The Rational Project Manager: A Thinking Team's Guide to Getting Work Done

Book Description

This comprehensive exploration of the project management process presents the tools, steps, and processes of project management and uncovers the critical thinking -- the why -- vital to project management excellence. Incorporating Kepner-Tregoes renowned and effective problem-solving and decision-making processes, the book guides you through the core activities of project management-planning, solving problems, making decisions, and assessing risk. It positions projects within an organizations "performance environment," an understanding of which is essential for effective team performance and alignment. Offering a combination of overarching insights into organizational dynamics, as well as specific processes and practices for effective management, this is a resource no project leader -- and no project team member -- should be without.

Download Description

This comprehensive exploration of the project management process presents the tools, steps, and processes of project management and uncovers the critical thinking -- the why -- vital to project management excellence. Incorporating Kepner-Tregoe's renowned and effective problem-solving and decision-making processes, the book guides you through the core activities of project management planning, solving problems, making decisions, and assessing risk. It positions projects within an organizations "performance environment," an understanding of which is essential for effective team performance and alignment. Offering a combination of overarching insights into organizational dynamics, as well as specific processes and practices for effective management, this is a resource no project leader -- and no project team member -- should be without.

Customer Reviews:

A refreshing reference to Project Management.......2005-08-29

I must say that this book is indeed refreshing for me, especially after years of re-applying and re-understanding Kepner-Tregoe's methodologies in Project Management (PM), as well as, Problem-Solving & Decision Making (PSDM). For those who have undergone Kepner-Tregoe's workshops in PM and PSDM, this book together with "The New Rational Manager" are essential "re-iterative" references for anyone embarking on improving their PM and PSDM knowledge and experiences. These books are undoubtedly important to have on your bookshelf in the workplace that can be referred to over and over again.

managing projects in Special Collections.......2005-05-25

I am now retired, but I wish that during my 27-year career as a university librarian I had had a guide like The Rational Project Manager to see me through the many complex projects I was responsible for carrying out. When moving special collections or setting up a preservation lab, my team and I would have benefited enormously from having a clear, easy to follow process for managing important projects.

Szilvia Szmuk-Tanenbaum

The Rational Guide to IT Project Management (Rational Guides) (Rational Guides)

Average customer rating:

Excellent Foundation for Project Management
Great reference.

The Rational Guide to IT Project Management (Rational Guides) (Rational Guides)
Jeremy Kadlec
Manufacturer: Rational Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Project Management | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

PMP Exam | Project Management | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

General | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
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The Rational Guide to IT Consulting (Rational Guides) (Rational Guides)
The Rational Guide to Microsoft Office Business Scorecard Manager 2005 (Rational Guides)
The Rational Guide To: Microsoft Virtual PC 2004 (Rational Guides) (Rational Guides)
The Rational Guide to Extending SSIS 2005 with Script (Rational Guides) (Rational Guides)
The Rational Guide to: SQL Server Reporting Services (Rational Guides)

ASIN: 1932577173
Release Date: 2005-01-15

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Foundation for Project Management.......2005-08-16

"The Rational Guide to IT Project Management" has architectural strength. The author is suscinct in laying out processes, specific actions and does full justice to organizing the steps to complete an IT project. Well written and well organized. This book provides thorough information specifically for IT management, however, the sequence and other tools provided can be applied to any type of project management.

Great reference........2005-08-09

This book is a quick easy read with lots of practical advice. I think it breaks the complicated task of project management down into a clear path.

I would recommend this book for someone who needs to brush up on project management or someone who is just starting out. It is definitely a great reference tool.

Book Description

Europe is waking up to the challenge of technology and innovation. We see EU commitment to spend 3% of GDP on R&D, but who is thinking about how to spend? Who is thinking about technology management? Does the corporate Board have the means to manage this spending? Should some percentage of the R&D be spent on improving technology and innovation management? This is where this book makes a contribution. It brings together the latest practice, research findings and thinking, presented in a way that addresses top management requirements. The goal is to secure the economic future of the firm, in the context of a sustainable industry and society. Using the ideas and methods in this book, the Board can assess and improve its own ability to deal with the challenge of technology and innovation.

