Average customer rating:
- Not Bad - a little dated, but better than most
- Very good introduction to the subject.
- Down to earth, well versed material. Very good reading.
- Great! But update!
- Buy this book if you plan to convert a car to electric
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Build Your Own Electric Vehicle
Bob Brant
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill/TAB Electronics
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Similar Items:
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Convert It!
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Electric Motors and Control Techniques
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Plug-in Hybrids: The Cars That Will Recharge America
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Electric Vehicle Technology Explained
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Who Killed the Electric Car?
ASIN: 0830642315 |
Book Description
Electric vehicles have many advantages over their gas-powered counterparts. They're ecologically sound, much cheaper to operate, and require almost no routine maintenance. Drivers can enjoy the clean-running convenience and economy of an electric vehicle for as much as it costs to buy a new car. This illustrated guide explains step by step how to build an inexpensive EV from a kit or convert an existing internal combustion engine. Build Your Own Electric Car begins with an informative history of electric vehicles, current international advances in EV technology, and a look ahead at the future of EV development. Then, author Bob Brant gives a building-block description of each EV component-motor, drive train, controllers, power supplies, chargers, and chassis-and how to put them all together to make a working vehicle. He also gives valuable advice on where to find affordable EV components and systems, how to get the most out of EV driving and ownership, and how to make the best buy, build, and conversion tradeoffs.
Customer Reviews:
Not Bad - a little dated, but better than most.......2007-07-30
Compared to my other review on the book: "Convert It.", this book is much better - at least it's a real "paperback"! The material is more up to date, however it is still somewhat dated. The newer controller chips available, tranformer technologies and battery technologies are described in a forward looking way... however these items are now easily available - so the book doesn't address them very well, they weren't reality at the time. Still a good read to get a comparison of different concepts. Your money might be better spent doing research on the pricey, but high tech Tesla Motors car. There is 2007 technology at work!
Very good introduction to the subject........2007-05-30
If you're not already sold on why you should consider an electric car, this book should help. It covers the pros/cons of buying, building or converting. Before you consider converting a car to be electric, read this book. I suspect spending a little now for knowledge might save a lot later when it comes to buying stuff!
Down to earth, well versed material. Very good reading........2007-03-07
No matter if you just want to learn a little more about EV technology or consideting to build your own Electric Car, this book will give you a wealth of information on all sorts of EV related topics. The book starts with EV history, then goes into EV practicality, then onto currently (well in 80's) available off the shelf technology, vehicle design, physics and aero dynamic principles and finally you get a walk through an actual EV conversion process. I like this book for the way it's formed and the way it flows. The author writes in plain language with plenty of advise and tips. Everything is simple, just like an EV is such a simple machine at it's core. After reading this book, you will get a clear picture where technology stands with EVs, why Internal combustion engine dominated our means of transport and finally how to desing and construct your own EV. Overall great book. One drawback however, this book is written in 80' and has a lot of hopes in it, which is sad to read at times. Like when author talks about newly developed prototype of GM Impact (later renamed EV1) the author puts high hopes for this progect, yet we all know what happened to this effort. You will want to read "Convert it" by Michael Brown after reading this book.
Great! But update!.......2007-01-18
I'm reading this book again and again before I build my own. The info is timeless, but I know the world of EV has changed in 15 years.
Buy this book if you plan to convert a car to electric.......2006-10-23
The title says it all really.
Look this book is somewhat dated, and half the book seems devoted more to theoretical graphs and charts, facts and figures and the like, plus arguing why we *need* to switch to electric vehicles for city use.
However, having said that, it's well produced and you get 300 plus pages for less than US $ 14. (almost "double the book for half the price" compared to some others) This book is worth every penny and then some.
The contacts pages, (pages and pages of them) pre-dates the internet boom so has NO useful urls or email addresses. However with the many names and snail-mail addresses you could probably track businesses down easily enough (plus I'm a guessin' they still have the same phone numbers ! ).
I would look forward, at some future date, to an updated revised edition of this book being published
Until that happens, (if ever) I'd have no hesitation recommending this as one of the several texts that any novice car converter should read before starting their first conversion project.
Catherine, Outback Western Australia.
