change Books

I have tried getting my Korean English students to describe wordless picture books to me, and I have been most successful with this one.
Like everthing else by Pat Hutchins ("One Hunter" and "Rosie's Walk"), this book is delightful.

Changes Changes is a wonderful book that young children will be pleased they can "read" on their own. My son enjoys reading this one to me as we drive home. He explains the motivation behind Mr. and Mrs. as they create a fire truck, train, truck and house in this wild adventure filled with tension, and emotion without using any words at all. Share this with any toddler built with an imagination of their own.

This little book is on my entering kindergartener's Summer Reading List and I can certainly understand why. Pat Hutchins tells, without text, the story of how a family overcomes adversity. With colorful artwork and blocks which most children have seen and played with, she demonstrates how thinking and creativity can lead to solutions.

As with most good wordless books for pre- and early readers, it offers the opportunity for children to make up stories to fit the pictures. Such skills are well associated with success in learning to read.

[See also Tomie dePaola's stories for more excellent opportunities to practice reading skills.]

This was one of the first books my mother and father shared with me when I was a child. To this day I can still recall sitting with them and making up a story about this little family made of wood. It moved me to tears. The pictures show the family building a home out of blocks. The home catches on fire and the family is distressed. They perservered, however, and re-built their home. Through adversity, hardship, and inevitable changes, love and the bonds of a family saw them through to find happiness once again. Definitely share this wonderful picture book with the children in your lives.

Changes, Changes is a wordless picture book showing a couple made of wooden blocks constructing building blocks to make a home. The home catches on fire and they build a fire engine to put the fire out. However, the water causes a flood and they then have to build a boat to sail away on. They arrive safely on shore and build a truck and then a train and, eventually, a new home.

I would recommend this book for children ages 3, 4, and 5. Children these ages enjoy making up stories to go along with wordless books. Many of them also take pleasure in playing with building blocks and will enjoy the images of the blocks being built into various things. In addition, the personification of the couple made out of wooden blocks will appeal to young children. I recommend sharing this book with children for enjoyment. The illustrations were prepared with black pen-and-ink line drawings and separate overlays for the colors. The images do a wonderful job of telling the story without text.

I read this book and several others on the subject to help myself recover from a painful life-long relationship with an untreated, undiagnosed ADDer. My goal was to understand, and have compassion for those with ADD.

This book seems to be aimed at making those who have to live with ADD or ADHD feel good. In an attempt to make the ADDer feel better, he takes the approach that ADD is an outdated human survival mechanism that causes problems in our more organized society, therefore, it is not a "defect" or something that needs to be treated with medication.

The tendency to pile on fat is also such a mechanism, but that is no reason to consider it a "gift" or not seek ways to overcome it. The reality is that such things can pose very real health risks and the danger is that such opinions can assist those in denial to ignore the consequences of ADD/ADHD behavior on the family's health, happiness, and survival.

He also blames a lot of the increase in ADD on a society that watches TV, and an education system that stifles creativity. Many people try to link ADD with creativity as though one relies on the other. However, there are a lot of us that have grown up in the same environment as those with ADHD, but we manage to remember to pay the bills, we can maintain a job, and we manage to maintain healthy human relationships. And there are many artists, musicians and creative individuals who do not have ADD, and are no less successful for it.

If you are the parent of an ADD/ADHD child, there are some good tips for parenting. But if you are a spouse or child recovering from a disastrous relationship with someone with undiagnosed or untreated ADD, or if you are currently in a relationship with an adult with untreated ADD this book won't help you a bit.

There is no doubt that our society has been bad at helping those with ADD and our attitudes toward the behavior of ADD have caused self-esteem problems. However, the same is true of the overweight issue.

