Product Description

Essential Mathematics for Games and Interactive Applications, 2nd edition presents the core mathematics necessary for sophisticated 3D graphics and interactive physical simulations. The book begins with linear algebra and matrix multiplication and expands on this foundation to cover such topics as color and lighting, interpolation, animation and basic game physics. Essential Mathematics focuses on the issues of 3D game development important to programmers and includes optimization guidance throughout.

The new edition Windows code will now use Visual Studio.NET. There will also be DirectX support provided, along with OpenGL - due to its cross-platform nature. Programmers will find more concrete examples included in this edition, as well as additional information on tuning, optimization and robustness.

The book has a companion CD-ROM with exercises and a test bank for the academic secondary market, and for main market: code examples built around a shared code base, including a math library covering all the topics presented in the book, a core vector/matrix math engine, and libraries to support basic 3D rendering and interaction. There is also an associated website with updates and code patches, and PowerPoint slides from presentations.

--Simple game engine with math, rendering, and input libraries on the CD-ROM, so that game developers can immediately start applying the techniques they learn in a basic codebase.
--Exercises on the CD-ROM for educators to use for course material
--Code samples shown throughout the book for real-world application
Product Details

* Amazon Sales Rank: #124592 in Books
* Published on: 2008-05-16
* Original language: English
* Number of items: 1
* Binding: Hardcover
* 704 pages

Editorial Reviews

Review
"It's the book with all the math you need for games. --Neil Kirby, Researcher, Alcatel-Lucent

----


1st edition:
"Even though I've worked with these systems for years,this book showed me new ways of looking at several topics that make them easier to remember and use. For someone new to 3D programming, it is extremely useful - it gives them a solid background in pretty much every area they need to understand. --Peter Lipson, Toys for Bob, Inc.
1st edition quote

Review
"It's the book with all the math you need for games." - Neil Kirby, Researcher, Alcatel-Lucent

------
1st edition:
"Even though I've worked with these systems for years,this book showed me new ways of looking at several topics that make them easier to remember and use. For someone new to 3D programming, it is extremely useful - it gives them a solid background in pretty much every area they need to understand." - Peter Lipson, Toys for Bob, Inc.
1st edition quote

About the Author
James M. Van Verth is a founding member of Red Storm Entertainment, a division of Ubisoft, where he has been a lead engineer for nine years. For the past eight years he has also been a regular speaker at the Game Developers Conferences, teaching the all-day tutorial Math for Game Programmers, on which this book is based. He has a B.A. in mathematics and computer science from Dartmouth College and M.S. degrees in computer science from the State University of New York at Buffalo and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Lars M. Bishop is an engineer in the Handheld Developer Technologies group at NVIDIA. Prior to joining NVIDIA, Lars was the Chief Technology Officer at Numerical Design Limited, leading the development of the Gamebryo3D cross-platform game engine. He received a BS in Math/Computer Science from Brown University and an MS in Computer Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His outside interests include photography, drumming, and playing bass guitar.

Product Description

Whether it's in Java, .NET, or Ruby on Rails, getting your
application ready to ship is only half the battle. Did you design
your system to survive a sudden rush of visitors from Digg or
Slashdot? Or an influx of real world customers from 100 different
countries? Are you ready for a world filled with flakey networks,
tangled databases, and impatient users?

If you're a developer and don't want to be on call at 3AM for the
rest of your life, this book will help.


In Release It!, Michael T. Nygard shows you how to design and
architect your application for the harsh realities it will face.
You'll learn how to design your application for maximum uptime,
performance, and return on investment.


Mike explains that many problems with systems today start with the
design:


"It's disconnected from the real world. It's the same as cars
designed solely in the cool comfort of the lab-they look great in
models and CAD systems, but don't work well in the real world. You
want a car designed by somebody who knows that oil changes are always
3,000 miles late; that the tires must work just as well on the last
sixteenth of an inch of tread as on the first; and that you will
certainly, at some point, stomp on the brakes while you're holding an
Egg McMuffin in one hand and a cell phone in the other."


With a combination of case studies and practical advice, Patterns to
follow and Anti-Patterns to avoid, Release It! will help you manage
the pitfalls that cost companies huge amounts of time and money each
year.

