The Fertile Crescent, 1800-1914: A Documentary Economic History (Studies in Middle Eastern History)

Book Description

This is the first comprehensive history and economic analysis of the Fertile Crescent during the 19th century, a region currently encompassing Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, and a small part of Turkey. Presenting 155 carefully selected documents--the majority drawn from British and French archives and here published for the first time, the balance translated from Arabic, French, German, Russian, Hebrew, Italian, and Turkish sources--Issawi provides an in-depth treatment of the economic life of the region, with chapters on social life and organization, trade, transport, agriculture, industry, and public and private finance. Including extensive cross-references that pinpoint the connections between the subjects discussed, the book is an invaluable resource on a historically rich and dynamic region.

Book Description

What are the root causes of the increasingly rapid rate of change in the business environment? What patterns exist in the ways environmental change leads to organizational change? Confronted with a state of continuously accelerating change, what should managers and organizational scientists do? Organizational Change and Redesign addresses these questions to provide a clear and comprehensive understanding of the relationships among environmental changes, organizational redesign, and performance. This work draws on multi-year studies of dozens of organizations and on hundreds of interviews with top managers. It includes chapters formed as practical tutorials on how to think about and manage organizational change and redesign, making it an essential tool for business scholars, students, and practicing managers in the middle and upper levels of organizations.

Book Description

Predicting Crop Phenology focuses on an analysis of the issues faced in predicting the phenology of crop plants and weeds. It discusses how these issues have been handled by active crop growth simulation model developers and emphasizes areas such as the role of modeling in agricultural research and the roles of temperature, length of day, and water stress in plant growth. This comprehensive text also discusses modeling philosophy and programming techniques in modeling crop development and growth. It presents up-to-date information on phenology models for wheat, maize, sorghum, rice, cotton, and several weed species. Predicting Crop Phenology reviews important data for agricultural engineers, plant physiologists, agricultural consultants, researchers, extension agents, model developers, agricultural science instructors and students.

Book Description

This profound and accessible book details how science is studying nature's best ideas to solve our toughest 21st–century problems.

If chaos theory transformed our view of the universe, biomimicry is transforming our life on Earth. Biomimicry is innovation inspired by nature – taking advantage of evolution's 3.8 billion years of R\'9126D since the first bacteria. Biomimics study nature's best ideas: photosynthesis, brain power, and shells – and adapt them for human use. They are revolutionising how we invent, compute, heal ourselves, harness energy, repair the environment, and feed the world.

Science writer and lecturer Janine Benyus names and explains this phenomenon. She takes us into the lab and out in the field with cutting–edge researchers as they stir vats of proteins to unleash their computing power; analyse how electrons zipping around a leaf cell convert sunlight into fuel in trillionths of a second; discover miracle drugs by watching what chimps eat when theyᱥ sick; study the hardy prairie as a model for low–maintenance agriculture; and more.

Customer Reviews:

Never really used it........2007-09-27

I had no need for it in my class so I did not use it.

Poorly written.......2007-06-30

Interesting topic, but very poorly written. Many of her explanations are oversimplified, and there's a lot of unnecessary details about things like scientists' office decorations. Also, by now, about half of the book is out of date. Especially the chapter on biological computing, which was very confusing to start with. Also, there was a surprising lack of citations, significantly diminishing the value of the book.

I felt that this book was more about choice interviews with the few scientists she was able to get a hold of.

Given that, I did enjoy the chapter on Wes Jackson's work.

Biomimicry is Very Good, Very Detailed.......2007-06-19

As other reviewers have pointed out, Biomimicry is a good to great book, but the level of detail is enough to make a non-scientist's head spin. Be prepared for in-depth discussions on cellular activity, computer theory, and energy transfer. The main point of the book is excellent, which is that as a human race, we will eventually have to start acting like the rest of the living world and only use what we have in a sustainable manner. Physically, our path of using more energy than the world can generate is simply not sustainable for long. The book is not one of those alarmist environmental-destruction-is-imminent books however, it actually has good ideas on directions to take for sustainable manufacturing and sustainable energy.

