Thoughts of Chairman Buffett: Thirty Years of Unconventional Wisdom from the Sage of Omaha

Average customer rating:

succinct and powerful

The 'Vest-Pocket' Warren Buffett

A fifteen minute read

Shell the few dollars to get the book if your a Warren fan.

Thoughts of Chairman Buffett: Thirty Years of Unconventional Wisdom from the Sage of Omaha
Siimon Reynolds
Manufacturer: Collins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Business Life | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Public Finance | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Investing | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Buffett, Warren | ( B ) | People, A-Z | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
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Book Description

"There's something about smart people explaining ideas to an orangutan that makes their decision making better."

- Warren Buffett

He's an American icon, the world's most famous and most successful investor every financial move is widely reported and copied, his every utterance scanned for meaning. The secret of his success? Let Buffett tell you. He has a few thoughts on the matter.

Thoughts of Chairman Buffett is pure, unadulterated Buffett: a collection of his wittiest, wisest, and most quotable quotes. Compiled by Siimon Reynolds from decades of Buffetts speeches, writings, and interviews, they include gems on such subjects as . . .

Hiring

"Somebody once said that in looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if they don't have the first, the other two will kill you.

How to Get Wealthy

"I will tell you the secret of getting rich on Wall Street. You try to be greedy when others are fearful, and you try to be very fearful when others are greedy."

This is Buffett at his best: pithy, funny, unforgettable. These pearls of wisdom will make you laugh-and think. They'll give you sound advice and teach you truths about business and life.

Thoughts of Chairman Buffett offers a lifetime of wisdom at your fingertips. Once you enter the world according to Buffett, you'll never see things in quite the same way again. Siimon Reynolds is a writer and advertising executive living in Australia. A longtime fan of Warren Buffett, Reynolds collected these quotations from a variety of sources, added the headings, and arranged their order of presentation for this volume. At the end of the book you will find Mr. Reynolds's interpretation of Buffett's basic rules of investing.

Customer Reviews:

succinct and powerful.......2003-05-10

I've read numerous books about Buffett. What i really like about this book is it's brevity.
The author has assembled Warren's most poignant, pithy and brilliant quotes in one short , sharp book.
I learnt more about Buffett's philosophies from the this little gem than from any other book on the subject.
Frankly, it's a pity most other busineess books aren't this succinct.An outstanding read.

The 'Vest-Pocket' Warren Buffett.......2001-11-21

This is a great little book that encapsulates the life and investment career of the most widely written about investor in history, Warren Buffett. It is a collection of Warren's wit, wisdom, humor and charm spanning his very successful career as Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway. The book is a collection of quotations covering everything from hiring people to his final goal: "What I want people to say when they pass my casket is, Boy was he old!" This little book is inspiring, funny and gives insights into what made Warren so successful. The author, Siimon Reynold, ends the book with a basic interpretation of Buffett's rules of investing. I call this book the "Vest-Pocket" Warren Buffett. It is an easy read that you'll refer to over and over.

A fifteen minute read.......2000-01-13

A fifteen minute read of various quotations by Warren Buffett. It ends with a brief summary of his technique. Build a focussed portfolio of shares in businesses you understand. These businesses are growing. Buy when they are selling at attractive prices only. Hold them while they continue growing. Allow compounding and earnings reinvestment to work for you.

Shell the few dollars to get the book if your a Warren fan........1998-07-24

Hmm. For around 8 beans, you get Warren's quotes. Should you get it? Only if you hang onto every one of his words. Overall, the book was short and all right. Some excellent quotes to take note though.

Book Description

Answers to Questions Most Frequently Asked About Organization Development is a compact, practical book for students and managers who want an overview of the field of organization development without having to commit themselves to a lengthy, in-depth reading on the topic. The easy-to-read question-and-answer format is organized into topic areas to facilitate identification of those areas with which the reader is most concerned. The sequence of topics is set to move the reader from general statements, basic concepts, and values to more specific questions concerning the organization and the manager. For the reader who wants to delve deeper, a list of suggested readings and training programs occupies the last section of this handy book. Students, consultants, and managers will appreciate the straightforward manner in which Answers to Questions Most Frequently Asked About Organization Development demystifies the field of organization development.

Customer Reviews:

Good primer.......1998-09-22

For those interested in getting a taste of organization development without previous behavioral science training, this is a great book. It deals with practical issues of the field that can be beneficial to potential practitioners such as external consultants, researchers and theorists, practicing managers, and even employees. This book touches on the important aspects of organization development but it does not delve deeply into them. So this provides a great overview and direction, but should not be the only book for those interested in the field. Highly recommended for anyone who wants to get a taste of organization development.

