I think they meant to print *cleff* so that you could choose the first word.

- The book twice gives the plural of focus as *loci.* Close, but not quite. The correct spelling is "foci." The other word is the plural of locus.

- In an exercise on homophones there is this sentence: "This is the (site, sight) for the new dotre." Did someone sneak in a hip new internet term? If *dotre* is a word, I'm stumped.

- This example appears in an exercise on the use of apostrophes: "... it is the faculty's ponsibility to change the policies...." Maybe it is hard to proofread a book that is meant to contain deliberate errors, but I'm sure it is someone's responsibility.

I hold back another star for the binding. The spine is very stiff, and the pages don't stay open easily. If you can get the book to lie flat, the pages eventually fall out. Perhaps it was not intended that you keep this book as a reference; having mastered the art of spelling, you can definitely (not definately) throw it away.

Both my father and I used this book to work on our spelling. I was born in the US, and English is my first and only language. Ironically, I am actually an English major. While I could interpret the innerworkings of Shakespeare, I couldn't spell basic English words. I started using this book and my spelling improved incredibly! My father, an immigrant from India, didn't begin to learn English until he was 17 years old. However, by the time he had finished with this book, his spelling was nearly perfect!! This book is great for anyone and everyone!!

A great book in excellent condition. The delivery was a day late but otherwise happy it arrived to my home.

Books like this one never grow out of date. In the opening section we're told of the timeless value of principles when Dr. Maxwell writes, "...there are principles of success and there are principles of failure." Obviously if you want to learn the principles of success you learn from someone who has mastered them such as John Maxwell.

He moves from this introduction to the matter of abiding in Jesus. He talks about the Scripture of glorifying the Father by producing fruit. Fruit is produced as we abide in Jesus. We're admonished, "Feed your mind on things that will help you think right and then reproduce."

The section on dreams is quite thrilling. Dr. Maxwell helps us grasp how real, how vital, how life-giving dreams are. Goals coupled with passion lead to success. In writing about prayer he tells us, "We need to look at prayer as taking hold of God's eagerness, not overcoming God's reluctance." This book will fuel the passion of anyone wanted to live a life of significance in the light of God's standard. It is food for thought for the person consumed with being excellent.

This is a fantastic book! It is like Red Bull for your soul! Very much a motivational book to get you stepping out and walking towards your calling in Christ Jesus! If you are feeling out of gas in your calling read this book he will inspire you to not give up!

I found this book encouraging and caused to me to look at how I spend my time, to make goals and then start steps to complete these goals. Also to spend more time with the Lord in prayer and reading His Word to be aware of what God's plan is for my life.

I am re-reading this book. I started a new business 5 years ago. From reading this book it caused me to verbalize my victory. I give my self a new injection of ehthusiams on a daily basis. Victory is all I see. I believe I can talk and do my way to success. I believe and know my business and personal life has taken on a clearer meaning. My business is on its way to increase and enlargement. I truly nourish my self on a regular basis with the gems of wisdom which prebail from the book. From my reading this book I am challenged to be all I can be. I appreciate the author, John Maxwell, for writing such a timely book.

This is the best book of it's kind I have ever read. I sat down and read it, cover to cover, in one sitting. And then I read it a second time a week later to pick up anything I missed. I suggest any pre-med student does the same!

This book covers everything a pre-med student needs to do in his/her undergraduate years to prepare for and be accepted into medical school. It also completely explains the process of applying to medical school and how medical school works. I have read several books of its type, and it is the only one that would recommend so strongly. The pre-med student will be able to refer to this book again and again during the undergraduate years, and probably, even during in medical school.

Like I said...worth every penny, and then some.

This is a great resource for those who want to go into medicine but don't want to sacrifice balance in their daily lives and relationships. Medical school and a career in medicine can cause a lot of stress, and the author shares some practical advice for making the experience more positive, focused, and productive. The valuable inside tips on the how to's of the application and school search procedure are a must for anyone seriously considering applying to med school.

The quality of the hat is very good and it is sewn very well.

