Design Books

Anyone learning photoshop for the first time, or upgrading to CS3, should get this book and read it through. Even if you are proficient in previous versions, this book opens up new concepts and introduces the reader to new tools, not available in previous versions of Adobe Photoshop. This book will truly increase productivity and improve quality.

This book and CD works very well by having you actually do the lessons from the CD so you practice as you read. This is an excellent way to learn. It has been very helpful.

This product was not quiet as good as promised, but very close. The shipping was fast and the price was great.

The book touches on some of the general broad tools of Photoshop CS3. The problem is that Photoshop CS3 is a very involved and somewhat complex software application. It takes more practice than this book can cover.

I previously took a Photoshop class and really did not feel I had a very good understanding of the program. This book takes you step by step through th program. I think I learned more from the book than I did the class!

I remember getting my hands on Harvard Graphics way back when and being so excited about how it would revolutionize presentations. But basically, though the software has improved since then, we use it the same way. Reynolds shows it doesn't have to be that way; you don't have to shoot your audience full of bullet points. I think you could probably get the gist of his message by reading his excellent blog - the book could have gone further beyond that, I think. In any case, if you suffer from presentation fatigue in your workplace, show this to your boss and your team members. For sure buy the book if your boss won't be impressed that you found a cool business tip on a blog.

99 percent of PowerPoint presentation sucks. So begins Presentation Zen with an introduction from Guy Kawasaki. Or I should say, the book opens with a presentation from Kawasaki. Before getting to business, author Garr Reynolds explains that Presentation Zen is an approach not a method.

This book doesn't give you step one, two, three. If it did, the book would turn into a method. An approach provides guidelines and direction. Reynolds looks back at the history of PowerPoint along with experts' slamming the software. People forget that PowerPoint is a tool not a method. The templates, however, may be partially at fault for the bad PowerPoint-based presentations we see today.

So Reynolds says we can keep PowerPoint, but we need to dump the templates and their bulleted lists. Instead, presenters need to go for the right brain and left brain instead of leaning on one or the other.

The book contains three parts: preparation, design, and delivery. Preparation explores creativity, limitations, and starting work on the presentation AWAY from the computer ("planning analogy" as Reynolds calls it) using pen and paper, sticky notes or whiteboards. Reynolds shows how stories and examples can help make your ideas sticky with your audience.

He also encourages practicing restraint. It's too easy for us to fall into the trap of using clichés -- not just in words, but in visuals like two hands shaking in front of the globe. Don't do it. Just don't. It's been done and no longer sticks with people. Here the book discusses the use of storyboards.

In design, Reynolds takes the reader on a trip in achieving simplicity, which we know doesn't come easy. The Zen principles come in as Reynolds covers simplicity (kanso), naturalness (shizen) and elegance (shibumi). Rather than adding to the clutter, try removing things from a slide to simplify the message.

I love chapter six because it contains many example slides -- before and after so you can see the power of changing slides from noisy to simple. I learn well from examples and this chapter covers every aspect including balance, empty space, repetition, contrast and more. I value this chapter because it provides a variety of examples covering different topics while chapter seven examples come from other people's presentations -- some you might recognize such as Shift Happens.

The rest of the book offers suggestions on the giving of the presentation. After all, the slides act as an accessory to the presentation. If they're the presentation and contain the whole thing, then cancel it and send the slides to the attendees. Save them a trip and a boring presentation.

Presentation Zen as a whole combines many of the expertise we've seen or heard over the years from other experts. So it's nice to get it in one little book. I've heard some of the ideas and comments, but I also pick up new ones.

The little book contains a neat little package that will help readers throughout the presentation process from beginning with an idea to ending with applause. It'll serve well as a reference or a read from front to back and later referencing. It won't work as the only tool as it only focuses on approach. Some folks need more than that to create a successful presentation.

Garr Ryenolds has hit the target, right smack in the center, on identifying the misuse of software such as PowerPoint in presentations. Reynolds takes us on an enjoyable, enlightening journey of identifying and avoiding "really bad PowerPoint" presentations, replacing them with really good ones! The author knows how to motivate the reader to strive for excellence in presentations, and provides effective methods for doing just that. As a bonus, the book is a delight to read.
Anton J. Lachner, Ph.D., J.D.
Fu Jen Catholic University
Taipei, Repulbic of China in Taiwan

I LOVE this book! It is not only a wonderful and simply laid out way of challenging old assumptions about Power Point presentations and the way we construct them, but it also contains some great philosophy to inspire originality. The book is cleanly laid out, and has application to areas other than just presentations; it makes you think more about the way you present generally and sell your ideas.

