Careers Books

"Life has already laid the tracks for the trains that will take us wherever we want to go." ~Roger Leslie

Success Express for Teens presents meaningful and fun activities for individuals or groups. There are also introspective questions and self-assessment checklists. Through the activities, teens are encouraged to develop a step-by-step plan so they can define their life goals and pursue their dreams.

"Make a Lifeboard" is a creative, encouraging project that is similar to scrapbooking, but is more like a mirror of your present life. By looking back at lifeboards through the years, you can remember specific moments that were meaningful to you. When you are in your 30s, this will be helpful to remember what happened when and why.

You will also find ideas for:

Reliving Favorite Childhood Memories
Changing Routines
Discovering Your Life Dream
Time Management
Aligning Actions with Values
Finding a Mentor
Expressing Gratitude
Writing a Goal Statement

This book can be used by teachers, counselors and group leaders. Teens can also follow the self-guided activities in order to take the express train to success. Throughout the book, there are areas where teens can write their life experiences. Imagine reading this later! This will be enlightening to read as an adult. You will really see where you have been and realize which trains you took to get you to your present destination.

I personally remember very little about my teenage years and this book would have really appealed to me as a teenager who was interested in creative writing and art. By reading through the various questions, I was able to remember some of my "forgotten memories." They are still there, they just need to be triggered.

Success Express For Teens would make a perfect gift for Birthdays or Christmas. Many adults have thanked their parents for giving them journals for Christmas. This is similar to a guided journal. It is filled with pictures, amusing famous quotes, thoughtful quotes from teenagers and excellent advice from someone who remembers his choices as a teenager.

Roger Leslie is a book reviewer, author and editor who began his career in education. He visits schools and teaches the concepts from this book to administrators, educators and students. Highly Recommended.

~The Rebecca Review

Reviewed by Kim Peterson for Reader Views (1/06)

Success Express equips teens to move from where they are now to where they want to be by applying the activities found in this exciting book. Each exercise is designed to provide the tools for teens to advance toward their goals and dreams.

The author uses a train motif to compare a journey to a destination with the pursuit of a successful future. The logical steps-from mapping out the journey through traveling on a non-stop route to success-parallel the small, day-to-day experiences that cumulatively define who people become. Leslie's book encourages young adult readers to give their best at each level, paving the way for them to move forward to the next.

The user-friendly book format is presented in small sections so readers can complete an exercise or two and resume later. The readings and activities include sound questions like "What should I do next?" and "How can I use this in my life?" This handy guide even includes an assessment tool that reveals the reader's intrapersonal and interpersonal style based on which activities worked best for that person. Leslie also offers an appendix full of suggestions for teachers, counselors or group leaders.

As a writer and educator, I found his examples pertinent because they mostly relate to his writing and teaching. Although occasional quotes from a teen applying the principles appear throughout, more input from young adults writing about their successes would be desirable for the target audience. However, teens will find Leslie's style appealing and straightforward. His activities and insights are helpful and practical. Here's to a successful life journey. All aboard!

Ably compiled and presented by Roger Leslie (author, teacher, and YA book reviewer for "Booklist"), Success Express For Teens: 50 Activities That Will Change Your Life is a thoroughly "user friendly" resource packed from cover to cover with activities for teenagers and specifically geared toward helping them identify and articulate their life's dreams and starting down the road to making them come true. From listing ten goals on an index card; to finding a successful mentor in a particular field of endeavor; to learned how to do meaningful activities during"dead time" occasions arising during the course of ordinary day-to-day life, and so much more, Success Express For Teens is a strongly recommended motivational, and consumable resource hallmarked with challenging questions and enhanced with lines in which teenagers could write out their own answers.

Mary Ellen Bates has created a very well-written, informative work that covers all of the salient aspects of starting one's own information services business - including those that someone looking into the field would never even think to ask about. Ms. Bates' writing style has a personal feel that is at the same time very professional. Her personality as a no-nonsense, savvy, and yet friendly information services professional comes across on every page.

The book really covers two important but somewhat distinct skill sets: how to start and run a successful business and how to be a successful information services professional. Ms. Bates' apt writing style weaves these two elements together quite seamlessly.