I am a senior in high school planning to do pre med at a four year university. This is would be considered an excellent read if you have no idea about the basic requirements and challenges of medical school. On the other hand, if you already have a solid background on what it takes to become a physician then the material is very repititive.

Personally, I had a thorough knowledge of medicine before I read this book. But the timeline that is provided in the book that suggests a courseload seemed to be very useful. I am definitely going to use this book as a reference when I am ready to apply to medical school.

This is one of the books worth keeping and not selling back becuase it is so filled with helpful information that you can use for all of your future career moves.

Very informative and practical book. As a professional teacher/consultant in Canada for people who wish to better use their subconscious mind to improve their life through the law of attraction, I would personally give this book my recommendation to beginners to the subject as well as people who already have a grounding in the subject.

An other book on the LOA, yes it is but why do you keep looking and buying it?
Because you were searching for this one!
And you found it, finally.
Now you can relax and enjoy life at it fullest.
Buy it, print it, read it and for God sake, APPLY IT!

This ebook is an easy to understand step by step on using the Law of Attraction. Being a practioner of the Law, it is a challenge sometimes explaining to people the exact science of this wonderful gift we are given. This book will help those that want to know more learn in a precise yet easy to understand format.

After seeing the movie "The Secret" I thought it might be helpful to get a workbook to help me with the principles they teach regarding The Law of Attraction. However, the first thing I noticed upon opening this workbook is that the first 42 pages ask you to write down every NEGATIVE thing you can think of about your life! You are asked to fill in the blanks regarding what you worry about most, what you struggle with, what you are concerned about, with your life partner, with your family, about money, about your career, and on and on. When I watched The Secret, my first impression was that you should not even dwell on these things AT ALL. So it seems as right at the beginning this book violates the first principle -- CHANGE YOUR THOUGHTS! Then, once the book does get around to the part where your write how you would like your life to be, it specifically asks to you write down HOW YOU EXPECT TO ACCOMPLISH these changes! (i.e. "You need to move beyond listing the things you need to change and begin to focus on what you are going to do to attract each of the things . . .") This specifically contradicts another principle revealed in The Secret, which stated that you do not have to KNOW how it will come about, and you do not have to try to figure out yourself HOW IT WILL COME ABOUT! This appears to be one of those typical self-help books that have been published in the past, and it seems to have been just slightly adjusted to fit the principles of the Law of Attraction. Maybe this is a different "Law of Attraction" than they present in The Secret DVD? If you are looking for a book to help you with accomplishing the goals set by The Secret DVD, look elsewhere, this isn't it.

This workbook is a great way to start using the Law of Attraction effectively in your life. You will be guided through identifying your desires to attract them into your life. It is easy to use for any age. Use this workbook to start using the Law of Attraction today!

Older versions had more illustrations. What happened to them? They were so much more informative. I was disappointed as I got this for my daughter. Otherwise, the advice presented is very accurate and up-to-date.

Good overall message about dressing professional but, the clothing styles he writes about are from the 1980's.

I appreciate John Molloy's research into business clothing; however, this book is only helpful if you work in a company where clothing is not too casual, or if you need to figure out what to wear for job interviews. If every day is "business casual" at your job, this book will help you figure out the best colors and quality, but it won't help you understand what to wear. John advocates always wearing a business-like skirt when possible, and always having a jacket on hand. In my job as a computer programmer, where most men where slacks and polo shirts, this would be too formal.

The book is somewhat repetitive, but it helps to drill the right attitude into your mind - clothes are important, quality is very important, and navy blue is always a good choice. There are a few black-and-white illustrations, but they seem outdated to me.

[...]

I think this book is great. I am a young (under 30), short girl. Do you know how hard it is to be taken seriously in an all-male manufacturing environment? These are classy ways to still be a woman and taken like the professional I am. I notice the difference in obeying the rules and then sometimes just wearing whatever I want. This book is valid to my career. I am a Finance Manager, the financial consultant to the business.