Book Description

This Elibron Classics book is a facsimile reprint of a 1907 edition by Henry Young & Sons, Liverpool.

Book Description

For over a generation, demographic developments have had a crucial bearing on the economic, social and political situation in a number of Middle Eastern countries. Two societies in particular, the Palestinian and the Egyptian, have seen the weft and warp of their fabric significantly affected by natural increase and migration.

This study provides a general outline of Palestinian population growth between 1948 and 1987 and then focuses on the town of Nablus for a detailed analysis of the main aspects of Palestinian migration and high rates of natural increase. The author shows how the recession that struck the Arab oil economies in the early 1980s, by slowing down the migratory movement, shut off the valve that had afforded the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza relief from economic pressures. He also analyses how Jordan, in coping with the resulting demographic and economic pressures, adopted an antinatalist policy despite powerful political and social forces working against such a programme.

State Agricultural Development in Egypt (Maine, Scotland, Poland, Studies, Vol 11)

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State Agricultural Development in Egypt (Maine, Scotland, Poland, Studies, Vol 11)
Simon Commander
Manufacturer: Ithaca Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Agricultural Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Industries & Professions | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 086372079X

State and Agricultural Development in Egypt Since 1973 (Middle East Science Policy Studies, Vol 11)

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State and Agricultural Development in Egypt Since 1973 (Middle East Science Policy Studies, Vol 11)
Simon Commander
Manufacturer: Ithaca
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Public Policy | Government | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Agricultural Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

Rethinking an AID assistance strategy for the new lands of Egypt

Average customer rating:

Rethinking an AID assistance strategy for the new lands of Egypt
Jennifer Bremer
Manufacturer: Development Alternatives Inc.]
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B00072OK20

Strategy for agricultural development in the eighties

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Strategy for agricultural development in the eighties
Youssef Wally
Manufacturer: s.n
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Agricultural Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0007BJS3C

Book Description

This is the second, completely revised and enlarged edition of an outstanding, interactive CD-ROM describing and illustrating in full colour 447 European bird species. It contains sound records and colour pictures of all the birds, pictures of the eggs, and attractive interactive summer and winter distribution maps. Detailed descriptions, a pictorial field guide for identification, a quiz testing the user's knowledge and a glossary defining over 500 scientific terms make this CD-ROM a treasure box for everybody. The new edition contains many additional species, (mainly from Eastern Europe) as well as a newly developed habitat key.

Tensors of Geophysics for Mavericks and Mongrels
Average customer rating:
Tensors of Geophysics for Mavericks and Mongrels
Frank Hadsell
Manufacturer: SEG
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 1560800755

Average customer rating:
Tensors of Geophysics for Mavericks and Mongrels (Geophysical References Series, No. 6)
Frank Hadsell
Manufacturer: Society of Exploration Geophysicists
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Earth Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
General | Earth Sciences | Professional Science | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1560800291

Book Description

This textbook is intended for those second year undergraduates in science and engineering
who will later need an understanding of electromagnetic theory and quantum mechanics. The classical physics of oscillations and waves is developed at a more advanced level than has been customary for the second year, providing a basis for the quantum mechanics that follows. In this new edition the Green's function is explained, reinforcing the integration of quantum mechanics with classical physics. The text may also form the basis of an "introduction to theoretical physics" for physics majors. The concluding chapters give special attention to topics in current wave physics: nonlinear waves, solitons, and chaotic behavior.

Book Description

Alison Sheffield doesn't fall into any category. Forget those stereotypes about librarians. She looks half her age of forty, and enjoys the finer things - like her zippy convertible, ice-cold martinis, classical music, and her sensuously appointed apartment. In public, Ally hides her extravagant nature with a French twist and sensible clothes. But after last night, nothing can hide the signs: Ally Sheffield is in love.

