Operational Review Workbook: Case Studies, Forms, and Exercises

Book Description

Practical, proven tools for conducting successful operational reviews

An operational review evaluates management's conformity with plans and resource allocations, organizational structure, operating procedures, processes, and controls. In today's volatile marketplace, organizations must do everything possible to ensure their operations are running most economically and effectively to maximize desired results. In such a competitive environment, operational reviews have become increasingly important. The Operational Review Workbook not only gives readers a better understanding of the concepts behind operational reviews but also enables them to conduct reviews with more confidence and authority.

A companion to Rob Reider's Operational Review: Maximum Results at Efficient Costs, Third Edition, the Workbook explains the benefits of a review and offers step-by-step guidance through its various stages. In addition to the author's incisive analysis, this practical guide:

Includes case studies, checklists, forms, and exercises
Reinforces the fundamental principles necessary to perform an operational review
Presents in a step-by-step manner how an operational review should be performed
Shows how to judge a review's results and make recommendations to management
Demonstrates how to use tools and techniques such as financial statement analysis, verification of data accuracy, determination of compliance with laws and regulations, development and understanding of ratio change and trend analysis, use of systems and layout flowcharts, effective interviewing techniques, and preparation and use of survey forms, questionnaires, and checklists
Integrates operational review concepts with other analytical processes such as benchmarking strategies and activity-based costing principles

The Operational Review Workbook delivers all the tools needed to successfully conduct an operational review of the organization, department, or activity. CEOs, operations management and staff, internal and external consultants and auditors, CFOs and controllers, and other organizational stakeholders will find Reider's incomparable guide an invaluable addition to their professional libraries.

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Superb Resource

Good reading for interviewers

The quintessential resource for interviewers

A timely book for the business boom

A Manager's Guide to Hiring the Best Person for Every Job
DeAnne Rosenberg
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Interviewing | Job Hunting & Careers | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
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Hiring the Best: Manager's Guide to Effective Interviewing and Recruiting, Fifth Edition

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ASIN: 0471380741

Book Description

A Manager's Guide to Hiring the Best Person for Every Job
* Using the Master Match Matrix(TM)
* How to structure the interview
* Effective questioning techniques
* Understanding the candidate's personality type

Hiring-and retaining-great employees shouldn't be left to chance.

In today's competitive job market, hiring top employees is absolutely critical. Mistakes could be costly for the company that wants to stay ahead. Yet most managers-no matter how skilled-continue to give short shrift to interviewing job candidates, as if they're letting fate, not expertise, make their hiring decisions.

Now there's a comprehensive how-to guide for hiring accurately-the first time around!

A Manager's Guide to Hiring the Best Person for Every Job is a step-by-step, intelligent strategy guide to hiring-and retaining-the best job candidates. Chock-full of the most valuable interviewing tools and techniques ever packed into a single volume, A Manager's Guide walks both new and seasoned managers through the 40-minute interview, pointing out highlights-and pitfalls-along the way.

With more than 800 sample open-ended questions and a unique interview dialogue with play-by-play commentary, A Manager's Guide gives you tips that will get you past the traditional pat answers and interviewing superficialities and right to the heart of the interview. You'll learn:
* Why "traditional" methods of interviewing are the least accurate predictors of future job performance
* How to structure the interview so you're in control
* Which abilities are most important to a candidate's long-term success
* How to read body language and probe for the real story
* How active listening can save your company thousands
* How to use the Master Match Matrix(TM) to identify the trade-offs among competing candidates
* How to avoid legal problems and pitfalls in the hiring-and firing-process

A Manager's Guide to Hiring the Best Person for Every Job gives you a practical interviewing strategy that generates superior results. For minimum time investment with maximum return on payroll dollars, you can't beat this book.

Customer Reviews:

Superb Resource.......2000-09-05

The labor shortage has spawned a number of books on finding, hiring, and keeping good employees. Each vies to fill a niche, competing with a plethora of other books seeking to address the same issue. This one's different.

This manager's guide really is. It really is addressed to managers, along with all the human resource professional who could also benefit from the power contained within its pages. Rosenberg rightly assumes, in her preface, that most managers are totally unprepared for hiring interviews. Corporate interviewers-at all levels-seem to focus on all the wrong things in interviews, rarely looking at how well the candidate might meet the manager's expectations a year down the road. As a result, we all ask the wrong questions, struggle to make hiring decisions on the basis of inadequate data, and practically make fools of ourselves in the process.

Yes, I was using first-person in that last sentence. Guilty! As I read the introduction to Rosenberg's book, where she introduced her dialog-based instructional system, I saw myself. The good, the bad, and the ugly. Honestly, there wasn't a lot of good. All the errors I made in interviewing began flashing in front of me, confirming that this book definitely belongs on my shelf! Amazing-I was learning a wealth of valuable knowledge . . . in the introduction! (Can I apologize now to all my hiring mistakes over the years?)