The bottom line is that ADD and ADHD has caused an untold amount of unhappiness for the person with ADD and the family. The behaviors of risk taking, the communication problems that manifest in relationship problems, and the impulsiveness and lack of self control that can lead to emotional or physical abuse are far too serious to be ignored. The exercises in the book are fine, but for anyone facing serious issues because of ADD behavior, think about medication to get the worst of the behavior under control. If medication can help treat it, I say, go for it. Then we can all sit in a circle and sing Kumbayah and rejoice in our "differentness".

You really need to be careful when reading this book. Understandingly, people facing the challenges of ADD/ADHD are stressed out and overly receptive to a voice like Hartmann's. Strangely unprofessional, Hartmann offers a "soft ball" lob to those looking for a feel good camp-fire-like discussion of the challenges of ADD/ADHD. This is not a productive way to approach these challenges. Overcoming these challenges takes discipline, a manner of thinking totally absent in Harmann's writing. I would go so far as to say that the author's writing style, the manner in which he presents his ideas, and the thinking behind those ideas represents the worst, rather than the most optimal aspects, of traits associated with ADD. Beware.

Thom Hartmann has written a series of books related to ADD/ADHD.

They all are wonderful easy to understand and useful books.

They introduce a powerful perspective to those labeled ADD/ADHD. ADD/ADHD, being based on labeling behaviors is challenged in many ways by these books of Hartmaan's.

Thom Hartmann's books provide a useful tool to help people recognize the psychological coping mechanism that are associated with ADD patterns of behavior. This was very helpful to me since I am not ADD/ADHD and had no idea how to relate or what I was relating to!!!

This book Healing ADD gave me some useful tools for me and my daily life! That alone was worth the cost of the book!

Bottom-line these books helped several people I know and love.

So this review is one of a personal point of "been there done that!" I learned much as did my family and friends.

These books of his help!!!

Yours in good health

nieema

This book is an amazing self-improvement resource; only rarely does a book impress me, but... I'm impressed!

Hartmann has an extremely engaging writing style, and displays great deftness in walking a very narrow path; most books gravitate toward either theories that are interesting but engender no action, or strident calls to action that would do a nagging parent proud.

Instead, his phrases twist, and turn, and *slide* through that narrow gap, right past all sorts of carefully-developed defenses, and inspire the amused reader to actually TRY some of the exercises he suggests. For some of us, believe me, that's no small task! As an added bonus, this book is also the best USEFUL quick-and-dirty introduction to NLP I've seen... I've toyed with experimenting with my internal programming before, and even seen some useful results when guided by a friend that's proficient in it, but Hartmann's descriptions and exercises immediately made sense and intrigued me.

An example - he talked of how most of us have a spatial representation of time, and picture the future extending in one direction and the past in another. Those with a less-than-functional internal sense of time have usually shifted them to a less-than-useful location and sure enough, I found my own representation to be within reason but somewhat skewed. After trying the associated mental exercise in the book, I suddenly found myself getting up, two mornings in succession, the *first* time my alarm went off - usually I'd hit "snooze" for at least an hour. As if that weren't enough, on the third day my alarm clock failed... the outlet was bad, and the alarm didn't go off. I STILL woke up at the appropriate time. This is fascinating stuff; next I'm going to play with resetting some old anchors and creating some new ones.

Whether you consider yourself to have ADD, consider yourself not to, or think it's just a negative label created to minimize people who shake things up a bit, this book is worth a read. Doubly so if you're an iNtuitive Perceiving personality type; it's a quick, entertaining, and very likely useful read... well worth a try in my book!

I found this book very interesting and useful from many different perspectives.

It gave me a better understanding of those who are diagnosed or labeled as ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) and the issues faced by these people. In particular, I liked the idea of looking at ADD as `a normal and natural part of the spectrum of human behavior, and that it is not as useful in modern society as it may have been in the past'. That is, a person diagnosed with ADD has characteristics more like a hunter compared to the rest of the population who are more like farmers.

This is an excellent book for students of NLP to see how NLP can be used to assist those who have been diagnosed as ADD. This however is also a short-coming of the book for those readers who have not studied NLP.

