Free Time and Leisure Participation: International Perspectives

Book Description

This book is an expanded and updated edition of a previous work entitled World Leisure Participation: Free Time in the Global Village, by the same editors (CABI, 1996). It brings together the results of national leisure participation surveys from around the world. In addition to updating chapters to include the latest surveys, the book includes: Increased coverage of time-budget surveys; Additional themes such as public policy dimensions; Additional countries, including Finland, Netherlands and Russia.

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A Strategic Assessment of Tonga, 2000 edition (Strategic Planning Series)
The Tonga Research Group , and The Tonga Research Group
Manufacturer: Icon Group International
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Ring-bound

Strategy & Competition | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0741822849

Book Description

Tonga has recently come to the attention to global strategic planners. This report puts these executives on the fast track. Ten chapters provide: an overview of how to strategically access this important market, a discussion on economic fundamentals, marketing & distribution options, export and direct investment options, and full risk assessments (political, cultural, legal, human resources). Ample statistical benchmarks and comparative graphs are given.

Customer Reviews:

Great!.......2007-02-17

The book is in excellent condition and the delivery time was quite brief. Great service and great product!

A deep insight into the politics of foreign aid and economic.......1999-11-16

I was referred to this book by my lecturer in applied athropology. Reading it caused me to rethink and rewrite my assignment. Fergusson can be a bit irritating but he certainly has researched his field well and shows a great insight into the politics of foreign aid and economic development in the 3rd World.

A dose of realism.......1999-09-09

Ferguson's study of development projects in Lesotho brings a much needed dose of reality to the subject of modernization and aid. While others might stress the need for appropriate technology or bog the reader down in economic formulae, Ferguson examines the ways in which local and global politics influence the success of even the most carefully planned and well-meaning of projects. A must-read for anyone interested in the development business.

Book Description

100, 99.5, 98.5, 97, 95, ?
What number comes next?

Athletes, gymnasts and dancers strive to push their bodies to achieve maximum potential, exercising to improve suppleness, stamina and technique to be the best in their chosen field.
Every one of us has to use our brain on a daily basis, but how many of us exercise or train our brain to improve its potential? Many of us take our brain for granted, believing there is little we can do to improve the brain we have been born with. This book sets out to demonstrate that this is not the case and that it is possible to considerably increase your brainpower and go some way to utilising your brain to its full potential.
After giving a brief summary of the composition of the brain, the remainder of the book concentrates on the main areas of brain function - creative thinking, memory, logical thought, agility of mind and intelligence - and provides a series of fun, yet stimulating tests and exercises designed to improve your mental well-being.

Today's world increasingly calls for quick responses and the ability to think logically - these tests are designed to give valuable practice for those who want or need to exercise their minds.
Section on IQ tests the disciplines most common in IQ testing - spacial ability, logical thought process, verbal ability and numerical ability.
All tests have been specially written and compiled for this book by the UK Mensa Puzzle Editors

Ken Russell and Philip Carter first met in 1984 through their membership of Enigmasig, a special interest group within British Mensa devoted to the setting and solving of puzzles. They published their first book as joint authors in 1987 and with the publication of this series will have over 100 titles to their credit ranging from quizzes, IQ testing and puzzles.

(Answer: 92.5: the amount deducted each time increases by 0.5.)

Customer Reviews:

suspicious backcover.......2005-10-27

I did not read the book, I stopped when reading a statement in the back cover: "we only utilise on average two per cent of our potential brainpower".
That is an urban myth, there is no scientific evidence that supports it. I lost complete confidence in the book and have not picked it up since. If you found the book useful please write a review.

Book Description

For writers who want a clear, concise, user-friendly pocket guide beside them while they write, this book has it all. Its easy-to-navigate coverage offers a wide variety of traditional topics as well as the most current information on conducting online research, and using MLA, APA, Chicago Manual, and CBE citation formats. Writers will find valuable assistance with the writing process; argument reading and writing; all major areas of grammar and mechanics; conducting research in libraries and online; using the World Wide Web as a resource; and documenting and evaluating both print and electronic sources. Writers don't need to know grammatical terms because lists of frequently answered questions lead them to needed explanations offered in a friendly, informal tone and a highly readable style. For writers and other needing a compact, comprehensive writer's reference.