I suggest reading "Building & Running a Successful Research Business" cover to cover before spending your time reading any one of the more generic books available on the topics of how to find information online or how to conduct research. Once you have covered all of the bases with Ms. Bates' work, it would then be prudent to pick up some of these other works to dive more deeply into the areas where you need additional support.

Mary Ellen Bates is an internationally-known presenter on business information and research topics, however in this book she talks not about where to find information, but about how to build a business doing just that. The book is practical, inspiration, and actionable, but also makes it clear that the life of an information entrepreneur is not for everyone. A great resource for those considering this career path, or those already in it who need a bit of professional, albeit friendly, coaching.

There are a variety of approaches to starting a Research Business, and this book simply does little justice to providing business-smart content for doing just that. If you want to embark into a research business on your own, this might give you a vision but it will certainly not give you the business smarts you need to really start and manage your new business. Best to look into resources on starting a consulting business and other resources about starting any business.

Best of luck.

- Dissapointed

I bought this book hoping for tips on research, and I got what I wanted. I was also impressed by how this book was organized. It contains a LOT of information, and it seems to me that this information is all relevant and useful. If finding information and doing research is part of your career, this would be a good book to have. I'd also recommend it for people who are likely to hire information professionals.

So many "how to" books are filled with airy reiterations of the obvious or catchy but useless "10 Ways to..." Build and Running a Successful Research Business, on the other hand, is dense, useful, funny, insightful, honest and inspirational. A true page-turner in a genre that so rarely sees this caliber of writing or thought.

I purchased this DVD based on previous highly rated reviews. Unfortunately, for me, the heavy-accented, preach-from-the-pulpit style of presentation irritated me so much that I lost all sense of its content. What little I did absorb might have appealed to audiences of the 70s and 80s era, but his repetive humdrum was not my cup of tea.

If you enjoy being motivated then Zig is for you. Good ole country boy that is an excellent speaker. Get pumped on your way to work!

I appreciate the real life experiences used in his story. I love his voice. I listen to this every trip over three hours! Well worth the investment - it will change your life.

Extremely motivating. I would highly reccomend this life changing piece by Zig Ziglar!

The only thing I knew about Mr. Ziglar before buying this audio cd was that he was a Christian named Zig. I came to find out more about this great speaker through about 2 hours of solid commentary. He speaks universal truths and gives real life examples to convince you that there is no doubt that what he is saying is real deal. If the more you give, the more you get philosophy is not one you are sold out on yet, Mr. Zig Ziglar will clear up any confusion with his memorable tales. Big ups!

Mugged at the bookstore again. And, so so glad I was.

Wandering through my local bookstore, as I often do, this book jumped into my arms and cried, "take me." Although unfamiliar with the author, the subtitle "72 shortcuts for getting out of your mind and into the moment" resonated with me.

What a gem of a book! The author has compiled 72 delightful ways to get into the moment. Every one of his offerings may not be right for you, but I suspect that few readers will not quickly find a half dozen techniques that will work well.

Let me give a concrete example of the power of this wonderful book. My wife and I are the caregivers for a multipli-disabled man who has been blind since birth. I often think what it must be like to be blind from birth. For me, and likely most of those of us who can see, our idea of blindness is as if lights were suddenly turned off. But, we are still left with vivid impressions of what this world looks like as a result of our years of sight. Blind since birth means one never got those impressions.

So wtih that backdrop, along comes the author with a meditation practice (one of his 72 practices) that he calls "Enter the Darkness." Wow...did this excite me. Later today, I will be joining my dear friend for some shared time in the darkness. How powerful for my own peace of mind, and hopefully how wonderful for my dear friend. I fully expect this will be a practice I embrace for years to come.

Other equally impactful connections were made with the described practices.

I am stout believer in the importance of personal PEACE. My construct for personal peak performance has PEACE as one of three foundational elements. As such, I am always looking for processes that can help me to create more PEACE in my life. Well, this gem is chock full of ideas to do exactly that.

So PEACE be with YOU. Let this book show you how you don't have to adopt some norm of meditation, but instead can adopt any of one of a number of rituals that will help to keep one centered in a world that too often seems lacking in PEACE.

Arjuna Ardagh (the author)...I am deeply grateful.