Rosenberg teaches that there are three factors that determine an employee's long-term success with an employer: the candidate's ability to learn, the candidate's values, and the candidate's cognitive ability. Rarely do interviewers even approach these vital issues. Too often we hire based on a job description that's obsolete, instead of the capacity to learn, grow, and adjust to our rapidly changing work environment. The key is to determine what the candidate has learned from past experiences, rather than just what was actually done. Do you know the difference between behavioral questions and puzzle questions?

Do you hire people because of something you saw on their resume, expecting them to change? Rosenberg notes that 80% of the candidates we consider live remarkably consistent lives. Their patterns don't change. This book will teach you how to look for those patterns, make sense of them, and equip yourself for much more intelligent hiring decisions. This continual learning went on page after page in this relatively fast-moving book. Another example: use job objectives instead of job descriptions (page 57).

A clear message is that we should engage in a meticulous evaluation, examination, and exploration of the position before speaking to a single candidate. And, then prepare carefully using everything known about the candidate before conducting a structured, focused 40-minute interview.

Rosenberg presents a process she calls the Master Match Matrix. The crux of this approach is preparation, including the right questions to ask. What questions might you ask? Check out Appendix B for ideas-over 800 open-ended questions are waiting for you. This bank of effective questions, well-organized, is worth the cost of the book even without all the valuable explanatory text!

I was impressed that this one volume contains practically anything you ever wanted to know about hiring the right people. The chapters set the stage, then introduce Rosenberg's Master Match Matrix approach. Next, the reader moves deliberately through chapters on structuring interviews, questioning techniques, listening (including body language), more tools and techniques, and even interviewing for personality fit. Yes, there is even a chapter on what's legal and what's not, followed by a concluding chapter on reference checking, liability, and even termination. Three appendices complement the text, giving us common errors to avoid, as well as interview questions and additional information about personality fit.

The book's organization, aided by a good index, make this a valuable reference book to pull off the shelf every time you need to interview another candidate for employment. If you apply the lessons Rosenberg shares, you'll spend a lot less time interviewing in the future-you'll have the right people on board and they'll probably stick around a while.

Good reading for interviewers.......2000-08-15

If you interview a lot of job candidates, this book will help you do a better job. It covers major areas of interviewing in a helpful way.

Wayne D. Ford, Ph.D., author of "How to Spot a Liar in a Job Interview" and "How to Spot a Phony Resume" docwifford@msn.com

The quintessential resource for interviewers.......2000-06-09

A MANAGER'S GUIDE TO HIRING THE BEST PERSON FOR EVERY JOB is everything you need to know on the subject of interviewing. It is that complete. Not only does it cover the subject thoroughly, it does so in a logical, convincing, and enjoyable format. Each technique is illustrated; each method is fully explained, making them simple to apply to real interviewing situations. From the author's exceptional method for evaluating candidates, through several excellent topics new to books on interviewing, to an expected but particularly well done section on legalities, and ending with a fantastic appendix of interviewing questions, this is a sine qua non resource for the person who wants to interview competently.

The Master Match Matrix, the author's method for evaluating candidates, is the centerpiece of the book. It is an organized, intelligent, repeatable strategy that guarantees its practitioners impeccable results every time it is used. Recognizing that hiring personnel want to spend minimum amounts of time on interviews and yet hire superior if not best persons for their positions, the book first clears away the chaff of traditional interviewing, most of which is irrelevant, unfocused, and inadequate. Using the MMM, however, an interviewer will elicit relevant information from a candidate and thereby match (or not match) the candidate with the responsibilities and expectations of the position.

This book covers valuable topics not discussed in other books on interviewing; for example, deciphering body language cues, word patterns, and candidate behavior in interviews; how candidates avoid difficult questions; how to use silence as a discussion stimulant; what are "dumb" questions but how to recover from asking one; and the prevention of unnecessary turnover by discovering a candidate's long-term goals and synchronizing them with the needs of the job. All of these topics as well as the other topics in the book, from questioning techniques to "selling" the job to a candidate, are not just discussed theoretically, but are specifically illustrated with actual dialogue "how-to" segments.

In the excellent section on legalities and illegalities in interviewing, the author again provides much more specific and comprehensive information than found in other books on the subject. Among other points, the reader can learn how to design a non-compete agreement; a specific technique for quick and painless termination; questions to ask relating to legally restricted topics, how to avoid negligent hiring and the problem of employer liability; and how to obtain solid references.

Preeminently this is a hands-on, practical book. Managers and other hiring personnel reading and using this book will not only improve their interviewing skills but equally important will gain in confidence and willingness to interview. They will hire superior candidates for positions, benefiting them, their companies, and the candidates themselves. A MANAGER'S GUIDE TO HIRING THE BEST PERSON FOR EVERY JOB should be at every manager's hand. Don't interview without it.

