Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business

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A Really Enjoyable GOOD Business Book

Restauranteurs and Managers get this book

He cares about his readers as much as his diners

One of the Great Ones

Delicious book on inspired management, filled with tasty tidbits

Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business
Danny Meyer
Manufacturer: HarperCollins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Hospitality, Travel & Tourism | Industries & Professions | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
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The Union Square Cafe Cookbook: 160 Favorite Recipes from New York's Acclaimed Restaurant

ASIN: 0060742755
Release Date: 2006-10-03

Amazon.com

Book Description
In October 1985, at age 27, Danny Meyer, with a good idea and scant experience, opened what would become one of New York City's most revered restaurants--Union Square Cafe. Little more than twenty years later, Danny is the CEO of one of the world's most dynamic restaurant organizations, which includes 11 unique dining establishments, each at the top of its game. How has he done it? How has he consistently beaten the odds and set the competitive bar in one of the toughest trades around?

In this landmark book, Danny shares the lessons he's learned while developing the winning recipe for doing the business he calls "enlightened hospitality." This innovative philosophy emphasizes putting the power of hospitality to work in a new and counterintuitive way: The first and most important application of hospitality is to the people who work for you, and then, in descending order of priority, to the guests, the community, the suppliers, and the investors. This way of prioritizing stands the more traditional business models on their heads, but Danny considers it the foundation of every success that he and his restaurants have achieved.

Full of behind-the-scenes history on the creation of Danny's most famous restaurants and the anecdotes, advice, and lessons he has accumulated on his long and ecstatic journey to the top of the American restaurant scene, Setting the Table is a treasure trove of innovative insights that are applicable to any business or organization.

Service with a Smile: Dishing with Danny Meyer

Is the customer always right? According to Danny Meyer, one of America's leading restauranteurs, the answer is no--but "they must always feel heard." Named one of the most influential New Yorkers of 2006 by New York magazine, Meyer, the founder and co-owner of 11 of Manhattan's most influential restaurants, including Union Square Cafe, Gramercy Tavern, Tabla, The Modern, Blue Smoke, and Shake Shack, has penned Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality, a business book that reads like food lit and equal part personal memoir. Amazon.com senior editor Brad Thomas Parsons took some time from his daily long-distance day-dreaming of Shake Shack and caught up with the ever-gracious Danny Meyer over e-mail to ask about his new book, the Food Network, his favorite cookbooks, insider tips on dining out, and much more.

Read our Amazon.com interview with Danny Meyer

More from Danny Meyer

Union Square Cafe Cookbook

Setting the Table [Audio CD]

Second Helpings from Union Square Cafe

Book Description

This selection of papers on national income in India covers themes such as long term poverty series on factor inputs, output growth and its structure; planning an dinflation; income distribution and poverty, statistical data systems for good governanace, and the construction of stock
market indices for predicting health of the international financial sector.

Conversion of National Income Data of the U.S.S.R. to Concepts of the System of National Accounts in Dollars and Estimation of Growth Rate (World Bank Staff Working Paper)

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Conversion of National Income Data of the U.S.S.R. to Concepts of the System of National Accounts in Dollars and Estimation of Growth Rate (World Bank Staff Working Paper)
Robert Wellington Campbell
Manufacturer: World Bank
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Macroeconomics | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0821306308

National Income Accounts and Data Systems

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National Income Accounts and Data Systems
Minhas B.S.
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OKX5BM

National Income Accounts And Data Systems (oxford India Paperbacks)

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National Income Accounts And Data Systems (oxford India Paperbacks)
B. S. Minhas
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OL3I5Y

Book Description

Moving from web to field, from Victorian parlor to 21st-century mall, the 15 essays gathered here yield new insights regarding the intersection of local culture, musical creativity and technological possibilities. Inspired by the concept of "technoculture," the authors locate technology squarely in the middle of expressive culture: they are concerned with how technology culturally informs and infuses aspects of everyday life and musical experience, and they argue that this merger does not necessarily result in a "cultural grayout," but instead often produces exciting new possibilities. In this collection, we find evidence of musical practices and ways of knowing music that are informed or even significantly transformed by new technologies, yet remain profoundly local in style and meaning.

