The High Performance Enterprise: Reinventing the People Side of Your Business

Book Description

"This book is written for the manager who wants to make their company more flexible, more competitive, more successful, and a more satisfying place to work—what we call the High Performance Enterprise. It explains how this kind of enterprise can be created through two interrelated processes: one strategic and one people-oriented. . . . [U]ntil now, no books have simultaneously provided (1) a process for creating the High Performance Enterprise, and (2) a process for linking the people side of the company to the business strategy. Our goal is to do both, and to provide a model for tying both processes together. Whether you're skimming this book for a few good ideas or seeking a complete battle plan, we hope that you will find in these chapters the tools you need to change your company into a High Performance Enterprise." —from the Introduction

In today's fast-paced, rapidly growing business environment, survival truly does depend on being the fittest. For companies, this means performing at the highest level possible to be more flexible, more competitive, and ultimately, more successful than the rest of the field. Attaining—and maintaining—peak performance may be easier said than done, however, as bold initiatives once thought to be the answer have fallen short of expectations and yielded less than stellar results. What, then, is the solution? In The High Performance Enterprise—now completely revised and expanded—management consultant Donna Neusch and operations manager Alan Siebenaler shed some much-needed light on the ongoing dilemma of improving performance and sustaining long-term standards of excellence.

For the past several years, companies have strived to change the way work is performed and business is conducted, trying everything from TQM, teams, and Kaizen to QFD, right-sizing, and activity-based costing. Yet, despite these various techniques, results have been less than managers have hoped. Why the shortcomings? In most cases, the reason has been that people systems, including work design, compensation systems, and team structures, have either been ignored, ineffective, or counterproductive—costly mistakes that need to be corrected if a company is to succeed.

The High Performance Enterprise, Second Edition emphasizes the crucial role of people systems in the overall performance improvement program, examines its relationship with another important component—strategic direction—and shows you how to tie them together seamlessly to achieve optimal results. With complete details on both subprocesses, you'll learn about key concepts that are integral to strategic direction, such as mission, values, and vision, as well as the basics needed to turn this direction into action.

To help you strengthen and reinvent the people side of your business, you'll find a proven 10-step process that incorporates managing performance and compensation, defining flexibility and teams, developing staffing strategies for future skills, and planning for implementation, among other fundamentals.

Packed with helpful case studies, numerous real-world examples, and practical applications from the field, The High Performance Enterprise, Second Edition offers new solutions for age-old problems: how best to improve performance and increase return on compensation dollars. Essential reading for all managers.

Book Description

Too taboo to discuss in public, but central to many private conversations, money and the power it has over us is always on our minds. In MONEY AS SACRAMENT, Adele Azar-Rucquoi examines how money affects women's outlook on life, relationships, confidence, independence, and inner peace. As a former nun who grew up running the cash register at her immigrant father's grocery, the wife of a formerly homeless man, and the unsuspecting heir to a substantial inheritance later in life, Azar-Rucquoi's defining life experiences have transformed how she relates to money and helped her develop keen perspective and uncommon wisdom on how money impacts lives. In MONEY AS SACRAMENT, Azar-Rucquoi looks at how women are deeply conflicted by wealth—or the lack thereof—and encourages us to recognize its inherently multifaceted meaning. In this thoughtful and provocative collection of 50 stories about women who grapple with such issues, Azar-Rucquoi inspires us all to finally make peace with the mighty dollar.

Customer Reviews:

Money as Sacrament.......2004-08-12

This book is quite unique. The author knows the power of money through her own experience as well as interviews with others. It is a fun read and an enlightening one. The author is clever, witty and insightful. I recommend this book to anyone wishing to understand the power of money in their lives.