Insightful, inspiring.......2007-03-09

Thoroughly enjoyed the refreshing perspective and the paradigm shifting philosophies of how human approaches science. Provides clarity of where things went wrong and how it can be rectified. Brilliant

New Revolution?.......2005-11-27

This book is a really good read for anyone interested in technological partial solutions for modern environmental issues. Many great examples of processes which have been innovated, and what could be done.

My only issue with this book is that you have to have a strong knowledge of many sciences to fully understand this piece. This may be a good thing if you are looking for something very specific; but it will be definately too much for the average person.

Geological Reconnaissance of Raroia (Kon Tiki) Atoll, Tuamotu Archipelago.
Average customer rating:
Geological Reconnaissance of Raroia (Kon Tiki) Atoll, Tuamotu Archipelago.
Norman D. Newell
Manufacturer: American Museum of Natural History
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000QHQJHA

Average customer rating:
Geological reconnaissance of Raroia (Kon Tiki) Atoll, (Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, v. 109, article 3)
Norman Dennis Newell
Manufacturer: [American Museum of Natural History]
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Specific Locations | Geology | Earth Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
Natural History | Nature & Ecology | Science | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0006AUQKS

Understanding the Racing Rules of Sailing Through 2008
Average customer rating:

This is a "must" book for any racing sailor's reference shelf

Dave is an amazing teacher

From the Back Cover

Understanding the Racing Rules of Sailing Through 2008
Dave Perry
Manufacturer: United States Sailing Association
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Sailing | Water Sports | Sports | Subjects | Books
Instructional | Sailing | Water Sports | Sports | Subjects | Books
General | Sports | Subjects | Books
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Winning in One-designs

Sailing Smart: Winning Techniques, Tactics, And Strategies

Dave Perry's 100 Best Racing Rules Quizzes

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ASIN: 0974105872

Product Description

The better you know the rules, the sharper you will be tactically on the race course. Dave Perry clearly and concisely answers all of the most commonly asked questions on the racing rules from a champion racing sailor's perspective. His comprehensive, easy-to-understand explanations, with extensive references to US SAILING Appeals and ISAF Cases, make this book a complete and authoritative resource on the rules for new racers and Olympic sailors alike, as well as judges at all levels. Brad Dellenbaugh's abundant diagrams and amusing captions bring Perry's explanations to life.

Customer Reviews:

This is a "must" book for any racing sailor's reference shelf.......2006-11-30

Each time the US Sailing rules change, I order my replacement copy of "Understanding," by Dave Perry. Not only is he the most reliable and knowledgeable expert on our sport's arcane rules, but also he's the best at explaining them. Besides a complete rules dissection, the book holds a complete set of the latest racing rules (so you don't need to spend another $30 on those if you're not a US Sailing member) and a great rules-in-brief section that can help a newcomer get on the race course safely without tackling the complexity.

Dave is an amazing teacher.......2006-01-08

Dave Perry is not only one of the world's best sailors (2nd in the 2005 Hinman Master's Championship and champion of many other regattas) he's an amazing teacher. If you've ever heard him talk, I'm sure you'd agree. His energy and enthusiasm for the sport is clearly dipicted in his excellent book. No matter what your level in sailing, you are bound to learn something new from his book.

bryan mcdonald
us sailing appeals committee member

From the Back Cover.......2005-06-26

An excerpt from the Back Cover:

Includes the complete text of the 2005-2008 International Sailing Federation (ISAF) Racing Rules of Sailing and US SAILING Prescriptions.

Contains over 100 quotes and references to the US SAILING Appeals and ISAF Cases, making it an indespensable resource for sailors and racing officials.

The better you know the rules, the sharper you will be tactically on the race course. Dave Perry clearly and concisely answers all of the most commonly asked questions on the racing rules from a champion racing sailor's perspective.

Book Description

Illustrated guide to Antarctica's environment, geography, wildlife, and history.

Antarctica: The Blue Continent is a superbly illustrated and easy-to-understand book that reveals this polar region's ruthless majesty and natural beauty.