The NLP techniques and concepts, presented in this book, are adequately described for anyone who has been trained in NLP. Thus, NLP practitioners can easily use these simple and elegant techniques with their ADD clients and achieve outstanding results. However, for those readers who have not studied NLP, my concern is that the techniques are not presented in sufficient detail nor with the full understanding as to why or how they will assist a person diagnosed as ADD. Thus, some of these readers may feel the techniques are too simple or even flaky.

SIMPLE GIFTS is a delightful collection of short stories by beloved authors! Very Enjoyable!

Great book - couldn't put it down.

I have bought this book to read two little novels written by J.McNaught which are not translated into french (I am French).
Despite of my very poor english, it was a very good moment of evasion and the great sense of humour of J.McNaught was still there. The stories were good but definitively too short...

Four quick reads that are perfect for your wait at the doctor's office or waiting at your child's sports practice.

"Just Curious" is a touching tale about a woman who is a widow and stuggling to move on with her life alone. Her boss makes her a business proposition that she can not refuse, not realizing that it will lead to true love.

Some reviewers were disappointed with "Miracles", the story of Nicki and Juliana. Nicki was such an intriguing secondary character in Whitney My Love and Until You (two of Judith McNaught's best sellers), that I can see why fans wanted him to have a longer story.

Those of you who follow the Montgomery/Taggart series written by Jude Deveraux will be interested in "Change of Heart", a story about Frank Taggart. This is a story of mature love between a struggling single mom and a wealthy businessman. Unbelievably, a young boy orchestrates the meeting of these two unlikely characters and it really is a heart-warming story.

"Double Exposure" is a prequel to Remember When written by Judith McNaught. It is Corey and Spence's story. I liked it because I was familiar with the characters. It is an interesting, if not bizarre, wedding.

These short stories may be a good way to become acquainted with these fabulous authors if you have not read any of their longer romance novels. Avid McNaught/Deveraux fans will feel right at home with them!

I only bought this book because of Judith's McNaught short on Nicholas Duville's love story, All I ever did through the piece was sigh and cuddle the book to my heart, and continued reading page after page, I cried I smiled, I felt my heart bloom with every kiss or embrace the characters had...and this is only a FICTIONAL story!! GOD! I miss Mcnaught!!! I miss her so much! So much that I want to wringe her neck for discarding the gift she had in making BEAUTIFUL historicals! she was a legend! and still is! does anybody know's what happened to her?! Honestly!
I adored her story with Nicki, Julliana was the classic Mcnaught Herione...perfection! But what I liked most about her was that she wasted no time in making things interesting, I related with Nicki so much through out the story he was always the "Friend" to the women he was interested in, interesting women on the whole seemed to back away from him and run into the arms of other men...and that was TWO books straight! good thing it didn't end there and had him star here as a hero for once! I loved him since Whitney, my love...I adore him now! the bit with Julianna excusing herself from Nicki saying "Goodafternoon,Mr....er....Deveraux." I laughed so much it was so clever to put Jude Deveraux's name in there...hehehe...

I recommend anything by Judith Mcnaught although for me I have no interest in her contemporary novels...its her historicals you should be looking out for and their the following:
-Almost Heaven
-Something Wonderful
-Once and Always
-A Kingdom Of Dreams
-Whitney, My Love
-Until you
-And lastly this book Simple Gifts (Nicki's story -Miracles-)

I'm sure your going to enjoy all of them! :)

The author does an excellent job showing how to build rapport and trust.
Clear, concise dialogue and easy to follow.
A wonderful addition to the Family Therapy class I am about to attend.