Trish McCabe

Money as Sacrament-.......2004-07-25

This book came to me at the perfect time in my life! I am 43 years old, and on my own for the first time in my life, following the end of a 21 year marriage in which my husband and I played the traditional roles of male/provider and female/homemaker. I was very uneasy and quite frustrated at the financial place I was in. In addition, the topic of money is not one that many of my friends felt comfortable talking with me about, especially now that we were coming from different perspectives.

Reading Adele's wonderful book was a blessing to me in 3 ways: it was full of good information and lessons, it changed the way I view money in my life, and I realized that many other women have been in similar, or worse situations, and they have found their way. It really lessened my fears and concerns, and helped me to trust that everything is as it should be. This is a much needed book on a very important topic.

Eye-opening; thought provoking.......2004-07-24

Once I started this book, I could not put it down. With each part of Adele's journey, I took a deeper look into my own life's journey and my relationship with money. Do we ever make peace with money? If so, how? These are questions I never really thought of before. But when reading this book, I felt compelled to answer them. And these answers --- and the path I took to find them --- are making a profound difference in how I am leading my life.

A Life Opening Book.......2003-04-22

This book is a breath of fresh air for anyone struggling to have a healthy relationship with money in their life. The book is a compilation of stories of how various women have dealt with their money challenges of proverty and prosperity throughout their lives. The most helpful lesson I learned from this was thinking of money as something available to serve your life...rather than serving money itself. Azar-Rucquoi does an excellent job of showing that God wants an abundant life for all of us - and the real solution is to trust Him in whatever financial circumstances we find ourselves in. It was an enjoyable read and I applaud the author for her unique and relevant way of handling a very elusive subject.

Worth a look but could be much more.......2003-04-19

I gave this book 4 stars because the author (or her editor) delivers good writing and I did not have to force myself to keep reading. Unlike many books I get these days, I didn't find myself mentally editing whole paragraphs. And it's easy to get swept up in the stories of women and their money.

It's been said that New Age is a religion conceived in prosperity, while other religions help people accept misery and suffering. In a way this book is about creating a spiritual base for appreciating one's own wealth, in the context of a very traditional religion with official messages of "Love the poor and despise the rich."

Adele Azar-Rucquoi delivers two parallel themes. First we learn the story of her own life, a struggle to find meaning in money in an affluent home, with a father who never felt he had enough. Adele's search for spirituality, as well as a comfort level with money, takes her first into the Roman Catholic pre-Vatican church and then into a convent. She loved the religion and the life, yet she marveled that nuns and priests lived a lot better than the poor -- in fact, a lot better than a good part of the world. The real poverty came, she learned, from following the rules, giving up individual possessions and enduring banal conversations at dinner.

Leaving the convent, Adele has socked away (from an illicit teaching job) enough to give herself a good start. Despite her struggles with the meaning of wealth, she has inherited her father's gift for earning money and her brother stands by to help her invest wisely. Through therapy, she gains the strength to ends an affair with a priest that combined finance with romance, at the cost of secrecy.

After a few twists and turns, she ends up with a huge inheritance that once again forces her to confront her money philosophy. In an ending that would not be plausible in a novel, she finds herself happily married to a man who had been homeless for a year, just before they met.

Each chapter begins with an episode from Adele's life, then follows with stories of women at a similar stage in their own lives. Each story held my interest, but the cumulative effect left me wondering when we'd get to the point.

To make the book work, you have to believe that women have unique problems with money, rarely talk about money and cannot achieve a comfort level with money. In the age of Suze Orman, Leona Helmsley, and Mary Kay, those beliefs no longer ring true.

Rather than focusing on money, these stories ultimately deal with bad marriages, misguided romances and rags-to-riches determination. And as someone who works with people in career transition, and who has lived awhile, I found little that was new here. Many stories followed the sequence trauma-therapy-salvation. One woman's husband lost her fortune -- almost a cliche! Another has learned to live for each day, trusting the next phase of her life will be just fine.

So...what do we learn from all this? The exercises at the end of the book were not compelling, especially since there are no ties to the rest of the book. The author has talent and data. She needs to get clear on her message. Does she want to write a self-help book? Develop a memoir of her own life (which calls for a theme)?