Customer Reviews:
Stunning pictures.......2007-05-12
Mike Fay has done it again with this collection of amazing photos. Each picture tells a unique and compelling story that make you feel the real struggles in Gabon.
Great Book.......2007-04-16
Bought this book for my mother-in-law as a birthday present. She has traveled to Africa many times so it was perfect for her. She was thrilled with the book. The book is spectacular. We would recommend highly.
The most Impressive Book in my Library.......2007-03-08
Having been a member of The National Geographic Society since 1952 and with a library accumulated in that time, I have not seen before Last Place on Earth such a fine book so magnificently produced.
Incredible Adventure and Book.......2007-03-08
As a photographer and a journalist who has a passion for intense travel and the natural world, I think this is one of the most amazing books published in the past 20 years. Passionate, heartbreaking, and beautiful the world and work of Nick Nichols and Mike Fay shown in this book was eye opening. Highly reccomend. Only comment that maybe negative is the size a bulk of the book.
Retrospective.......2007-01-27
This is a beautifully bound book covering a wide range of areas in and about the jungles of Africa. The images are possible only for someone who spent as much time there as these two did, and the breathtaking work shows this condition. The mega-transect journal is a very nice companion to the photographs, and really helps to convey a mood and philosophy of their work. There passion is obvious.
Average customer rating:
- 5 Stars Indeed
- A Breath of Fresh Air
- A sublime experience, but not for everyone
- The first of its kind, and still the best
- Wonderful
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A Sand County Almanac
Aldo Leopold
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
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Similar Items:
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Sand County Almanac (Outdoor Essays & Reflections)
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Silent Spring
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Desert Solitaire
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Wilderness and the American Mind, Fourth Edition
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Walden; Or, Life in the Woods (Dover Thrift Editions)
ASIN: 0195007778 |
Book Description
First published in 1949 and praised in The New York Times Book Review as "a trenchant book, full of vigor and bite," A Sand County Almanac combines some of the finest nature writing since Thoreau with an outspoken and highly ethical regard for America's relationship to the land. Written with an unparalleled understanding of the ways of nature, the book includes a section on the monthly changes of the Wisconsin countryside; another part that gathers informal pieces written by Leopold over a forty-year period as he traveled through the woodlands of Wisconsin, Iowa, Arizona, Sonora, Oregon, Manitoba, and elsewhere; and a final section in which Leopold addresses the philosophical issues involved in wildlife conservation. As the forerunner of such important books as Annie Dillard's Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Edward Abbey's Desert Solitaire, and Robert Finch's The Primal Place, this classic work remains as relevant today as it was forty years ago.
Customer Reviews:
5 Stars Indeed.......2007-08-20
I knew I would enjoy this book right from the start, when I found the following passages in the Foreward: "There are some who can live without wild things, and some who cannot..." and "For us of the minority, the opportunity to see geese is more important than television..."
If you can relate to those statements, you will love this book. Guaranteed. Aldo Leopold was a conservationist, but he was so much more. He was a visionary. Read those statements again, and when you realize that he wrote them back in 1948, you might be amazed. But as you read the book, you will come to understand how special he was. Facts or knowledge that we take for granted today (e.g., predators play an important role in a healthy ecosystem), Leopold was talking about them over 50 years ago. Time and again I found myself checking the copyright because I could not believe someone was actually thinking this way so long ago.
However, it's not just the ideas of Leopold that made him special. The way he wrote was special, too. His talent drew you in, even though he was writing about something that, by the sound of it, might be kind of dry. For example, in a section called "Good Oak," he connects the passage of years to the rings of a fallen tree that he is cutting for firewood. Starting with the 1940s he relates one environmental tidbit after another for decades or years: "Now our saw bites into the 1890s...when the last passenger pigeon collided with a charge of shot near Babcock." By the time Leopold is done cutting the fallen tree, the reader has received a fascinating and sobering account of what had transpired to the environment in the area of this oak tree for the previous 80 years. The way he used the backdrop of cutting the tree rings as "markers" of environmental mishaps was masterful. It is Leopold at his best, but fortunately, the book is full of writing like this.