Book Description

"Presents comprehensive coverage of differentiated plant responses to changing environments. Focuses on how multiple and combined stress factors influence plant survival. Examines the latest data on the capacity of roots to alter growth patterns due to disturbances in physical and/or chemical soil constraints, water supply, and other traumas. Contains over 85% new and updated material with more than 1500 new citations, tables, drawings, and photographs."

Amazon.com

Human life, scientific journalist Matt Ridley suggests, is a complex balancing act: we behave with self-interest foremost in mind, but also in ways that do not harm, and sometimes even benefit, others. This behavior, in a strange way, makes us good. It also makes us unique in the animal world, where self-interest is far more pronounced. "The essential virtuousness of human beings is proved not by parallels in the animal kingdom, but by the very lack of convincing animal parallels," Ridley writes. How we got to be so virtuous over millions of years of evolution is the theme of this entertaining book of popular science, which will be of interest to any student of human nature.

Book Description

If, as Darwin suggests, evolution relentlessly encourages the survival of the fittest, why are humans compelled to live in cooperative, complex societies? In this fascinating examination of the roots of human trust and virtue, a zoologist and former American editor of the Economist reveals the results of recent studies that suggest that self-interest and mutual aid are not at all incompatible. In fact, he points out, our cooperative instincts may have evolved as part of mankind's natural selfish behavior--by exchanging favors we can benefit ourselves as well as others. Brilliantly orchestrating the newest findings of geneticists, psychologists, and anthropologists, The Origins of Virtue re-examines the everyday assumptions upon which we base our actions towards others, whether in our roles as parents, siblings, or trade partners. With the wit and brilliance of The Red Queen, his acclaimed study of human and animal sexuality, Matt Ridley shows us how breakthroughs in computer programming, microbiology, and economics have given us a new perspective on how and why we relate to each other.

• Ridley's previous book, The Red Queen, was short-listed for the Writers' Guild Award for nonfiction.

Customer Reviews:

The Greatest Book Ever Written.......2007-09-11

Don't pick up this book unless you want life-changing revelations about the way you view friends, family, and all other relationships. Everything is a give and take.

Interesting book about cooperative behavior, marred by libertarian bias.......2007-05-06

Why should people or animals be nice to one another? The thesis of the book is that such behavior arises because it is in the mutual interest of individuals to exchange goods and services. The book does a good job of showing examples from animal and anthropological studies as well as providing theoretical arguments. Along the way you will be disabused of any notions that you may have of "noble savages" and of any idyllic images of the behavior of dolphins and chimpanzees.

Unfortunately the author has a dislike of large scale government, which causes him to ignore investigating the benefits not only of government but of special purpose organizations at all levels from gardening clubs to Medieval guilds to large scale charitable organizations. There are, for example, things that governments do well that simply are not possible at the individual level, like organizing poice and armies and constructing highways. Also worthy of mention would be the comparatively modern concept of voting. This is not something done by hunter-gatherers, because they do not have the required abstract concept of number, which is not something that we are born with.

Despite its title the book does not really explain the origin of virtue as a concept. He says that the ideal of self-less behavior is an illusion, yet even if this is the case it requires an explanation. Why are we moved by the suffering of others? Why do so many people contribute to charitable organizations? Why do we have a concept of justice, leading to what the author calls the "irrational" attitude of revenge, which he notes is peculiar to our own species.

The book provides a good starting point for a discussion of virtue, but, as I have indicated it is certainly not the final word on the subject.

Interesting argument about human cooperation and evolution.......2007-03-19

The book opens with a daring jail break. The story notes that the person escaping the grim Russian prison is, in fact, a member of the nobility, one of the Czar's favorites when the escapee was much younger. The person breaking out, of course, is Peter Kropotkin, the anarchist prince. However, it is not his philosophy so much as his work in natural history that drew Matt Ridley's attention.

Kropotkin, on an exploration of Siberia, observed what he saw was cooperation among multitudinous animal species. He drew from that the conclusion that Huxley, who had described nature as "red in tooth and claw," was missing an important part of the evolution picture--the evolution of cooperation. And this leads to Ridley's thesis in this well written volume (page 5): "Society works not because we have consciously invented it, but because it is an ancient product of our evolved predispositions. It is literally in our nature." He goes on to note that (page 5): "This is a book about human nature, and in particular the surprisingly social nature of the human animal."