Available only in Basic 6 & 7.

Customer Reviews:

Laugh out loud funny.......2007-08-09

I am a librarian and I loved it. It was, in lots of wonderful places, laugh out loud funny. Just like a Lucy show. Most of what was going on was not plausible at the superb Philadelphia Public Library, but that was not the point. The stereotypes were to give you the idea of the situation without a great deal of description and most librarians and library users could easily picture the characters and situations: staff interactions, Ed-the homeless patron and the exciting tidbits of everyday lives with books, reference questions and historic documents. Fiction does not have to meet anyone's standard of real to be good! I was tickled with the ending!

Love and lust at the library.......2007-08-07

This was a light, enjoyable book about a librarian who hasn't had sex in 15 years. Flitting around her periphery are Gordon, her handsome, womanizing boss, and Aleksi, the intriguing music conductor. The librarian gets sucked into a web of intrigue involving the music conductor's sudden interest in her library's collections and the conductor's wife study of poisons, supposedly for a novel she's writing.

The writing was a little weak and the pacing dragged a bit, but there was something charming and endearing about it, kooky as it was. I think most bibliophiles and library lovers would like it.

fun read.......2007-07-31

The ending surprised me. It was only partly because I felt rushed through the resolution and was left with so many questions about what happened next. Mostly it's because I expected the last line of the book to be..."and then I woke up." It's a quick, entertaining read, but pure fantasy.

Silly rather than funny.......2006-08-02

I thought the comedic episodes in the book were contrived and really not funny -- not at all the way a person would actually act. A decent read for a rainy afternoon.

Comic?.......2005-10-13

If I hadn't know that this was considered a comic novel, I certainly wouldn't have ascertained it by reading it. Granted, the protagonist makes the occasional witty comment, but the incidents in the book that I gather were supposed to be amusing just...weren't. The plot is pretty entertaining for about 7/8th of the book, but, as so often seems to happen, the ending was a dud. Can no one write a satisfying ending these days?

Book Description

From world-renowned psychologist and bestselling author of The Soul's Code, a profound examination of the roots of man's primal love/hate relationship with war.

War is a timeless force in the human imagination-and, indeed, in daily life. If recent events have taught us anything, it is that peacetime is not nearly so constant and attainable as wartime. During the 5,600 years of recorded history, 14,600 wars have been fought-2 to 3 for every year of human history. War is a constant thing. And yet no one really understands why that is.

In A Terrible Love of War, James Hillman, one of the central figures in psychology in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, fills this great void and undertakes a groundbreaking examination of the origins, needs, and rewards of war. Moreover, in this brilliant inquiry, Hillman explores many other essential questions, such as:

Â€ Is war a necessary part of our human soul and, therefore, a necessary part of our lives?
Â€ Why do we need enemies?
Â€ What scars does warfare carve on the psyche of its soldiers? And why does it have such a permanent effect?
Â€ If war is such a "normal" part of our existence, why do we fear it so much? And alternately, how could we ever embrace a force so destructive, so wanton, and so inhuman?
Â€ Can the impulse to engage in war be tamed?

Hillman asserts that "if we want war's horror to be abated so that life may go on, it is necessary to understand and imagine." A Terrible Love of War is a crucial tool to understanding war-a crucial book for us all.

Customer Reviews:

A Terrible Love of Himself.......2007-07-28

This incoherent ramble of a "book" succeeds only as a personal statement.

The main text is incoherent rambling, with little context either within or beyond the book's subject. Here's a random paragraph:

"The idea of the sublime as an aesthetic phenomenon akin to but distinct from beauty entered modern discourse also via the eye. Longinus was incidental, a text for professors of classics and rhetorical style, because his treatise focused mainly on writing and speaking in an elevated, inspiring manner. Boileau's translation and reflections (1674) on Longinus did not deeply touch the latent romanticism of the English soul. The sublime as a stunning concatenation of the baleful and the beautiful in one elevated moment came from nature, from the earth."