The environment is Earth's harshest, coldest, most inhospitable climate. A staggering 98% of the continent is covered with ice averaging 1.4 miles in depth; 90% of the world's ice is found in there. In spite of the cold and ice, Antarctica's shores and waters are home to an amazing variety of vegetation and indigenous wildlife-seals, sea lions, whales, penguins and sea birds-that have evolved in extraordinary ways to adapt to their unforgiving habitat. The book features natural phenomena such as a glacier made of jagged, Jurassic-era rock instead of ice, and entire mountain ranges filled to their peaks with snow.

In the chapters on polar exploration, Antarctica profiles Captain Cook, Roald Amundsen, Shackleton, Scott, and others. Readers will experience why this continent has inspired so much effort and heroism in the quest to discover its secrets.

This book is a concise version of the authors' 608-page Antarctica and the Arctic.

Customer Reviews:

An excellent overview........2007-07-25

This book is full of gorgeous pictures and well-written segments that provide information in easily digested and very informative pieces. It covers topics like geology, ancient and present day ecology, geography, flora and fauna, really everything you could ask for. It would make a good reference for schoolwork that doesn't need to be highly scientific or extremely detailed. If it had that kind of additional detail, I'd give it the last star, but then it would likely be twice as thick and much more difficult to read. For the person who just wants to learn more about antarctica, this is the book for you and probably a five star purchase!

great coffee table type book on Antarctica.......2007-03-23

This large format style book has excellent photographs, illustrations, and maps on virtually every page in addition to text and related detailed captions.

It is broken down into four parts - the Antarctic environment, regions, wildlife, and exploration history. Each of these four main parts are broken down further into smaller topics. For instance the wildlife section has several pages detailed to each animal type (whales, seals, penguins, seabirds, etc) and then broken down further into each specific species of them by seperate text section with stats and a map showing that specific animal location around Antarctica. The exploration section similiarly is broken down into smaller timeframes (three timeframes) of discovery and expeditions.

Ovearall a great overview of everything Antarctica. Great book for reading and also for just for browsing through.

Antarctica book.......2007-02-24

A beautiful book that arrived in excellent condition...well packaged and in a very timely manner! Excellent service! Thank you! MW

Everything you would like to know and see.......2006-08-31

Great book including history, geology and fauna of antarctica. Excellent photographs. Very recommendable book for a cheap price for everyone who is interested in the blue continent.

Go It Alone!: The Secret to Building a Successful Business on Your Own
Average customer rating:

Same old song and dance

A Defining Business Book

Practical guidance for budding enterpreneurs

Good thesis, contained in too many pages

How To Make Your Business Dream a Reality

Go It Alone!: The Secret to Building a Successful Business on Your Own
Bruce Judson
Manufacturer: Collins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Management | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Entrepreneurship | Small Business & Entrepreneurship | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Small Business & Entrepreneurship | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
New Business Enterprises | Small Business & Entrepreneurship | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Bootstrapping Your Business: Start And Grow a Successful Company With Almost No Money

StartupNation : America's Leading Entrepreneurial Experts Reveal the Secrets to Building a Blockbuster Business

The Art of the Start: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything

Bootstrap: Lessons Learned Building a Successful Company from Scratch

Micro-ISV: From Vision to Reality

ASIN: 0060731141
Release Date: 2005-12-13

Book Description

Most people dream of becoming their own boss but fear the enormous risks of starting their own businesses. Perhaps the greatest obstacle for most of these would–be entrepreneurs is the enormous amounts of money even the smallest start–up businesses require. Yet it has not been widely recognized that we are in the midst of a business revolution that makes it possible for individuals to start their own businesses with a minimal investment of capital, and to build those businesses through outsourcing and organic growth without ever having to look for more funding.

Through his own experiences as an entrepreneur––and numerous case studies–Judson illustrates this growing trend. Going It Alone will be a practical guide to lead the aspiring entrepreneur from corporate dependence to business independence.

