Leading the Revolution: How to Thrive in Turbulent Times by Making Innovation a Way of Life
Average customer rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • Fast paced, hard hitting
  • EXCELLENT
  • Enron cited often
  • Design rules for innovation
  • The new edition lacks the appearance of the first one
Leading the Revolution: How to Thrive in Turbulent Times by Making Innovation a Way of Life
Gary Hamel
Manufacturer: Harvard Business School Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1591391466

Amazon.com

So much for the old economy, new economy divide. According to Gary Hamel, the professor-turned-strategy-guru author of Leading the Revolution, complacent establishment giants and one-strategy start-ups are on the same side of the fence--the wrong side. Corporate complacency and single-strategy business plans leave no room for what Hamel describes as the key to thriving in today's world of business: a deeply embedded capability for continual, radical innovation.

Leading the Revolution is not a calm analysis of what will or won't work in a post-industrial world. Instead, it's an impassioned call for revolutionary activists to shake the foundations of their companies' beliefs and move from a linear age of getting better, smarter, and faster, to a nonlinear age of becoming different. While in the past incremental improvements in products and services were accepted as good enough, Hamel shows that true innovation is the demolition and re-creation of an entire business concept. He blows apart the popular myth that innovation lies solely in the hands of dot.com dynamos like AOL and Amazon by scrutinizing the examples of such "gray-haired revolutionaries" as Enron and Charles Schwab, companies that have managed to reinvent both themselves and their entire industries, time and again.

After an in-depth examination of what business-concept innovation involves (for starters, it's "based on avoidance, not attack"), Hamel goes on to motivate his readers to see their own revolutionary future, and train them in the art of being an activist. As he puts it in various headings, be a novelty addict, be a heretic, know what's not changing, surface the dogmas. And then get out there and transform your ideas into reality. Not simply a round-up call, Hamel's book provides would-be activists with an intelligent, comprehensive plan of action. He illustrates each imperative with examples of real-life corporate rebels, such as John Patrick and David Grossman at IBM, Ken Kutaragi at Sony, and Georges Dupont-Roc at Shell. His message is the same to "old" and "new" companies alike: "Industry revolutionaries are like a missile up the tail pipe. Boom! You're irrelevant!" So join the revolution and avoid the explosion.

Hamel writes in a clear and compelling voice, preaching with passion but supporting what he says with detailed, experiential evidence. Each chapter is packed with probing questions and inspirational examples that aim to dig through the apathetic corners of your mind and throw hand grenades into any creative synapses still slumbering. Even the alternative (read innovative) design of Leading the Revolution will jolt you into a new level of awareness and imagination. Indeed, the only problem you might have with this book is an increasing desire to put it down before the end, get out there into the wild world of the activist, and start living the revolution. --S. Ketchum

Book Description

Gary Hamel, world-renowned business thinker and coauthor of Competing for the Future, the book that set the management agenda for the 1990s, now delivers an agenda for the twenty-first century with the national bestseller, Leading the Revolution. Fully revised with a new introduction, this book provides an action plan for any company or individual intent on becoming and staying an industry revolutionary. Hamel argues that the fundamental challenge companies face is reinventing themselves and their industries, not just in times of crisis-but continually.

Download Description

Hamel argues that to thrive in the age of revolution, companies must adopt a radical new innovation agenda. The fundamental challenge companies face is reinventing themselves and their industries not just in times of crisis--but continually. Beautifully illustrated with more than 100 full-color photos and drawings, Hamel's Leading the Revolution is an action plan--indeed, an incendiary device--for any company or individual intent on becoming and staying an industry revolutionary. Based on experiences of world-class companies including Enron, Charles Schwab, Cisco, Virgin, and GE Capital, Leading the Revolution explains the underlying principles of radical innovation, explores where revolutionary new business concepts come from, and identifies the key design criteria for building companies that are activist-friendly. It will show companies how to avoid becoming "one-vision wonders"; harness the imagination of every employee; develop new financial measures that focus on creating new wealth; and create vibrant internal markets for ideas, capital, and talent. Drawing on the examples of activists who profoundly changed their companies with their bare hearts, Hamel outlines the practical steps anyone can take to lead a successful revolution in their own firm.