A timely book for the business boom.......2000-06-07

DeAnne Rosenberg's "A Manager's Guide To Hiring The Best Person For Every Job" is a primer on how to find the best employee for your company in this very tight job market. After you read this book, you'll be totally knowledeable about how to interview a prospective employee.It's amazing how much information is available in the book, and how easy it is to read. Kudos to Rosenberg for making this difficult subject so understandable.

Book Description

Product Description

Nearly all the information we know about the Universe comes from the study of light as it reaches us. The understanding of this information contained in light requires both telescopes capable of resolving light into its different component colors, as well as detailed knowledge of the quantum mechanical behavior of atoms and molecules. This unique book, which is based on a third-year undergraduate course given by the author at University College London, presents the basic atomic and molecular physics necessary to understand and interpret astronomical spectra. It explains what information can be extracted from these spectra and how. Extensive use is made of contemporary astronomical spectral data to both motivate the study of the underlying atomic physics and to illustrate the results.

Customer Reviews:

Practical next step.......2007-06-16

I have a BSci in Astronomy and have not yet attended grad school. I work for a world class observatory that uses spectroscopy of some sort in almost all of the science we do. Having only had brief overviews as an undergrad, this book was a perfect next step allowing me to gain a more thorough understanding the science that I am part of. Some prior knowledge of atomic physics is very helpful.
The problems at the end of the chapters are useful to verify understanding of the material.

A good introduction.......2006-08-07

This is a good introduction to the topic but its a little thin weighing in at a little less than 200 pages. The book is very compact and written at the college level. It stresses the connection between spectra and quantum mechanics [of course]. The book would make a good college or graduate level textbook as a course in itself or an adjunct to physics or quantum mechanics.

The Table of Contents:
1. Why record spectra of Astronomical Objects
2. The nature of Spectra
3. Atomic Hydrogen
4. Complex Atoms
5. Helium Spectra
6. Alkali Atoms
7. Spectra of Nebulea
8. X-ray Spectra
9. Molecular Spectra
10. Solutions to Problems
11. Bibliography

Third Year Undergrad level........2005-11-02

It comes as a surprise to most people when they learn that rarely does a professional astronomer actually look through a telescope. Most of the time, in fact, he isn't interested in the appearance at all. What he actually wants (usually) is a spectroscopic analysis of the light coming from the object being observed.

The biggest telescope cannor resolve a star into anything but a point of light. The information contained in that point of light can tell you a lot about that star. The composition of its atmosphere, its motion, its temperature and more can all be determined by analyzing the light beam.

This book was developed for a third year undergraduate level course. It presumes that the student had a prior course in Quantum Mechanics which covered the Hydrogen Atom, but no further atomic physics or spectroscopy.

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Getting the Facts Wrong: A Misguided Critique of PBS's "Evolution" miniseries

Gould as a Just So Story

An Excellent Primer

More objective than the series.

Getting the Facts Straight: A Viewer's Guide to PBS's Evolution
Discovery Institute
Manufacturer: Discovery Institute
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

History & Criticism | Television | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
General | Evolution | Science | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0963865455

Book Description

Getting the Facts Straight: A Viewer's Guide to PBS's Evolution/I>

Accuracy and objectivity are what we should expect in a television documentary--especially in a science documentary on a publicly funded network. But the PBS Evolution Series falls far short of meeting these basic standards. It distorts the scientific evidence, ignores scientific disagreements over Darwin's theory, and misrepresents the theory's critics. The series also displays a sharply biased view of religion and seeks to influence the political debate over how evolution should be taught in schools. Evolution presents itself as science journalism, but it is actually a work of one-sided advocacy.

The PBS series is intended not only for broadcast on public television, but also for use in public schools. Evolution's biased content, however, makes it inappropriate for classroom use without supplementary materials. This Viewer's Guide has been prepared to help interested citizens, students, teachers and parents ensure that discussions of evolution in the classroom fairly represent the evidence and the full range of scientific viewpoints about Darwin's controversial theory.

Customer Reviews:

Getting the Facts Wrong: A Misguided Critique of PBS's "Evolution" miniseries.......2006-08-26

I will concede that PBS's "Evolution" miniseries is filled with omissions of fact, most notably in discussing current controversies regarding the tempo and mode of evolution, but it does a fine job nonetheless in introducing the Modern Synthesis Theory of Evolution to an interested public audience, stressing the importance of this theory towards our understanding of all aspects of biology, from developmental biology and population genetics to paleobiology and ecology, and last, but not least, both epidemiology and medicine. Carl Zimmer's companion volume to the PBS miniseries "Evolution" does an admirable job elaborating on some of the points briefly mentioned or not covered in the PBS program. That book, also entitled "Evolution", should be a potential reader's guide, not this error-filled, woefully misguided effort at critiquing "Evolution" from a pro-Intelligent Design perspective.

Gould as a Just So Story.......2003-11-29

Instead of investing in this book as a companion to the PBS series, consider investing in other books on evolutionary theory such as Dawkins "The Selfish Gene" or even Darwin's classic "Origin of Species." While these evolutionists have been misinterpreted for years in North America, Gould's Just So Stories have been running rampant. Instead of looking to the so called evolutionists responding to the PBS series in this book, you would better spend your time looking to those that have spent their lives pursuing this science and have built the credibility to speak clearly on this subject.