CONTRIBUTORS: Leslie C. Gay, Jr., Kai Fikentscher, Tong Soon Lee, Rene T. A. Lysloff, Matthew Malsky, Charity Marsh, Marc Perlman, Thomas Porcello, Andrew Ross, David Sanjek, jonathan Sterne, Janet L. Sturman, Timothy D. Taylor, Paul Theberge, Melissa West, Deborah Wong.

Customer Reviews:

Concerning the melding point of musical creativity.......2004-01-14

Collaboratively compiled and definitively co-edited by Rene T. A. Lysloff (Assistant Professor of Music, University of California - Riverside) and Leslie C. Gay, Jr. (Associate Professor and Coordinator of Musicology, University of Tennessee - Knoxville), Music And Technoculture collects together fifteen original essays by a variety of learned authors concerning the melding point of musical creativity and the options that technology makes possible to budding musical artists. Transformation of musical creations as well as the staying power and influence of local style form the heart of the insightful and varied discourse in this scholarly anthology of modern changes in music study. Music And Technoculture is an impressive, informative, and highly recommended addition to academic and professional History of Music and Contemporary American Cultural Studies reference collections and reading lists.

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MUSIC & TECHNOCULTURE
Leslie C. Gay
Manufacturer: NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000N6MCG6

Book Description

For more than fifty years some very funny people have been entering American homes through television's big picture window. From Lucy and Uncle Miltie, to Archie Bunker and Marge Simpson, certain comic stars of television history have become not just cultural icons, but friends of the family. This comprehensive study of the most successful television comedies-including domestic sitcoms, workplace comedies, variety shows, late-night comedy, animated comedy, and more-reveals that, unlike the comedy found in film, on stage, in comedy clubs and concert halls, television's presentation of comic characters and stories must negotiate a relationship with the more privatized and value-laden environment of each American home that it enters.

Customer Reviews:

Heaven kissed my eyes as I read these pages.......2007-05-25

This book is essential and obligatory reading for anyone who has ever head of a television, much less watched one. From the cover to the appendix, I was sucked into the book like a renegade ghost when the ghostbusters opened their trap, except for one difference. The ghost fought the pull, while I let the power of this book's content sink its claws into my excited brain and rip me out of my lousy reality into a world dominated by well constructed entertainment.

Read this book and die happy, or dont read it and... whatever :(

Book Description

Going to Extremes is a four-partseries in which writer, presenter and Oxford geography don Nick Middleton visits the world's hottest, coldest, wettest and driest inhabited places. He will visit Oymyakon in Siberia, where the average winter temperature is -47 degrees and 40% of the population have lost their fingers to frostbite while changing the car wheel. Next he travels to Arica in Chile where there have been fourteen consecutive years without a drop of rain and so fog is people's only source of water. From the driest to the wettest: Mawsynram in India which annually competes for the title with its neighbour Cherrapunji. However, Nick discovers that during the dry season there is water shortage and one entrepreneur has started selling it bottled! Finally his journey takes him to Dalol in Ethiopia known as the 'hell hole of creation' where the temperature remains at 94 degrees year round. Here Nick will join miners who work all day with no shade, limited water and no protective clothing. The book and series will consider how and why people lives in these harsh environments. How will Nick's body react to these contrasting extremes? He will look at the geographical and meteorological conditions. He will meet local characters and discover the history of these settlements to find out how they ever became populated. Nick will look at the way both the population, and the flora and fauna, have adapted physically to the climate, and also considers the psychological impact of living under such conditions. The series will also have an ecological aspect and will consider global climatic conditions.

Customer Reviews:

The Whole is Less than the Sum of Its Parts.......2004-11-04

While the four individual sections (Coldest, Driest, Hottest, and Wettest) are enjoyable, I was disappointed that Nick Middleton makes no effort to connect the sections or even come to any overall conclusions about why people live in such extreme realms.

In addition, the sections themselves seemed occasionally padded. The Driest section is the worst offender, with a lengthy section on living at extreme Andean altitudes, which, while fascinating, isn't related to the main topic (this is ironic to me since it's the main reason I bought the book, having visited -- for twenty minutes -- the airport at Arica, Chile, enroute to La Paz, and being curious about this desert beachfront place).

The best section is the first (Coldest), being a rather vivid look at the peculiar adaptions the people in a Siberian town make to live with extreme cold, as well as some fascinating descriptions of the phenomena associated with a -50 degree climate.