Reading this book was like opening a window in a stuffy room to get a breath of fresh air. The stuffy room is the current public discourse surrounding "democracy" and "civil society." The fresh air is Huntington's discussion of the phenomena of political modernization around the globe in the face of revolution and terror (not a new phenomenon). Although dating from the 1960s, the insights are still fresh. Basically, Huntington argues that order is essential to modernization, that reforms can catalyze revolutions and civil war if applied in the wrong way to the wrong people (Urban Elites), and that there is nothing inevitable about people's love for democracy or progress. Leaders have to lead, that's what they are for. Ataturk comes our very well in this book, as does Lenin, somewhat surprisingly to this reader, because political organization is a the center of Huntington's prescription for modernization and change. As an analyst, Huntington is unbiased. He may get some details wrong, although he seems to have a photographic memory, but his overall analysis has withstood the test of time. Order is required for changing societies. That's something President Bush and his followers didn't seem to understand, and one reason that America has seen a (hopefully temporary) slip in its prestige. I would ask that any foreign policy political appointee in any administration be required to read this book--and pass a Mandarin-style exam to be sure they understand Huntington's main point, namely: Political order is required for changing societies.

Huntington takes issue with Lipset's argument regarding modernization, arguing instead taht the process of modernization may lead to instability rather than democracy. Huntington aruges that the process of modernization - urbanization, industrialization, increased literacy, and rising wealth - expands political conscioussness which broadens political participation, thus multiplying political demands. In a state where political institutions are weak, these increased demands can lead to political disorder and instability. In other words, where Lipset argues taht modernization will bring in lower-class, potenitally disillusioned groups into a more coesive state culture, Huntington would argue that this will occur only if institutions are in place to provide a medium of voice for those lower classes.

Additionally, Huntington calls for a strong state structure during the modernization process. Modernization destroys traditional authority structures which must be replaced by one central authoritative body. This parallels the Weberian idea that as political freedoms expand in modern society, strong bureaucratic structures for social institutions are imperative.

When discussing modernization, Huntington argues that during the process it may be necessary to constrain some human rights in order to ensure political stability. This illustrates that modernization may not lead to total democracy. Donnelly (1984) referred to these human rights versus development conundrums as needs tradeoffs, equality tradeoffs, and liberty tradeoffs. For example, Huntington argues that economic development (modernization) may require that the central authority limit "consumption-oriented" human rights during the economic development process.

Huntington also sees the potential of an equality tradeoff. This idea holds that a society in transition to a modern economy will experience high levels of income inequality, but over time, this inequality will recede to a more moderate level. Where Huntington sees the equality tradeoff as temporary, Donelly argues that the problem may be more long lasting.

Lastly, Huntington argues that when modernization weakens traditional authority structures, other associational groups may arise, which may lead to political decay, i.e. these groups may rise up in opposition to the central political authority. As such, the civil and political rights of these groups may need to be suspended during the early stages of economic development. Huntington would argue that the long-term interests of modernization must take precedence over the short-term interests of various groups.

I read this book while I was in the university, and it still has things to say ten years later. I am an Asian, so I feel qualified to say that Huntington's ideas were not racist. If anything, he saw things very clearly. He has a good grasp of how politics work in non-western societies. He also clearly understood the needs of under developed Asian societies. He understood better than writers supposedly sympathetic to Asians (i.e. Naom Chomsky and his intellectual cronies)how political stability is the most important political issue of the day.

(Just a note on the Clash of Civilisation. It was widely mocked when it first came out in the early 1990's, but after 9/11 it was proved that what he wrote was right and - as usual - perscient.)

I find it slightly incredible that a book of this caliber and renown remains basically unreviewed, in the sense that no previous reviewer has deigned to even touch upon Huntington's argument. They have chosen merely to register their opinions on his argument. But to someone who has not yet read the book, how could those opinions be of any guidance when the grounds for those opinions are not laid out? I write this review for those who believe that the integrity of an opinion depends upon the reasons given to support it.

I came to this book highly skeptical that I would learn anything important. In college, I read Huntington's The Third Wave, a text of canonical status in the field of democratization studies, which at the time nonetheless (or perhaps for that very reason) struck me as insipid. Here is not the place to discuss whether and how my views on that later book have changed. Suffice it to say that Political Order in Changing Societies surprised me pleasantly with its fresh insights, wide learning, and clarity of argument. Its reputation as one of most important books in political development is well-deserved.