I was never a fan of Malloy's books when I first read them in the 1980s and 1990s. But I must admit that his basic principles hold true today. Classic attire is best for interviews and companies (such as pharmaceutical sales) that are still traditional suits-only fields. He is also correct when he says that the fashion industry works against professional attire for women, and that if you are excessively stylish in a corporate setting, you will lose credibility. Changing fashion styles are an incredible waste of money. However, you should disregard the outdated suits, rigid hairstyles and hard attache case in favor of more contemporary classic styles. A better book for that is "Dressing Smart" by Chic Simple Author Kim Johnson-Gross. Moreover, if you work in a creative field, you must not follow the navy & white starched formula of dressing--this could get you demoted. Malloy does mention this point, but doesn't really advise for creative jobs.

C. Vann Woodward's "The Strange Career of Jim Crow" remains one of the most important books written about post-Reconstruction Southern America. In the space of very few pages, Woodward brings to us the proposal that the assumptions we have all been making about Jim Crow laws and the development of segregation were all wrong from the very beginning. We are taught the lie from grade school forward that "that's just the way it always has been in the South." Not so, according to Woodward.

We learn very quickly when reading this book that not only were there three or four decades following the Civil War wherein there was virtually no major segregation in the South - but the conditions with regards to segregation and equal rights in the South were actually better than in the North for several decades as well.

The lies of a racist South and a desperate North (desperate to make a moral issue of something that they too were guilty of in trying to keep blacks from having equal rights) somehow stuck in the Southern psyche, and all along we've been thinking that people were racist because "that's all they knew." Woodward blows this theory out of the water, and exposes the truth about the post-Reconstruction South.

Not only was segregation not popular in the South in much of the late 19th Century, but blacks voted often. There was very good participation - enough to put a lot of blacks and Republicans in public office in the South - for a time. It was not until the 1870s that a gradual change began in the South. That change brought about the Jim Crow laws - changes that were unwelcome to all of humanity. Booker T. Washington believed that the South could not advance and still leave the blacks behind: Woodward came about a few decades later and showed us all just how right Washington really was.

C. Vann Woodward's "The Strange Career of Jim Crow" was the first major effort to analyze the segregation system in the American South. Appearing in 1955, the author's treatment of this institution refuted contemporary statements made by several public figures who argued that racial separation was an ancient phenomenon that would last indefinitely. Not so, argued Woodward, as he proceeded to prove that the South experienced a time after the Civil War when the two races often intermingled without widespread hostility on the part of southern whites. Woodward's book expresses the heartfelt belief that since segregation was a recent development, the possibility existed for the South to reject its separatist doctrine and eventually embrace integrationist principles. The first chapters deal with the period during and after Reconstruction, what Woodward refers to as the First Reconstruction, when the South grudgingly accepted conditions forced upon it by the North. The author argues that blacks in southern urban areas often lived side by side with white citizens, as well as rode in the same streetcars and dined in many of the same restaurants. There were exceptions to these incidents, but overall monolithic, legalized segregation measures simply did not exist.

One of the reasons for this lack of overarching segregation policies concerned southern politics in the post-Civil War South. The author outlines three political philosophies during the 1880s and 1890s that worked to capitalize upon black support. Southern liberalism went nowhere with its arguments that all citizens must have equal rights in all social spheres. Conservative southerners took a position between liberals and radical racists, arguing that in every society there existed superior and inferior elements. Obviously, conservatives claimed, blacks occupied an inferior position to whites. This did not mean that blacks should be treated harshly or denied privileges. The conservatives were paternalists and used the goodwill they earned from blacks to capture elective offices from the Redeemers. The conservative political philosophy collapsed when widespread corruption swept its proponents from office. The Populists, the last southern political structure Woodward discusses, also attempted an alliance with blacks. The movement was short lived, and with external pressures of the 1880s and 1890s such as economic depression and northern indifference to blacks, southerners blamed blacks for their social ills. Moreover, southern politicians weary of the years of malicious infighting decided to seek a measure of unification, and they achieved this fusion by blaming black voters for economic and political discord. It is at this time, writes the author, when segregation laws blossomed across the South.