This is a helpful book. I also recommend Information Technolgy Jobs in America 2008: Corporate & Government Career Guide (Information Technology Jobs in America: Corporate & Government. ITJA explains the industry as marketplace. It shows you salary charts for the IT jobs in U.S. Federal, States and Cities, and pension estimates, and how precisely to go government. Computer Jobs with the Growing Information Technology Professional Services Sector 2008 IT Staffing Firms; and Computer Jobs With the Growing Information Technology Professional Services Sector 2008: Midwest States, provide company and recruitment contacts in each U.S. region hiring for contract labor and permanent. Put the resources together and you have a powerful package.

Ace the IT Resume does exactly what it sets out to do, provide knowledge and examples towards building a great IT resume. I got this book when I was getting no response to the numerous resumes I had submitted. After reading this book, and applying its lessons, I got hired into a great job with a great company. I also know what book I am picking up from my shelf if and when it comes time to dust off my resume again.

The books is organized into small chapters with great example resumes and a list of key words. It allow you to improve you IT resume in a short amount of time and even have suggestion on where to start if you are new to IT.

I read this book so fast, the way it was written was so interesting and easy, evey single question I had in mind was answered, nothing is left! I loved the book, unfortunately I cannot get the Ace the IT INTERVIEW book, because it is not available in my area, but I would definetly the interview book too! by the way there is a very good chapter about interview in this book!
four little things i hated about this book:

- much more of network than software development ! but it is ok coz most careers are in Network administration.
- in a resume there was: Modem Software!!, this is called Browser...!
- adding Norton AntiVirus in an IT resume is something stupid!
- PHP and C-Sharp: top programming lanuges not mentioned in the book!

This book's objective is to land you an interview. Before reading this book I could only say I had 1 maybe 2 interviews total in a period of a few months. After reading this book and using some of its suggestions I have had several more.

Overall I'd rate it a 4.8 since I feel that Paula is a bit too forward with some of her suggestions (for example closing statements on cover letters that are a bit overboard imo).

But that's my only complaint =)

No matter your position in life be it a freshout of college or an experienced IT vet who's looking for something different, this book will pay for itself many times over.

This book was great. I would recommend this book to any women thinking about starting a family or anyone concerned with the shortage of women in corporate world. This book read almost like a novel since you follow the lives of several women. It is very enjoyable and dosen't preach about which choice is better for a women to make, working or staying at home. I really liked it and learned a lot. My one complaint is that women in this book are all super rich and had very powerful jobs. Perhaps the author should have looked at minority and middle class women as well.

Beautifully written,this book tells compelling stories of real lives, while exposing the often hidden factors that force women to make tough choices between caring for their families and continuing in their chosen professions. Lack of flexibility on the job, luck of the draw in finding sympathetic bosses, ridiculous social norms of working as if no employee had a personal life, lack of mentoring, low continuity in corporate relationships and networks, stigma of part-time work, pressure on single-earner spouses to spend more and more time on the job--all these constrain our ability to find the optimal balance of work and life. The women in this book speak to all of us, men, women, stay-at-home moms and working moms, with or without children, seeking to find true productivity and happiness. This book is thought-provoking! Enjoy it!

It's hard to understand how the great United States can fall behind other countries in this area (and don't get me started about breastfeeding.) For me as a mom who sort of opted out or took a hybrid approach (took a decrease in pay to work part time out of my house), I was actually surprised at my own reaction to having children. Before I became a mom, I was sure I would always work and find a nanny for my kids. Once they were actually here, I couldn't pull myself away from them, bear to leave them with someone outside my family for any extended periods of time, or ever dream of being pulled away from them when they were sick. I guess the good thing about that is that there was no internal struggle. I knew where I needed to be. I am working and with my kids at the same time-and my mother helps me on those days. (If I could swing it financially, I would quit all together and be with them completely.) Thanks for researching and writing about this important topic. I hope it encourages more work in this area.