Today, Prosperity Programs cloaked in "spirituality" abound on and off the Internet. Today's gurus write, unabashedly, about the path to health and wealth. In this environment, Adele's concern with money seems a little quaint and outdated, somewhat like Thomas Merton's concerns with sins that seem mild today. I think the author has a stronger message waiting, and I hope she finds her voice to share it. I found my enjoyment of this book dimmed by wondering what might have been.

Book Description

In controversial court cases involving civil rights, schools and housing, prison reform, and other social issues, federal district court judges are often called upon to make some of the most difficult judicial decisions. How do these cases arise? How are they prosecuted and remedies fashioned when federally protected rights are violated? How can relations between federal judges and state and local officials be improved? This book--the first to attempt to look at such cases from the judge's point of view--examines some of these questions through five comparative case studies involving open housing in a Cleveland suburb, school desegregation in Detroit, mental health reform in Alabama, prison conditions in Ohio, and alleged police misconduct in Philadelphia. Cooper presents a clear overview of the remedial decree process and prefaces each of the case studies with a full chapter that sets the case in its legal, administrative, and political context. Taking a close look at the interactions between federal district court judges and state and local officials, this volume produces a model of remedial decree litigation that challenges widely held assumptions about the role of district court judges in such controversial cases.

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Local Remedies in International Law
Chittharanjan Felix Amerasinghe
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Air & Space | Specialties | Law | Subjects | Books

General | Law | Subjects | Books

General | International Law | Law | Subjects | Books

General | Law | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

International Law | Law | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This book examines the local remedies rule in modern international law generally and also in the area of human rights protection. The law is presented in the light of State practice and the jurisprudence of international courts and tribunals. The author not only discusses the jurisprudential basis of the rule and its established aspects but ventures into some important areas, such as the incidence of the rule, limitations, the burden of proof, and the application of the rule to procedural remedies, in which the law is not so clear. While there is a strict adherence to the requirements of juristic exposition and analysis where the law has been more or less determined, the author does not hesitate to offer criticisms and to make suggestions for improvement of the law in the light of modern policy considerations. The book takes into account the recent work on the subject by the International Law Commission which has not hitherto been examined.

Historical reconciliation: redress, rights and politics.(FOUNDATIONS): An article from: Journal of International Affairs

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Historical reconciliation: redress, rights and politics.(FOUNDATIONS): An article from: Journal of International Affairs
Elazar Barkan
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Journal of International Affairs, published by Thomson Gale on September 22, 2006. The length of the article is 6658 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Historical reconciliation: redress, rights and politics.(FOUNDATIONS)
Author: Elazar Barkan
Publication: Journal of International Affairs (Magazine/Journal)
Date: September 22, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 60 Issue: 1 Page: 1(15)

Distributed by Thomson Gale

The Application of the Rule of Exhaustion of Local Remedies in International Law: Its Rationale in the International Protection of Individual Rights (Cambridge ... in International and Comparative Law)

Average customer rating:

A fantastic book in the field of Human Rights

The Application of the Rule of Exhaustion of Local Remedies in International Law: Its Rationale in the International Protection of Individual Rights (Cambridge ... in International and Comparative Law)
A. A. Cancado Trindade
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Air & Space | Specialties | Law | Subjects | Books

General | International Law | Law | Subjects | Books

International Law | Law | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

Customer Reviews:

A fantastic book in the field of Human Rights.......2003-03-20

A. A. Cancado Trindade, the author of this book is a Judge, Teacher and Research Scholor, of International Human Rights Law. If you are not lucky to hear him personally, his works in the form of this book and writings in Journals etc, should be consulted. This book was written many years back, probably when the author was persuing his doctoral degree at the University. Cancado Trindade is a Professor and Judge both. His experiences as Judge and now as President of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights are worth their weight in GOLD.