The second section of the book deals with the emergence and consequences of what Woodward calls the Second Reconstruction. Starting during the Second World War and emerging fully during the 1950s and 1960s, this era of race relations saw increasing waves of attacks directed against Jim Crow in the South. The first maneuvers came from the White House, with Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman launching several initiatives aimed at integrating defense jobs and the armed services. The second wave came with a series of Supreme Court actions seeking to integrate the school systems. With action came reaction as the segregationists finally launched an offensive against Brown vs. The Board of Education when lower court judges in the South upheld the higher court's ruling. The resulting attempts to undercut the judgment by southern state governments coupled with periodic outbreaks of violence led to even more civil rights initiatives from the federal government. Kennedy proposed and Johnson pushed through Congress measures aimed at accelerating integration and restoring the black vote in the South. The Second Reconstruction ended after the riots of the 1960s in northern cities caused civil rights organizations to shift from a role of non-violence to militant black nationalism. Woodward's book concludes on a rather pessimistic note when he observes that black-white relations seem to be reverting to a new form of racial separation.

It is difficult to find problems with "The Strange Career of Jim Crow." The book was the first work to sum up the civil rights movement in the United States. Moreover, the author wrote a book broad enough to give historians plenty of material for further research, something scholars always appreciate. Even the form of the book, with its lack of footnotes and energetic style, is more of a plus than a minus. By writing a friendly, accessible treatment of the issue, Woodward managed to reach beyond the walls of academia and find a wide public audience. It is not difficult to imagine that many of the young people registering black voters or going on freedom rides could cite this book as a major influence in their decision to make a stand against segregation. As the afterword shows, even Martin Luther King, Jr read and quoted Woodward on occasion. Finally, the fact that this book has never gone out of print underscores its seminal influence on the country at large.

No book is immune to criticism, however. Woodward often fails to incorporate into his narrative what actions blacks took in response to segregation. This critique is not always valid: the author does cite a black newspaperman who toured the South in the late 1800s, along with several members of the Black Panther Party. But in several places the book needs some description of black agency, especially the chapter concerning southern politics. Woodward presents the black population in the 1880s and 1890s as a passive force palmed off from one white political faction to another. Are we to assume that black voters simply bowed their heads and acted the role of dupes to savvy white politicians? Perhaps many did due to a lack of education and a lingering submissiveness from the days of slavery, but there were people who attempted to participate in the system in order to earn their rights.

The most fascinating thing about this book is not just the particular events in history, or the misconceptions and myths that Woodward discusses, but rather how truly complex the issue of race is in America. Since emancipation, there has always been a struggle between and among whites and blacks to figure out how to understand each other and themselves, and how to occupy the same place. This history is indeed strange, and to have an idea of why race is still such an issue today, it helps to know how racism, segregation, and civil rights changed over time.

Woodward's book cautions us against taking simplified views that the South was always racist, and the North was not, and he begins by describing various accounts of life in the South right after the Civil War. According to Woodward, the venomous prejudice that sustained the Jim Crow laws decades later wasn't foreseeable at that time. Much of his explanation of the racist sentiment that so desired segregation is framed in the context of politics, and he tries to analyze many of the events he discusses in terms of political and economic pressures, as well as in terms of reactions to preceding actions.

If the Civil War is to be seen as a war for racial equality (and there are many other ways of seeing it), then it can easily be argued that it continues to this day. It is often most comforting to think of the wiping out of Native Americans, and then the enslavement of Africans as hideous scars that America carries in the past, while believing that America today is a different, tolerant place. But Jim Crow laws were a product of the twentieth century, and the racial tensions still exist in a very real way. Woodward's book, first published in 1955, and last revised in 1974, is still immensely relevant today, and reading it can only enhance your sense of American history.