Download Description

There is an epidemic of unhappiness in the American workplace. A full 70 percent of workers in the United States report that they are disengaged from their jobs. When asked, ""Do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day?"" only 20 percent of nearly 2 million employees said yes. It is no wonder that 56 percent of all Americans dream of starting their own business. So why don't they do so? Because starting one's own business is seen as difficult, expensive, and risky.

In this extraordinary book, successful Go It Alone! entrepreneur Bruce Judson explains that the conventional wisdom about starting your own business is stunningly wrong. Using the leverage of technology -- e-mail, the World Wide Web, and the remarkable array of off-the-shelf business services now available -- it is dramatically easier to start your own business. Magnified by these new services, it is also possible to create, for the first time, a highly focused business.

Bruce Judson shows you the practical steps that will allow nearly any individual to create a business, often using job skills that seem to require an entire corporation for support. It is no longer necessary to spend time on the tasks that don't add value. It is now possible to stay small but reap big profits. Go-it-alone businesses allow the individual the freedom to concentrate on their greatest skills. After reading this book, your motto will be ""Do What You Do Best, Let Others Do the Rest.""

Customer Reviews:

Same old song and dance.......2007-08-11

This is nothing new. If you are at a point where you want to start your own business. Use the free stuff that you can get from the small business administration. There are also non-profit organization to help. This book might amp you up a bit. But bottom line? Just do it!

A Defining Business Book.......2007-04-29

I picked up this book more than a year ago after hearing an interview with Judson on NPR's weekend financial show. His ideas on the radio seemed very logical so I picked up his book at the store. Could not have made a better purchase.

Over the past two years, almost all industries (including my own) are headed exactly in the direction that Judson predicted - small firms that do ONLY what they do best and outsource the rest. Products like web services and ASP model applications are making this type of firm not only possible but inexpensive and efficient.

The basic premise of his book is this: today's entrepreneur doesn't need to have lots of employees or a vast network to be successful. Today's entrepreneur needs to do one thing really good and outsource everything else. For example, if you're good at giving financial advice, give financial advice and outsource everything else: accounting, customer service, taxes, etc to people who do THOSE services best. Inexpensive web services and telecommunications networks make this not only possible but inexpensive and easy.

Essentially, on an economic level, Judson reflects on the lowering of market barriers by information technology; open networks, commodity hardware, and inexpensive software can lead to new ideas and information technology which continues to lower the barriers for small firms to compete. Judson applies these ideas to the entrepreneur (in laymans terms) in his concise and succinct book.

Practical guidance for budding enterpreneurs.......2007-01-04

For all of you who are solo entrepreneurs or who have ever thought of starting your own business, Bruce Judson's book "Go It Alone!" will help you turn a kernel of an idea into a solid entreprenerial business strategy. In my work with mothers, I recommend "Go It Alone! as a top resource for women who are in the midst of career reinvention after taking time off to raise children.

Bruce provides practical guidance and explains distinctions such as the difference between being a "go-it-alone enterpreneur" and a "free agent." Being a free agent is great in theory but subject to boom-and-bust employment cycles. If you are an underemployed freelancer, he can help guide you toward a more sustainable and expandable business model.

Good thesis, contained in too many pages.......2006-12-05

I should begin by saying that I am quite in sympathy with this book's thesis, which can be boiled down (to oversimplify a bit) to one phrase: Do what you do best, and outsource the rest.

Bruce Judson, the author, brings out some great reasons for pursuing "light footprint" entrepreneurship (my term, not his). So many functions and so much technology can now be outsourced, via web-enabled communications and applications, that a world of opportunity is now open which could not be dreamed of a decade ago.

One of the effective marketing approaches employed by Judson was to make the entire text of the book available on the web. If his bet was that this would entice a serious reader to buy the book after sampling some good content, then it worked in my case. I'd far rather read a printed book that scan a monitor.

If you're thinking about starting a one-person or very small business, I think the content here will be quite helpful and a needed boost of encouragement. However, the book (and accompanying website) are not without flaws.

First of all, the book is over 200 pages. It could easily have been 80-90, with better editing. There is a lot of repetition, including using the same examples over and over again. The overall structure is not tight - too sprawling. And, in various places in the book, various resources are offered on the website - but when you go to the site, no such resources are to be found.