It is divided into three sections. The first one follows a calendar year on his farm in Wisconsin, with Leopold relating little vignettes about chickadees, skunks, flowers, or whatever else he comes across. It is probably the most charming part of the book. Part two ("Sketches Here and There") contains short remembrances of Leopold's travels to different parts of North America. Unfortunately, the story usually has a "bad" ending - at least, for the environment or for a species (like the now-extinct passenger pigeon). But Leopold had a reason for that. He moves to part three, "The Upshot," where he spells out his ideas for saving the land and the wild things that live there. It is too much to discuss here, but Leopold again hits the mark. His goal was to try and change how Americans think about the use (and abuse) of our environment. Pehaps his biggest lament then, and mine now, is that not enough people care about what we are doing to the land.
That's why this book was published. The hope of this book was to change the hearts of the average American. It still is. Over fifty years later, it's still in print, and it's still relevant.
Five stars. Absolutely the best nature/environment book I've ever read.
A Breath of Fresh Air.......2007-02-20
Life got you down? Live in a big city? Take a refreshing break and escape to the Wisconsin countryside in this beautifully written little book about the land and the plants and animals that live and grow there. Aldo Leopold's writing is more compelling than John Muir's,and more knowledgeable than Thoreau's. In a series of short sketches you follow the cycle of the land from January to December. Along the way you learn about history, meet amazing plants and animals, and experience the drama of both the destruction and the rebirth of our land.
A sublime experience, but not for everyone.......2004-12-21
I keep this book on my nightstand and read an essay or two after my pj's are on and before going to bed. My bookmark is a pencil for making notes in the margin when particularly wonderful passages are encountered. The margins are very full.
Aldo opens our eyes to worlds in our own backyards which have always existed but which have remained undiscovered due to our own dull-sightedness. I considered myself an avid nature-watcher, but the extent to which Mr. Leopold carries this hobby is humbling. He inspires any true fan to learn the names and habits of every tree, shrub, weed, thistle, bird, insect, and critter native to one's home county, and to hone one's journaling skills and master the talent of imagery and metaphor.
But, this book is not for everyone. I've read favorite passages to friends only to watch their eyes glaze with disinterest. If you're the outgoing, life-of-the-party, must-always-be the-center-of-attention type, then perhaps The DaVinci Code would be of interest. But if you enjoy solitary walks in the woods, canoe paddles on distant foggy lakes, or reading prose with your pj's on, then this is required reading.
The first of its kind, and still the best.......2004-09-05
"Thus always does history, whether of marsh or market place, end in paradox. The ultimate value in these marshes is wildness, and the crane is wildness incarnate. But all conservation of wildness is self-defeating, for to cherish we must see and fondle, and when enough have seen and fondled, there is no wilderness left to cherish." (from "Marshland Elegy")
"It must be poor life that achieves freedom from fear." This, from reflections on being caught on horseback during a lightning storm, is a comment on the "civilized" mindset that wanted all to be safe, and so feared and destroyed wildness.
These essays were written mostly in the 1940's, although some of them are about earlier times in the author's life. In a way, reading Aldo Leopold is like watching Humphrey Bogart in those old movies, with his smoking and tough-guy sexism. We understand these as disreputable today, but can put them in context. Likewise, Aldo Leopold was in many ways a typical countryman of his time and place. He loved to hunt and fish, and even reflexively shot wolves, like everyone else. He came to regret that, and in fact to realize that in the new era, where hunting and fishing have become mass recreations, that the old ways just don't work anymore. But they did in his day, and he does not retrospectively apologize for having been, in a sense, just another predator.
But he was also a college professor, and an expert naturalist and ecologist. In this book he is a poetic writer about nature and a loving reporter of all things wild. No matter where I lived I would love this book, but having lived not too far from his sand counties and walked his restored prairies makes it the sweeter.
Wonderful.......2004-03-25
Read Walden, then read Sand County Almanac. They might just change the way you think about the world.
Book Description
This is the only comprehensive guide for socially and environmentally responsible consumers available. It contains over 15 years comprehensive research distilled into a pocket-sized, shopping-friendly format, ranking every product on the shelf from A to F - turning your grocery list into a most powerful tool to change the world.