Customer Reviews:

Primrose Path of Grammatical Dalliance.......2006-07-10

Check out Section 4: "Variety," in which the author manages to think that the sentence "The school band, who performed at the local Apple Festival, were a great success" is acceptable. Where is her section on collective nouns when she needs it? *Which* performed. *Was* a great success. I don't ask for much from a style manual, but I do ask that it does not at least reinforce for my students the kinds of errors they are already making.

Ecrire toujours, vraiment cela m'interesse.......2003-12-19

Etre d'avis et justifier l'opinion, c'est ca la formation aux Etats-Unis. Ainsi ecrire bien veut-il dire s'engager aux buts, a l'audience, a l'organisation bien identifiees et bien liees. Depuis le commencement, jusqu'a la fin, tout se devoue a, s'appuie sur l'idee principale. Tout en y arrivant, il faut tout verifier, des renseignements et des statistiques, soit de l'Internet soit des bonnes sources. Et que le tout s'accorde avec le manuel du discipline, par exemple le Chicago Manual of Style, pour les anthropologistes.

A Writer's Tale.......2001-07-16

Get used to having an opinion and defending it: education in the United States wants to know what writers think, not how well they repeat the thinking of experts and great scholars. Muriel Harris says that good writing means being aware of and committed to purpose, audience and organization: everything between beginning and ending goes to support the main idea by passing judgment on each part of the thesis statement and on the sources. I like the way the author describes conclusions: looking backwards by summing up what went before and forward by giving advice or suggestions. THE WRITER'S FAQS reminds us that both Internet and nondigital sources need to be checked for reliability and that a particular course of study, such as anthropology, links with a particular handbook, such as CHICAGO MANUAL OF STYLE. Readers have no problems moving from this helpfully clear guide to specifics in Michael Alley's THE CRAFT OF SCIENTIFIC WRITING, Jan A. Pechenik's A SHORT GUIDE TO WRITING ABOUT BIOLOGY, Allan M. Siegal and William G. Connolly's THE NEW YORK TIMES MANUAL OF STYLE AND USAGE, and Joseph F. Trimmer's THE ESSENTIALS OF MLA STYLE.

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The Writer's FAQ's: A Pocket Handbook

Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Spiral-bound
ASIN: B000I5GXDK

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THE WRITER'S FAQS: A Pocket Handbook
Muriel Harris
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OHYYHO

Average customer rating:

The Writer*s Faqs Pocket Handbook
Harris Muriel
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OHYJXI

Average customer rating:

The author understands our situation and how to fix it

Fresh, clear, logical thinking about team implementation

Fresh, clear, logical thinking about team implementation

An effective (and different) approach to implementing teams

The Journey to Teams: The New Approach to Achieve Breakthrough Business Performance
Michael D. Regan
Manufacturer: Holden Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Workplace | Organizational Behavior | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Industrial | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Management | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
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The Kaizen Revolution

Gung Ho! Turn On the People in Any Organization

Andy & Me: Crisis And Transformation On The Lean Journey

The Lean Design Guidebook: Everything Your Product Development Team Needs to Slash Manufacturing Cost (The Lean Guidebook Series)

Real Numbers: Management Accounting in a Lean Organization

ASIN: 0966354958

Customer Reviews:

The author understands our situation and how to fix it.......2000-03-21

I'm an internal consultant at Fiskars, Inc. For the past two years I've been reviewing books about how to implement teams, but everything I read contained the same old traditional ideas that haven't worked for us (i.e. give employees some basic skills training, then ask them to take turns doing various supervisory functions). The Journey To Teams is a completely different approach. The most important point is that most supervisors do too much of the thinking for their subordinates, which causes them to turn off their brains while at work, which in turn frustrates everything management does to create teams. I gave copies of this book to several shop-floor supervisors in our Alabama plant and they came back all excited saying that the author must be sitting around the corner watching us, because the book describes exactly the problems we've had implementing teams at our plant. I've started reading this book for the second time now, and I'm taking lots of notes. If you want to implement teams, you've got to read this book.

Fresh, clear, logical thinking about team implementation.......2000-03-14

This book is easily readable by everyone at every level of the organization. That said, I've read it nine times and each time I learned something new. Don't expect any of the traditional team-building stuff that treats teams as the objective. This book treats teams as a means to real objectives - more capable people, producing better business results. The most important concept in the book is called "the bridge of confidence", a technique for building trust and confidence between supervisors and employees, allowing supervisors to let go of control gradually without losing control.