That said, I'd buy the book over again, because it has been an encouragement and affirmation for my chosen course of entrepreneurship. Despite the less-than-optimal execution, Judson is onto something, and that's the main thing. If you're going to "Go it Alone", you'll derive some serious value from this book.

How To Make Your Business Dream a Reality.......2006-08-18

I share a dream with 56% of other Americans -- if the study reported in the book is accurate -- of running my own business. In my dream I'm also doing what I do best and creating something of value and meaning in the world. The beauty of Bruce Judson's book is that it shows why this dream is now achievable by most people, given sufficient determination. In fact, it has never been easier, and Judson shows us exactly how to do it.

He starts, appropriately, with some conclusions from Buckingham and Clifton's book, "Now, Discover Your Strengths," which points out that over 70% of people are disengaged from their jobs, and goes on to describe how you can identify your strengths.

Knowing your strengths and building on them is the central idea. It's not a new idea, but Judson develops it, showing how it can be used as a guiding principle for building a solo business. Judson has prodigious energy, having built two successful business, written two books and taught at the Yale School of management. He clearly has some uncommon strengths and abilities, but his point is that anyone can take the strengths they have and build a successful business on that foundation. And he makes a compelling case for this argument.

It's a flat earth. The world has shrunk, as Thomas Friedman points out in his recent book, "The World is Flat." Judson capitalizes on this shift with an "extreme outsourcing" model. The Internet and the growth of Application Service Providers (ASPs) has opened up a world of possibilities and made it possible for anyone to build a business that leverages the expertise of others at a very low cost, with almost no up-front capital investment required. Judson points to the big four: eBay, Google, Amazon and Yahoo! For some, there is no need to look further than these four -- but there are thousands of other business service providers, and any business function can be outsourced to another business, large or small, somewhere in the world. There is a limitless network of businesses out there -- and infinite possibilities for starting new ones.

Judson shows us exactly how to build a solo business based on our strengths. It's all about choosing a business with a core competence that aligns with your strengths and outsourcing everything else. He provides a useful set of principles and a useful checklist to make sure that your business concept is viable, but the central idea is simple: focus with intensity on your core competence -- what you're passionate about -- and get started, constantly innovating and staying ahead, but not too far ahead, of the market.

If there's a weakness, it's a lack of cohesion in the structure and writing of the book. There is a profusion of Judson's own ideas, and a wealth of ideas drawn from books he has read, but they are not well organized. The examples are relevant and often drawn from Judson's own experience, but are limited and repetitious. This is not surprising, given that Judson was running two businesses during the writing of the book. If writing were his core competence and main goal, Judson would have followed his own advice and focused only on the research and writing of the book, outsourcing the parts in which he was less interested to others (as Collins did in the making of "Good to Great.")

This may not be a great work of literature, but Judson succeeds in the goal he sets himself. He successfully refutes the conventional wisdom that you need to raise a great deal of money, take enormous risks, and expect -- as likely as not -- to fail. He effectively mows down these myths, demonstrating how to build a business based on some sound principles of his own invention: extreme outsourcing, right metrics, constant innovation, and constant focus. He uses well thought-out examples and presents much useful information in a form that's easy to read.

So, in the end this is an excellent and inspiring book. Judson shows -- at least to my satisfaction -- that it is indeed possible for almost anyone to build a strong solo business with limited capital. We may not all have the prodigious energy that Judson has, or his particular strengths, but in a world that is open and teeming with opportunity, we, too, can discover our strengths, find our own niche and set out in business. We have only to follow-through on our goals with relentless determination and make good use of the many services available to small businesses and we will likely find success. No small task. But with this prescription and this focus, we too can make our dreams of independence and meaningful employment a reality and join the many thousands who are now venturing out to build strong, sustainable solo businesses of their own.

Graham Lawes

Go It Alone!: The Secret to Building a Successful Business on Your Own

Average customer rating:

Go It Alone!: The Secret to Building a Successful Business on Your Own
Bruce Judson
Manufacturer: Collins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OEZQVU

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