Customer Reviews:
excellent effort and a great start for anyone with a concience.......2007-08-11
I loved this book. I use it constantly and recommend it for everyone! Wow, that corporation Altria that owns about a hunrdred familiar brands is so evil! I do wish it had more information on the comapnies it does list. And I would also have loved it if it included much more names than it did. I couldn't find most of the brands I'd like to know about in there. Still, it's better than no info and it's a great portable guide during shopping trips.
Green Living Easy.......2007-07-20
This book can help people who want to spend their money in the right direction toward environmentally conscious and socially responsible business'. It's easy, fun, self-fulfilling and educating.
Everyone needs one.......2007-06-30
This little book is the best thing I ever purchased. It makes it so easy to make informed shopping decisions so I can support the principles that are important for a company to have. It has opened my eyes to the business/corp. world to help me use my dollar to vote. It also offers lists such as where it is most important to pay attention to the grades (ex. choosing an "A" bank will have a greater impact than say an "A" brand deoderant). I an planning on buying a ton of these books as stocking stuffers this year for friends and family. Spread the knowledge!
Let Your Money Talk.......2007-03-31
Money Talks, and nothing speaks louder than which products you buy. This book will help simplify your buying choices.
This is great.......2007-03-13
Takes all the mystery out of shopping for lots of basics and not so basics. This book is very portable and not nearly as complicated as other guides and you can't carry a website shopping with you.
I'm going to be giving out a bunch of these.
Book Description
The Elusive Eden charts the historical development of California, beginning with the evolution of the landscape and climate and the arrival of the first inhabitants, the Indians, through social, political, and environmental controversies of the present and the future. The book portrays a land of remarkable richness and complexity, settled by waves of people from diverse cultures. The text is organized chronologically into 10 parts, each developing a major theme or issue for a particular period in California's history. The first chapter of each part is a narrative that spotlights and dramatizes the personal responses of significant individuals at critical moments of historical change. The authors stress issues of current importance such as: ethnic groups, women, environmental history and social and cultural history.
Customer Reviews:
Great Book!.......2007-03-22
I used this book so much in my California and Politics class. It is very descriptive and helpful. The headings make it easy to study, and know exactly what you are reading about. There are lots of interesting pictures, as well as political cartoons. It was a very helpful book in understanding the diverse and colorful history of California. Read it and check it out for yourself.
History of California.......2000-08-08
I had to use this book for a class I took at the University of California, Santa Barbara (History 177 -- Summer 1999). I thought the book was great in certain areas (prehistoric times, geography, and the native peoples), but deficient in others (water development, railroads, Bear Flag Revolt, gold rush, automobile). Also, California's history is much too complicated to be crammed into this book -- the author should have divided it up regionally, or on a time line to allow himself to get more in depth with this material. Otherwise, if you are interested in a good, yet incomplete overview of the history of the Golden State, read this book!
Elusive Eden Captured.......2000-02-15
History can be exciting, especially when the high points are rendered with such immediacy and clarity. California is both a microcosm and macrocaosm of American History. Richard Rice makes this connection resonant from the original Sutter's Mill gold rush to the current Silicon Valley "gold rush". The themes that define California are U.S. history writ large. Rice lets the reader appreciate California from a variety of personal perspectives: Henry Dana's in "Two Years Before The Mast", Leland Stanford and the other "robber barrons", Hiram Johnson and the reformers, into world war two and the Nisei internees, down through Reagan and the Brown family, and into current times. The history of water rights, which was the basis of the movie Chinatown, becomes a compelling and more accurate story here. The lucid prose is admirably supported by evocative photography. Discover California as it really was and is.
Amazon.com
Everybody knows the Dark Ages weren't really dark, right? Not so fast, counters archaeological journalist David Keys, maybe it's more than just a slightly judgmental metaphor. His book Catastrophe: An Investigation into the Origins of the Modern World, based on years of careful research spanning five continents, argues that sometime in A.D. 535, a worldwide disaster struck and uprooted nearly every culture then extant. Given contemporary reports of the sun being blotted out or weakened for nearly a year and a half, followed by famine, drought, and plague, it's hard not to think that so many reports from all over the world must be related.