Reynolds is generous in his acknowledgement of other writers and people who have inspired him - I have bought most of the other books he refers to and found them extremely useful.

The chapters are presented in way that makes your recollection of them easier, and putting them in the Zen context certainly aids with awareness.

I really do recommend this book to others, and it's worth also taking a look at the related blog for ongoing examples of effective presentations.

My manager and a few on the team have been fans for a long time, including participating on his blog. We bought the book and then had him come to campus to teach in person. Best 8 hours I've spent! Love him, love the book.

Change is a-comin'. For those people that don't believe it, now would be a good time to leave the cave. And yes, power and control will go to people who possess strong right brain qualities. "R

The author gives us a quick trip through the halls of neuroscience which leads into acquiring the skills that will be needed for this new Conceptual Age. I actually preferred the second half of the book as I am not one that needs to be convinced that my environment and certainly the environment of my children and grandchildren will be vastly different from the one my father and grandfather grew up in.

Certain ideas and theories in this book could stand a little more research and certainly may be influenced by political leanings. All in all, it is still a very important book and should be part of any manager's survival pack. I hope you find this review helpful.

Michael L. Gooch, SPHR - Author of Wingtips with Spurs

A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink was assigned for a graduate course. It was a summer course where we were squeezing a semester into 1 week. What we needed was another book to read. HOWEVER, once I began reading it, I was hooked. I read some of it aloud to my husband who became so interested he read it after me. We have passed it on to our best friends.
I can't wait for my college-age daughter to read it and give me her opinion. This is a book that will be interesting to a broad range of people.

Reading this book will change how you view life - both your own and how you view the world around you.

I enjoyed reading this book. It was like a box of chocolates, each section was a delicious release of serotonin. I plan on reading it again so the other side of my brain can enjoy it.

I LOVE this book. I am an art teacher in Phoenix. I was able to discuss art integration through all subject matters with my students and I think that it's essentail! We are cutting our art programs down to nothing and we're creating a whole new generation of test takers -- our kids need to be problem solvers and CREATIVE problem solvers to compete in our new world. Our world that we live in now will NOT be the world our kids live in when they're grown up. Things are evolving fast and we need to give them tools to conquer tomorrow's problems. This book gives great insights! BUY IT! READ IT and give it to your school administrators! Thanks Mr. Pink!

I found the book interesting but with the small print, very hard to read. More theory than practical help in putting together a presentation, especially in the instructional area.

Nancy Duarte is managing Duarte Design, a company that has created some high-profile presentations (Al Gore is one of the clients). They (her husband is the company's CFO) started out in the 80s when the Apple Macintosh brought desk top publishing and graphics design to the masses, and have now become one of the big brands in professional presentation design.

This is the perfect book for those who have mastered the PowerPoint (or Apple Keynote) technical skills and need to make the final jump to master concepts usually taught in art schools (rather than software manuals):
- Picking pleasing color schemes
- Slide composition
- Typography
- Etc.

The trained eye can extract almost everything there is to know about presentation design. However, this is not the book that will teach you magic that will turn your beginner-level PowerPoint edits into a professional presentation.

Many subjects discussed in this books are covered in other material as well (minimal bullet points, cut words, use professional images, etc. etc.) However, there are some very specific things that I picked up in this book that were new to me:

- Thinking about cinematic movement for animations or slide composition
- Creating one big map and using the PowerPoint push transition to navigate it: one presentation - one big slide
- A large library of chart concept sketches, there were many new ones I did not use before
- Stressing to adopt a "designer" mentality to presentations

Things that I found less useful/interesting (personal preference):
- (Many) direct references to the services Duarte Design can offer
- Case examples (many of which are the same as on Duarte's site) are not always useful
- The section on data charts was relatively weak

But overall, a warm recommendation to purchase this book. It is well written, nicely illustrated and brings all the presentation design essentials together in one place, including many references to further reading and almost all the big presentation "brands" in the industry.

...this slick, lively and valuable.

When it comes to bullets, some of my co-workers buy their ammunition by the case. 17 bullet points in one slide?! Yes, we can do that. 50 slides?! "Well, I wanted to make everything clear..."