The birth of state responsibility and the nature of the local remedies rules

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The birth of state responsibility and the nature of the local remedies rules
AntoÌnio Augusto CancÌ§ado Trindade
Manufacturer: A. Sottile
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | International Law | Law | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0007CAJTS

El agotamiento de los recursos internos como requisito de la proteccion internacional del individuo

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El agotamiento de los recursos internos como requisito de la proteccion internacional del individuo
Eloy Ruiloba Santana
Manufacturer: Universidad, Secretariado de Publicaciones
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

International Law | Law | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

General | International Law | Law | Subjects | Books

Spanish | Foreign Language Nonfiction | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Derecho Internacional | Leyes | Libros en español | Formats | Books

The exhaustion of local remedies in the case law of international courts and tribunals

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The exhaustion of local remedies in the case law of international courts and tribunals
Thomas Haesler
Manufacturer: A.W. Sijthoff
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0006D78XS

O esgotamento de recursos internos no direito internacional

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O esgotamento de recursos internos no direito internacional
Antonio Augusto Cancado Trindade
Manufacturer: Editora Universidade de Brasilia
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

International Law | Law | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

General | International Law | Law | Subjects | Books

Portuguese | Foreign Language Nonfiction | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Portuguese | Foreign Language Books | Specialty Stores | Books
ASIN: 8523001514

Planning Appeals: A Critique (Studies in Law and Politics)

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Planning Appeals: A Critique (Studies in Law and Politics)
Michael Purdue
Manufacturer: Open Univ Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Environmental & Natural Resources Law | Law | Subjects | Books

General | Law | Subjects | Books

General | English Law | Law | Subjects | Books

Private Law | Law | Subjects | Books

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Urban Planning & Development | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This up-to-date, authoritative laboratory manual can be used with the new edition of Biology, by Peter H. Raven and George B. Johnson, or with any general biology text.

Biology Laboratory Manual: To Accompany Biology, 4/E

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Biology Laboratory Manual: To Accompany Biology, 4/E
Darrell S. Vodopich; Randy Moore
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill Companies
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Spiral-bound
ASIN: B000MNVIT2

Book Description

This volume contains twenty-five research papers on seismicity patterns, their interpretation and their possible relevance to learning how to predict earthquakes. The interpretation of seismicity patterns has become somewhat controversial. Some researchers present case histories suggesting that earthquakes may be predicted by increased seismic moment release or seismic quiescence and, in general, by understanding the processes of self-organized criticality. Others deny these hypotheses. Although the problem of recognizing foreshocks in real time remains unsolved, new properties of microearthquakes as a function of time are coming to light. Computer modeling of seismicity also is advancing in sophistication and relevance. Surprisingly, b-values seem to hold substantial information about varying local conditions of earthquake generation.

Book Description

Introduction to Engineering Ethics provides the background for discussion of the basic issues in engineering ethics. Emphasis is given to the moral problems engineers face in the corporate setting. It places those issues within a philosophical framework, and it seems to exhibit both their social importance and their intellectual challenge. The primary goal is to stimulate critical and responsible reflection on moral issues surrounding engineering practice and to provide the conceptual tools necessary for pursuing those issues.

Book Description

An insightful guide to understanding and navigating the ethical issues faced by anyone affected by the ethical dilemmas associated with current and emerging technologies

Ethics of Emerging Technologies provides the background, insight, and tools for approaching and solving ethical dilemmas across a broad range of topics. The text discusses ethical problems, using examples and reasoning tools that will aid engineers, scientists, managers, administrators, and the public who wish to understand risks, benefits, and possible approaches to resolving conflicts associated with new technologies in the context of the global community.

