Careers Books

Books like this one never grow out of date.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.

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."

This was a gift to one of my little cousins who is seven or eight and learning to read on his own. This is a fun filled book that even had me interested! I liked the fact that it was a big book so the words were easier for him to follow.

Thanks!

We just gave this book to my son for his 4th birthday. He was so excited. The book plays four different stories, and alerts him as to when to turn the pages. He went straight to bed so he could listen to it, and we didn't hear a peep out of him. He actually asked us to leave his room so he could listen to his book. He really loves this book, and it's a great value.

My son really enjoys listening to this CD. The voices are the same ones you hear on the show and the signal for turning the page is fairly clear. There are 4 stories in this book....they may not be the most interesting stories to me, but he seems to enjoy them. It's a great activity for him to do quietly on his own without my help.

My 4yr old son loves this book so much he took a nap with it! The character voices are the actual ones from the TV show. This was my son's first read-along book and he was able to follow along with the narration. I think this will help him with his reading. And, this book is a great deal because there are four stories in one book. I wish there were other Bob the Builder 4-in-1 story collections.

As a new mother myself, I was so excited to find a book all about a mother trying to find a job to help support her new family. And of course, as I came to the end of the book, I was disappointed to find that Edwina decided that being at home was the only true job for her. BUT... I love reading this book to my little boy. The pictures are so beautiful and captivating and the rhymes make it such a fun read. Despite the final message - which isn't really that bad - I had to give this book 5 stars.

Being an Australian Mom and raising my family in the USA my family sends me over Aussie books for my kids regulary and Edwina the Emu was the first one from Rod Clement that they sent me. The whole family loves it. Great illustrations, fun story and the kids at my son's kindergarten class loved it too. My husband and I have read it so many times that we can recite it for the kids in the car! I have more of his books on my wish list for my son's Christmas presents.

Again the Sensational Realistic Illustrations Turn a Good Story into a Great Book!
This is the sequel to Edward the Emu but the story follows a completely different plot (in fact Edward only makes a few brief cameos) so it can be purchased alone as a stand alone read.

In this rhyming storyline Edwina tells Edward he's about to be a father and shows him ten freshly laid eggs and tells him to sit on them while she goes out into the human world to get a job. In the workplace Edwina finds out that there is much discrimination against emus and is either turned away from applying or fired once her emuness is discovered. She finally lands a job but quits when part of her duties require her to serve a product which freaks her out.

Sensational illustrations, the most realistic looking drawings of emus I've ever seen (apart from the first book Edward the Emu). You'll enjoy this book for the illustrations alone. The storyline introduced some worthy topics but never had its main character really tackle them but do allow an introduction to start important conversations with your kids where you can teach them what Edwina maybe should have done. The topics introduced are discrimination, having to perform duties in employment situations where others have beliefs or customs that may disagree with your beliefs. Edwina the emu does reinforce a message that it is okay to stay at home and look after young kids as a career choice (for both male and females at different parts of the book).

Like I said the illustrations alone are more than enough reason to buy this book.

Make sure you get Edward the Emu too! They are both wonderfully illustrated and children love them. I read them to 1st and 3rd graders and both enjoyed them equally.

If you read Edward the Emu you know that the story ends with the introduction of Edwina. Now in this book we find we learn of their relationship and Edwina's attempts to be a working woman, umm working female emu. Look forward to a happy ending. Another nice,cute story. Good for the study of Australian animals and the country itself.

This was a required text for a graduate class and I thought it was good enough to keep. It is a great introductory book that provides a good look at many of the different theories. It is true that it is not really deep, but that is what makes it a good introductory book. It goes just deep enough to help you understand.

This is a required text for my graduate class, but it does a good job of introducing student development theory

Book arrived in record time...just in time for my class so I was very pleased. It was also in great shape and very well packaged. Thanks.

I also used this book in my graduate program. This book provides an excellent overview student development theory. It is an excellent introductory text. I had the added benefit of using this text in a course taught by one of the authors.

I applaud the authors' attempt to provide an accessible, easy to understand synthesis of student development theory, but they have sacrificed depth for breadth and left the reader with a text that, like over-processed food, provides some nutrition but ultimately fails to satisfy. The book is below the level of most master's degree students and practitioners in student affairs, though it might provide a useful introduction to theory for undergraduates or a useful reference book for administrators who don't have time to read original sources.

I am a preschool yoga teacher and I have seen a few books, but this one is fabulous! My own 3 year old was glued to the book and after reading it she said "again". I definitely plan on using this book when I teach as a little story time. It also gives you step by step instructions on how to do the poses for any beginners.

LOVE THIS BOOK!!!!!

My daughter started out with Little Yoga and Sleepy Little Yoga. I got her this book to add to her "practice" and she really enjoys it.

My 4 and 2 year olds love this book. Get the cards too!! Would definitely recommend this for anyone wanting to do yoga with their kids.

As I hoped... this is a fun way to explain yoga and do yoga with kids

Love the illustrations, love the text, love that my 5 yr old daughter is stretching and doing yoga, love love love this book! We got the bendo guy that matches it too! sooo cute!

Good book for CS people or people who need to find a job in CS.

Cannot say more. Must have if you prepare for interview. Also good for interviewer as a reference for interview questions.

I picked this book up, and I got Interview tips from a chronic job hopper by Tom Elsa on kindle and between the technical aspects in this book and the how to wow them secrets in the interview tips kindle I should be straight!