Although it seems that the author really did her homework, the bottom line is that the subjects in this book are super high earning and super high acheiving women married to even higher acheiving/earning husbands. The study itself is fascinating and I'm sure that many of the home "pull" and workplace "push" factors apply to women of all income, education, and racial/ethnic backgrounds but the bottom line is that these were women who could AFFORD to stay home seemingly without making any compromises in their lifestyles. I was more interested in learning about average/middle class families, with moms who ended up staying home even with great consequence to their socioeconomic status, as is the case with many moms who choose to stay at home. I mean, this book is talking about women married to high-powered Wall Street investment bankers, women who are CEO's and stockbrokers themselves...sorry, but these women could afford to stay home. What was so groundbreaking about that? "Feminine Mistake" was much more in tune with the "real world" types of lifestyles and it went across economic and racial lines, something that this book does not do. Plus, it made for a somewhat dry and boring read.

Women are torn in a way men are not in this intensely personal profile of females in the workplace. Highly educated and successful women, who had no plans to leave their careers... felt pushed, shoved or dead-ended suddenly. Jobs evaporated, job requirements were redefined and the struggle to commute, feed a family and juggle children, a house and still smile while the husband continued on the fast track proved impossible for many. What about the laundry and cooking? Some but not all hit a wall! Some intelligent women were also lucky and with good timing and some flexibility there are success stories. As someone who was pushed about 15 years ago...and somehow landed on her feet...I still miss my career, miss the office environment (but not the politics)and struggle with the frustrations of raising kids...often alone. My husband works hard and has had to accept the fact that my job plans disappeared when my family responsibilities took over. A must read for women who want to go back to work, and also recommended for the next generation of females who are choosing careers! Keep your eyes open and read Pamela Stone's insightful and well-researched text!

Grindhopping provides a look at living life outside the box. The decision to take the veer off society's typical path is a difficult one, and Vanderkam offers assurance that, provided you're willing to put in unfettered enthusiasm and hard work, this path can be a wildly successful one. She also outlines the practical, nitty-gritty details on how to make this lifestyle choice work.

Vanderkam offers practical advice for jumping out of the world of the 9-to-5, bosses, and the low and middle rungs of the corporate ladder. The title of the first chapter illustrates the author's straightforward tone and approach for the rest of the book: "Always Be Your Own Boss: No compromises, no excuses". She offers compelling reasons to take this path and practical advice for getting there (e.g. how to find reasonable health insurance, how to keep expenses down, and how to maintain multiple projects in the "Craig's List Economy" to keep the money coming in). Vanderkam draws on her personal experience as a freelance writer as well as a number of case studies of "Grindhoppers" who have found success or are on their way. She also addresses the downsides and risks of striking out on your own head-on and offers sound and empathetic advice for dealing with these. But she also confronts the downsides and risks of staying in the grind to your long term career success and satisfaction.

As with other career/entrepreneur books, Vanderkam stresses the importance of planning, goal setting, saving money, and, of course, networking. Yet, she delivers her advice and personal experiences in a way that feels somehow more authentic than with other books I've read. For example, in the networking chapter, she talks about her own tendencies towards shyness and how she overcomes and works around these. She opens up her own life and experiences to the reader just enough and in a way that is not self-indulgent. She succeeds in striking the right balance between focusing on her case studies and her own trials, tribulations, and successes in the world outside of the grind. Her writing is honest, and at times refreshingly quirky. (Check out the section on hunting mastodon and you'll see what I'm talking about.) Highly recommended.