An Excellent Primer.......2001-11-28

As a scientist who studies evolution, the PBS Evolution Series profoundly embarrassed me. How so much effort and money could be poured into a project that wound up so flawed is a potential case study in the failure of science education. Getting the Facts Straight is an excellent primer on errors, both in fact and logic, in the series. Every teacher who wants to show these videos in a classroom should first read the Getting the Facts Straight, then prepare lesson plans that help students to see why the PBS Evolution Series is a caricature of how science should be. In fact, anyone who saw the series and didn't drop off to sleep should read this book. It made viewing the series a lot more interesting for me, and it was great to be able to compare my own reservations about it with those of the writers of this book. I highly recommend Getting the Facts Straight to anyone who is interested in science, popularization of science or evolution.

More objective than the series........2001-11-27

I've enjoyed reading and re-reading this little book in its web version and am glad it is finally in paperback. Despite its size, it provides a lot of information that seems crucial to evaluating the claims of Darwinian evolution--info. that was not mentioned in the PBS series.

It covers stuff quickly and objectively, while providing ample notes and references for the research inclined [even the music from the PBS series is identified and footnoted]. Also, as it describes the material in the PBS series, one doesn't need to have seen the series for this book to be useful--it is quite sufficient as a stand alone piece.

Though not addressing intelligent design, this is one of the best materials to have come from the ID community: I'd say it is among the best as a quick reference on evolution, as topics are easy to find, brief to survey and it is a heck of a lot less expensive than others.

Good work with a priceless piece.

Book Description

The problem of destroying amphibians by the use of pesticides in the proximity of water bodies has been a matter of concern since the late sixties. This premier volume provides comprehenisve and timely information on the effects of a large collection of chemicals on amphibians, discussing both laboratory and field experiments. This book is essential reading for toxicologists, industrial hygienists, government regulators, consulting engineers and scientists working in the environmental sciences.

Ecotoxicity of Chemicals to Amphibians: A special issue of the journal High Pressure Research

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Ecotoxicity of Chemicals to Amphibians: A special issue of the journal High Pressure Research
D. Hausermann
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Science | Subjects | Books

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Book Description

You thought you did everything right. You got good grades, you went to college, you got your degree, and you got a decent entry-level job. So why does your life suck so much? Why is your boss an idiot? Why do you keep getting dumped? Why does your midsection keep compiling cellulite? There are a lot of really crappy, stupid little things that happen to you as a young adult, and unless you're ready for it, things will never get any freaking better. Don't worry; it's not all doom and gloom. What the Hell Just Happened Here: A Guide To Surviving Your 20s will answer all the tough questions for you. It won't always be what you want to hear, but it will make you laugh to the point of falling out of your chair. Don't read while sitting on a bar stool, bunk bed, or any other elevated surface.

Book Description

Few events in Civil War history have generated such deliberate mythmaking as the retreat that ended at Appomattox. As the popular imagination would have it, Robert E. Lee's tattered, starving, but devoted troops found themselves hopelessly surrounded through no fault of their beloved commander, who surrendered them rather than sacrifice their lives. Victors and vanquished met at Appomattox in a moving surrender ceremony marked by a spirit of mutual regard.

According to William Marvel, this tale is a tissue of untruths that sprang from the imaginations of Lost Cause historians and Northern and Southern generals well practiced in the art of fabricating popular legend. Marvel offers the first history of the Appomattox campaign written primarily from contemporary source material, with a skeptical eye toward memoirs published well after the events they purport to describe.

Marvel shows that during the final week of the war in Virginia, Lee's troops were more numerous and far less faithful to their cause than has been suggested. Lee himself made mistakes in this campaign, and defeat wrung from him an unusual display of faultfinding. Finally, Marvel proves accounts of the congenial intermingling of the armies at Appomattox to be shamelessly overblown and the renowned exchange of salutes to be apocryphal.

Customer Reviews:

Bravery and valor all around........2004-02-16

William Marvel has come under a fair amount of criticism for this book. Mostly he is accused of being anti-southern and attempting to re-write history in a manner that is not flattering to the troops of the Army of Northern Virginia. On the contrary, I found this to be an engaging book that not only does not rip away the luster of courage that is usually bestowed on the common Confederate soldier but actually accentuates it.

After nine months in the trenches of Petersburg it is no wonder that Lee's men were beaten down. A late uncle of mine fought in the trenches during WW I and his stories of the trenches made it clear to me just how awful trench warfare is. Finally the tenacious Grant turned Lee's flank at Five Forks and the Confederate Chieftain knew the game was up. Marvel takes up his story with the evacuation of Petersburg and Richmond and tells the story of the miserable conditions faced by both armies in the days that followed. Lee made mistakes and Marvel has the courage to point them out. Still one has to wonder if Lee could have gotten his army to North Carolina even if he had conducted a flawless retreat. As the author points out, the Yankees could smell a final victory and the chance to at last go home. They were therefore much more inclined to accept a lack of rations and forced marches than were the Confederates. A few more days of hardship could send the men in blue home while all the boys in gray could look forward to was a Yankee prison.