Perhaps the TV series it's based on is more enlightening, but since it's not out on DVD yet, I can't find out

Going to Extremes: Mud, Sweat and Frozen Tears

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Going to Extremes: Mud, Sweat and Frozen Tears
Nick Middleton
Manufacturer: Pan Macmillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OUGAV4

Book Description

Part of the New Perspectives Series, this text is designed for a second, more advanced course on Access 2000. Includes extensive coverage of Visual Basic for Applications (VBA).

Customer Reviews:

A very good book for self-learner.......2002-05-27

My boss asked me to develop a leave system. I have no experience about Access VBA before. I bought a lot of books. However most of them are too thick and theoretical. No step by step examples are provided. Fortunately after reading this one, I can finish my task now.

Microsoft Access 2000 with Visual Basic for Applications.......2002-04-20

I consider this book to be ideal for people needing real hands on knowledge of Access. I'm using it in self-study to learn advanced concepts and VBA. I feel this is the ideal text for the self-learner.

This is a superbly organized and clearly written book that anyone with an intermediate knowledge of Access who's interested in moving forward into VBA will appreciate. The figures and illustrations are well-integrated with the text, allowng the pictures and the words to work together to improve the knowledge of the reader. It's a good balance between theory and practice. It's difficult to point out specific qualities. In short, I think the strength of this book lies in it's organization and clarity of text.

The "Reference Window" concept gives a general overview of the procedure being taught. This has helped me understand the "big picture" and gives me ideas on using the concepts in my existing databases. The book is also a gold mine of good ideas that I'll be able to incorporate into my databases. Additionally, a well-detailed table of contents and good organization makes it fairly easy to find what you're looking for. All the above makes this book a keeper for future reference.

Technical concepts and overviews enhance the ability for the reader to learn some very challenging procedures. They are presented on an "as needed" basis and in sufficient quantity to increase understanding without being technically overwhelming.

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Boots on the ground firmly grounded in reality

The War that Few Hear About

There is no need to like the author's ideas, but he has worked on them

Energetic, entertaining, and speaks to you

Great window into current military operations.

Imperial Grunts: On the Ground with the American Military, from Mongolia to the Philippines to Iraq and Beyond
Robert D. Kaplan
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Mongolia | Asia | History | Subjects | Books
Philippines | Asia | History | Subjects | Books
Iraq | Middle East | History | Subjects | Books
General | Military | History | Subjects | Books
General | United States | Military | History | Subjects | Books
International Security | Freedom & Security | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
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A War Like No Other: How the Athenians and Spartans Fought the Peloponnesian War

ASIN: 1400034574
Release Date: 2006-09-12

Amazon.com

It is the dawn of the 21st century, and the United States has appropriated the entire Earth. So journalist Robert Kaplan writes in his paean to the American fighting man and woman, Imperial Grunts. The U.S. has quietly--with little public debate--forged an empire that is "ready to flood the most obscure areas of it with troops at a moment's notice," writes Kaplan, a correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly magazine who has written 10 earlier books on foreign affairs and travel, including the acclaimed Balkan Ghosts. Imperial Grunts is Kaplan's account of his travels to the frontiers of the U.S. imperium. From the dustbowl of northern Yemen to the coca fields of Colombia and the insurgent hotbed of Fallujah, Kaplan takes readers to the war-torn edges of the U.S. empire and visits with front-line grunts who guard it and try to expand its reach.

"Welcome to Injun Country," is the catchphrase Kaplan hears from all the U.S. soldiers, marines, airmen, and sailors we meet. In the view of American troops, they are taming an "unruly" frontier in the tradition of General George Custer. We all know what happened to Custer and, later, to the Native Americans whom the 7th Cavalry was sent out to pacify. But far from criticizing that mission or finding in the analogy any cautionary lesson, Kaplan is an enthusiastic cheerleader for what he baldly calls "American imperialism." He sees it as "humanitarian" and "righteous" and seems to never meet a Green Beret or marine he does not idolize. To Kaplan, U.S. imperialism is unquestionably selfless and heroic, trying only to bring a little taste of freedom to the huddled masses of the world. Imperial Grunts works well as a travelogue but fails to provide deeper insights--or opposing views--about the complex and fascinating places he explores. --Alex Roslin

Book Description

A fascinating, unprecedented first-hand look at the soldiers on the front lines on the Global War on Terror.