Keys shows a keen grasp of both the written historical record from Asia, Africa, and Europe and the archaeological evidence from the Americas, and tells many tales of great havoc destroying old empires and laying the ground for new ones. Rome may have fallen, but Spain, England, and France rose in its place, while farther east, Japan and China each unified and gained strength after the chaos. Could an enormous volcanic eruption have had such influence on the world as a whole, and could the same thing happen tomorrow? Catastrophe makes no predictions, but leaves the reader with a new sense of history, nature, and destiny. --Rob Lightner
Book Description
It was a catastrophe without precedent in recorded history: for months on end, starting in A.D. 535, a strange, dusky haze robbed much of the earth of normal sunlight. Crops failed in Asia and the Middle East as global weather patterns radically altered. Bubonic plague, exploding out of Africa, wiped out entire populations in Europe. Flood and drought brought ancient cultures to the brink of collapse. In a matter of decades, the old order died and a new world—essentially the modern world as we know it today—began to emerge.
In this fascinating, groundbreaking, totally accessible book, archaeological journalist David Keys dramatically reconstructs the global chain of revolutions that began in the catastrophe of A.D. 535, then offers a definitive explanation of how and why this cataclysm occurred on that momentous day centuries ago.
The Roman Empire, the greatest power in Europe and the Middle East for centuries, lost half its territory in the century following the catastrophe. During the exact same period, the ancient southern Chinese state, weakened by economic turmoil, succumbed to invaders from the north, and a single unified China was born. Meanwhile, as restless tribes swept down from the central Asian steppes, a new religion known as Islam spread through the Middle East. As Keys demonstrates with compelling originality and authoritative research, these were not isolated upheavals but linked events arising from the same cause and rippling around the world like an enormous tidal wave.
Keys's narrative circles the globe as he identifies the eerie fallout from the months of darkness: unprecedented drought in Central America, a strange yellow dust drifting like snow over eastern Asia, prolonged famine, and the hideous pandemic of the bubonic plague. With a superb command of ancient literatures and historical records, Keys makes hitherto unrecognized connections between the "wasteland" that overspread the British countryside and the fall of the great pyramid-building Teotihuacan civilization in Mexico, between a little-known "Jewish empire" in Eastern Europe and the rise of the Japanese nation-state, between storms in France and pestilence in Ireland.
In the book's final chapters, Keys delves into the mystery at the heart of this global catastrophe: Why did it happen? The answer, at once surprising and definitive, holds chilling implications for our own precarious geopolitical future. Wide-ranging in its scholarship, written with flair and passion, filled with original insights, Catastrophe is a superb synthesis of history, science, and cultural interpretation.
Download Description
In A.D. 535-536, a climatic catastrophe occurred. It was of such mammoth proportions, it blotted out much of the heat and light of the sun for eighteen months and resulted -- directly or indirectly -- in climatic chaos, famine, migration, war, and massive political change on every continent. In other words, it altered history.
In this breakthrough examination, British archaeological journalist David Keys traces the identity and roots of this catastrophe -- continent by continent and virtually country by country -- showing how it is directly linked to the development of our modern world. The Plague, the rise of Islam, the fall of the Roman Empire, the movement of Asiatic tribes, the beginnings of the great South American empires -- Keys connects all these events that have previously been considered separate and shows us the far-reaching effects of incidents that first appear only localized. He makes us see history in holistic terms, as an integrated, planet-wide phenomenon.
In this fascinating, impeccably researched, and accessible book, Keys's innovative conclusions demonstrate how closely entwined global events truly are, and prove we must change the way we look at our past -- and thus, our future.
Customer Reviews:
My 100-word book review.......2007-03-28
In Catastrophe, author David Keys builds a convincing case for sudden climate change having occurred in the early 6th century, an abrupt dip in worldwide temperatures that would have had massive long-term consequences for civilisations all over the globe. Results could have included the weakening of the Byzantines, the downfall of Teotihuacan and the rise of Islam. This is a fascinating book, and the author's identification of a super volcano as the culprit is highly plausible. However, I think Keys possibly over-estimates this event as a shaper of our modern world, given the existence of so many other important factors.
