Successful Strategic Planning: A Guide for Nonprofit Agencies and Organizations

Book Description

Strategic planning is often considered a complex and difficult task and is frequently avoided because of perceived lack of time, resources or expertise. This step-by-step guide aims to demystify the process of strategic planning for nonprofit agencies and organizations by using case examples to illustrate major concepts.

Book Description

The cool season food legumes are important in the nutrition of populations and livestock in many countries and play a valuable role in agricultural rotations improving the yields of other succeeding crops. This volume contains papers presented at the Third International Food Legume Conference which review the most recent research on these legumes and directly link this research to utilisation and marketing. Rapid changes are occurring in the production of the legumes in different countries and the contributors have considered the factors which are affecting the continuing success of these crops. The volume will be of interest to all persons seeking a comprehensive coverage of the grain legume industry, from researchers wishing to know of the most recent developments through to commodity traders wishing to follow changes in pulse marketing.
Topics reviewed include international and regional production, improving yields and quality by breeding and cultural practices, prospects for improvement using gene technology, the status and use of the germplasm of the species, overcoming biotic and abiotic stresses, the value of the legumes in the nutrition of humans and animals, alternative uses following processing, and important considerations in trade and marketing.

Book Description

An analysis of creation science discourse, including theoretical discussion and the role of science in society. For scholars of discourse, especially science discourse, and rhetoric.

Book Description

Neuroscience Perspectives provides multidisciplinary reviews of topics in one of the most diverse and rapidly advancing fields in the life sciences.
Whether you are a new recruit to neuroscience, or an established expert, look to this series for 'one-stop' sources of the historical, physiological, pharmacological, biochemical, molecular biological and therapeutic aspects of chosen research areas.
The recent development of Gene Therapy procedures which allow specific genes to be delivered to human patients who lack functional copies of them is of major therapeutic importance. In addition such gene delivery methods can be used in other organisms to define the function of particular genes. These studies are of particular interest in the nervous system where there are many incurable diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases which may benefit from therapies of this kind. Unfortunately gene delivery methods for use in the nervous system have lagged behind those in other systems due to the fact that the methods developed in other systems are often not applicable to cells like neurons which do not divide. This book discusses a wide range of methods which have now been developed to overcome these problems and allow safe and efficient delivery of particular genes to the brain. Methods discussed include virological methods, physical methods (such as liposomes) and the transplantation of genetically modified cells. In a single volume therefore this book provides a complete view of these methods and indicates how they can be applied to the development of therapies for treating previously incurable neurological disorders.

Average customer rating:

A satisfying and most enjoyable tour of scenic greenery

A Walk in the Park: Golfweek's Guide to America's Best Clasic and Modern Golf Courses
Golfweek Magazine , and Bradley S Klein
Manufacturer: Sports Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Regions | United States | Travel | Subjects | Books
General | Golf | Sports | Subjects | Books
Courses | Golf | Sports | Subjects | Books
General | Sports | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Golf Digest: Classic American Courses

Golf Magazine's Top 100 Courses You Can Play

Fairways: America's Greatest Golf Resorts

The 500 World's Greatest Golf Holes

Fifty Places to Play Golf Before You Die: Golf Experts Share the World's Greatest Destinations

ASIN: 1582616051

Book Description

The award-winning "Golfweek Magazine takes readers on a unique tour through the history of America's golfing experience with full-color profiles of the country's top 100 courses.

Customer Reviews:

A satisfying and most enjoyable tour of scenic greenery.......2004-05-16

Compiled by an editor of Golfweek magazine, A Walk In The Park is a showcase of 100 top-notch golf courses, divided into those created before 1960 and those designed after. Sweeping full-color photography offers a dazzling view of rolling hills, while the text describes the nuances of each course in detail, including figures for par, yards, and slope, Golfweek's waitings, and a background of the history and special features of each. A satisfying and most enjoyable tour of scenic greenery and sports grounds.

Customer Reviews:

BOOKS FOR GIRLS! So Lame Your Brothers Won't Steal Them!!!.......2007-09-23

""My old mother used to say that every little girl should be able to cook, play the piano, sing, and shoot."" So declares dastardly Mr. Grimshaw to orphan Sylvia Green in Joan Aiken's 1960 children's novel THE WOLVES OF WILLOUGHBY CHASE. The meek Sylvia "thought of Aunt Jane's very different catalogue of accomplishments for little girls, in which crewel work, purse netting, and making paper doilies took high place, and could not agree with him."

Like Old Mrs. Grimshaw and Aunt Jane, we all have our own opinions. To give a small idea of what editor Kathleen Odean's values were when compiling GREAT BOOKS FOR GIRLS, I will discuss two books, one she excludes, and one she recommends.