I intend to slip this book onto the department library and hope its sanity spreads.

§

I highly recommend this book! Great tips and insights and extremely helpful. One of the best of it's kind. Wwll worth the price.

I just destroyed this book with folded pages and ink annotations, so the perfectionists out there may want to order two copies, one for eating and one for sharing. The price is phenomenally reasonable, especially for something that is all color and totally elegant.

This is not about powerpoint slides. If anything, it is a very subtle but explicit critique of how retarded they still are (e.g. no separation between bullet groups). This is an utterly inspiring combination of wisdom, education, visual excitement, and plain fun that "lives" what it preaches.

When I get back to the office I am going to read this book again while I create a briefing on the Earth Intelligence Network and educating the poor one cell call at a time that respects the deep knowledge being imparted by this author and her team. Mills Davis, visualization and semantic genius (Project10X) called my presentation "dense" yesterday, and I needed this book to understand just how polite he was being.

Bottom line mechanically: 10 slides, 20 minutes, 30 font size MINIMJM. For the advanced audiences, 20 slides, 20 seconds each, 6 minutes and 20 seconds total.

I read and reread sections, and the recurring thought in my head was that this book may well be all one needs to run a semester long course on the communication of important complex ideas. The author does not just show a correct slide, the author breaks down every aspect (e.g. fonts, color, grid layouts, use of images, creating your own art) into separate chapters with very ably-illustrated palettes covering all the options. I have a note on this, "nuances are unpackaged and illustrated."

I note the author's admonition that change across the presentation is a distraction, that animation should support the message and the continuity of understanding.

For large organizations, the author covers templates as a means of harnessing the diversity of knowledge of varied functions and employees, while maintaining a consistency of brand. BRAND is huge within this book, and in this book BRAND is not a legal term, it is a philosophical term. I am hugely impressed by a chart showing UK companies that treat BRAND as a design imperative being so much more competitive and profitable than those that do not. This book is not just asserttions and demonstrations, it is fact and case based and eminently authoritative.

I learn for the first time that powerpoint slides can be instantly made to be black and white to focus audience on the speaker, or made all white, by pressing B or W. Why didn't I learn that from Microsoft? Because their tool bar is not designed to teach....perhaps?

Special pages for me:

10-11 The Presentation Ecosystem (Message, Story, Delivery)
12-13 Time Estimate for world-class presentations (36-90 hours)
18-19 Rick Justice and 27 slides on eight topics (organization)
58-59 Making Diagtrams Work Together
64-65 Following the Five Data Slide Rules (Tell the Truth is Rule 1)
82-83 The (Financial) Value of Good Design
116-117 Lose the logo on every slide....
142-143 Dissecting a font (this section alone was HUGE eye-opener)
148-149 Typesetting a block of text (what powerpoint does not do)

The references are phenomenal, and comprise an instant library for any person, firm, or school of design. I only have ten links allowed, so below I list the reference categories, and link to a single book from the multiples identified--no disrespect intended for the others!

DESIGN
Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery (Voices That Matter)

BRANDING
The Brand Gap: How to Bridge the Distance Between Business Strategy and Design

VISUAL THINKING
Zag: The Number One Strategy of High-Performance Brands

INFORMATION GRAPHICS
Nigel Holmes On Information Design (Working Biographies)

DATA DISPLAY
Information Dashboard Design: The Effective Visual Communication of Data

CONTENT
Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die

BUSINESS BOOKS
The E-Myth Manager: Why Most Managers Don't Work and What to Do About It

The index is very good, another manifestation of the utter devotion to quality of the publisher, O'Reilly (I dislike most of their book sets, this one very properly rose to a proper high level).

Lots of white space. There isn't an ounce of fat or irrelevance in this book. It is world-class in every respect, and most publishers are so crummy about price and color that I want to end with a tip of the hat to o'Reilly for getting this one "just right."

This is a straight forward practical guide to building construction for engineers, architects, design managers and anyone involved in construction. Especially useful for graduates and those new to the industry.

Book is very good for research and beginners learning building construction. I have used the earlier editions often for research. But the 4th ed. the print and the size of font is smaller and lighter in color and is hard to read even which my glasses on.