A truly fascinating history.......2006-12-14
This is truly one of the most fascinating theories in ancient history. A volcano that shaped the modern world by forcing the migration of the huns, the crop failures in the Middle East that led to the rise of Islam and the start of the barbarian migrations towards Rome. It is almost too hard to summarize but if you believe that climate can change history than this is the book that will provide excellent evidence on that idea. Truly a masterpiece of an idea.
Looking for a catstrophe?.......2006-09-12
How much of human history has been shaped by catastrophic events? This exhaustively researched document seems like a natural place to find the answer. Unfortunately, the author's fascination with lurid details of human torture and dismemberment caused me to put the book down after just 60 blood-soaked pages. It's pretty clear that Mr. Key's interests in history do not run parallel to my own. I also found myself wondering about Key's qualifications as "Archaeological Journalist." I guess there are plenty of people who like reading tabloid-style history, and good luck to them, but I much prefer a calmer and scientific perspective of Derek Ager, in his book "The New Catastrophism, The Importance of the Rare Event in Geological History." -- Auralgo
FORCED CONCLUSIONS?.......2006-03-12
Mr. Key's authoritative research created a unique and new approach to the writing of history. His synthesis of science, culture and history was informative and entertaining. He identifies the volcanic eruption between Sumatra and Java in 535 that led to a climatic disaster that he believes helped create the modern world. He did convince this reader that the "Dark Ages were more literal than figurative." However, many of his historical conclusions were overstated. Chapters 19-29 lacked a depth of evidence and were too speculative. His constant use of words like "undoubtedly" made the reader question if he truly beleived his entire thesis? I concluded that he was at most one third correct, but ended in disagreeing that climate changes "alone" caused the birth of the modern world. I give it 4 stars for effort, but only 3 in its totality.
Interesting, relevant, but sometimes a bit stretched........2005-06-28
For the most part I found this book to be enjoyable, but it seems that Keys attempted in some areas to force his conclusion. Also, the same arguement seemed to be repeated far too often. Although I liked that the evidence of climate change was presented for essentially the entire planet, the conclusions at the end of each civilization were repetitive, simply restating the same thing (although, I suppose that was the point). I began to lose patience about 1/3 way through the book, but was able to persist through the conclusion. Perhaps it would have been better had Keys not spent so much time on minutae of Roman history and decline and had moved through the evidence quicker. The latter chapters on Asian and American experience were a little faster reading, likely due to the lack of minutae, largely due to the lack of records from which Keys could draw on. The final arguement on the causes of so much misfortune was compelling, but also left me feeling like our participation in the environment may all be for naught, since the Yellowstone caldera could explode at any moment, wiping us all out. I could not determine if this book wanted to be a book about climate change, history, or science.
Book Description
What "really constitutes an architectural atmosphere,†Peter Zumthor says, is "this singular density and mood, this feeling of presence, well-being, harmony, beauty ... under whose spell I experience what I otherwise would not experience in precisely this way.†Zumthor’s passion is the creation of buildings that produce this kind of effect, but how can one actually set out to achieve it?
In nine short, illustrated chapters framed as a process of self-observation, Peter Zumthor describes what he has on his mind as he sets about creating the atmosphere of his houses. Images of spaces and buildings that affect him are every bit as important as particular pieces of music or books that inspire him. From the composition and "presence†of the materials to the handling of proportions and the effect of light, this poetics of architecture enables the reader to recapitulate what really matters in the process of house design.
Customer Reviews:
Its 'NOT' Thinking Architecture.......2007-05-14
The book is written as a dialogue taken from a lecture, which has had minimal editing. This gives a good insight into Zumthors thinking and inspirations from the cuff,so to speak.
The disappointment is that there is not a lot of grounding theory or thoughts as well defined like those in his essays in 'thinking archtecture'. My feelings are that some ideas are repeatative but presented from a different perspective.
However if you are a true Zumthor fan, you would know that there is not a lot of published material so when its there! Get it!
Great Purchase.......2007-04-13
Very happy with the book i bought! Great quality book either in contents and manufacture. I recommend!! Zumthor is the master!