ANNE OF GREEN GABLES by L.M. Montgomery is a famous novel set at the turn of the century on Canada's Prince Edward Island. Marilla Cuthbert and her brother Matthew decide to adopt a boy to help the aging Matthew with the farm work, but get Anne instead. Marilla declares that they must send her back; "What use can she be to us?" "We might be some use to her," is Matthew's reply. Anne's history - of being farmed out as child-care labor to abusive women with drunken husbands - makes Marilla relent. She agrees to keep the girl she has "no use" for and give her a "proper bringing up". Anne proves brilliant as a scholar, and while many parents keep their own children tied to the house or farm, the Cuthberts support Anne's academic ambitions -- despite neighborly criticism.

In the end, Anne earns a full university scholarship, but due to a family crisis postpones her education to work as a schoolteacher. Odeon excludes GREEN GABLES because Anne "sacrifices herself for others" which makes the book's message "a very traditional one". But the whole point of closing the book on Anne's "sacrifice" is to emphasize the importance of female education. Anne's teaching degree is proved VALUABLE, which validates Marilla's decision to allow Anne to pursue extra schooling. The ending re-iterates the underlying theme of human worth transcending utilitarian considerations, by rewarding Marilla's uncalculating kindness to a "useless" child. It's moving, dammit!!!

But apparently we are supposed to trample human beings we can't make use of. Which is why Odean DOES include an amusingly awful excuse for sci-fi called THE GIRL WHO OWNED A CITY! In a post-Apocalyptic future, everyone over twelve has mysteriously died, and the "heroine" Lisa decrees that everything from the public school to a nearby warehouse of food is hers and hers alone. This gives her dictatorial power over any child that wants to live at the school and/or eat, so no one can stop her when she makes five-year-olds earn their keep at "her" school by patrolling the walls with GUNS to shoot other children trying to take "her" stuff. Odean recommends CITY on account of Lisa's "unusually strong leadership skills," although Lisa actually doesn't have any, just absurdly meek followers too dumb to realize that a school is public property.

Well, you get the idea. It is as if Odean made her choices by speed-reading with a checklist, and ignoring moral context as well as literary quality. Many reviewers complain that Ideology is put before Quality, but that is only half the problem, as many books seem no more feminist or "pro-girl" than they are "great". CITY is not the only recommendation that undermines democratic and humanistic values just because the heroine shows some illusion of strength. Another problem is that Odean's choices and comments seem to indicate a certain borderline misogyny. For example, she praises one picture book because it shows a girl climbing the rigging of a ship - but regretfully whines that it also shows her CURLING HER HAIR while perched on top of said rigging.

Be aware that Odean's Puritanism deserts her when it comes to sex. In recommended books: A sixteen-year-old "squire" has a sexual fling with her crown prince; An adult wizard's unhealthy possessiveness towards his female student is revealed to be "love" the instant she turns sixteen; The hostile sexual aggression of a "troubled" boy proves a successful means of courting the heroine. Unlike perilous and destructive behavior such as HAIR CURLING, or WORKING BEFORE COLLEGE, such issues are not considered important enough to mention in the annotations. Nor does Odean discuss her views/guidelines regarding sexuality in the introduction.

There are naturally some very excellent books in this lineup. But you have to read each annotation to find out whether Odeon considers it a great book, an okay book, or a dud with a good message. It would have been so easy just to put a star next to the actual good ones. Another problem is that Odean has little respect for the stories beyond their didactic use. For example, she fails to inform the reader that NIGHTBIRDS ON NANTUCKET is the third in an excellent series, or that HARRIET THE SPY has two sequels.

You will not find standards such as LITTLE WOMEN, THE SECRET GARDEN, A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN, HEIDI, NATIONAL VELVET, or the LITTLE HOUSE books. I don't have a particular problem with that. There is something to be said for a non-traditional lineup with aggressive feminist standards as long as one is frank about one's priorities, which Odean is. But in practice Odean's false and shallow notion of feminism robs the approach of its worth. I spent several years browsing through selections, and rather than thinking, "I wish I'd had these books when I was a kid", I ended up grateful that my formative influences were Narnia and STAR WARS, and disgusted with the whole concept of "girl's books" in general.

I don't discourage purchasing it. You just have to know what you are getting. Odean's first priority is making sure the books impart the right messages about being "strong" and "outspoken". Quality is optional, humanism expendable, hair-curling femininity a worse drawback than cruelty, and sacrificing for others worse than exploiting them. It might be best for those who are already well read and are looking for out-of-the-way titles. But if you are only going to get only ONE book of this sort, I'd look elsewhere. ONCE UPON A HEROINE puts a conscious emphasis on quality over didactics, reproduces most of the best recommendations from Odean, and is a fun read in itself.

Worth it.......2007-09-02

Great book to bring to the library so you come home with good books to read.