The volume proceeds by reviewing theories and research on cooperation, evolution, and so on, a wide ranging review of the human condition and of our evolutionary impulses. He notes that our primate relatives set the stage for understanding the evolution of human cooperation. He notes the importance of a game, adopting game theory, developed by political scientist Robert Axelrod, in which humans will cooperate unless double crossed, at which point individuals will respond in negative kind. But, according to some theorists, as long as individuals are willing to cooperate with one another, they will get cooperation in return.

His conclusion is intriguing (page 264): "If we are to recover social harmony and virtue, if we are to build back into society the virtues that made it work for us, it is vital that we reduce the power and scope of the state." He calls for (page 265) ". . .social and material exchange between equals for that is the raw material of trust, and trust is the basis for virtue."

All in all, an intriguing and interesting volume. Not all, of course, will be convinced of the thesis. But it is a well written effort to integrate many different bodies of work to make his point.

Provocative with some confusing conclusions.......2007-01-10

I gave this book four stars out of five because most of the book seems to develop a sound argument for virtues and traits arising out of evolutionary development. Where it fails is in some of its conclusions. Here I am echoing the Editorial Review From Library Journal as shown here on Amazon.com. After pointing out how mankind, many times as hunter-gather tribes, has caused massive destruction and drove many species to extinction, he concludes that the best way to be environmentally friendly is through small, local cooperatives rather than large, especially state sponsored or directed, environmental organizations. (He arrives at other similar conclusions in other areas as well). This seems to be a dichotomy. While he does provide some evidence, it is not nearly as conclusive as he seems to believe. At one point he speaks of the English medieval common. He points out that stinting is still an on-going practice in some regions, thus leading to the conclusion that local control and cooperation is best. However, this argument leaves a lot to be desired. First, the commons system mostly broke down for a variety of reasons, one of which was cheating. This lead to the enclosures. This ended up leading to wealthier individuals who ended up purchasing more property and reducing his neighbors to fuedal status and eventual poor management. If the commons system was so successful, it is hard to understand why it almost completely collapsed. To be sure, the collapse can be partially explained to some degree by other aspects of human nature. Yet, a truly successful system should have been able to resist such corruption.

Likewise, the attacks on the larger "do good" organizations seems questionable. After all, it has been a defining nature of man to organize in ever larger groups for at least 10,000 years, the time of the earliest known permanent settlements. While 10,000 years is a mere blip on the evolutionary scale, the need to organize seems pervasive, as he points out early on using the complex systems of plants and animals as examples. While the frailties of human nature do not always lead these organizations to performing the best good, it is unquestionable that many people involved in these organizations are selfless. Also, another counter-argument to his conclusions is the fact that much of the Industrial world democratically votes for things that will cost them, but are for some sort of larger good.

What this book does well is demonstrate that many virtuous traits did come out of evolutionary development, rather than cultural or religious forces. While these latter undoubtedly have an effect on these traits, they are not the source. It does a good job explaining what the base behavioral tendencies are, thus providing a basis for evaluating our institutions, finding ways to reward positive traits and to punish the negative traits that always arise.

This book is an easy read. If the subject is interesting to you, purchase the book, just keep on mind some of the weaknesses. A newer book you may want to consider is Moral Minds. Or, perhaps, read both.

Very entertaining.......2006-11-21

Matt Ridley does a good job of explaining the origins of virtue as pro-social, instinctive behaviors that serve individual or genetic self-interest via a cohesive and cooperative group. The flip-side of this is tribal 'us' vs 'them' thinking and behavior which can lead to the horrors of war and genocide.

Free-trade is seen as the way to improve relations between groups. Reduced state power with private or communal property ownership is seen as the way to improve conservation of resources and to improve relations between people who are then equally engaged in exchange. Exchange is built on trust which is the foundation of virtue.

Ridley acknowledges the problem that the recognition of the motivation of self-interest in people can lead to people becoming more selfish.

My greater concern is his assumption of exchange being between equals. Or, indeed, how decision-making power will be shared equally considering, for example, how much authority men have had over women throughout evolution and history. Can women be equal exchangers considering their reproductive and 'caring' roles in society that are so difficult to cost or even for men to value? Ridley himself says that tribalism is more of a male problem so is this all really just directed at men and traditional male activities? If so, where does it leave women, children, the elderly etc? The practicalities are far from clear.