Average customer rating:
|
Christo & Jeanne-Claude: Wrapped Reichstag, Berlin, 1971-1995 (Jumbo Series)
Christo ,
David Bourdon , and
Jeanne-Claude
Manufacturer: Benedikt Taschen Verlag
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 3822886378 |
Book Description
Are you a CEO, company president, or front-line financial manager recently involved in a merger or acquisition? After the Merger, long hailed as the indispensable reference source for anyone entering the M&A marketplace, is your bible for keeping costly post-merger surprises to a minimum. This classic text, first published in the heady days of 1985 and now revised to reflect new realities in today's rapidly-changing business world, is packed with fascinating case histories and examples involving TWA, Wells Fargo, and others. After the Merger shows you how to roll up your sleeves and combine two separate, highly distinct companies into one solid organization. Look here for details on ways to defuse the cultural time bombs that threaten to destroy international mergers; the 6 errors that managers make again and again, and how you can avoid them; best practices for handling the 4 major categories of merger, everything from "rescue" to "raid"; and time-saving checklists for executives on both sides of the acquisition. Whether you are in the middle of a merger or acquisition or just considering the possibility — no matter what your side — you need the completely updated and revised After the Merger to guarantee long-lasting, post-merger success.
Customer Reviews:
Highly Reccomended!.......2001-02-17
Despite the breathless headlines about the latest billion-dollar merger, most mergers don't work. In fact, more than half of all mergers fail, derailed by a common set of pitfalls. Companies merge without considering how they'll integrate after the deal; they don't communicate properly with their employees, and executives don't make decisions quickly enough to placate frightened workers. The executives who navigate mergers effectively are those who communicate well, deal with ambiguity and make decisions in times of instability. Author Price Pritchett offers an easily digested primer on the hazards of mergers, and lists hints for avoiding common problems. The authors provide plenty of concrete examples showing how such companies as Sony, Wells Fargo and the Chicago Sun-Times suffered from the dilemmas that accompany mergers. We ... recommend this comprehensive guide for managers on both sides of a business marriage. Caution: Read After the Merger before you merge.
Good Starting Place.......2000-11-14
As a project manager who picked up integrating a merger as one of his projects, I found this book to be very helpful. Mergers bring out confusion, tension and stress to all sides. This book focused on how to bridge these gaps through effective communication and project management.
Particularly, I found chapter 10 (General Guidelines for Merger/Acquisition Management) insightful and I used the checklists in this chapter in portions of our integration effort. What I felt this book missed were templates designed to immediately pick up and use in my everyday life.
I found the book is a quick read-I read it on one airplane trip. Many of the comments are very simple and fall into the category of common sense. However, in much of this common sense many of the problems of integrating two companies exist.
"The Authoritative Guide"? Give me a break!.......1999-12-30
This book should have been an short magazine article. The authors basically dissect one concept over and over and over: change is disruptive. There is very little useful information in this book. It points out all of the obvious and frequently-stated problems that come with change - productivity suffers, commitment is lost, etc., etc., etc., but gives no insight in how to fix the problems (unless you count these golden nuggets- "Keep your eye on the ball" and "Provide direction"). The one chapter that I hoped would shed some light on tactics - "Integration Project Management" - was pure fluff. It offered such pearls of wisdom as "It is helpful to look at the integration process as a logical sequence of steps designed to help bring the two organizations together." Not only is this a "Duh" statement, but it shows up in chapter 8! I would expect to read something like that in the introduction. And chapters 5 and 6 state that you should evaluate key talent in the aquired firm - but no where in these chapters does it tell you how to do it! I guess you have call up Pritchett & Associates (and fork over big $$) for the details. My only guess is that the authors kept the book generic on purpose so that companies would call and ask about their consulting services. My advice: save your money for a real book, and just call up Pritchett & Associates for their marketing literature.
Book Description
COURTYARDS
Aesthetic, Social, and Thermal Delight
Courtyards is an artful, informative exploration of courtyards, from their origins in early civilization to contemporary design concepts. Architects and landscape architects will repeatedly turn to the detailed guidelines for reference, gain a greater sense of balance between building and garden, and cultivate optimal green space by using the practical planting tips. Over one hundred photographs and drawings illustrate the concepts written about by an authority and passionate scholar in his field.