If I were to describe this book in one sentence, I would say that it is Hobbesian in outlook and Hegelian in method. That the book is Hobbesian in outlook is indicated by the justly famous opening sentence: "The most important political distinction among countries concerns not their form of government but their degree of government." It is confirmed beyond doubt by Huntington's elaboration of that statement: "The function of government is to govern. A weak government, a government which lacks authority, fails to perform its function and is immoral in the same sense in which a corrupt judge, a cowardly soldier, or an ignorant teacher is immoral" (28). One might wish to count all the times Huntington uses "Hobbessian" as an adjective. To say that the book is Hegelian in method is to stress the movement of Huntington's argument. He is concerned primarily with political modernization or political development. That is to say, he is concerned primarily with transitions, whether from a traditional to modern polity, or from a praetorian to civic polity. The causes of those transitions are certain contradictions or tensions within the socio-political system. As Huntington will later suggest, this book highlights "developmental contradictions and crises," e.g., rapid political modernization coupled with slow political development, or the conflict b/t short-run and long-run interests (the "King's Dilemma" that he describes in ch.3 is a variation on this latter theme). One might wish to count all the times he uses the words "dialectic" or "dialectical."

For the student of contemporary political science, this book will be of interest in that it presages the currently fashionable interest in institutions. Political institutions are at the heart of this book. As Huntington tells us, "The primary thesis of this book is that [the violence and instability characteristic of the post-WWII era] was in large part the product of rapid social change and the rapid mobilization of new groups into politics coupled with the slow development of political institutions" (4). "The primary problem of politics is the lag in the development of political institutions behind social and economic change" (5).

I give this book four stars rather than five because in his later chapters, where he is elaborating upon the basic argument laid out in ch.1 and filling in details, he is not always convincing and he sometimes glides over tough problems. Also, some of his passing statements stand in considerable tension with his broader argument, e.g., his statement, "Institutionalization of power means the limitation of power" (238), and his general argument, "Authority has to exist before it can be limited" (8). Incidentally, this example should suffice to show that statements that seem plausible and even insightful when taken alone can nevertheless be highly misleading.

Still, this book was a pioneering work in its time and remains an excellent introduction to the primary issues of political development. One cannot say that it has yet been surpassed, and it therefore remains essential reading for political scientists.

To be fair, Huntington is a great writer. However, some of his ideas border on racism. I would read Huntington to understand how people in the social sciences thought 50 years ago, but I wouldn't take his broad general truths too seriously.

Bradley-Morris, Inc. (BMI) commends Ms. Enelow and Ms. Kursmark for endeavoring to assist transitioning military. As the largest military to civilian placement firm, we have found that the most successful military job seekers who utilize our free services are the ones who have put some time and energy into preparation, including constructing a good resume, doing some basic research on the companies that they are interviewing with, as well as all-important practice interviews. Being able to discuss their military experience in terms that a civilian hiring authority will understand is key.

Bradley-Morris, Inc. (BMI) - Delivering Military-Experienced Talent to America's Top Companies

As a soon-to-be retiring senior military officer, I have read dozens of books on transitioning and most focus on theories and platitudes. Whereas many books are written at such a basic level describing how to prepare a resume and how to dress for an interview, this one simply skips the fluff and gets right down to the basics of sample resumes. This is THE book I would recommend for transitioning senior military officers. I could have saved myself a bit of time and money in skipping the other 20-or-so that I read before finding this one.

Another "must have" book for those of you separating or retiring from the military. This book will help you to easily convert those military job descriptions into civilian terminology. Also has some great examples and suggested resume formats.

This book is clearly written. It is simple yet not simplistic. It would be helpful to the first time researcher as well as those who have manipulated census data before but do not do it for a living. I found useful information on how to best configure my graphs, what pitfalls to avoid and how to handle data that was collected and recorded differently in previous census counts. There is some discussion of analysis and some examples are given but these are not the focus of the book.