Plunging deep into midst of some of the hottest conflicts on the globe, Robert D. Kaplan takes us through mud and jungle, desert and dirt to the men and women on the ground who are leading the charge against threats to American security. These soldiers, fighting in thick Colombian jungles or on dusty Afghani plains, are the forefront of the new American foreign policy, a policy being implemented one soldier at a time. As Kaplan brings us inside their thoughts, feelings, and operations, these modern grunts provide insight and understanding into the War on Terror, bringing the war, which sometimes seems so distant, vividly to life.

Customer Reviews:

Boots on the ground firmly grounded in reality.......2007-10-15

Right off the bat let me say that I have no axe to grind about the military bureaucracy and I'm not looking to make any pronouncements about the war in Iraq. Though I served in the Army over 40 years ago and briefly with Treasury department about five years later, it's safe to say that over a generation later I have little or no clue how these institutions operate these days. Nonetheless, those two episodes introduced me to a bunch of folks who were practical, courageous, innovative, honest and humble. Imperial Grunts is proof that these kinds of people are thankfully still serving our country. I'm grateful to Robert Kaplan for allowing me to spend some time with them again.

The War that Few Hear About.......2007-10-13

Imperial Grunts is a well written book that begins to look at the Global War of Terrorism from a much larger perspective than the normal "military interest" books that are now flooding the market.
In it you begin to see the bigger effort that encompasses not only Iraq and Afghanistan but the whole global community.
These are the stories that you should be hearing about. I highly recommended this book for those who want the "bigger picture".

There is no need to like the author's ideas, but he has worked on them.......2007-09-16

Being fair, one must acknowledge that Mr. Kaplan is not promoting a military state or arguing that the creation of an empire as a good thing. He simply recognizes that war is deeply engrained as a mode to solve disputes among humans and since the U.S, has strategic interest in every corner of the world, sooner that later he will be forced to use it as a policy tool, and in those situations, is better to have a capable and dedicated army than none at all.

On the other hand it is obvious that he professes and admiration for the U.S. military which could more effectively categorized as adoration, which as many other reviewers have correctly pointed out, should make the reader highly suspicious of its equanimity or objectivity.

It seems to me that the author places a lot of effort to avoid rendering a moral judgment on Bush's policies or if the existence of an empire is good or not. He departs form the fact that it is a reality and as such which shall be the ideal role of the US army in its management.

He knows that most readers already have a view on that topic, and it would be useless to convince them otherwise. However he feels that most of the officials and privates he encountered are not in the army because they want to "enjoy the spoils of war" but more likely because of a naive and sort of innocent belief that when their government orders them to give their life for the US it is doing so guided by principles such as freedom, honor and patriotism. That they are deeply mistaken, particularly those serving in Iraq right now is another story.

Energetic, entertaining, and speaks to you.......2007-09-12

I don't know if anyone has told Kaplan he's a gifted writer or not, but someone should have. In this book he takes on the task of not one war, but wars. Not only that, he picks Grunts - 11 bravo as his subject. If you think writing about guys marching, sleeping, eating, and answering nature's call in the rain, mud, and snow is easy, give it a try. To make the task even more difficult, these are totally different people from totally different times in history. About the only thing these guys had in common was the fact they were trying not to get killed while killing others.

Since my newest book, "Kill Me If You Can", about the Vietnam War has come out; I'm asked almost daily the difference between the Vietnam and Iraq wars. The difference is religion. Both of these wars, like all wars, are started for control and profit, but add religion into the mix, and brother, you've got yourself a war. George W. Bush might have started the Iraq War, but he'll not live long enough to see it end, and it's possible that his grandchildren might not either.

This book of Kaplan's shows his ability to bring people and events long since past back to life again. He puts you there on the battlefield and into the minds of the men up front and the sociopats that are out of harms way doing their best to perpetuate the war for power and profit. Here, I'll turn it over to Henry Kissinger and Dick Cheney to explain the thinking of the men behind the scenes.

"Military men are dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns for foreign policy." -Henry Kissinger

"Principle is OK up to a certain point, but principle doesn't do any good if you lose." -Dick Cheney

Great window into current military operations........2007-09-07