We bought a copy of this book for each of the 450 employees at Cape Canaveral Group (we maintain the launch pads and related facilities for Atlas, Titan, and Delta rockets). If you are implementing teams, this book is a "must read."

Fresh, clear, logical thinking about team implementation.......2000-03-03

We bought a copy of this book for each of the 450 employees at Cape Canaveral Group (we maintain the launch pads and related facilities for Atlas, Titan, and Delta rockets) and contracted with Everest Consulting Group (Regan's company) to help us implement our teams. If you are implementing teams, this book is a "must read."

An effective (and different) approach to implementing teams.......2000-03-01

This book effectively argues that unless you transform your supervisors from babysitters into coaches, they will negate all the team training you give your employees. It gives very specific coaching techniques that help both employees and supervisors overcome the initial fears of trusting each other. Michael Regan's methods for getting people to develop ideas and take responsibility for implementing them are excellent. His chapters on how to set up and measure teams so they share ownership and accountability for results are critical for anyone who wants to set up a team organization.

I successfully implemented teams at Alcatel before I read this book, but only after four years of dead ends and wrong turns - a result of reading traditional team books and using traditional team consultants. This book would have saved us a couple of years. Subsequently, I used it as our team implementation road map when I was hired as Director of Manufacturing at Sumitomo Electric Lightwave. Within two years we were making record profits, and I was promoted to VP of Manufacturing. I recently accepted a position as Director of Operations at another organization, with responsibility for three plants and a distribution center. The Journey To Teams will be required reading for all my managers.

Average customer rating:

Outstanding! Highly recommended

Everything you need to know about money...

A great overall guide to help get your accounts in order

Don't Mess with My Money: The Dolans' No-Nonsense Lifetime Money Plan
Ken Dolan , and Daria Dolan
Manufacturer: Currency
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Budgeting & Money Management | Personal Finance | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Personal Finance | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0385507917
Release Date: 2004-09-28

Book Description

From radio's most trusted advisers, the kind of insider's advice that some experts don't want you to know about -- how to manage your money and build a firm financial foundation that will withstand the inevitable surprises life throws your way.

With their long-running #1 rated personal finance radio show, Ken and Daria Dolan are America's "First Family of Finance." Armed with more than forty years of experience, they have helped tens of thousands of people plan for the future, survive difficult financial times, and cope with unexpected life challenges and emergencies. In Don't Mess with My Money, they draw on a lifetime of personal experience, as well as the tips and strategies from their legion of listeners, to write a candid, tell-it-like-it-is lifetime money guide. Why? Because the people they talk to every day need it.

In the wake of 9/11, and in the aftermath of a yearlong recession and a seemingly endless series of admissions of corporate chicanery and deceit, people across America have begged for trustworthy help in righting their finances, and for someone to tell them what the real deal is. In Don't Mess with My Money, the Dolans pull back the veil of secrecy and reveal the loopholes, double-talk, and insider secrets that some Wall Street analysts and banks, insurance companies, car dealers, and financial advisers try to keep hidden. The Dolans explain how to avoid getting ripped off, how to get out of debt, how to organize your finances and safeguard your money from layoffs, illness, retirement, and death. They talk about:

• How to prepare yourself for unemployment, divorce, and the death of a spouse

• The three words you must utter the next time you buy a new car

• How to invest without losing your shirt

• The ins and outs of estate planning and retirement

• What you must know about the biggest investment you'll ever make--your home

As all of us are aware, life is uncertain. We need to prepare for the unexpected, from job layoffs and salary freezes to the death of a loved one. In this practical, no-nonsense guide, the Dolans provide the essential information you need to know to gain control over your financial lives and your future.

From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Reviews:

Outstanding! Highly recommended.......2003-09-21

This new book by the Dolans will teach you everything you need to know about money from what to do about health insurance if you are laid off to hidden terms on your credit cards and how to buy the right kind of insurance.

No frills. No 1000 pages of frivolous information. No hawking certain insurance products and services. Just plain, good old fashioned advice that really works.