A wonderful, practical guide for any organization to lean and apply the principles and practices of lean, not just to implement the methodologies but also to sustain and enable continuous improvement. This book is well written, and can be used as a guide and teaching book by consultants, or within an organization as well, with the only caveat being that you have to follow the recomendations and methods that are provided. With today's competitive environment, this book provides a simple, easy to follow guide on how to take advantage of your workforce's knowledge and experience, get them to buy into implementing and sustaining improvements in your business, and get everyone on board in steering the company to competitive advantage. Nice work, Dr. Bill!!

William Lareau's "Office Kaizen - Transforming Office Operations into a Strategic Competitive Advantage" doesn't focus on the lean tools most books written on lean transformations focus on. Instead of rehashing the core lean concepts of process mapping, 5S, etc. which dozens of other books are dedicated to, it gives a very comprehensive explanation of how to create a lean culture through the restructuring of management teams to maximize the effectiveness of other lean tools, like visual controls and a daily accountability process. While most companies grasp the advantages of value stream mapping and kaizens and see quick improvements once they utilize these tools, the results they achieve typically don't last because they haven't put in place a management system to sustain those improvements, much less drive additional daily incremental improvements.

I was particularly drawn to Mr. Lareau's approach because it was very similar to one of the best lean books I've ever read - "Creating a Lean Culture - Tools to Sustain Lean Conversions" by David Mann (if you haven't read this book yet - I strongly recommend it); hence the name of my review. It seems that Mr. Lareau has adopted Mr. Mann's theories on how to create a lean culture on the shop floor through the adoption of a new system of management to the office. He even expands on Mr. Mann's concepts by using his degrees in Clinical Psychology and Applied Psychology to explain in Chapter Five how to get human nature on your side when trying to create a lean culture. However, there are key concepts in Mr. Mann's book that Mr. Lareau doesn't include that I think are just as applicable in the office environment as they are on the factory floor. The most important is the concept of "Leader Standard Work", which are the tasks that the leaders at each layer of an organization do on a regular (typically daily) basis.

While I highly recommend this book, I strongly suggest you read it in conjunction with Mr. Mann's book to get an even more comprehensive overview of how to create a management structure to support an organization's cultural transformation into a lean, learning enterprise.

In this book, as well as "Lean Leadership: From Chaos to Carrots to Commitment," William Lareau provides some of the rudimentary tools and theories of Lean practices. However, both books fall seriously short of providing the comprehensive, straight-forward lean techniques and philosophies that both management and their employees require to introduce, improve and sustain lean processes over the long-term. In short, I found that his books actually violate Lean principles in that they contain hundreds of pages of "Munda" (waste)!

Lareau correctly argues that for any business to successfully integrate a Lean program into its structure, it needs to develop and sustain overwhelming employee acceptance and involvement in the program. Unfortunately, Lareau's psychological foundations for his theories on human motivations are outdated. Much has been revealed in the field of psychology in the past 15-20 years with which Lareau clearly needs to acquaint himself.

Lareau makes repetitive attempts to motivate the reader to his way of thinking through tiresome war characterization analogies and often unfounded attacks to minimize or discredit past business improvement programs and their proponents in favor of his own.

He attempts to develop and reinforce the belief that Lean requires such levels of training and business restructuring, that the reader must conclude that to successfully implement and sustain Lean, they must invest heavily and for a lengthy duration, in an outside Lean consultant. His books are essentially marketing tools for his own consultant firm.