Nonetheless, this is a strong argument and Ridley is a very entertaining writer. Certainly well worth reading.

The Origins of Virtue: Human Instincts and the Evolution of Cooperation.: An article from: Independent Review

Average customer rating:

The Origins of Virtue: Human Instincts and the Evolution of Cooperation.: An article from: Independent Review
Terry L. Anderson
Manufacturer: Independent Institute
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Independent Review, published by Independent Institute on June 22, 1998. The length of the article is 1428 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: The Origins of Virtue: Human Instincts and the Evolution of Cooperation.
Author: Terry L. Anderson
Publication: Independent Review (Refereed)
Date: June 22, 1998
Publisher: Independent Institute
Volume: v3 Issue: n1 Page: p143(3)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

The Origins of Virtue: Human Instincts and the Evolution of Cooperation

Average customer rating:

The Origins of Virtue: Human Instincts and the Evolution of Cooperation
Matt Ridley
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OJ1A8I

Book Description

Team Handball: Steps to Success provides expert instruction and 62 drills to help you learn and master basic skills and team strategies.

By following the book's sequential lessons and studying the 187 illustrations, you'll learn how to perform each drill and analyze and correct errors. The drills come with performance goals and a list of key points to remember when executing them. Many also include instructions for increasing or decreasing their level of difficulty.

Part of the highly popular Steps to Success Activity Series, this book will help you develop the skills you need to compete in this fast-paced, action-packed sport.

Customer Reviews:

I am not sure that this is good book.........2006-07-11

I just want to mention that defensive check is not shown good, as a 10 year handball player I could say that.

Excellent for Physical Educators.......2000-04-10

This book was instrumental in our decision to teach Team Handball to our Physical Education Majors at Butler University in Indianapolis. Besides the fact that the book spells out the sport step-by-step, there are many useful tips and drills to aid in the teaching process. In addition, I know Reita Clanton and know her to be one of the most professional, knowledgable and personable people I have met. She has done wonders for the sport, and continues to promote the learning through this text. It is a must for physical educators of all levels.

Average customer rating:

Pass Unless you ARE a Complete Idiot

Easy to read, helpful book

Very E Z to Read & Understand

Breadth, but not much depth

Too Little, Too Late

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Self-Publishing
Jennifer Basye Sander
Manufacturer: Alpha
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Publishing & Books | Reference | Subjects | Books
General | Reference | Subjects | Books
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Self-Publishing For Dummies

Print-on-Demand Book Publishing: A New Approach To Printing And Marketing Books For Publishers And Self-Publishing Authors

Start Your Own Self-Publishing Business (Entrepreneur Magazine's Start Up)

ASIN: 1592573584
Release Date: 2005-10-04

Book Description

A practical guide for a booming market.

Every aspiring self-published author needs this guide, which covers everything from design to sales. It reveals all the tools theyÂ'll need, including worksheets for estimating costs, timing, and resources; up-to-date information on production and design; formats for many genres; strategies for publicity and sales; plus success stories from self- published authors.

Â• Publishers Marketing Association estimates there are 73,000 small and self- publishers in the U.S., with 8,000-11,000 new ones each year
Â• Of the approximately 2.8 million books in print, 78% of the titles come from small/self-publishers (PMA)
Â• For small and self-publishers, sales increased 21% annually from 1997-2002; in 2002, these 73,000 publishers grossed $29.4 billion
Â• 81% of the population feels they have a book inside them; 6 million have written a manuscript; and another 6 million have a manuscript making the rounds

Customer Reviews:

Pass Unless you ARE a Complete Idiot.......2007-05-08

First - What's good: - I was going to be snide and leave this part blank but that is unfair. It does cover the Self Publishing industry quite broadly. It will give you an overview (only) of many aspects of book publishing (and other things).
Now - The problems: - As noted by another reviewer - almost insulting. ***NO NEW information I haven't seen in several other excellent books on this field.** **NO depth.** NO real desire or help for those wanting to thinking outside the box. VERY much focused on Non-Fiction! Very little appreciation of changes to the industry since about 2003 or 2004 - its a rapidly developing world - this book is either dated or the authors would prefer not to provide insight into those changes. The **feeling** I got was 1) this is how "It" has always been done; 2) that is how "It" should be done to be good, 3) if you try anything new "It" won't be very good and you will fail. It reminded me greatly of career planning guides given to sophmores and juniors in high school (in the 1960's and 1970's) which seemed to say - don't think outside the box and you will be very happy in your 8x8 cubicle.