Ye gods.

If that weren't bad enough, the continual "Excursions" serve no purpose other than to inflate the book's length and the author's ego.

Still, for any author in a post-9/11 world to claim that "Christian monotheistic psychology is the one for our culture to focus upon and fear" is the sort of inane twaddle that one would expect from a university professor who probably hasn't spent five minutes of the last thirty years in a non-academic environment.

Yet for all that, he still manages to misinterpret his sources, from Tuchman to Tolstoy.

Unless you have a table with leg that is approximately 1-1/4" shorter than the others and needs propping up, skip this book.

A Terrible Love of War.......2007-05-12

This is an incredible book. Hillman shakes all previous positions and shows the reader that war is the 'norm'. That does not mean he finds that laudatory, it just is.
"A Terrible Love of War" s not life-changing, but it is mind-changing.

A terrible oversight.......2006-08-13

I generally respect Hillman, but he has wildly misconstrued the nature of war. His basic failure is an utter lack of examining the gendered nature of warfare. In short: Men make war. Yes, there plenty of instances where women engage in war, but those are far and away the exception and not the rule. Both the leaders who build wars and the soldiers who fight them are almost exclusively male. This is a consistent fact across all cultures around the globe and throughout history. Broadly speaking, women simply do not make war. This single and glaring oversight immediately destroy's Hillman's hypothesis that war is somehow a universal human archetype.

abortion kills more than all the wars combined .......2006-08-10

This book doesn't address the condition of man and mans condition as its been forever, as in thousands of years.

and to single out Christianity as war mongers is tarded, the whole world is and has been into wars.

Name ONE century in history, yes all of history, where there has been no wars? ( hint, its zero )

oh yea yea i know the debate, we are getting smarter as people and will stop wars as soon as we get more educated.

below is from another reviewer in here.

To Christian readers I would recommend considering Hillman's view that Christianity has been martial from the start as a challenge to examine the relationship between the Christian emphasis on love and innocence and its long institutional history of intolerance and brutality. Is warfare endemic to Christianity? Are Christians who reject warfare exceptions to an almost universal aggressiveness? Must Christianity be a religion of missionaries who think they know better than the peoples they seek to convert? These are some of the questions raised by Hillman's study.

without even talking to any of you peeps in here that give this book 4-5 stars, I am willing to bet that you also are ok with abortion for any reason the women wants. Seems to always go hand in hand, hate war, abortions are ok.

Guess what, abortion kills more than all the wars combined. At least 1.5 million in USA alone.

yea yea I know, overpopulation ( Got War? ) unwanted kids ( 7 year waiting list for adoption ) on and on it goes.

Organized religion is at the head of many of mans problems, if not the most of them. This includes all religions. However, the Christ of the bible has nothing to do with organized religion, so hence, you see why we just continue to have problem after problem. I was raised catholic, bailed to Christianity, went over to right wing Christianity, and bailed out of all named denominations, now it's just flat Christian. The problem is, not many others are doing this, and wont as I see the world anytime in the near future, so hence, all our problems in the world are going to continue. Simple as that.

people are confusing getting rid of all religions ( john Lennon Imagine, etc etc ) With the real Christ. Jesus hated religion, yet his people still want to be a part of it, as they think it keeps them all in line.

I know so many people that were raised in a Christian home, Mormon home, JW home, a Catholic home, and as soon as they became adults, they bailed on all of it. going over to anything that sans organized religion and is "Just God".

Hillman finally delivers ..........2006-06-03

Reads like drama. Just the time it takes to turn the page produced an anxiety reaction as I was so eager to keep reading.

A extremely well written cogent main thread is inter-populated with short "just in the right spot" and "just the right length" diversions. I especially enjoyed the diverson about Japan(1543-1879)and guns. A very nice presentation model.