After nearly 4 years experience as a 6 Sigma Black-belt leading projects centered on the commercial side of a Fortune-500 enterprise---sales, marketing, marketing services, customer service, HR, etc.-I was pleased to see the emphasis on implementation tactics at the level where most of the detailed work of an organization gets done. It fills the gap left by bigger programs.
It is not so much a "How to" book as it is a "WHY to" book of logic meant to motivate and provoke thought. It fills a gap where other, bigger name programs can fail to deal with the sustaining power of changing human behavior. But with Office Kaizen there appears to be a proven path forward.
Much of the 6 Sigma work I have seen in transactional projects often fails to meet expectations and truly improve outputs in ways that last longer than the `official' measurement period. Such projects often encompass arenas of business activity in which no formal process map has ever existed, even less the mere idea that a process exists. Lacking a consensus understanding of work flow, it follows that NO standards for output exist; NO metrics are captured to qualify those standards; little consideration for the customer's expectations of quality is built into the process; and clearly NO discipline is needed where there is NO process structure. Not surprisingly, little sense of ownership is evident. It's a steep slope that only leads to status quo and mild, but constant chaos!
Modifying the human aspects of process change is often challenging for 6 Sigma methodologies that better fit finite manufacturing, logistical and similarly tangible processes. In my experience of completing `soft' projects, 6 Sigma methods simply don't have as many tools for dealing with the level of granularity and immediate application at the individual behavior level as are found in Office Kaizen. The proposed methods directly treat the realities of getting work done at the molecular level. Regardless of all else done to improve business process, there is still a key implementation step remaining- changing the human behaviors embedded in work processes.
Visual displays (PVD's), Lean Daily Management Systems (LDMS), 20 Keys and the whole treatment of `surface waste' are very instructive for the business leader seriously pursuing process improvement. That leader will greatly benefit by reading the logic, described by Mr. Lareau in "Office Kaizen", that clarifies the reality that the enabling key to all change in business process is leadership.
Sustainability only derives from leadership---leaders who understand that improvement really comes from the bottom up; and that procedure by procedure, paper by paper, person by person, load by load, part by part, and day by day improvements converge to yield sustainable gains. The LDMS assures that change endures. And leadership assures that LDMS and other LEAN office procedures endure. Their focus on reducing waste via correct structure, discipline and power of ownership, all fixed first at the granular level of an enterprise, will produce sustainable gains. And that is the detail most difficult to implement in other programs -- the human behavior at the core of business activity. Changes to machines, flow patterns, wire diagrams, office layouts, floor arrangements, schematics, etc. all can help; but changing the human processes is most difficult. From page 7: "Office Kaizen is an implementation path, management philosophy, leadership structure, and set of tools, all wrapped into one consistent package." That is a great recipe for sustainability.
I recommend the book highly, especially for application in business functions not traditionally viewed through `process eyes'. While it seems to have plenty of strength to stand alone, PVD's, LDMS and the other adminstrative LEAN ideas could also be great companion pieces to the more general tools like 6 Sigma. At least that's the opinion of one who has practiced some of the popular methods and only now has read about Office Kaizen. I look forward to seeing it first-hand. It fills a serious gap.

I found the real value of this book for me was in the identifying of the 26 different transactional wastes. Most Lean training only identifies 7 but it is great for the non-manufacturing sector to see how waste can be identified. I ignored the "slim it" concepts, etc as another review points out that it seem s plug for another "flavor of the month" and his consulting business. Sticking to the traditional Lean approach to transactional processes this book added real value to me in the section on waste, including the examples.

I wrote a review on this book and then deleted it. Yet, I still needed to say something about the book. My feelings are mixed at best. I question those who use notions like prosperity while at the same time contributing to our problems: specifically the extraction of ancient forests to provide paper to publish these books. High profile consumption patterns like luxury sedans which also contribute to our problems. Supporting political candidates married to the status quo, prestige and power, and paying lip service to one thing while doing another via legislation. Of course, any critique that goes against the grain will be held up as fear based notwithstanding the selective use of fear that fills the pages of people who characterize themselves as spiritual teachers.