Everything you need to know about money..........2003-01-16

As my father's health is beginning to decline, my wife and I recently found ourselves facing the difficult task of talking with my parents about their estate and finances. No other book helped us think about the questions we needed to ask and the way we needed to ask them like "Don't Mess with my Money." Not only did we discover that they needed a new insurance plan, but we also learned about ways to make smarter decisions about our OWN investments. I couldn't believe how many resources were packed into this one book, and would recommend it to readers of any age, no matter what their incomes are.

A great overall guide to help get your accounts in order.......2003-01-14

This is a great overall guide to get your financial house in order. The car chapter is worth the price of the book alone--it helped me save big last weekend when I was renegoiating my lease agreement.

As a new dad, the chapters on handling family finance and insurance will prove invaluable. We often forget to revaluate our financial needs when we get caught up in a new arrival.

A great buy, a great addition to my libarary.

Thanks Ken and Daria, Im going to try to catch your radio show to see what other sound advice you have to share.

Book Description

Powering the Future tells the intriguing story of a tiny high-tech research company that developed one of the few truly revolutionary and transforming technologies of our era. Today, Ballard Power Systems is the world leader in fuel cell technology — a non-polluting energy source that could one day replace the internal combustion engine and power the cars of the future.

Geoffrey Ballard and a handful of colleagues — at the outset little more than "three guys and a prayer" — brought this neglected technology to the world. On gritty determination and a shoestring budget, they took fuel cells out of the lab and into the mainstream of business. They made the fuel cell smaller, cheaper, and vastly more powerful over an astonishingly short time — actually melting down cables as they realized a fifty-fold increase in power output.

Powering the Future not only chronicles the company's impressive rise against stiff odds and intense competition; it also teaches valuable lessons about vision and inspiration, creating a culture of loyalty and dedication, attracting and keeping talented people, and marketing and selling an underdog technology to the biggest players in the auto world. Powering the Future is the entertaining and inspirational account of how a tiny high-tech research company grew, and became poised to literally change the way we live.

Customer Reviews:

Durability, Useful life, and Cost enter point will determine when fuel cells enter the market........2006-01-27

Fuel cells will enter a particular market once the cost of the fuel cell hits a particular cost point and becomes cost competitive. Fuel cells must reach a tolerable durability level of useful life of more than 5,000 hours. Suppose, a fuel cells operational life is 1,000 hours or 20,000 miles than durability issues inhibit consumer investment until fuel cells reach 5,000 hours operational levels or 100,000 miles making them feasible. Introduction of the fuel cell will probably start with PCs and handheld PDAs then be introduced into transit and commercial fleets, and finally automobiles when cost reduces to $50 kilowatt. Suppose that new passenger vehicle market sells 17 million vehicles and new transit vehicle sells are 5,000 per year. It is doubtful that fuel cell manufacturers will be able to recoup their investment, if they are sell primarily to the transit vehicle market. Initially fuel cell manufacturers will depend on government subsidizes that support the public transit system. Automotive market is the only market segment that offers sufficient volume to attract the interest of, and investment by, the vehicle manufacturers and fuel cell manufacturers. "10% market penetration" is needed to create adequate momentum for the fuel cell technology to propel itself forward exponential and replace the internal combustion engine.

Fuel cell cars will follow a three phase cycle: pre-production vehicles, number in the hundreds which will be tested and improved; phase II, next generation fuel cell vehicles into fleets numbering in the thousands; and phase III, adoption sells of tens of thousands of vehicles. Factors affecting the three phases will be gasoline and diesel prices, technical issues such as durability and useful life, government incentives to support initial introduction tactics, standard for hydrogen production, and the development of hydrogen infrastructure (Stuart Energy Systems, HydrogenSource, Proton Energy Systems, and H2Gen are offering commercial hydrogen appliances). Volume production means learning how to make identical products, with real quality control, and meeting customer expectations.

Ballard's PEM fuel cell stacks largely solved the cost problem. Ballard estimated that fuel cell stacks could be made available at $5 worth of catlyst per kilowatt of electricity generated, or about $300 for a small car needing a sixty kilowatt stack. Dupont's Nafion membrane was over designed lasting 100,000 hours, whereas, the automobile membrane running only part time lasted 5,000 to 10,000 hours in its lifetime. The membrane dropped in cost into the range of $5 to 15 per square foot. Ballard set out to create its own membrane. Ballard aimed at a small production of specialized polymers which were taylor made for small niche markets. Steck third generation lightly flourine membrane managed to reach 15,000 hours operation threshholds. Ballard had managed to create a superior membrane for 2 to 3 million dollars verses $100 million dollars to develop the Dupont Naifon membrane.