I have the 1957 edition of the book, and so can't comment on the new chapter.
This is a fascinating book which should be read by anyone interested in racial issues, US history, or US politics.
The major surprise to me is Woodward's description, complete with many contemporary quotes, of a time in the late 1800's post-Reconstruction South where African Americans were treated largely equally with regard to public accomodations and voting. Segregation, then, was considered to be a "lower-class white attitude."
It wasn't until approximately 1900 that a very segregationist attitude came about in the South, largely as the result of the interplay of Republican, Democratic, and Progressive politics.
This is course gives the lie to assertion through much of the 1900's that de jure racial segregation was a time-honored part of Southern life, and there was no possible alternative.
Woodward then goes on to describe the depths to which Jim Crow legislation sank, describing the effect of African American migration within the country, World War II, how our segregationist policies hurt the US image abroad, and on to the beginnings of the civil rights movement, ending shortly after _Brown v. Board of Education_, well before the major civil rights events and legislation.
Fairly quick read, and a great book!

C. Vann Woodward's The Strange Career of Jim Crow is not only a fine introduction to its topic -- the segregationist period in the South -- but one of the most significant and influential books of its time.

Originally published in 1955 (by Oxford University Press), Professor Woodward's tome kicked off the Civil Rights era with a bang, debunking the ludicrous myth (and mantra among segregationists) that separation of the races had always existed in Southern life, and generally dissecting an ugly monstrosity which had come to be accepted simply as "the way things are." Ten years later, in a second revision which came just as the legal battle against segregation was almost won, Woodward added a wealth of information which helped finish the job of winning the people's hearts and minds: in the words of Robert Penn Warren, Woodward's work was "a witty, learned, and unsettling book. The depth of the unsettling becomes more obvious day by day; which is a way of saying that it is a book of permanent significance." And ten years later still, in this -- the third and final revision -- Woodward capped off the era with an examination of the more violent, less integrationist movements which arose after Watts, with leaders like Huey Newton, Eldridge Cleaver and Bobby Seale.

Woodward is an equal-opportunity myth-exploder. On the one hand, he demonstrates at great length that segregation was not a mere expression of racism, but in fact a complex and corrupt outworking of many political and economic interests in the impoverished, post-Reconstruction South. On the other hand, he also shows conclusively that segregation took time to develop: it was not, as its supporters claimed, the way things had always been, or even the way things had come to be immediately following the war, but had actually arisen thirty and even forty years later, with the removal of Northern troops, the disintegration of Republican influence, a national "taking up of the white man's burden" with regard to "colored" peoples abroad, and increasing economic distress which allowed successive Populists and Democrats to consolidate power by limiting white exposure to the threat of competing (and competitive) blacks. These things, combined with a series of Supreme Court rulings sanctioning segregation, produced a wicked stew which more modern readers found extremely unpalatable upon Woodward's closer examination.

Beyond these things, Woodward's treatment of the Jim Crow era itself, as well its demise, were and are excellent, and were especially provocative at the time of their writing. Based on a series of lectures delivered at the University of Virginia in 1954, the book is not annotated, and even in a third edition remains quite brief; yet it is thorough and engaging, and suffers only a bit for these points. In all, it remains not only an excellent history -- produced by one of America's finest scholars -- but also a key source document of its era, and is a very good read as well. It continues to be vital to a proper understanding of the South, as well as the whole misbegotten concept of "separate but equal."

Insider's Guide to the World of Pharmaceutical Sales, Eighth Edition

This book had every bit of information that I needed to get interviews, how to perform on interviews and what to bring with me. I used it to get a different type of sales position but I went to each interview well equipped and was able to score so many job offers that in the end, I got to pick and choose! There are key factors in here that will truly win you the next interview or the job offer. I am so thankful for this book!

great book. very informative. I highly suggest buying this book before you try and get a pharma job. You will realise that after reading it, the process is whole differant approach than a conventional job.

Great reference. Thorough, succinct, nice extras in the back, lots of legwork already done for you!

I learned exactly what I need to do to get into pharmaceutical sales. You woould never know what you need to do in order to land a job in this field unless you read this book!

This book is a fantastic primer for "how-to-get-a-job" in pharmaceutical sales. It is a quick read, but the information is complete and if you actually follow-through with all of the tactics that the author suggests, you have a good chance of at least getting one interview. After that it will be up to you to sell yourself and demonstrate that you actually know what you're talking about. But again, if you do what the author advises you to do, you should be able to get the business.