Politically correct books, not good books........2007-06-11

I was looking for help selecting books for my granddaughter. However, in reading the introduction I found that the author has not included "Anne Of Green Gables", an absolutely fantastic book, because "...at the end of the book, she (Anne) consciously sacrifices her education to help her beloved relative." This makes Anne somehow a failure as a woman? Not in my eyes. The author does include "Anne Frank: The Diary Of A Young Girl" so she's not ALWAYS wrong. But it does seem that Ms. Odean doesn't seem to be interested in books that make good reading but only books that make good points (by her feminist definition). Personally, I find a good book keeps me reading; propaganda has me reaching for the TV remote. A book titled "Great Book For Girls" should live up to its name. This one doesn't.

Helpful .......2007-01-18

I have found this book to be a great resource for myself and my daughters. It provides a brief desciption of the books reviewed so as a parent you know what your child is reading about without having to read the whole book yourself, very helpful when your child is an avid reader. While certainly not a complete list of the books available to my daughters to read, it provides a source for books on particular subjects with good role models for girls.

Conflicting - but generally positive.......2003-11-09

A lifelong feminist, I usually have clear feelings about things to do with women and girls. But women/girl - only things are not clear cut. Obviously it would be nice if such things were not necessary, if girls self-esteem was not constantly battled against by society etc.., If Ophelia didn't need saving.

But given reality, offsetting influences are still of use. Even so, reading the entries in this book I found myself wanting to ask sometimes: but is it a *good* book?

Many book descriptions included the reasoning for their inclusion (besides positive role models etc..), but some didn't. Regarding those entries, I wanted to know: Is it well-written? Is it content- and flavor- rich, or is it another feeble attempt at PC? In my opinion, books like that are worthless. I wasn't sure I could assume that Odean shared my sentiments about that.

Perhaps the more recent edition is better for that.

In many ways though, this book is great. The explanations of the books are in-depth, all the useful info is included. There are indexes - very compact ones that take up little space. One of my favorite additional things in this book is the section on parent resources - there are many goodies in this section including a list of 4 magazines that librarians use to know what new books are out. Great for keeping up with all that is going on!

All in all a great effort within a very challenging context!

Average customer rating:
Great Books For Girls - More Than 600 Books To Inspire Today's Girls And Tomorrow's Women
Kathleen Odean
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000JZWPQS

Average customer rating:
Great Books for Girls: More Than 600 Books to Inspire Today's Girls and Tomorrow's Women
Kathleen Odean
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OV9970

Average customer rating:

a must if you love your customers

What Customers Value Most: How to Achieve Business Transformation by Focusing on Processes That Touch Your Customers: Satisfied Customers, Increased Revenue, Improved Profitability
Stanley A. Brown
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Customer Service | Industries & Professions | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Management | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Total Quality Management | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Marketing | Marketing & Sales | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Entrepreneurship | Small Business & Entrepreneurship | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Leading Corporate Transformation: A Blueprint for Business Renewal (Jossey-Bass Business & Management Series)

Integration Models: Templates for Business Transformation

Improving Customer Satisfaction, Loyalty, and Profit : An Integrated Measurement and Management System

Discontinuous Change: Leading Organizational Transformation (The Jossey-Bass Management Series)

Innovation: The Five Disciplines for Creating What Customers Want

ASIN: 0471641235

Book Description

Based on extensive current research from the Coopers & Lybrand IDEAS study of over 1,800 North American companies, this superlative guide describes the various ways organizations reach out and touch customers and how they can improve the process behind this contact. Contains a detailed, four-step procedure which provides a formula for success. Features best practices of companies such as IBM, Hewlett Packard and 3M that have been successful in achieving performance improvement. Packed with checklists and action steps to create a top-notch customer focused improvement program.

Customer Reviews:

a must if you love your customers.......2001-09-06

Easy to read, very logical how the book developes to understand and to put the ideas to work, and hi level examples. WOW!!

Book Description

In this timely work, Bernard C. Beaudreau provides a new approach to world trade, one that combines the archaeological and historical record with recent developments in the theory of networks, the result of which is a convincing account of trading patterns, past, present, and undoubtedly, into the future.

For the first time, trade theory is no longer at odds with the historical record. Likewise, for the first time, trade policy is no longer at odds with the historical record.

In short, this book is the first work of its kind to attempt to integrate over 8,000 years of large-scale international trade.

Book Description

This book provides a framework for analyzing and forecasting a variety of mineral and energy markets and related industries. Such modeling activity has been at the forefront of the economic and engineering professions for some time, having received a major stimulus following the first oil price shock in 1973. Modeling Mineral and Energy Markets seeks to advance mineral and energy modeling by first presenting the modeling process sequentially by leading the model builder from model specification, estimation, simulation, and validation to practical model applications, including exploring history, analyzing policy, and market and price forecasting. New developments in modeling approaches are then presented which encompass econometric market and industry models, spatial equilibrium and programming models, optimal resource depletion models, input-output models, economic sector models, and macro-oriented energy interaction models. The verification and application of the models is considered individually, and also in relation to the performance of alternative modeling approaches. The modeling framework includes a perspective on new directions, so that the present model-building advice can be extended into the future.

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books