I am a 40 year + commercial real estate appraiser, real estate broker, property mananger, have participated in developing and remodeling offices and industrial properties. Have seen almost every publication offered by professional organizations, schools, public publishing companies. From beginners to those who have reached their business goals in real estate, this publication in in the upper ten percent. If I had to choose a single publication covering building construction, this one would be it.

Please dont let this simple architectural graphic resource book that has been around now for decades be viewed as unworthy of your time, because it certainly has been beneficial as part of the resoureces needed for me to pass the ARE's and for a quick review in my professional life as well.

This current edition is now updated with the needs of the 21st Century architectural firm and forward thinking, technological and sustainalble prcatices.

Confusing is the word I use to describe this book. I guess if you are familiar with all this stuff, it may be ok, but I spent the whole quarter looking for stuff that I never found. I had to rely on internet search to help me with terminology and lingos.

Inspiring and uplifting! Laced with laser sharp humor, Eat,Pray,Love is the account of a mid-thirties woman figuring it out! Read it now!

I couldnt put this book down~!`
i'm going thru my own stuff right now and found myself crying at parts of this book when it hit close to home.

This is a very interesting and fun book to read. Elizabeth is creative in her descriptions of her experiences.

I was shocked when I logged on to Amazon and saw so many snarky, bitter reviews; I expected this book to have a solid five star rating. I do a lot of reading and it not every day that I find a book so engrossing, so honest, so profound, and so funny that I clear my schedule in order to plow through it. To all those mean-spirited reviewers, my question is: if you hated the book so much, why did you waste your time on it? Seems to me those folks are the ones who needed this book the most, yet read it without appreciating any of the gifts it has to offer. Now, I am not saying that this book is some sort of holy text; to the contrary, the writer is, or at least starts out, as a whiney, neurotic mess, who admittedly can be quite annoying in her self-referential misery. And her path to spirituality reads more like a TV reality show than the Bhagavad Gita. But I love the intensely personal, hyper observant, open-to-everything way in which she embraces her experiences, as well as the gritty and witty way she communicates. The chapters are packed with wonderful nuggets of information, wise insights, fascinating observations of people and cultures, and delicious moments of sensuality, spirituality, grace and inspiration. As a person who enjoys nature writing, my one disappointment with the book was that her interest seems so exclusively focused on people. I would have enjoyed a little more natural history, the names of some of the beautiful flowers and butterflies she describes, or a description of a dog or cat or sacred cow that even begins to match the sensitivity and wonder with which she describes humans. But that is a minor quibble with a major achievement. And I don't even say this because I identify with the author's journey. I spent my glorious months in Italy when I was 20, have met my soul mate, and am able to quiet my mind without visiting an Ashram. But I, and I suspect most of us, can always use some help expanding our world views and and shoring up our moral and spiritual failings; this book inspires such self-work while being thoroughly entertaining.

Not only did I find her whiney and self-absorbed, but also didn't see her as a really great writer. I almost quite half way but I hate not to finish, so I slugged through it all. There were a few interesting times in the book, but they are few and far between. Just find someone who read it and ask them to recap their favorite paragraph and you're done.

Couldn't put the book down once I started reading it. Loved the characters, loved the building of the Cathedral and I particularly liked how Follet brought the rediscovery of ancient Greek texts such as Euclid into the story. So many things I liked about the book. Sure there was plenty of sex and violence, the story was set in the 12th century after all. Plus I assume we're all adults here so I think we should be able to deal with it. For those who don't like violence and sex in their fiction I would keep clear of this book, that will save me having to read the ridiculous negative reviews.

Some of Oprah's book club books are good and some are bad, but this was wonderful. It was really long but not once did I ever look ahead to see how many pages were left so I could go on to my next book. I am amazed that someone can write like this. There is so much detail and character development. You can picture yourself in various towns. You can see everything in your mind as it is portrayed in the book. There is a lot of despair and sorrow in this story. I would recommend it to anyone who has the patience and time to read such a long book.

Pillars is a long book but very good. Not your usual Ken Follett, had I not known better would have thought he had a ghost writer here. I love his works but this is so different. It has to be a good read to keep me going over 900 pages. I think you will like it.

I really like this book, even though I would agree it is certainly not Proust. Where the character development fails, there is a compelling storyline that kept me interested beyond the last pages.

An excellent read. I found it difficult to put down. Even through its many pages I found it impelling and not at all too long. However, because of its weight I had to prop the book on my lap on top of a pillow. I consider it a must read.