Hillman presents war as an archetypal suprahuman truth he calls Mars or Ares. The book really gives no hope for the eradication of war as Hillman states towards the end:

"But war itself shall remain until the gods themselves go away."

As a vet, I also recommend this book for any veterans who otherwise might not be interested in psychology and mythology or give a hoot about archetypes.

uniquely fascinating!

Average customer rating:

A Terrible Love Of War
James Hillman
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OJCTNI

Average customer rating:

Terrible Love of War 12-copy prepack
James Hillman
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0147501539

Uncertain Order: The World in the Twentieth Century
Average customer rating:

Not great...

Uncertain Order: The World in the Twentieth Century
Blaine Terry Browne , and Robert Charles Cottrell
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | History & Historical Fiction | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
20th Century | World | History | Subjects | Books
General | World | History | Subjects | Books
All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Children's Books | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
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Wild Thorns (Interlink World Fiction)

ASIN: 0130287032

Customer Reviews:

Not great..........2007-01-22

I'm using this book in a 10th grade general global history survey course. The actual text is easy to understand, but the problem is that the writing style gives no sense of which events were extremely important and which ones were less so, instead putting them all in the same long, boring paragraphs. Also, I'm no grammar expert, but I feel like it's very badly proofread and there are awkward phrasings/typos. It does include all the information though, so if used alongside a book of promary sources it would probably be okay. My teacher decided to use it for the information on Japan, but instead of the WW II section, we used Brinton's "A History of Civilization", which does a much better job of presenting the causes/events leading up to the war.

100 Greatest Inventions of all Time: A Ranking Past and Present
Average customer rating:

Good collection but description lacks depth.

So-So

Forgot some Biggies

100 Greatest Inventions of all Time: A Ranking Past and Present
Tom Philbin
Manufacturer: Citadel
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Industrial, Manufacturing & Operational Systems | Engineering | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
Patents & Inventions | Engineering | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
General | Science | Subjects | Books
General | Reference | Science | Subjects | Books
History of Technology | Technology | Science | Subjects | Books
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The Greatest Inventions of the Past 2,000 Years

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Society and Technological Change, 5th edition

What A Great Idea! Inventions That Changed The World

ASIN: 0806524030

Customer Reviews:

Good collection but description lacks depth........2005-06-07

I guess any list is subject to debate, so I would say Mr. Philbin has come up with a considerably good list. In fact some of the items we take for granted are in this list. Overall this list looks good to me.

However, the text disappointed me. Every invention has three important parts: 1. Science and 2. Story of invention and 3. Story of the inventor. Science part should explain how the gizmo works. Story of the invention should tell how it was invented. And the story of the inventor should tell about the inventor. Instead of finding the real science, story and timeline behind these inventions, the author skims the subject at a very high level, sometimes wandering into unnecessary description of politics.

Inclusion of Condom as an invention caused me not to buy this for my child. I borrowed it from a local library with full intention of purchasing it later. But that particular invention is a sensitive subject. Not arguing whether the author should have included it or not. Just saying that because of that I don't find myself comfortable to give it to my son for independent reading. Others may disagree with me and I would respect their opinion.

Overall I like the book. So three stars instead of two.

So-So.......2004-05-02

Some significant errors...according to this book, the first atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, and the second on Hiroshima.

Forgot some Biggies.......2004-03-17

The selection of the most important 100 inventions of all times is, in a sense, an impossible task, and the present volume only represents an honest attempt at it, rather than anything that can be called truly definitive. Other historians of technology would have a list that would only partially overlap this one to varying degrees. It might be interesting to see other lists of this sort, and to be able to examine their pros and cons. But it appears, unhappily, that this volume is meant more to entertain us, than it is to provide the best of all possible lists.