Why is it that so many career books--unique among how-to books--advise you to settle for less? Diet books don't tell you to settle for being overweight; relationship books don't tell you to settle for dysfunctional partnerships; cookbooks don't tell you to settle for takeout. Yet career books often tell you that the only way to get ahead is to settle for putting in time that feels more like doing time. If you're not the kind of person who can ignore how much cubicle slavery feels like any other kind of slavery, then these kinds of self-help books are no help to you--and no wonder. As Grindhopping makes clear, the days of slow and steady wins the corporate race are long gone. So even if that is your comfort zone, you'd do well to read this book instead of all the others premised on a corporate model that's all but extinct. Grindhopping actually examines those statistics that are always cited to discourage free-lancers and entrepreneurs and exposes how they're skewed. But this is not some unrealistic fantasy book for impractical dreamers. Grindhopping covers common pitfalls first-time entrepreneurs fall into--often by blindly following that same outdated corporate model. It also addresses the very real concerns that keep so many chained to their cubicles: student loans, credit-card debt, health insurance, risk management. But unlike career books that only acknowledge the risks of putting your dreams into action, Grindhopping lays out the just-as-real risks of putting your dreams permanently on hold. In a rapidly changing world, survival of the fittest means survival of the most flexible, and this book practices what it preaches, providing real-life examples from every field imaginable of how the shortest distance from here to your goals isn't necessarily straight up the corporate ladder. Grindhopping refuses to ignore the question: If sitting at a desk all day, every day, putting in face time isn't the most efficient way to get the experience and contacts you need to achieve your goals, then what are you still doing there? Instead this book offers concrete strategies for networking, project juggling, delivering results, and learning what you need to know outside of school. Nor does it advise an all-or-nothing mentality: if hopping out of the corporate grind for a while enables you to gain more quickly the experience and contacts you'll need to hop back in later at a higher level, then more power to you. Conversely, if you need a steady stream of cash to pay off debt or need to learn about a particular industry, then a temporary stint in the daily grind may be to your advantage. The main thing is not to let temporary steps along the path to your goals turn into permanent dead-ends, but to weigh risks and make decisions based on whether or not each move you make brings you closer in some way to where you ultimately want to go. Instead of telling you to abandon your dreams, Grindhopping tells you how to make them a reality.

I read this book and enjoyed it. Vanderkam has her finger on the pulse of the new work world. Younger people (particularly entrepreneurs) don't like the ball and chain of 'a' desk or 'a' job. I'm finding a lot of people that are experimenting with their careers are doing exactly what Laura describes - they have their paws in a lot of different projects and jobs. I currentlh have 4 myself (but I'm the classic Gemini she describes in her book...easily bored!) If anyone younger has been in the work world a couple of years and is asking themselves the question, "is this all there is?" needs to read this book.

Grindhopping:

1. Hopping out of the corporate grind and into the work you want.
2. Building a rewarding career without paying your dues.

For the most part, the author is talking about developing skills that will allow you to "hop" into the corporate world at the point YOU want to without putting in all those years of meaningless drudgery and traditional corporate ladder climbing.

The author lays out the characteristics essential to successful Grindhopping, urging her readers to follow their dream and get someone else to pay you to do it. She offers as much 'sage' advice as a 29-year-old can, and gives illustrative examples of her points, shoring them up with statistics. But, I wonder if the 'reader' is hearing what she is saying.

While the external environment and internal motivation may differ between the true Grindhopper and the corporate ladder climber, many of the character traits and advice for success apply to both.

Grindhoppers are people who either by desire to be their own boss or lack of options, have a combined fiscal acumen, the ability to long-range plan and set goals, with a lot of self-control to succeed at controlling their own career destiny, much like the corporate climber.

The advice offered for potential Grindhoppers--know where you're going, work hard, network, get experience, stay ahead of the curve, pay attention to detail--has a vague business school ring to it.

The difference is that the Grindhopper IS the boss - either of her one-woman operation or of others who desire to climb her company's ladder!

While I'm not convinced Grindhopping is as revolutionary as the author wants you to believe, the book is worth a read, especially if you allow it to provoke questions about your own career choices.

Armchair Interviews says: A look at transitions written by a New York City-based freelance writer who is a contributing editor at Reader's Digest and is a member of USA Today's Board of Contributors. She reports and writes on a variety of topics including careers, education, health and pop culture trends.

After several attempts in the early '80s to get into electronics (which included reading several electronics books and enrollment in a correspondence course for electronics technician), I was in a world of hurting and frustration trying to make sense of what I was reading and learning in electronics. Then, one day I happened to catch a glimpse of the textbook of one of the students of an electronics school in San Francisco in 1984. It read "Electronic Principles." I hurriedly went to the closest bookstore downtown and purchased one. I didn't even know about this book, but it was a risk I had to take. I just wanted to learn electronics. It was one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life. Because of Dr. Malvino's book, a whole new world of electronics opened up in front of my eyes. That book was so easy to understand and the numerous examples, diagrams, and troubleshooting problems and tips only reinforced the learning process. I have never read a book that explained the theory on transistors like this book has done; a truly remarkable, detailed, yet crystal clear explanation of operation and design of transistor circuits. The knowledge that I acquired from reading this outstanding book, helped me in my career in the military (mechanical maintenance which included some electrical and electronics systems)for the next twenty something years. Without this book, I would not have pursued such a strong interest in electronics. My most sincere gratitude to you, Dr. Malvino. I still have that 3rd edition on my book shelf, always ready for quick reference. Now that I am about to retire from the military, what would be a better way to enjoy retirement than rekindle my electronics interest. Yes, I had to buy a more updated edition of Dr. Malvino's Electronic Principles book: the 6th edition. As I expected, this book made the mark. Like my old trusty, 3rd edition, it is very easy to understand, and it just makes you want to keep on reading it. An advice for anyone who wants to learn and enjoy electronics without brain torture: Get one of Dr. Malvino's "Electronic Principles" books, and read and learn it by heart. You will not get disappointed.