For those to are ecologically minded, a key part of creating any new product is to produce a life cycle assessment (LCA), which is also known as a cradle-to-grave analysis, working from manufacture (`cradle') to use and disposal (`grave'). The LCA investigates all of the environmental impacts of that product and attempts to minimise that damage. One of the key premises of McDonough & Brangart's book, is that minimising damage just isn't good enough. Instead, the authors propose that we change our entire design processes so that reuse and nourishment are built right into the process. Instead of minimising waste, we create value. Cradle to Cradle goes beyond the notion of having recycling as the final step in a process flow, and instead builds on the idea that waste need not exist at all. We can design our lives and products around the notion of nourishment - from the way we live to (primarily) how we design and produce goods. The natural world provides the template for what the authors suggest, from the regenerative world of the insect, to the cherry tree, to the use of natural nutrients such as solar and wind power. They suggest that the key to working within, rather than against, nature is to respect biodiversity, respect the elegance and abundance of what is around us, and begin our design process with the notion of there is no such thing as waste.

The writing style itself is clear, simple, and suitable for all ages and knowledge levels. Different readers will take different things from the book. It is addressed to those that do design for a living, and for those who are professionals in industry, this book will serve as a manual for development. But all of us are engaged in creation and consumption in one way or another (the machine I'm using to type this on, or the reams of paper my kids draw on to take two general examples) and the choices we make on how we will conduct those activities, and seeing ourselves as all being part of the great cradle to cradle cycle is an important step forward.

The book spends some time discussing the whole notion of dangerous design principles, including the way in which "downcycling" only defers the problem as products become more and more unstable (and environmental problematic) as they are recycled. Although I've yet to see plastic books become a trend, the book itself is an example of how a product can be manufactured in a way that will be infinitely valuable. It's made out of synthetic paper which doesn't use wood pulp or any dangerous inks or substances, and is both waterproof and pleasurable to read, with nice thick pages and clear ink. The book goes into quite a lot of detail about what it would mean to design products that weren't less bad, but rather 100% good. The authors look at architecture and how we can design buildings that take into account the diversity of their settings, and the natural needs of their inhabitants.

The book concludes with "Five Steps to Eco-Effectiveness", a neat summary of how to put the philosophical principles discussed in the book into practice. Some of these, such as "Step 2: Follow informed personal preferences" may seem a little unusual, advocating that we use our aesthetic sense, our observations and our own sense of pleasure (yes, pleasure) to guide our design decisions. While others, such as "Step 4: Reinvent" may seem almost too broad for the average reader. However, the book is full of so many specific examples, primarily from industry, that it's easy to picture what they are advocating working in practice. After all, the book itself is not only beautifully and safely designed to fit the "cradle-to-cradle" philosophy, it is also written in a way that is easily read, linguistically elegant and appealing, and sound in its advice. As a writer, I can see the sense in taking on this wholistic approach to environmentalism, ditching the hysteria and the mass of finger-pointing practices which look green but which don't actually make much of a difference, and taking on this approach in a whole body sense. It's powerful stuff and the impact is starting to happen, perhaps a little too slowly, but, as the authors say, "it's going to take forever...that's the point."

Magdalena Ball is the author of Sleep Before Evening.

This book was in perfect condition when I received it and the really cool thing about it is that its WATERPROOF which means you can read it pretty much anywhere-in the shower, underwater, at the beach or even in a fish tank! The book gives you scary insight on how we are destroying our earth and killing ourselves slowly and simultaneously!!!

Apparently corporations are all going green. Even Ford will become perfectly sustainable. Now they abuse their employees & produce thousands of fossil-fuel-burning cars out of a "green" facility built with materials extracted from where, a green, sustainable mining operation?

This book has some good points & quotes, but in the end it's another propaganda piece for greenwashing corporations.

Such an inspiring book! McDonough and Braungart offer much more than just passion for creating a green world--they tell us how to do it. Through their experience innovating new systems with companies like Ford, Herman Miller, DuPont, and many more, they bring serious intelligence to a movement that often feels like another fad. Current enthusiasm aside, Green is here to stay, and we need to start understanding the things we talk about.

Put on your creativity hat and prepare to be dazzled.

The book was delivered in good condition and in a timely fashion. I am very pleased with your services.