Customer Reviews:
Stunning!.......2007-08-11
This book surpassed all my expectations. I was looking for a book full of photographs of Spanish courtyards, to assist me with constructing my own "patio" at home. I was delighted when I found not only loads of beautiful photographs, but also incredible detail about how to construct a courtyard, which direction it should face, keeping it warm in winter and cool in summer, how courtyard entrances work, thermal sailing, what to plant, and more! I have really enjoyed using this book to plan my own private oasis. I would have loved to have seen more colour photographs (many are black and white, but most are colour), and it would have been ideal if courtyard construction in the southern hemisphere had also been considered (I live in southern Australia, where the climate is very similar to southern Spain), but these minor issues did not interfere with my enjoyment of the book.
Courtyards: Aesthetic & Function.......2006-05-18
"Courtyards: Aesthetic, Social, and Thermal Delight" begins with a brief history of courtyards including itemized accounts of such topics as placement within a building, orientation, exposure, and the promotion of temperature conditions within a courtyard.
Over 50 full-color photographs from Spain and Latin America supplement the second section. Temperature charts, solar diagrams, and other key technical data accompany these images.
Finally an extensive section of planning and design guidelines highlighting factors for consideration such as daytime/nighttime temperature ranges, zoning regulations, proportions, and proposals for driveways and use of rainwater.
Architects, landscape architects, and building designers will find useful information for creating or renovating any courtyard. Students will also find this an inclusive reference. This is not a title of tremendous value to the casual reader.
Couryards: Interacting with nature.......2005-11-06
I got this book several years ago on an inter-library loan from NDSU. It's a great book. The only problem is that it's relatively expensive -- $60 or so.
I'm not an architect, but over ten years ago I built a geodesic dome on an Indian Reservation with the permission of the local district. Assuming you can afford it, where and how you live is the most important spiritual element of your life.
Professor Reynolds approaches his subject with this sort of wonderment. Someday, I hope to build again using some of his ideas as a base. I've never met him, though I would certainly like to sometime. And, I don't know any of these other reviewers who, like me, seem to be very swayed by his writing. (The only reason I mention this is because of one reviewer who felt that there was a certain intellectual dishonesty in the sameness of the praise for this book.) If you're interested in creating harmonious personal space, then you should fork over the $60 or get it from your local library like I did.
Honest Reviews?.......2004-03-03
Were all the reviews written by the author? Give me a break! The fact that every review sounds the same will keep me from ever purchasing this book. In that case, I guess all the reviews helped!
THE Book on Courtyards........2002-05-09
Courtyards is a terrific book, the result of 20+ years of loving research. Oregon Professor John Reynolds is crazy for courtyards and it certainly shows.
A courtyard is a space surrounded by a building, often surrounded by a house. There are all manner of courtyards, large, small, huge, quiet, loud. Some are open and others are terribly private. But all good courtyards have things in common. In the landscapes most of us in the US are used to, we have a house and the gardens are on the outside and we see them before we see the house. In a sense these landscapes serve mostly as dressing to enhance the outward look of the house. But a fine courtyard garden is different. It is smack in the middle of the house and the house surrounds it. It is not wide open to the world, but instead is a place to get away from it all, a place to be outside, but not to be out in the open. The best courtyards are open to the sky, have water, vines, a multitude of interesting flowers, trees, potted plants. A large number of the very finest courtyard plants are discussed in detail in this excellent book. I was struck by how interesting the numerous photos and designs were. Profusely illustrated, each one serves a definitive purpose. I was struck too, by how many different things go into the making of a well thought out courtyard. What is involved so that it will be warm in the winter and cool in the hot summer. What is involved so that it becomes a place where people want to be. I took many notes as I read this large book and some day I plan to build a house of my own design, and in the middle of it, I'm going to have a courtyard. And in this courtyard, I'll have all the things needed, the ingredients so carefully detailed here, that make the right courtyard a magical place. I'd recommend this book for anyone who ever plans to build their own home, for all landscape designers, for all architects, for anyone with a serious interest in horticulture and design. An excellent book.
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