I really have to wonder if Lee really wanted to make it to North Carolina. Marvel fails here to delve into the talks Lee had held with Secretary of War John C. Breckinridge long before Petersburg fell. Breckinridge realized the war was lost and had been discussing surrender with Lee, who seemed to agree with the hero of New Market. I suspect that Lee really did want to get to the Army of Tennessee but was not willing to cause many more deaths in what he had to know was a long shot.

Marvel does go to great lengths to point out that Walter Taylor's estimates of troop strength were distorted and that the Union had fewer men than Taylor said and the Confederates had more. On the other hand the Union troops were on a high while the Confederates had just lost Richmond and moral was extremely low. Marvel points out that the difference in real and Taylor's estimated troop strengths might have been made up for by this difference in moral. In fact, the Confederates almost to the end were more than willing to fight and when they turned on their pursuers and sent up the Rebel yell the Union troops usually reacted by falling back. Even after Lee surrendered many of his veterans vowed to fight on after they were exchanged. Marvel does nothing to cast aspersions on these brave men and in fact points out that many Confederates refused to be surrendered and fled the scene to fight again. It is true that the author points out the large number of desertions that accompanied the retreat but he also excuses most of them. For example, he points out that a large group had just been exchanged and had returned from Union prisons and would rather just walk away from the army than return to those prisons. The reader will find that some of Marvel's harshest criticism is reserved for Phil Sheridan and George Custer and their fanatical drive for unearned glory and Joshua L. Chamberlain's ego.

The one really glaring problem with this book is the maps or rather the lack thereof. There are a few maps but not nearly enough and what maps there are could have been made much more useful by actually showing troop movements on them. It is fairly hard to follow the armies across Virginia without good maps; I don't care how well the author tells the story. I think maybe he assume the reader is as familiar with the area as he is. Marvel does argue that the Confederates had a better chance of making the link with Johnston than has been accepted fact, but he backs up his argument. His argument that sheer wealth and numbers in the overall war did not overwhelm the South however is just silly fortunately that argument only comes up at the end of the book. Other than that though I found this to be a highly readable, well-researched, intelligent and fair book.

Myths destroyed by revisionist history..........2004-01-22

The denouement of the Civil War in the East has been the subject of many volumes from noted historians and battle participants. All seem to paint this episode as some grandiloquent occasion with diplomatic surrender actions from both sides. William Marvel's latest work attempts to refute many of these myths and he indeed does succeed at making this seem like any other Civil War skirmish with "Lee's Last Retreat: The Flight to Appomattox".

Targeting mainly the versions of the Confederate surrender rendered in later post-war years by John B. Gordon and Joshua Chamberlain, Marvel proves that these accounts are largely ficticious and laiden with numerous self aggrandizing points. Marvel systematically shows that the Confederate retreat from Petersburg and the subsequent chase by the Union forces was a desperate action bent on consolidating Southern forces in North Carolina and (hopefully) extending the struggle. The final surrender at Appomattox then, under Marvel's pen, is an anti-climactic action by an exhausted army and leader.

Using in depth narrative and many first-person accounts and diary/journal entries, Marvel recreates the military atmosphere prevelant during the early April 1865 timeframe when the Confederate rebellion reached it's conclusion. The end of the Petersburg siege starts the book and Marvel discusses in detail the actions taken by R.E. Lee's forces to escape from this front and the capital at Richmond to march West towards Amelia Courthouse. Many rearguard battles ensue as the escape route gets very complex with many Confederate divisions and brigades involved. The first myth is dissolved when Marvel refutes the long-held opinion that this escape was essentially doomed by the lack of Confederate provisions at Amelia Courthouse. Marvel shows us that Lee's inability to coordinate troop movements from this hamlet were much more restrictive than the lack of food and is very convincing in his analysis of this argument.

The Confederate plans for troop consolidation at Farmville are overlayed with the multi-pronged Union pursuit and Marvel presents a compelling account of the "race" westward. The seminal battle at Sailor's Creek is analyzed and shown to be the epoch that finally demoralizes the rebellion. Confederate infantry movement and subsequent Union pursuit ultimately end at Appomattox Courthouse and Marvel discusses the details that lead Lee to ask for surrender terms and for U.S. Grant to agree. The soldier actions following the surrender meeting between Grant and Lee at the Wilmer McLean house (the height of the Gordon and Chamberlain accounts) are given short shrift in Marvel's look...this implies that the mythical emotional surrender cerimonies were largely fabrications.