I am a registered nurse and this is by far the best book on the topic of waist managementthat i've read so far. Really wonderful ilustrations too. I would recommend it to any serious and diet conscious individual.
E.P.

Outstanding You: Discover, Design and Achieve Ultimate Fitness

Perhaps the most important aspect of fitness is understanding your own body. This book provides another perspective on dieting. For that reason, I recommend at least reading it for the different viewpoint you may pick up. I rated it high because I find the more information, the better. Even if you decide not to use some, most or all of the information in the book, it's good to have that information anyway. The fitness field is largely unregulated - and diets are constantly going and coming. Only you can know what's best for you - and the only real way to do that is to learn as much as you can.

You: On A Diet doesn't just lay out a diet plan, but addresses what goes on when we eat and the various chemicals in our bodies that effect our behaviors and body shape.

Part 1 is a sort of introduction to your body.

Part 2 is about appetite, your digestive system, inflammation, body fat, metabolism, and exercise. If you have ever wondered how food acts in your body and how food can effect how you feel and whether you store fat or burn it, this is the section for you.

Part 3 focuses on how your mind effects your diet - emotions and psychology.

Part 4 outlines the actual You diet and exercise plan and has a whole chapter about staying on plan by making "YOU-Turns" whenever you fall off the plan (and who sticks 100% to any diet 100% of the time?).

The appendices cover medical intervention - drugs that cane help you lose weight, plastic surgery for saggy skin, and various bariatric procedures (stomach stapling, etc.).

Throughout the book are little cartoons that illustrate the points made in the text. I found these helpful even though I am not a visual person.

My main criticism is that they trot out the same old low-fat advice that hasn't helped America yet, and that they promote unhealthy vegetable oils. Neither do I believe that saturated fat is the enemy, though Mehmet and Oz do.

This book is a good start, but I urge people to go beyond this and read more about vegetable oils and saturated fat and see if Mehmet and Oz are right in their views or not. Personally, the only oils I allow in my house are olive and coconut. Yes, coconut oil is a saturated fat.

Excellent book, highly recommended for everybody who needs to understand how the body works and to start a healthy nutrition. Very good indeed.

I am still working through the volume of information contained in this book. And, no, I am not skipping ahead to the chapter with their actual diet in it just yet! As someone who has struggled with my weight off and on (more on than off), I know I need to learn the why I am fat, not just the how to be thin, and I think I found the book which will truly educate me. The text is written in everyday language that you and I speak to each other, not medical high brow stuff. From the tone, I know I would also enjoy this book on tape! My only criticism, which may or may not be fair as I see the merit in it, is that some of the pages are overwhelming with "tips" in one corner, and a cartoon in the other, and the actual text from the page before somewhere in the middle. Sometimes this busy-ness gets in the way of the awesome information contained in all these sections -- if that makes any sense.

Anyway, I strongly recommend this book. I also strongly recommend catching the doctors on the Discovery Health channel when they are on. I love their down to earth approach to health. I would love to have them clean out my refrigerator and scare the fat off me with their outside the box tactics. They are just wonderful! More Manuals please!

... for anyone who wishes to plant the seed of Democracy and ensure the security of our own.

Inspiring, funny, unbelievable, made me cry, and made me want to be a better person. I wish I could say something more to do justice to this incredible story. Tell all of your friends and READ THIS BOOK!!

This story, about a single person who made it possible to build dozens of schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan for both boys and girls, provides a view into the people and culture of these two countries that is just so hard for Americans to get. If there is a better way for Americans to make the case for freedom, tolerance, and equality, peace, i certainly don't know what it could be.

Out of all the books I have read in my life so far this was the best. I have traveled the world in the past 5 years on mission's trips to help others. I must say this book has wanted to make me make a difference. I want to become a world changer because of it. Many times through out the book with the excellent writings of Relin and Mortenson I found myself standing and walking a side of Greg. I can't recommend this book enough. I have purchased many copies to give to friend's world wide. Please read it!!

Excellent book, highly impressed by Greg's efforts to educate girls in the part of the world, where even a local Pakistani would fear to start such a project. Greg certainly did a wonderful job of understanding and blending himself with the local people, inorder to fully understand poor village people's problems he related himself with the local people to an extent that, he could see their problem from their perspective. Mr.Relin has done justice in telling the story of Greg's epic journey. Two thumbs up highly recommended reading.