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Fast paced, hard hitting.......2007-01-06

I love the rather blunt, racy tone of this book. Hamel calls for all employees to be activists, to aggressively promote their own ideas for new products or services. The title of the book ''Leading the Revolution'' refers to the need for such activists to be at the forefront of driving innovation in business. For me this book is a nice complement to Good to Great by Jim Collins who talks about how CEOs need to grill their best people for new strategic ideas. Both authors recognize that the CEO can no longer generate all the ideas personally and hence that innovation needs to be bottom-up. Hamel's book would have been even better if he had developed a concept of leadership that showed how being an activist is showing bottom-up leadership and that our understanding of leadership in general needs to change accordingly. A must read however.

5 out of 5 stars EXCELLENT.......2006-10-02

Exellently written and excellent information.The best thing about this book is that I didn't really need to read it at all!.But most people from CEO's to students do need to read it.I'm not sure that most people can learn from this book as it promotes a mind set you almost need to be born with,and that school,work and society generally try to crush out of you,as the author points out,yet the premise of this book is totally correct,innovation is the only competitive advantage left to leverage in the modern world,or soon will be.The authors writing style is engaging and motivating,it is no B.S.,no punches pulled,straight to the often humourous point.It is skillfully written to get a serious point across in a friendly way.Even though not stated directly,the thing needed in business as well as your personal life is empathy,to customers,employees,to your own coming obsolesence,to new idea's,and death to sentimentality for what worked in the past,thing's most people seem to lack,things the education system aims at crushing.This book attempts to prise open closed minds,it has all the right ingredients,but I can only wish the author good luck in suceeding in getting the message across to the majority.Judging by other reviews its not yet working,people still don't get it.The cynical side of me see's this book as a well crafted introduction to,and motivation to hire the authors consulting firm,but frankly most people will need more help than any book can offer.If you already get it,this book is well articulated and should help you see your own nature better,and give you the confidence to keep conflicting with others and refusing to comform,if you don't get it then this is a good introduction into an open mind and some empathy rather than mindless conformity to old mindless conformity ways of doing things.

2 out of 5 stars Enron cited often.......2006-07-11

Some good ideas on driving innovation, but in hindsight, some of the cited companies haven't passed muster if one tracks their long term business performance. One of my favorite quotes from the book - "At Enron, failure - even of the type that ends up on the front page of The Wall Street Journal - doesn't necessarily sink a career". Yeah right! This kind of thinking puts one in jail.

4 out of 5 stars Design rules for innovation.......2006-01-27

The Internet, says Gary Hamel, has done more than provide another sales channel and communication tool, it has restructured the basic concepts of time and place that business has traditionally depended on. Only companies that continually restructure themselves, and are able to overcome closed-minded, entrenched attitudes will be able to survive and implement the radical innovations necessary to generate wealth in the future. He has outlined ten design rules for innovation:

1. Unreasonable expectations: The beliefs of the organization set the upper limit on how much innovation is possible for the company. Set goals that reflect a higher reach.
2. Elastic business definition: Do not let your company be bound to a narrow self-concept. Searching for unconditional opportunities will expand your opportunity horizon.
3. A cause, not a business: A business can draw strength and courage from allegiance to a transcendent purpose.
4. New voices: Revolutionary strategies must be found by listening to revolutionary voices. Seek input from the youth, the periphery and newcomers.
5. An open market for ideas: Create a dynamic internal market for ideas within the organization.
6. An open market for capital: Don't set hurdle rates for new projects when those projects promise to be innovative, sustainable and financially beneficial.
7. An open market for talent: If you give people the chance to do interesting, innovative work and solid compensation, they will join you and stay with you.
8. Low-risk experimentation: Know how to manage the consequences, if a risk doesn't work out.
9. Cellular division: Divide your company into a large number of revolutionary cells. When your company stops dividing and differentiating, innovation and growth slow.
10. Personal wealth accumulation: If you want an entrepreneurial spirit at your company, you must pay people like entrepreneurs. Offer stock options as incentives.