I'm just teaching myself electronics in order to be able to understand and design circuits for musical analog synthesizers, a new hobby I took up a few months ago. As an engineering professor (albeit, thankfully, in a totally unrelated field) I have access to an excellent university library, and I checked out a bunch of basic textbooks on electronics, including Malvino's 3rd edition (1984). This book absolutely blows me away. Anyone who works through this book from cover to cover will learn electronics, almost in spite of himself! I started by trying to work through Horowitz and Hill, but I just wasn't getting it. Then I went back to Grob to brush up on some basics (most importantly, dc and ac theory, reactance vs resistance in particular), and then graduated on to Malvino.

Everything which is unclear in any book you've ever read on electronics is rendered clear and simple in Malvino. The chapters on biasing transistors and coupling and designing simple transistor amplifiers stand out for me in particular for taking a subject which is typically only glossed over in other books and breaking it down to its basic fundamentals, each step illustrated by a nice example, and reinforced with several back-of-chapter problems (with answers to the odd-numbered ones provided in the back of the book -- how about that, Horowitz and Hill?!?!? -- what good are practice problems if you don't know whether you obtained the right answer or not?!?!?).

I can't really speak to the latest edition, but if its anything like the 3rd, then buy it without hesitation! I only wish that the textbooks I have to use in my own classes were written half as well.

This is a really amazing introduction to analog design. It does not dwell into all the mathematics, but it gives you a really good intuitive understanding of all the major subjects of analog electronics. This is surely one of the best books to get started with. This author also has another book on the digital side which is also amazing. It tells you how computers work.

I bought this book (6th edition) solely due to the overwhelmingly positive and glowing amazon reviews- but I must say, I'm quite disappointed.

Principles explains basic Analog electronics in a simplified manner that's less theoretical (i.e. less mathematical) and more practical than other popular texts such as Microelectronics by Sedra/Smith. The writing style is fairly clear and it has an attractive full-color display. However, I did not find it exceptional in this regard- there ARE other textbooks that explain the same theory at a similar level of difficulty (maybe that wasn't true 20 years ago).

The problem for me is that an inordinate amount of this book is about transistor theory and low-level transistor design. It does not cover digital electronics at all (except for a brief discussion on CMOS).

Very few electrical engineers today do much low-level analog design (unless you work for TI, maxim, linear, etc)- most of us are consumers of Integrated circuits. What's needed is a textbook that explains the key device parameters (and the design implications for SYSTEM applications) and how to interpret datasheets, etc. Unfortunately, every textbook, including this one, I've seen are mostly useless to the practicing engineer in this respect. You're better off downloading application notes from different vendor websites than spending $100 on this.

I would recommend something like "Practical Electronics for Inventors" instead- despite the many typos, it's an affordable book that covers analog and digital electronics. This book is too long (too dense to make a good reference) and for what it offers, WAY too expensive.

First off, I already had graduated with an AAS degree in electronics technology before I got this book. A relative borrowed it to me after I graduated. I was amazed with how much more electronics made sense to me after I read this. I thought I had a good foundation, but my school really only touched on some principles, and had us memorize equations. Dr. Malvino does as excellent job of covering all the fundamentals, and in a way that makes perfect sense. You name it; transistors, op amps, FETs, filters, etc.; they all made perfect sense to me after I read this book. I could actually understand how all those equations I learned were derived, and why electronic devices function the way they do. Thanks to Dr. Malvino's book, I can say I actually understand electronics, something my schooling didn't do for me.