Solutions we choose to ethical dilemmas accompanying new technologies will profoundly affect future generations. Scientific facts and guides to decision-making for all associated with emerging technologies are presented. Some of the topics are:
* Human health and environmental effects of alternative energy production methods
* Communications and privacy
* Plagiarism and authorship
* Genetic modification of organisms
* Human and animal experimentation
* Synthetic biology and bioterrorism
* Confidentiality in science, engineering, and business communications
* Risks and consequences of enhancing human beings through new technologies
* Cloning of human beings and stem cell research
* Brain modifications
* Space exploration

Responsible Conduct with Animals in Research

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Responsible Conduct with Animals in Research

Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Ethics & Morality | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Research | Education | Science | Subjects | Books

Experiments & Projects | Experiments, Instruments & Measurement | Science | Subjects | Books

Methodology & Statistics | Experiments, Instruments & Measurement | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

General | History & Philosophy | Science | Subjects | Books

Animal Rights | Nature & Ecology | Science | Subjects | Books

Medical Ethics | Physician & Patient | Medicine | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Outdoors & Nature Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
ASIN: 0195105125

Book Description

The issues raised by research in animal behavior are often different from those raised by research in molecular biology and pharmacology. Studies of animal behavior often bring scientists into close and prolonged contact with their subjects. Due to this proximity, some researchers may feel confronted with the ethics of certain practices concerning human-animal interaction, especially when many investigators have been involved. The issue becomes even more controversial due to the fact that lay people in society often identify with the emotional reactions of animals. This book addresses the particular dilemmas and issues of relevance to the field of animal behavior. Part I concerns changing research practices and rules from both the institutional and personal perspective. The author considers the transformation of patterns of acceptable use in law and within the American Psychological Association, as well as the changing perspective with which scientists may evaluate some of their past work. Part II focuses on current issues regarding animal research and how scientists make practical decisions regarding their experimental subjects. Part III explores ways of assessing the animal's well, preferably by asking the animal. Finally, part IV discusses the influences animals can exert on research practitioners, although those affected may not be aware of it, and animal activism.

The Sacrifice: How Scientific Experiments Transform Animals and People (New Directions in the Human-Animal Bond)

Average customer rating:

An excellent, unbiased and impartial contribution to college library and sociological studies shelves.

The Sacrifice: How Scientific Experiments Transform Animals and People (New Directions in the Human-Animal Bond)
Linda Birke , and Arnold Arluke
Manufacturer: Purdue University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Ethics & Morality | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Research | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Experiments & Projects | Experiments, Instruments & Measurement | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

General | History & Philosophy | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Research | Medicine | Subjects | Books

Research | Medical | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1557534322

Book Description

The Sacrifice provides a uniquely detailed account of the sociological context of animal experimentation. The authors provide a rich analysis of complex and changing role of the laboratory animal in the political and scientific culture of the United States and the United Kingdom. By understanding the interplay of the groups, the authors view the experimental controversy as an ongoing and constantly recreated set of social processes, not just a problem of morality.

Customer Reviews:

An excellent, unbiased and impartial contribution to college library and sociological studies shelves........2007-07-09

The Sacrifice: How Scientific Experiments Transform Animals and People is a scholarly examination of the sociological aspect to animal experimentation. Historical material, media reports, professional debates, interviews with scientists and animal technicians, ethnographic data from laboratory settings, and more comprise the raw source material from which The Sacrifice distills its analytical observations. Chapters discuss the dynamics of political animal rights activism, the animal model as applied in modern-day scientific practice, the division of emotional labor in the laboratory, and much more. "In becoming part of the research community, scientists must learn to take many things for granted. As part of the wider culture, they have inherited a highly complex but also highly ambivalent set of attitudes and beliefs about animals that tell them that they should respect animals and at the same time be able to use them." An excellent, unbiased and impartial contribution to college library and sociological studies shelves.