Duane Elgin published and interesting book many years ago entitled Voluntary Simplicity. I am wondering if any of the people who follow Williamson's advice has ever considered engaging its praxis? Does Love only carry anthropocentric standards, or is Love a more inclusive embodiment of energy that includes non-sentient forms of life? We live in a world of scarce resources: we are told that wars will soon be fought over water supplies. Recently riots have risen over scarce food supplies in the Third World due to the high cost of grain contributing to increased starvation. Yet, the prophets selling and marketing spirituality, seem to be doing very well, and advocating the principle of prosperity for others despite limitations in resources for all. Is it fear based to point this out and ask why?

We need people to make us feel good and provide uplifting commentary. But when this is done at the expense of so much wonder, diversity, and beauty, contributing to the diminishment of the Earth community of beings: then the price is too high. If that makes me the one living in fear, then I pray I stay in this space forever. In this world and the next.

I enjoyed this book immensely and found solace in it while I was ill. I also gave it to someone going through a miserable divorce. They seemed to appreciate it as well.

This book is uplifting, life changing and makes you laugh at yourself because Marianne seems to hit that unexposed nerve lying just beneath the surface. No matter who you are, you will find something in this book that will change your life. I highly recommend it! Review written by the author of Bruised But Still Strong

Marianne has a unique perspective on life. The human experience unfolds into new and intriguing realms with each turn of the page. Her view of God illuminates an entity that seeks to help the transformation from ordinary, mundane existance into a soul-fulfilling adventure as unique and different as the individual. My life is not the same after having read this book!

I loved the book because of the uplifting, loving approach Marianne Williamson gives to her writing. Her philosophies span all faiths and zezo in on what unites us as people. We decide how events impact us - that is her message!

Leading Congregational Change is an excellent read for all pastors taking their congregations to a new level of health and vitality. About half way through the book one realizes too much to soon may be expected from the laity. Change is a process. It takes patience. Within these pages is perscribed the value of patience and process when leading a congregation through change. A quick read. I highly reccommend it.

This book does not offer simplistic answers to a complex issue. Instead, it provides tested, seasoned directions, discussions, and examples for leading congregations to a "preferred future". It's a must read for every church leader.

This book is an excellent answer to the question, "how do we transform declining congregations into Christ-like bodies that display the power of the Gospel in our communities?" [page 1]

Jim Herrington and James Furr of this author triad are great friends of mine in ministry. Readers should take time to abosorb the spiritual and strategic wisdom of these two guys along with the third author, Mike Bonem.

For congregational leaders and congregational champions who are looking for a solid change process that has been well tested by practitioners, this is a good book to add to your collection.

Judicatory leaders will especially want this book as it was written from the perspective of reinventing how a local denominational organization helps its congregations to transform.

For congregational leaders and congregational champions who feel they already know the process they like to use for change and transition, this is a book that at least they must reference. Too many processes do not adequately address the spiritual and relationship vitality that is so well addressed by this book.

As the General Supervisor of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel in the United States, I am constantly looking for leading edge thinking to resource our 5,000 licensed ministers. The authors of LEADING CONGREGATIONAL CHANGE are much more than just brilliant theorists or students of change theory. They are practitioners who have successfully piloted their recommended change process and offer this excellent book to help leaders in congregations seeking true and lasting change.

LEADING CONGREGATIONAL CHANGE recognizes the complexities and difficulties in bringing real change to established congregations. No quick fix or limited approach produces the fundamental changes needed to position many established congregations for future vitality. The authors apply current change theory to the local church in a sequential and understandable way.

I purchased multiple copies of this book and distributed them to Foursquare District Supervisors across the U.S., recommending that they encourage pastors in their regions to use this excellent resource.

This book is a guide to psychological manipulation of the church, geared toward leaders that want to move the church in a different direction whether it is scriptural or not. If you are resistant to what they want to implement, this book will instruct them on how to fool you and draw you in, even using false flattery and kindness as a tool. If you are not easily taken in they will ostracize you, making you appear to be the problem and perhaps even recommend you leave. Deception and cunning are key words here. If church leaders will stoop to the levels suggested in this book, they are not led by God, but by their own flesh and are not worthy of term 'leader.'