This book played a significant part in landing me a job at major technology company. Although out of the entire all-day interview process there was only one question that was actually very similar to one I read about in the book, I did benefit greatly from the advice on how to approach the interviewer, how to be verbal with my problem solving process, how to dress, even how to write my sample code on the white board. These are intangibles that relate particularly to the software development world, and some of the specifics were a welcome departure from the 'generic' advice you get from most sources.

It was my first interview with a major tech company, and I was fresh out of grad school, so though some of those things may be obvious to the more experienced, for me it made a world of difference bringing that with me to the interview. Just made me very comfortable and familiar in what should have been a very unfamiliar environment. And the one question that was very similar to the one I read in the book came from an interviewer that I later found out was pivotal in the final decision to hire. So.. you never know.

Reading this book is not a substitute for being technically adept, and certainly will not guarantee a job, but it does leave you better equipped to handle the interview. Seasoned and beginner alike should find many useful tidbits.

Buy this book if you are interviewing with MSFT anytime soon. I have two brothers and both work for MSFT. They both think this book is a very good prep. Moreover, my eldest bro is an interviewer at MSFT and he uses this book! So does the other 4 interviewers he knows at MSFT.

1) This book has sample interview questions for you to solve and several approaches for each question.
2) The book then tells you which approach is the best and why. VERY VERY NICE!
3) This book also tells you how to approach problems, how to make sure you are not stuck, how to brainstorm and get the best answer.
4) There are puzzle/riddle type questions too.
5) How to write resumes and cover letters as well.
6)Finally, the book also has very nice simple tutorials of all the important/basic concepts of OOP.

Very comprehensive book. A MUST buy!

It was good. It was fun to do with someone else. Does it work....Well, I'm not sure. I quit before finishing the book. It lost the fun factor after reading several chapters. Its one of those books that you need to set time alone for. I don't have that as a busy mother.

Give me a break! This author doesn't know diddly-squat about "releasing your superpowers". Give me a break! HE'S A FAKE!!!

I know what most of our opinions are concerning Kevin Trudeau and that can this man really be trusted. I can tell you that the information that he offers is not like others things that he advertises today where when you get it then you realized that you wasted your money. I honestly believe that you will not be wasting your money on this book. He was on Johnny Carson and was put in the hot seat to prove that he could recall a long list of numbers and he did.

I purchased this book because of an actual Grand Master of Memory recommended buying many books on memory. Sometimes an author might emphasize something that another author doesn't. In the case of Kevin Trudeau, he did that just for me where I was struggling with memory and Kevin happened to shed light in just the right area that helped release my mega memory. It is good to read a bunch of different books as this just might help you too.

Kevin does offer some interesting peg hooks and some very good ideas. There were some things that he emphasized that I found to be critical when it came to memory that other books did not. I think buying this book as well as others will help you get a complete and thorough understanding of memory and how to use it.

You do not have to fear this book because he will actually teach you his techniques and not give you a list of bologna that he seems to enjoy doing in his current books. The only thing that he says that I really question is when he states that you will get to the unconscious competent level and I know of no memory pro ever saying that. You will always have to consciously apply the techniques in order for them to work. You will never develop a photographic memory where it will just happen naturally. You will always have to vividly see the picture in your mind and consciously place that item and associate it either to your journey or whatever peg hook that you use.

I read this book a while back, but I'll be damned if I can remember what it was all about. I'm pretty sure I thought it was just so-so.

Bottom line: THIS IS A GREAT BOOK! I've been using it for years and is much more organized and motivating than Lorayne's, Higbee's, Buzan, etc. I can't believe how many people like to point out how Kevin is a convicted felon. Maybe so, but I'd still buy his book. Did he just repackage an idea someone else had? Maybe so, but it's far more entertaining and organized with logical progression than the others I've read. That's worth the price of the book alone. Furthermore, since a majority of the reviews here aren't even for the Mega Memory book, but rather a personal attack on Kevin, I'd like to put in my 2 cents. I've read his other books and they've changed my life for the better. His books aren't more than $15 people! Unless he showed up on your doorstep, conned you out of your life savings, and kicked your dog, I think the criticism is a bit unwarranted. For those of you who want an honest review of this book, listen to me. The book is $10.17. It's very worth it!

When I called Borders, the salesperson told me that this was the most popular book purchased by the most people (for resume building). I've seen quite a few and had a very good resume. Still, I wanted to kick it up a knotch. After just a short period of time revising my resume using this book, my resume has never looked so good. Wish I could give it 10 stars.

I didn't find any new, earth-shattering insights into the resume process, but it did layout the fundamentals nicely. I learned a few new things, and it gave me a good outline to put together a resume.
The section that describes how to pull the resume information together, would have been presented better had it been in some sort of a chart or list format. The way it is set up - it is wrtten in long sentences that stretch over a couple pages. I had to keep flipping back and forth to remember what step to do next.
There was a lot of redundant information, and I thought the examples didn't help me much.
But in the end, it did prompt me to put together a new, more concise, and tailored resume. Although the description of how to edit the final resume was a bit broad.

No resume knocks anyone dead, but this book generally gives good advice on how to write one. In Yate's resume samples you'll sometimes see lists and bullet lists that are too long for anyone but a computer to sift through, and some of the sample resumes are a bit crowded, but all-in-all, the content is very useful. If you've thought through what kind of work you want and know who your targeted employers are, this is a good solid resume book.

This book is as good as it gets. Put the time into following setp-by-step and you will have a dramatically different view of your own skills. Plus, you'll end-up with a fantastic resume.

Book offers too simplistic and barely entry-level formatting and ideas. The styles were all basic and not varied enough, and the jobs were all low level. I am a marketing director and the upper level resumes they had were still so basic they were not useful as examples. Might be good for high school students, though.