The Philosophy Of Scientific Experimentation

Average customer rating:

A narrow topic, but a great anthology

The Philosophy Of Scientific Experimentation
Hans Radder
Manufacturer: University of Pittsburgh Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Research | Education | Science | Subjects | Books

Experiments & Projects | Experiments, Instruments & Measurement | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

General | History & Philosophy | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Physics | Science | Subjects | Books

Book Description

Since the late 1980s, the neglect of experiment by philosophers and historians of science has been replaced by a keen interest in the subject. In this volume, a number of prominent philosophers of experiment directly address basic theoretical questions, develop existing philosophical accounts, and offer novel perspectives on the subject, rather than rely exclusively on historical cases of experimental practice.
Each essay examines one or more of six interconnected themes that run throughout the collection: the philosophical implications of actively and intentionally interfering with the material world while conducting experiments; issues of interpretation regarding causality; the link between science and technology; the role of theory in experimentation involving material and causal intervention; the impact of modeling and computer simulation on experimentation; and the philosophical implications of the design, operation, and use of scientific instruments.

Customer Reviews:

A narrow topic, but a great anthology.......2003-09-24

Excellent anthology on the philosophy of experiment, with many prominent members of the field contributing. Important to philosophers and scientists alike.

Animal Research and Ethical Conflict: An Analysis of the Scientific Literature: 1966-1986

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Animal Research and Ethical Conflict: An Analysis of the Scientific Literature: 1966-1986
Mary T. Phillips , and Jeri A. Sechzer
Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Ethics & Morality | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

Animal Rights | Nature & Ecology | Science | Subjects | Books

Ethics | History & Philosophy | Science | Subjects | Books

Book Description

Aimed at both members of instiutional care committees and research scientits, as well as social scientists and others concerned with the ethical problems of animal experimentation, this book presents an analysis of the respo nses of researchers to the public controversy over the use of animals in experimentation. A detailed study of the literature covering the last twenty years provides the data for quantitive and qualitive analysis. Chapters on historical background, comparable regulations in other countries, and prospects for the future, as well as appendices providing the full text of important documents, round off the subject.

Hearts and Minds: The Controversy over Laboratory Animals (Animals, Culture and Society Series)

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Hearts and Minds: The Controversy over Laboratory Animals (Animals, Culture and Society Series)
Julian McAllister Groves
Manufacturer: Temple University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Ethics & Morality | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Experiments & Projects | Experiments, Instruments & Measurement | Science | Subjects | Books

General | History & Philosophy | Science | Subjects | Books

Animal Rights | Nature & Ecology | Science | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1566394767

Book Description

Media coverage of angry protestors and acts of sabotage claim so much public attention that few of us question the stereotypes that have developed around the animal research controversy. Those who support animal testing are routinely dismissed as mad scientists, emotionless logicians, or sadists with little regard for nonhuman creatures, while animal protection activists are dismissed as hysterics, antisocial radicals, or simple folk who prize rabbits and rats over human beings.

Julian McAllister Groves takes a fresh look at the arguments and talks to people on both sides to discover what really motivates them. He probes into their ideas and emotions to understand how people get involved and why the arguments become so polarized.

Living in a university town that is an important center of biomedical research, Groves could not ignore the intense opposition to research using animals. As he began to analyze the formation and activities of local protest groups, he started to attend meetings and talk to activists about their beliefs. To his surprise, many activists emphasized rational and scientific justifications for their commitment to the movement. Conversely, scientists who spoke with him frequently discussed their use of lab animals in the context of their feelings about pets or a particular animal that they had become attached to.

Average customer rating:

Good but not

a fast read

A fast, fun read

So-so

Entertaining and Uplifting

The Girlfriend Curse
Valerie Frankel
Manufacturer: Amazon Remainders Account
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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The Accidental Virgin

How I Stole Her Husband

Reinventing Mona

The Not-So-Perfect Man

My Favorite Mistake

ASIN: B000ECXDRQ

Download Description

It's uncanny! Within six months of breaking up with her, Peg Silver's ex-lovers always meet and marry the women of their dreams. Even worse than being the eternal bridesmaid, she's the last girlfriend, the one who awakens in a guy theknowledge of what he's always wanted in a relationship ... and it's never with Peg. Obviously, a major lifestyle change is seriously called for, which is why the distraught interior landscape designer says good-bye to Manhattan and late-night lattes with pal Nina, and hello to a farmhouse on ten acres in tiny, backwater Manshire, Vermont, hoping to meet the ultimate, all-organic country man (without too much facial hair) to keep her warm in those frosty New England winters.