Ballard could be the Intel of the automotive industry. "If an industry standard is reached in what is the core component of a car, the engine, then even a newcomer from the outside such as Ballard could become the price leader. Ballard is recognized as the leader in PEM fuel cell technology and has experience in stack cell technology, stack components, and integration of stacks with fuel processors. Ballard maybe the first company too offer $20-35 kilowatt or $2,250-3,750 for 75 kilowatt engines. The race is on to make fuel cells cars affordable.

excellent history and biography.......2003-10-07

This is an excellent history of the Ballard fuel cell and biography of Geoffrey Ballard, the man behind the Ballard fuel cell.
The writing is excellent, and his ability to explain the super technical process of Hydrogen fuel cell technology, in terms that lay people can completly understand, keeps you from putting this book down.
I really hope that Tom Koppel keeps up on this company, and the industry in whole, and writes another book as good as this one, keeping us updated on the supersonic speed of advancement in this Incredible field of energy.
I loved this book.

A good story about a start-up company.......2001-09-10

This is a good book about Ballard Fuel Cell Company. It tells the story about taking the fuel-cell technology for electricity production from an oddity used in space to mass-market commercialization. The process is still going on so the book cannot conclude that Ballard has reached their goal, but the book does a good job explaining how Ballard reached their current state.
From a technical point of view one can argue that the author focuses too much on fuel cell development and too little on the necessary hydrogen delivery infrastructure, which is required to operate the fuel cells.
The book is also a good study in growing a start-up company. It shows how the founding entrepreneur pushes the idea forward until the company reaches a size where people with other qualities are needed to run the company. It shows how a company with hardly any products on the market can retain the public interest by carefully manage the information flow. Finally the book shows that it is possible for a relative small company to start development relationships with big multinational companies and still retain most of their independence.

Fuel Cells in Your Future.......2001-07-26

This book is a great case study in management and innovation. It shows once again that a small group of dedicated individuals can compete successfully against much larger competitors.

Fuel cells have long been successful in space craft. Soon you will be able to use them in your vehicles and buildings. Utility power plants typically discard about 60% of the heat energy from fuel. A fuel cell in your home would provide electricity efficiently. Instead of discarding the heat, you could use the fuel cell to heat your water everyday and provide some winter space heating.

A fuel cell in your vehicle will increase fuel efficiency and eliminate the need for oil changes.

About 40 cubic miles of crude oil remain available for more than six billion people, and we are consuming more than one cubic mile each year. By helping to reduce fuel consumption, fuel cells will help us to delay and reduce the severity of the coming shortages of fossil fuels.

Almost there.......2001-05-26

....

I believe Mr. Koppel had a tough choice in crafting book - how to tell the story of the company and the personalities involved, while at the same time explain the technology - which is quite fascinating and a topic of its own. To achieve this and not end up with a 1000 page text is a hard thing to do.

However - I wish they had made a choice on covering one topic and doing it justice - in this case the story of the company and the personalities involved. Koppel managed to gloss over ...some (to me) very significant episodes in the history of the firm. Perhaps he was not privy to all the details - but that in itself is a confusing issue as well. It seems he had access to Geoffrey Ballard and Fairoz Rasul - but does mention that Rasul told him that Ballard Power Systems would not assist in the creation of this book. The timing of this statement is not clear - did it happen while the book was being researched or after or before?

This also leads to another problem in the accounts - they are very Geoffrey Ballard centric and as the book explains - Ballard was a powerful personality and therefore (assumption here) prone to being very opinionated. One wonders how much of the other 2 sides of the story ... we are missing.

Furthermore, Ballard was not actively involved in the company when it really made its transformation from R&D focused niche player to commercial entity. That period, to me as a student of organizational behaviour, would have been very rich in detail on how the company managed the change, got the message across, set its strategy, executed at the tactical level, protected its interests, won or lost on the issues, etc. All of that is given a summary passing over "obstacles were overcome ...", "effeciencies were increased...", etc.

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