For criticisms, the major problem with this book is the lack of maps...Marvel discusses in detail virtually all of the military actions from Petersburg to Appomattox and the maps that he uses show no troop movements or battle fronts at all. Because this story encompasses many complex maneuvers, the narrative subsequently becomes very limited in terms of following the action due to paucity of maps and the reading quality suffers severely. Another criticism (though not as critical as the map critique) is the fact that although we understand where and when troops move, we don't necessarily get a true feeling of desperation on the part of the Confederate forces. The frustration and hopelesness of the military actions must have been palpable at this point but Marvel continues with the narrative like this was a discussion of Antietam or Fredericksburg...not the end of the war. This point, if expanded, would also have led greatly to improved reading quality and ultimately leaves the Civil War reader no other recourse than to wait for the final Gordon Rhea book in his excellent analysis of this period of the war to (hopefully) get this perspective.

Revisionist history is sometimes a dangerous undertaking. Many pantheons in history die hard and much criticism is levied at writers that try to change the accepted story. William Marvel, then, is to be commended for his courageous attempt at righting the wrong long assumed in the surrender of the Confederate forces at Appomattox Courthouse. Lacking some key components that would make this a stellar work, he succeeds nontheless in presenting a comprehensive and important account concerning the end of the Civil War in the East and I would recommend that all interested readers of this conflict attempt this work.

Less than Marvel-ous..........2003-04-08

I'd be tempted to call this revisionism, but I really just find this to be bad history. Besides an obvious anti-Southern agenda, I don't know where the author is "going" with this. One page he bad mouths Lee-staffer Walter Taylor for deflating the number of troops Lee had/has available at a particular time - then he contradicts his argument by outlining those who are constantly deserting!@? Gosh, does Lee have the "numbers" or not? Likewise, Taylor is "guilty" of inflating numbers of Federals. Of course, Marvel then throughout the text outlines the outlandish amounts of Federal troops that were indeed available to Grant!?#@ A second folly is his contention that the FEDERAL troops were starving! Of course, this is followed by accounts of the Southrons having no forage and eating the ol' parched corn routine. Much like Wiley Sword's hatchet job on John Bell Hood, there is nothing Lee can do to "satisfy" W. Marvel in this inconsistent, contradictory effort. I'm sure to be wary of any other W. Marvel book.

Lee's Last Retreat: The Flight to Appomattox.......2003-01-24

Lee's Last Retreat: THe Flight to Appomattox written by William Marvel is history at its best... not filled with untruths that spring from imagination, but from actual diaries of those who fought and were there... this book is devoid of major attempts of participating generals at the art of fabrication and embellishments, therefore this is an attempt to write history with primarily from comtempory source material.

There is a lot of literature written about the Civil War and most of it is excellent historical fiction, but there is an honest attempt to write the truth about the final days of "Lee's Last Retreat." This book has a goal in mind and it is to tell what happened in the last week of the Civil War from Spring 1865 and on into the final week Monday, April 3 to Sunday, April 9, 1865.

This book has limited the scope to mainly just the final seven days of the war as Grant is chasing and closing ranks around Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia. The final day at Appomattox Court House, the day the Grant accepts Lee's total surrender.

The truth is that Lee made at least one fatal mistake during his last campaign, and his subordinates were guilty of errors and omissions for which another commanding general would have been held responsible. For all the ultimate good it might have done him, Lee could actually have escaped alone the line of the Danville railroad had the administrative framework of his army not disintegrated, and with it the morale of his men. Had his engineers not failed to provide a pontoon bridge for the escape of the Richmond column, or had they warned him of that failure, he might have avoided the final delay at Amelia Court House. These and other errors of omission could have swayed, if corrected, the final out come of the war and a much different result.

Lee's Last Retreat: The Flight to Appomattox.......2003-01-24

The book has a rapid paced narrative that brings to light the final week in the campaign of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia the finest army to be ever assembled and fight on American soil. This book is full of actual accounts, letters, diaries and other contemporary documents. This is a welcome addition to your library for this time period.

Average customer rating:
Lee's Last Retreat: the Flight to Appomattox.(Book Review): An article from: Journal of Southern History
Harold S. Wilson
Manufacturer: Southern Historical Association
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B00082J5VA
Release Date: 2005-07-31

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Journal of Southern History, published by Southern Historical Association on May 1, 2004. The length of the article is 551 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: Lee's Last Retreat: the Flight to Appomattox.(Book Review)
Author: Harold S. Wilson
Publication: Journal of Southern History (Refereed)
Date: May 1, 2004
Publisher: Southern Historical Association
Volume: 70 Issue: 2 Page: 444(2)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Book Description

Historian James Turner focuses on the great rise of Victorian concern for the humane treatment of animals, one of the most noteworthy flowering of such sentiment in modern times and one that engaged the support of the rich and the powerful, of church dignitaries, peers and ministers, and the queen herself. In delving into the history of animal rights, he also offers a fresh perspective on such varied aspects of Victorian culture as attitudes toward sex, pain, child labor, women, poverty, and science.