There are MANY other EXCELLENT books an this subject - See Aaron Shepard, Dan Poynter, Morris Rosenthal, The Rosses - take your pick. I just wish I hadn't picked this.

Easy to read, helpful book.......2007-04-02

I purchased this book over others because I have met the author at a conference. She's a nice, smart lady and is good with a crowd. I expected a lot of the book, and really didn't get everything I expected.

I did get a broad understanding of how the publishing world works. That was helpful. I would have liked more resources though - tools for marketing and distributing a book and examples of letters, press releases, etc would have been helpful. I felt like this guide skimmed too much of the surface without diving in deep.

Also, it is not as helpful to someone considering the POD route to publishing, as a lot of the book is focused on the aspects of publishing the POD's like iUniverse do for you. I would really like to see a book focused exclusively on succeeding with a POD publisher.

All in all, this is still a worthwhile read. It helped me understand publishing as a whole, and it made me question my decision to go with a POD. This was helpful - I do feel like I am a much more informed consumer (and prospective publisher) as a result of reading this book.

Very E Z to Read & Understand.......2007-01-12

The book is well written and simplified. It arrived in great shape and was delivered in a timely manner as specified. Would shop with Seller
again.

Breadth, but not much depth.......2006-11-10

Where "The Well-Fed Self-Publisher" (Peter Bowerman) covers the narrow focus of self-publishing for profit-minded non-fiction writers in a great deal of depth, Jennifer Basye Sander's "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Self-Publishing" covers a lot more ground--but loses much of Bowerman's depth of detail in the process. There are plenty of reasons to self-publish, not all of which have to do with wanting to make a profit in a niche market that might not be received so well (or marketed so well) by a traditional publisher. For instance, you might want to preserve family history and memories for your loved ones. You might want to publish fiction, which operates by somewhat different rules than non-fiction (much of TWFSP could apply to fiction as well, however Bowerman makes no bones about the fact that fiction is harder to turn a profit from when self-publishing). You might have a novel idea for a gift product that loosely falls into the "publishing" milieu.

In these cases, you might find Sander's CIGSP to be an equal or better resource. She addresses her book to anyone at all who might wish to self-publish for any reason, and thus covers these aspects better than Bowerman does. There are some other areas in which the CIGSP differentiates itself from TWFSP. Sander comes from a more traditional publishing background originally, unlike Bowerman, and this informs her assumptions. Her marketing suggestions are more mainstream, where Bowerman believes in highly-targeted campaigns that take advantage of whatever niche your subject falls into in order to maximize your return on time investment. Where Bowerman keeps suggestions regarding the choices involved in publishing your book as simple as possible, Sander goes into a great deal of detail regarding everything from paper weights and colors to typefaces and even embossing choices--wonderful if you're planning on creating gift books or the like, but potentially confusing if you're going for the comparatively plain, practical books Bowerman assumes.

Sander's book does a good job of providing an overview of self-publishing and handling the myriad of reasons for getting into the business. However, if you're a non-fiction writer looking to make a serious profit, I think TWFSP would do a better job of telling you what you need to know.

Too Little, Too Late.......2006-05-28

There are quite a few positive aspects about this book. It does give you a comprehensive guide to the different forms you will need to file for different entities to get your company off the ground as well as a few marketing and distribution techniques. However, you will have to plow through close to 200 pages of pure unadulterated drivel to get to it.

I know this is a book for novices, in fact it was one of the reasons I picked it up, but it is written in such parochial language it almost bordered on insulting. The first half of the book is dedicated to explaining how difficult it is to be a self publisher and the different types of books that can be published (e.g. poetry, cookbooks, memoirs, etc...) It came off more as an extended guide a High School counselor would pass out to her students on career day than an actual guide for grown men to use to start their own publishing company.

It also should be noted that the book is geared towards the publication of non-fiction titles, especially when discussing marketing and distribution strategies. Many examples that were used would not transfer easily into the fiction literature arena. And I also found it quite disconcerting that the author referred to her own titles so frequently. It would not have been so confounding if it were not for the fact the titles she kept referring to were non-fiction titles geared towards the self-pampering of housewives and career women. She often referred to the seminars she attended on luxury cruise ships and the high end department stores where her books were made available. I could not help but wonder what would be the equivalent for fiction titles that revolved around inner city life, blue collar romances or hate crimes.