3 out of 5 stars The new edition lacks the appearance of the first one.......2005-08-16

Summary: My recommendation is to get the first edition of the book if you can (even though it is full of praises for Enron) and stay away from the new edition!

Details: I really loved the first edition of Leading the Revolution, but I could only borrow it from a library. So I bought the second edition from Amazon and was VERY disappointed.

There were two things I liked about the original edition:
1. Regarding its content, Leading the Revolution is full of eye-opening thoughts and models. For instance, it gives the most useful summary of what constitutes a corporate strategy I have ever read.
Although many of the author's points are definitely too radical for the "conservative" industries, I believe the book contains good ideas for every business person, even if Hamel places definitely too much emphasis on innovation as opposed to the application of good old common sense. In my opinion, most businesses could improve their results drastically just by providing what their customers really need, without any radically new business model. (For more on this, read for instance "Thinking Inside the Box" by Cheyfitz, an ardent opponent of Hamel's ideas.)
As for the originality of Leading the Revolution: to be honest I read about one general business book every two months, so I have not read the Tom Peter books cited by the other reviewers as the main source of Hamel's book. If you know the business literature inside out, you may find the content less enlightening than I did.
True, the first edition used mostly inappropriate examples: Enron is an obvious and often cited one, but the IBM and Sony cases are also very far from showing radical business model innovation - they are rather about slow-moving giants finally realizing that they need to change with the times.
In the new edition the author removed the positive references to Enron as the model company. Otherwise the content is pretty much the same - please see the other reviews for details.

2. The appearance of the first edition was colorful and eye-catching, really impressive. You may say you don't care about pretty pictures, and neither do I most of the time, but this book was so strikingly professional, that made it really unique among business books (at least in this price range). I would definitely set it as the standard against which the looks and readability of any business book must be judged.
In the second edition, all the colors and "unnecessary" pictures have been removed, while the large fonts and bolds remained to highlight the important ideas. With these, the book looks as if it had been formatted by a 10-year old child, making it probably the LEAST professional-looking business book I have ever bought. Not the kind of "innovation" I expected from Mr. Hamel!

So two stars minus for the appearance of the new edition as compared to the first one. If you can, buy a copy of the original, colorful edition. Give a thought to the ideas of the book and have fun reading how great and exemplary a company Enron is (I mean, was).

Opportunity Knocks: Using PR
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • Opportunity Knocks--Using PR
Opportunity Knocks: Using PR
Laurie Mercer , and Jennifer Singer
Manufacturer: CRC Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 080197884X

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Opportunity Knocks--Using PR.......2003-02-01

I finally got around to reading this book and guess what? It really works. PR is cheap, effective and right on in terms of getting the attention you deserve. I'm a printer and it's working out great for me and my employees. We just try to get the good news out about the company by writing press releases and then distributing them to the local media--mostly print and TV, but who knows? Maybe we'll find a way to use the Interent as well.

The Irish Famine: An Illustrated History
Average customer rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • A GOOD OUTLINE - BUT JUST A START
  • A clear introduction to a complicated story
The Irish Famine: An Illustrated History
Helen Litton
Manufacturer: Wolfhound Press (IE)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

GeneralGeneral | World | History | Subjects | Books
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Potato FaminePotato Famine | Ireland | Europe | History | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0863279120

Book Description

Why did millions of starving people seem to accept their fate without rebelling? Why did people starve beside seas and rivers stocked with plenty of fish? Helen Litton succinctly deals with the Great Famine with clarity and compassion. With quotes from first-hand accounts, and information from numerous studies and sources, both sides of the tragedy are exposed.