Turner draws on extensive researh in the archives of a animal protection societies, literature of the period, and controversial writings on the treatment of animals. He argues that the dual shocks of industrialization and urbanization helped produce a deeper emotional identification with the natural world. Scientists of the day, proclaiming that human beings were close kin to beasts, not only encouraged but demanded considerate treatment for animals, a sentiment that reached its liveliest expression in the antivivisection controversy. By the turn of the century, the author demonstrates, new conceptions of human nature adn heightened sensitivity even to the plight of lower life-forms were contributing to a new understanding of man's place in nature.

Customer Reviews:

Predatory Dinosaurs of the World.......2004-11-12

"Predatory Dinosaurs of the World: A Complete Illustrated Guide" written and drawn by Gregory S. Paul is a complete guide up and to the point of publication (1988) but it is fastly becoming outdated. But, nevertheless, it is a wonderful book with illustrations of predatory dinosaurs.

Gregory Paul fleshes out dinsosaurs through his illustrations making them look life like and ready to strike when and if they choose. What I liked about this book is that it is divided into two different sections or parts. The first part discusses the life and evolution of predatory dinosaurs. Getting to know the life-styles of the big and powerful and the small and fierce. The history of predatory dinosaurs success and failures and their avian descendants. There is a discussion of the nuts and bolts of predatory dinosaur anatomy and action, along with discussions on speed, whether they were cold or warm blooded, and there is a good chapter about the beginnings of bird flight: from the ground up or the trees up.

The second part of the book is the catalog of predatory dinosaurs divided by type. There is an explaination of the catalog, with skeletal muscle and life restorations, explaination of the data synopses. The predatory dinosaures are divided by primative paleodinosaurs, bird-mimicking Herrerasaurs, then the Theropods. The Theropods are divided into groups called the paleotheropods... early and late, and the birdlike avetheropods, which are further divided into the early avetheropods, the Allosaur-Tyrannosaur group and then the Protobirds: flying and nonflying.

I found a wealth of good information within the pages of this book, but as stated earlier, there is no data concerning the newer finds of the 1990's... this could be done with a new edition of the book. All in all, I gave the book a solid 5 stars as it was very educational and informative and the book was compelling and emotive. "Predatory Dinosaurs of the World" is a luxurious testimonial to the public fascination with dinosaurs, enriched by imagery that eloquently illustrated with current scientific theories about dinosaur behavior, physiology, and locomotion.

One of the greatest dinosaur-dinosaur art books existence.......2001-08-13

Greg Paul is the greatest dinosaur artist. He inspired a whole generation of dinosaur artists including myself. When I first found his book and saw it's astounding, action-packed illustrations my art would never be the same again. His art is more accurate, more dramatic, and more breathtaking than any other dinosaur artist alive today. For thirty years he has set the bar, and for thirty years every dinosaur artist young and old have tried but failed, to put it any higher. That's without saying his book, the PREDATORY DINOSAURS of the WORLD, that did the same for all dinosaur-books there after. In my opinion, my small dim-witted opinion,is one of the greatest dinosaur books to exist today. The only thing that keeps it from being the greatest is it's out-dated by little over ten years. Maybe someday Greg Paul will update P.D.O.T.W. and will showcase gigantosaurus, sinosauropteryx, chacharodotosaurus, majungatholus, neovenator, afrovenator, and so many others that I can't even think of at this point. Let finish with saying that if you enjoy dinosaur art, dinosaurs or paleontology you're going to flip out when you get this book.

A modern classic.......1998-11-04

Once, I was just a kid obsessed with Jurassic Park. That's as in touch with dinosaurs as I got. Then, on a search for information on Velociraptor, I discovered this book at my public library. And it got me hooked. PDW got me into dinosaurs for real, and ever since I have been fascinated by them, a serious field of interest for me.

PDW is well-written, lively and readable, save for the occasional (and amusing) typo. The information is extremely valuable. Although some of Paul's theories on theropods, especially their classification, have since been disfavored (or were never really agreeable to begin with), an astonishing number of them have remained wickedly close to the truth. It is fascinating reading of Paul's then-outrageous theories of, say, feathered theropods, and not even ten years later watching feathered theropods pop out of the ground like weeds.

The illustrations are incredible. Paul is, without a doubt, the most influential dinosaur artist today; virtually every other artist has been influenced at least somewhat by Paul's magnificent work. They depict dinosaurs at the highest level of accuracy, painstakingly researched, skeletons reconstructed, muscles laid onto the bones, and finally the flesh (and, sometimes, feathers) added to reveal the finest possible restorations of these extinct animals. Greg Paul is truly a genius.