I appreciated the overall description of the nuts and bolts of the publishing industry and what is needed to actually publish a book under your own imprint. But this information was found much too late in this book and not terribly informative for self-publishers of fiction titles.

For what it's worth, this could have been condensed into a twenty page pamphlet and it would have had the same effect.

Book Description

In The Complex Infrastructure Known as the Female Mind, Relient K expounds on their experiences observing the opposite sex. Detailing some of the "girl types" they've encountered--like the Homecoming Queen, The Athlete, and The Overachiever--they share personal stories and biblical advice for girls of any type to become women of God.

The band's fun attitude is present throughout the book in quizzes, lists, personal stories, and more!

Customer Reviews:

waste of 11 dollars.......2007-08-05

i figured i would just read this book for fun. i had heard very mixed reviews about it and i figured... who cares... maybe i will like it. its only 11 bucks. well folks, it was a waste of my 11 bucks. i read it over the course of one day so its not like it even really kept me occupied. i laughed probably 3 times. the only reason i read it is becuase relient k wrote it and i thought their awesome personalities would shine through and they really didnt. i think the guy that they had help them write the book prolly wrote 95% of the text. lame. dont bother reading it and if you do get it at the library or something.

Even if its for girls..........2007-03-28

...I read this as a guy.

This book is a pseudo-biography of their life of girls. Its as if they wanted girls to read the book because they're a popular band as opposed to writing a book with content. If you're looking for advice, this book has very little amounts of it in the ladder end of the book (basically during the relationship section). Basically, the overall book is too shallow and lacked real advice that could be applied for both guys and girls when either being with yourself or friends (guys and girls alike). Don't get me wrong, I liked the book, but I think the Band (and the author who helped) had the target consumer in mind rather than a good book that everyone (not just the female RK fans) would read.

amazing book!.......2007-01-09

this book is full of insightful knowledge for teenage girls. it includes girl-guy relationships as well as relationships with your girl friends. i read it cover to cover and enjoyed every minute of it. relient k put in their own unique sense of humor to make this an enjoyable and interesting read. i 100% recommmend this book to anyone!

Sorry Relient K.......2006-11-10

I love Relient K, but let's be honest: bands should not write books. I thought this book might at least be interesting to read, but it's seems like a book for junior-highers or something. This book is not recommended. Sorry Relient K.

Disappointed . . .actually very disappointed. .......2006-08-14

The book was definitely geared towards those in junior high and high school. The authors admit at the beginning that they have no business writing a book, and the book seems to confirm that. It seems that they were just asked to write a book, b/c their name would sell it. They said that they merely speaking from observation, but yet their observations do not edify or encourage, but are actually reinforce the stereo types that youth are bombarded with already.

One problem was that the majority of the book attempted to "type" girls, which each time was extremely stereo-typical, and painted each type in a bad light. For example, there is the jock, the geek, the drama queen, etc. but they just call them by different names. I couldn't quite understand why one would want to read descriptions of 1)stereo-types, but 2) stereo types that are making fun of each type.

The reason I am writing this review is that I have worked with adolescent girls for many years through youth ministry, and I would not want them to read this. Their typing of girls is shallow, especially in light of the audience they are writing to, which are girls who are in the midst of discovering their identity. And that's not to mention the fact that adolescents already make fun of each other enough, and so they certainly do not need a book that builds up the negative aspects of each stereotype.

And while the authors are certainly guys, I felt their descriptions of guys was even off. Maybe they were describing themslevs, but the way they stereo-typed guys seemed to reinforce negative aspects of being a male. I think it's just that I've seen guys who have broken stereo-types and that was b/c they found their identity in Christ and not in the world. For example, the authors stated that girl best friends may say "I love you," but you would never catch a guy doing that. One may never see a high school guy say that to another guy, but when guys mature, they can and do say that when they are secure with who they are and who they are in Christ.

In addition, they spoke of different male/female relationships. Even here the picture that was painted by the authors was one where girls and guys could use each other to meet their own needs as long as they made it clear that they were not interested in each other. The problem that they failed to mention is that hearts easily get drawn out. The relationships that were mentioned may unfortunately exist, and I certainly have been involved in them, but it's not to be enocouraged, and yet the authors say nothing about the pitfalls of such relationships.

I recognize that these guys are Christian, but the lessons that they teach whether about different types of girls, the description of guys, or the various relationships that are found between girls and guys simply reinforces the world's fallen ways of doing things. I read a lot of books and while I am not always thrilled with them, I have not ever been as frustrated and disappointed by a book until today.

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