Customer Reviews:

4 out of 5 stars A GOOD OUTLINE - BUT JUST A START.......2005-10-19

This small book is a good start to the full study of the Irish Famine of 1845 through 1850. We now refer to this event as the "Great Potato Famine," which indeed it was, but much more. A complete breakdown of an ancient country and society and the ramifications of this on the rest of the world is well outlined here, but I must place the emphasis on "outline." This was a very, very complex problem and the author could hardly be expected to cover it completely with this small volume. The writing is good and quite concise. I feel the author has attempted to be as even handed as one could be with dealing with such a subject. As I said, this is a good start. There are many volumes out there which go into much greater detail and hopefully this small work will strike a spark with readers to investigate further.

3 out of 5 stars A clear introduction to a complicated story.......2000-10-08

Ms. Litton has succeeded in delivering a concise yet readable and affecting story of a very complicated event. This un-biased presentation enumerates the many individuals and organizations who could have done more to help and didn't. The journal excerpts and illustrations succeed in bringing to life the personal tragedies and inhumanity of the times. Ms. Litton explains enough of the politics involved so that you understand the context of the events but not so much that the human aspects of the tragedy are lost. In the end she whets your appetite for more.

Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems VII (Astronomical Society of the Pacific Conference Series,)
Average customer rating: Not rated
    Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems VII (Astronomical Society of the Pacific Conference Series,)

    Manufacturer: Astronomical Society of the Pacific
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Hardcover

    AstronomyAstronomy | Astronomy | Science | Subjects | Books
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    ASIN: 1886733651

    Large Marine Ecosystems of the North Atlantic (Large Marine Ecosystems)
    Average customer rating: Not rated
      Large Marine Ecosystems of the North Atlantic (Large Marine Ecosystems)
      K. Sherman
      Manufacturer: Elsevier Science
      ProductGroup: Book
      Binding: Hardcover

      GeneralGeneral | Biology | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
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      ASIN: 0444510117

      Book Description

      This is the first book to provide assessments of multidecadal changes in resources and environments of the Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs) of the North Atlantic. Using the case study method, researchers examine the forces driving the changes and actions underway aimed at turning the corner from declining trends in biomass yields, toward recovery of depleted species populations and improvements in ecosystem integrity.


      Recently a distinguished group of 24 scientists argued eloquently that a new Sustainability Science was emerging that was focused on "meeting fundamental human needs while preserving the life support systems of planet Earth". The contributions contained in this volume are at the cutting edge of Sustainability Science and the results presented by the contributors are pertinent to one of the core questions: "How are long-term trends in environment and development, including consumption and population, reshaping nature-society interactions in ways relevant to sustainability?" ( Science Vol. 292, 27 April 2001). The case studies demonstrate the utility of an ecosystem-based approach to the assessment and management of biomass yields and species sustainability.


      Movements toward ecosystem-based management have emerged from the case studies on the initiation of recoveries of several depleted groundfish stocks of the US Northeast Shelf LME; the collapse of the Newfoundland-Labrador Shelf cod; the assessment of physical and biological changes on the Scotian Shelf, West Greenland Shelf, Iceland Shelf LME, and the Faroe Plateau, the North Sea, and the Barents Sea LMEs. Uncertainties, with regard to environmental and human-generated forcing, are addressed in assessment of the states of the Iberian Coastal and Biscay-Celtic LMEs, and in broad-scale studies of the influences at the base of the food chain of climatic variability on the productivity and biodiversity of plankton communities of the North Atlantic. The volume concludes with an insightful perspective on the approaches used and the results reported by the eminent marine scientist and former President of ICES, Professor Gotthilf Hempel.