This book has been scrutinized by the conservatives, flamed, disappreciated. I think that is truly a shame, as the book is, in actuality, one of the gems of dinosaur paleontology. It is also a shame that this book is out of print. If you are fascinated by theropod dinosaurs, or dinosaurs or paleontology in general, I urge you to find a copy of this book. It may be hard, but it's worth it. Or, you can wait and hope Mr. Paul writes an update sometime in the near future. I wait for a version two with more anticipation that I can possibly relate in words. We'll see...

good.......1998-10-13

Predatory dinosaurus of the world is easily my favorite dinosaur book. Not only is G.S.Paul an excellent artist, but the text is informative and well-written. Unfortuantly, the book was written in the 80s so the information is slightly dated, but his conclusions are still valid in light of the new discoveries in the field.

Great reference material.......1998-05-08

I only lower the number on this review because much of the material presented here is outdated. In fact, Greg Paul kinda went out on a limb with his classification system. While he was correct that a new one was needed, other schemes have left his behind long ago. This book also is missing (because of the date of publication) some of the essential and fascinating finds of the nineties. I've sent Paul an email before hassling him to get a new edition out! It would truly be the most complete reference of its kind available, and Paul's wonderful illustrations are a plus anytime, while his skeletal restorations are more than just a plus, they are a necessity! Maybe we could convince him to through in a couple of his color plates in that new edition...

Average customer rating:

Predatory Dinosaurs of the World
A book of great ideas and technical expertise!
A must for the serious dinosaur enthusiast
A very good book, if you can find it...
Excellent Dinosaur Book for both Beginners and Professionals

Predatory Dinosaurs of the World
Gregory S. Paul
Manufacturer: Touchstone Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

Customer Reviews:

Predatory Dinosaurs of the World.......2001-12-11

With an absolute minimum of hyperbole and a maximum of solid research, technical expertise, working theories and a good, solid mastery of biomechanics and anatomy/physiology (not to mention Comparative Anatomy), Greg Paul's "Predatory Dinosaurs of the World" is an absolute necessity for every dinophile in existence: It should be compulsory reading for all - professionals and non-professionals alike.
The articulate, yet understandable language in which it is written coupled with the clarity and accuracy of the anatomical diagrams and lively illustrations bring the book alive and allows the reader to come many steps closer to understanding the majestic and sometimes bizarre predators of Mesozoic Earth.
This is one book which needs to be SERIOUSLY put back into production . . . . . . . . immediately; if not sooner

A book of great ideas and technical expertise!.......1998-06-17

This is a must for the dinosaur maven, the biomechanic and the professional paleontologist. Gregory Paul is one of those all too rare scientists who is a superb illustrator and artist. He brings his intimate familiarity with fossils to a disciplined imagination and careful documentation. The result is one of the best dinosaur books ever. By the way, what is the similarity among a tyrannosaur, a horse and an ostrich? You have to buy the book to find out...

A must for the serious dinosaur enthusiast.......1998-01-27

Never before have I read such a comprehensive study of dinosaur anatomy and behavior as was compiled for this book. Where most books (even Bakker's _The Dinosaur Heresies_) on serious dinosaur studies borrow from the past to complete a picture of the present theories of dinosaurs, Paul literally threw everything out the window and started from scratch to put together new theories of lines of evolution, dinosaur locomotion, and even going so far as to build a completely new system of taxonomy for the great beasts. Some of his thoughts are sadly mistaken, but the rest of this book is such a gem that it should be on all paleontologist's shelves.

A very good book, if you can find it..........1997-06-18

Someone mentioned to me that this book was out of print. It was hard to believe, but it seems to be true. Slightly outdated now, this remains one of the best books I've ever seen on the subject. It includes everything from detailed dimensions, distributions, and timelines of the carnivores to Greg Paul's acclaimed technical drawings of the skeletons. This, incidentally, is one of the books Crichton drew from in writing Jurassic Park. The worst of it is, Paul had intended to write a series of volumes, moving from predators to sauropods, ceratopsians, stegosaurs, hadrosaurs, etc. That was ten years ago. I'm hoping that he'll eventually continue the series, creating a complete encyclopaedia of technical, yet easily read books. If you can track this one down, you'll be pleased with it

Excellent Dinosaur Book for both Beginners and Professionals.......1997-05-06

Predatory Dinosaurs of the World is an excellent for anybody who has an interest in dinosaurs and art. It is lavishly illustrated and is a good source for dinosaur facts. Some of the ideas are out of date and Paul has since changed his views. And some of the ideas are still considered controversial. But all in all it is a very good, interesting book for pros and amateurs. It meets all of the critera for a good book with its illustrations, information, funness to read and references. A must read!!

The Great Hunters: Meat-Eating Dinosaurs and Their World (Prehistoric Life)

Average customer rating:

The Great Hunters: Meat-Eating Dinosaurs and Their World (Prehistoric Life)
James O. Farlow , and Ralph E. Molnar
Manufacturer: Franklin Watts
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: School & Library Binding

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0531111806

Average customer rating:

Meat-Eating Dinosaurs (Dinosaur World)
Robin Birch
Manufacturer: Chelsea House Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

Predatory Dinosaurs of the World: A Complete Illustrated Guide

Average customer rating:

Predatory Dinosaurs of the World: A Complete Illustrated Guide

Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000GU2V9W

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