Instead, Peg finds herself at Inward Bound -- a proactive adult-education retreat for the hapless and hopelessly lovelorn -- to try to lift her dreaded ""girlfriend curse."" A steamy (and expressly forbidden) dalliance with gorgeous woman-eater Ray probably isn't going to help cure her. But some romantic insight could arise from her attraction to Linus, Inward Bound's sexy, scruffy, smart and still-single founder. Perhaps there is a secret to be unearthed in the crunchy Green Mountains, one that will magically transform Peg Silver from the Perpetual Also Ran to the Big Winner in love.

Customer Reviews:

Good but not.......2007-09-21

I'm struggling with this one. When I started this book I thought right away that I wasn't going to like this one. I couldn't connect with Peg Silver. And you know what? I never did. Peg doesn't seem or feel real. I don't have a problem with a sexually confident woman as a main character, but her devestation (regarding her exes) or desperation seemed contrived. And the Inward Bound retreat sounds like a joke-and maybe it was meant to be. There is a lot recycled material here, but it's not to say that the author completely dropped the ball. I rathered enjoyed some of the psycho babbled spit out by the pseudo counselors. And in the end, I was rather hoping that Peg didn't end up with anyone. I don't care for women who always HAVE to be in a relationship-and Peg came off to me like such a woman. The writing, well, Ms. Frankel does have a unique style and it's one that grew on me after a while. The final scene with Gloria and her father truely didn't need to be there. it was overkill and way too over the top and nowhere near the relm of believeablity. Plus, I don't like the fact that Jack moved from his parents to his sister's and the author consider that progress. It makes Peg continue to look like an enabler(which she was) which she was trying to move away from that. Overall, it's just okay and very forgettable.

a fast read.......2007-09-12

This was my first Valerie Frankel book. I enjoyed it and read it within a couple of days.. It is a change from the murder mystery/suspense novels that I usually read. I thought it was nice not to have to think so hard and just to enjoy the story! I will read more Frankel books in the future!

A fast, fun read.......2007-01-04

About a chronic "last" girlfriend who decides to get away from the hustle and bustle of big city life to focus on herself. She ends up in a "heal thyself" camp and back in the same cycle of catch a man, but don't know what to do with him. In the end she finds love.

So-so.......2006-11-12

I love chick-lit and this book was just average. It took me a really long time to read because it was a book I could easily put down.

Entertaining and Uplifting.......2006-08-04

Valerie Frankel has written a wonderfully fun and absorbing novel about a woman who realizes that she is constantly the "last girlfriend". Peg Silver seems to have a knack for being the last woman a man dates before he decides to smarten up and settle down. Why is this becoming a habit and why aren't any of these men choosing to settle down with her?

Peg decides to pack up her life, change her surroundings and join Inward Bound, a retreat for people who seem to have become unlucky in love. Along her life-changing journey, Peg makes some discoveries about herself and what she wants out of life...and love.

A charming novel that is written in such an honest and funny way. This book stands above the typical "chick lit" novels in that the plot is original, the writing is extremely creative and there are hilarious turns throughout the story.

I genuinely enjoyed reading Ms. Frankel's novel and am planning on reading more of her work.

Average customer rating:

The Girlfriend Curse
Valerie Frankel
Manufacturer: Avon Trade
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OEXEZU

Average customer rating:

Girlfriend Curse

Manufacturer: Tandem Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: 1417673168

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