      Bird on Basketball: How-To Strategies from the Great Celtics Champion
      Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
      • Very good instructional book about the best all-around player in NBA history
      • MY REVIEW
      • great
      Bird on Basketball: How-To Strategies from the Great Celtics Champion
      Larry Bird , and John Bischoff
      Manufacturer: Da Capo
      ProductGroup: Book
      Binding: Paperback

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      ASIN: 0201142090

      Book Description

      Larry Bird, the NBA's Most Valuable Player for the three years 1984-1986 and the Boston Celtics' star since 1979, shares his insights on one of America's favorite games. Now completely updated to include statistics and photographs from the 1987-88 season, Bird on Basketball puts fans right on the court. With over 100 dramatic action photos, charts, and diagrams, this how-to guide covers all the building blocks of the game-passing, shooting, defense, dribbling, and rebounding-from a champion's point of view. But as every fan knows, Larry Bird doesn't just play basketball-he wins. Bird pounds the boards, charges fearlessly to the hoop, and plays a bruising brand of defense. Yet his true strength is his mastery of the game's subtle elements. In Bird on Basketball he emphasizes the little things that add up to big victories with tips on moving without the ball, rebound positioning, court sense, being a team player, and training. Bird on Basketball is an all-out effort to give fans and students of the game an inside look at how basketball should be played.

      Customer Reviews:

      4 out of 5 stars Very good instructional book about the best all-around player in NBA history.......2007-04-27

      [That'll get some 'haters' attention!] Bird,
      not 'Be Like Mike Jordan' is the best ever.
      So he didn't have Jordan's athletism? This
      book will explain why Bird was 'the man'
      for 13 years. After which he helped lead his
      US Olympic team to the Gold on the first
      (so-called) 'Dream Team.' Without him they
      wouldn't have won it! This book breaks down
      every faucet of winning basketball like L.B.
      and Red's videos do as well. Jordan was about
      as great but I'll take Birdman by three inches,
      which is how much taller he was over Jordan.
      Joradn had the advantage of a better bench and
      Tex Winter's triangle, which is why he was in
      six NBA Champiosnhips as compared to Bird's 5.
      My Alltime NBA Team:
      Centre - Bill Russell
      F - Larry Bird
      F - Julius Erving
      G - Michael Jordan
      G - John Stockton
      6th - Detlef Schrempf
      7th - Kevin McHale
      8th - Kevin Willis
      9th - Craig Ehlo
      10th- Artis Gilmore
      11th- Dan Issel
      12th- Eric Piatkowski
      [Hey, you can't PICK ALL Stars. You gotta have quality role players,too!]

      5 out of 5 stars MY REVIEW.......2005-09-26

      A good book for learning basketball basics as well as a few other things useful on and off the court.

      5 out of 5 stars great.......1997-08-14

      Want to learn fundementals on how to play better basketball this is the book for you
      Bird on Basketball - How-to Strategies from the Great Celtics Champion
      Average customer rating: Not rated
        Bird on Basketball - How-to Strategies from the Great Celtics Champion
        Larry (With John Bischoff) Bird
        Manufacturer: Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1987
        ProductGroup: Book
        Binding: Paperback
        ASIN: B000LVKMXI

        Back to Virtue: Traditional Moral Wisdom for Modern Moral Confusion
        Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
        • An Answer For A World Morally Confused
        • Virtue light with revolting analogies
        • Good but not the logical analysis I expected
        • SOOO good
        • Virtue-Can We recover It?
        Back to Virtue: Traditional Moral Wisdom for Modern Moral Confusion
        Peter Kreeft
        Manufacturer: Ignatius Press
        ProductGroup: Book
        Binding: Paperback

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        ASIN: 0898704227

        Customer Reviews:

        5 out of 5 stars An Answer For A World Morally Confused.......2007-03-05

        Do you believe that life today is so confusing? And do you believe that the modern world is morally confused? If you do, you will find Peter Kreeft's "Back to Virtue" stimulating and enlightening. Kreeft examines modern civilization and why it is at risk. He poses the question, "What ever became of virtue?" and proceeds to examine the absence of virtue in today's world and why it's absence has led to moral confusion.

        "Back to Virtue" begins with review of spiritual history and how we got to this state of confusion. In modern life, life flows from the modern world view that there is no God; therefore we play God to the world. As a result, we do not have any shared principles (virtues) as each person can decide what is virtuous and what is not. There is no notion of any universal and objective morality, no meeting place.