The inventions cited range from the prehistoric to the latter half of the twentieth century. They concentrate, it seems, more on inventions that require some sort of mechanical embodiment, leaving out any that deal with compositions of matter, with the lone exception of paint. Thus he ignores bakelite, polyethylene, and other plastics which have transformed our century. And also he forgets the invention of bronze, iron, steel, ceramics and clear glass. Chemical inventions such as tanning, Haber's nitrogen fixation, electrolysis, and other synthetic methods are ignored. He forgets soap, and antisepsis.

Cloth and rope are not here. Nor are the crops or the inventions of agriculture included: hay and wheat, all methods for the preservation of food, fertilizer, domestication of animals, methods for breeding animals and plants, irrigation. These are the basic inventions that moved us from hunter-gatherers to agriculturalists, and would seem to belong in a list that includes the plow and the wheel.

There is also, it appears to this reader, a distasteful pre-occupation with weapons of war: the tank, submarine, nuclear weapon, bow and arrow, gunpowder, pistol, rifle, cannon, rocket, barbed wire, dynamite, radar are all given. The spear, atlatl, personal armor, pike, trebuchet, machine gun and land mine are sundry examples of man's deviousness and ingenuity in the killing arts which might just as well have been included.

The methods used for the selection, and the apparently intentional ignoring of entire fields of innovation, is not discussed. No bibliography nor acknowledgements of previous attempts along these lines are provided either.

Philbin's greatest omission,though, is that he forgot to include the invention of the scientific method, used as a basis for many of the inventions he does list. This too, together with the invention of logic, geometry and mathematics, is certainly at least on a par with the VCR! Financial innovations, as well as any business oriented methods are left out, as is the Web, ebay and Amazon!

Book Description

Inventions are the stuff of dreams, quickly gaining widespread use, becoming central to culture, and ultimately changing our lives. They teach us a great deal about creativity and scientific principles, and, of course, the power of invention is of utmost importance in today's world of technology and innovation. Focusing on the 100 most significant scientific inventions of all time, this ready reference presents fascinating facts about amazing inventions, a panoramic overview of the history of science, an introduction to some of the most important inventors in history, and a collection of engaging reads. Each entry, arranged chronologically according to when the invention was made, contains information on what the invention is, who the inventor was, and how the invention was created. It also provides the historical context of the invention, its significance today, and information on resources for further reading/research. More than two millennia's worth of inventions are covered, ranging from the practical (clock, eyeglasses) to the everyday (measuring spoons, ball point pen), the life-saving (antiseptic, chemotherapy), and the mind-boggling (the number zero, cloning). By covering inventions throughout history, rather than just the 20th and 21st centuries, and presenting information comprehensible to young readers, this book fills a gap in the literature. It is a wonderful resource for student research and reports; can easily be used for read-alouds or as an introduction to teaching units on inventions; as well as a solid general reference on inventors and inventions. Grades 4-9 (adaptable to other levels).

Customer Reviews:

A fascinating and fabulous job.......2006-05-16

The author has done a truly wonderful job with this book. Cleanly written, fascinating and extremly educational, it presents the evolution of the world as we know it. This should be on everyone's bookshelf and in every school library.

Book Description

This timely new workbook is the result of a year-long effort by a group of university professors who first met at Montana Tech during the summer of 1994 for a college faculty workshop. The workshop was funded by the National Science Foundation's support for those faculty developing courses in the newly emerging field of air toxics. Part I of the book contains over 100 problems dealing with a variety of topics in this area. Part II provides detailed solutions. The problems and solutions provided will become a useful resource for the training of engineers and scientists who are or soon will be working in the field.

1998 regional geographic initiative air, water, waste, toxics : integrated solutions to local environmental problems (SuDoc EP 1.2:R 26/11)

Average customer rating:

1998 regional geographic initiative air, water, waste, toxics : integrated solutions to local environmental problems (SuDoc EP 1.2:R 26/11)
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Manufacturer: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Regional Operations
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B000110U4Y

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