        The rest of Kreeft's work (most of the book) examines the key to eliminating confusion, personal virtue. He goes into great detail examining each - the four cardinal virtues and the three theological virtues - and the role each plays in an ordered world. He ends with a beautiful discussion of the Beatitudes and their role in confronting the seven deadly sins. You will be stimulated, enlightened, and motivated by each of these discussions.

        "The patient, Western civilization, may indeed die soon and will certainly die some day, for everything human is mortal. But it need not die now. Though we are sliding towards the abyss...we can (still) turn back the clock which keeps false time." All we need to do is grab onto the footholds presented in this book - the cardinal virtues, the theological virutes, and the Beatitudes. "We are the slaves of time and the masters of morality rather than vice versa. We can return."

        2 out of 5 stars Virtue light with revolting analogies.......2006-04-10

        While Peter Kreeft does provide a very accessible introduction to the traditional virtues and their corollaries, he certainly does not probe their actual depths. Josef Pieper's THE CARDINAL VIRTUES, though a bit more difficult, is by far worth the extra time for anyone seriously interested.

        My chief complaint is Kreeft's writing style, "pop-style". In addition to incorrect punctuation (the semi-colon, in particular), his analogies are terribly revolting. Here's one example:

        "Why is it that nothing can make us as sorrowful as love? It is the same reason that nothing can make us as joyful as love. I love we become the other, we slough off our skin like a snake. Underneath that hard, protective coat of otherness and ego, thre is new flesh, incomparably more sensitive than the outer skin. The heart is like a newborn bay. It is our spiritual erogenous zone, capable of exquisite joy and and exquisite sufferings by its extreme sensitivity. We appropriately cover and protect these privy parts of the soul, just as we do to the corresponding parts of the body. But when we love, we expose them, to pleasures or pains beyond imaginings."


        If that doesn't irk you, the book will be fine for you.

        4 out of 5 stars Good but not the logical analysis I expected.......2006-02-28

        Peter Kreeft does show that the reformist where misguided in rejecting the cardinal virtues of Plato and Aristotle, just as we would be misguided by rejecting Newtonian Physics after learning Einstein's theories of relativity. You need to understand Newton in order to understand Einstein and you need to have a basic knowledge of logic and virtues in order to understand the Bible. However, he does not show exactly how the Cardinal virtues are derived from logic alone. Why only 4? Why isn't love a more important virtue than wisdom, fortitude, justice or temperance?

        5 out of 5 stars SOOO good.......2005-10-02

        This book sat on our bookshelf for several years before I picked it up one day out of boredom. What a wonderful suprise to discover Peter Kreeft. This book gave me pause to step back from our modern world in which anything goes to see that we do live in a world of good and evil--sin and virtue. These distinctions are not to be ignored, because, as he writes, they are of "life and death" proportions.
        Peter Kreeft is the modern day G.K. Chesterton. Don't miss him.

        5 out of 5 stars Virtue-Can We recover It?.......2001-06-13

        Philosopher and Cultural Critic Peter Kreeft has written an outstanding book discussing virture in Western Culture. He opens the book by asking "Is Virtue Out of Date?". This sets the tone as he spends the next couple of chapters on how Western Culture got to the point in the lack of virtue we now see before us.

        The middle of his book discusses the "Cardinal Virtues" and "Theological Virtues" and their importance. He then does a comparison and contrast between the "Beatitudes" and the "Seven Deadley Sins." His conculsion is a little too short for such a profound work, yet rating this important book four stars would not do it justice. Four and a half would be more appropiate, so I'm rounding it off at five stars.

        A Must read for all Christians in Western Culture, and others who are concern about the decline of virtue in our culture.

        Up and Down the Worry Hill: A Children's Book about Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and its Treatment
        Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
        • Unfortunate events
        • Highly Recommended!
        • OK for younger kids - 3.5 stars really
        • An excellent book for young children with OCD
        • A little young for my 9-year old
        Up and Down the Worry Hill: A Children's Book about Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and its Treatment
        Aureen Pinto Wagner , and Paul A. Jutton
        Manufacturer: Lighthouse Press, Inc.
        ProductGroup: Book
        Binding: Paperback

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        Similar Items:
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        2. A Thought Is Just A Thought: A Story of Living with OCD A Thought Is Just A Thought: A Story of Living with OCD
        3. Mr. Worry: A Story About Ocd Mr. Worry: A Story About Ocd
        4. Freeing Your Child from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: A Powerful, Practical Program for Parents of Children and Adolescents Freeing Your Child from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: A Powerful, Practical Program for Parents of Children and Adolescents
        5. What to Do When Your Brain Gets Stuck: A Kid's Guide to Overcoming OCD (What-to-Do Guides for Kids) What to Do When Your Brain Gets Stuck: A Kid's Guide to Overcoming OCD (What-to-Do Guides for Kids)

        ASIN: 0967734762

        Book Description

        Over one million children and adolescents in the US suffer from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), a baffling illness that can be debilitating for the child in school, with friends, and family. In this uniquely creative and heart-warming book, Dr. Wagne

        Customer Reviews:

        5 out of 5 stars Unfortunate events.......2007-05-20

        We got this book the weekend my kids were going to their grandparents. I read it on the way to their house and it captivated their attention, both of them (ages 3 & 5). They listened to every single word intently and quietly. They loved the story of the boy and riding his bike up and down the worry hill. It is quite long though and my voice got a litte sore reading aloud for so long. At the end of the book, my son asked, "mommy who's book is that?" and I said "It's yours". He asked if he could write in it. The pages are black and white pictures like a coloring book. I told him he could color the pictures but not to color over the words so that I would be able to keep reading it to them. Unfortunately at Nana & Papa's house there was an accident involving water and the book so only half the book made it back. The cover was torn off and everything. I was so mad! I will probably re-order the book just because he enjoyed it so much.

        5 out of 5 stars Highly Recommended!.......2007-05-14

        We were told by a Doctor, who hadn't even met my son, that he thought my son may have OCD. He was referred to the Child Mental Health offices in our local town and there was a 14 month waiting list! I decided to see what I could do as a Parent and I bought this book. I left it on the table and my son picked it up and read it - his initial reaction was "do you think I have OCD", I replied by telling him that I was interested in the subject as I didn't want to label his condition. Since reading the book he has come along leaps and bounds and his teachers said there has been a remarkable improvement in his confidence and his anxiety has gone!

        3 out of 5 stars OK for younger kids - 3.5 stars really.......2007-01-13

        The book was OK but not great.

        It was overly simplistic and not too meaninful for a teenager or parent. It really only skimmed one aspect of OCD, compulsion, and did not address at all the cause of the compulsion, obsessions.

        May be more meaningful to younger children...

        5 out of 5 stars An excellent book for young children with OCD.......2006-06-27

        As a clinician specializing in the treatment of OCD, I highly recommend this book as a resource to clinicians and families with a child with OCD. I've used in in my practice and found it to be a wonderful resource. Clinicians can buy several copies and loan them out to their clients or recommend that their clients get this book.

        Larina Kase, PsyD, http://www.TheSuccessfulTherapist.com

        4 out of 5 stars A little young for my 9-year old.......2006-03-27

        My 9-year old found this too easy for her. She also said the boy "wasn't like her" because of his compulsiveness (she has obsessive thoughts mostly). However, in the next few days I caught her doing some of her semi-complusive routines and told her she was more like the boy than she thought. She agreed. I wish we could have found this book a few years ago. But it did open up a dialogue about some things, which was great for us. It's one of the few children's books out there on the subject so I wouldn't pass it up, even if it was a little juvenile for your child.
        Up and Down the Worry Hill: a Children's Book About Obsessive-compulsive Disorder and Its Treatment
        Average customer rating: Not rated
          Up and Down the Worry Hill: a Children's Book About Obsessive-compulsive Disorder and Its Treatment
          Aureen Pinto Wagner
          Manufacturer: Lighthouse Press
          ProductGroup: Book
          Binding: Paperback
          ASIN: B000N67HFC

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