Product Details

* Amazon Sales Rank: #51104 in Books
* Published on: 2007-03-30
* Format: Illustrated
* Original language: English
* Number of items: 1
* Binding: Paperback
* 326 pages

Editorial Reviews

About the Author
Michael Nygard has been a professional programmer and architect for over 15 years. He has delivered systems to the U. S. Government, the military, banking, finance, agriculture, and retail industries. Michael has written numerous articles and editorials, spoken at Comdex, and coauthored one of the earliest Java books. Michael has designed, built, and engineered systems for B2B exchanges, retail commerce sites, travel and leisure sites, an information brokerage, and web applications for the intelligence community. Among other exciting projects in his position as Director of Engineering for Totality Corporation, Michael led the operations team through the launch of a tier 1 retail site. His experience with the birth and infancy of this retail platform gives him a unique perspective on building software for high performance and high reliability in the face of an actively hostile environment.
Customer Reviews

Interesting, but inconsistent4
This is a book of advices on how to make the system running. Not just to write and release it (no pun intended), but to keep it running after the release.

The book is about prior planning for capacity and stability, designing systems capable of handling the load while being resilient and fault-tolerant, build it in a maintainable and adaptable way, so that it lives through the years. A great deal of information in it too.

Overall, it was a pleasant reading, because in most parts it matches precisely what I'm doing on my job and what I've learned to be the right way of doing through hard experience. As always, such practical convergence with published material is very comforting.

Why did I give it 4 stars then ?

Because the book itself needs more work.

It is poorly structured and is stylistically informal. It doesn't have a plot, but it is also not a collection of independent essays or articles. Near the end it feels like the author just gave up the structure and stuffed the book with random thoughts.

Despite the author's promise for each part of the book to have a case study, only 3 out of the 4 unconnected book parts are opened with one, and the studies are of anecdotal nature. A few pages of horror in everybody's eyes to find out that a janitor had accidentally pulled the plug, something like that.

As the few architectural patterns suggested by the author reside near the middle of the book, the first half is full of forward references, like "but wait till you see the MagicPattern !". The patterns when you encounter them are useful but are explained shortly and in informal manner again.

A lot of assorted hints, ranging from TCP handshaking to stripping whitespace off web pages and wrapping a web service around a database. Interesting, but inconsistent.

It is difficult for me to be unbiased about a book like that, because, like I said, it correctly describes many of the practical considerations that I already knew in the first place.

I'd say it is the kind of book for the architects with development past. It will be useless for you unless you have a lot of practical experience as a developer. On the other hand, if you are a beginning developer, it won't help much either because it doesn't offer any analysis or any kind of formal textbook kind of information.

Sound Advice4
Release It!: Design and Deploy Production-Ready Software (Pragmatic Programmers) (Pragmatic Programmers)

This book offers very sound advice, based upon Author's years of experience. Every serious developer/architect should own it. The only reason why I gave it 4 stars is that the book is devoid of code; it would have been % star plus, book had Author put some code samples there (even pseudo code or more diagrams).

Must read for any web software engineer4
Unlike many books (such as those with animal kingdom on their cover or photos of several programmers) this book is by/for a real software engineer with real life production ailments and antidotes for them. Even if all the use cases discussed here may not be applicable, if people follow at least 50% of those that apply I think there will less business outages, better user experience and a happier IT department.

On top of all the good technical stuff, this book also happens to be well written - enough to be just enjoyed for the anecdotes and such.

A must read for any software engineer of web applications!

Product Description

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed postproceedings of the 12th International Meeting on DNA Computing, DNA12, held in Seoul, Korea in June 2006.

The 34 revised full papers presented were carefully selected during two rounds of reviewing and improvement from an initial total of 72 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on molecular and membrane computing models, complexity analysis, sequence and tile designs and their properties, DNA tile self-assembly models, simulator and software for DNA computing, DNA computing algorithms and new applications, novel experimental approaches, and experimental solutions.



Product Details

* Amazon Sales Rank: #3960311 in Books
* Published on: 2007-02-01
* Original language: English
* Number of items: 1
* Binding: Paperback
* 440 pages

Product Description

With software maintenance costs averaging 50% of total computing costs, it is necessary to have an effective maintenance program in place. Aging legacy systems, for example, pose an especially rough challenge as veteran programmers retire and their successors are left to figure out how the systems operate. This book explores program analyzers, reverse engineering tools, and reengineering tools in-depth and explains the best ways to deploy them. It also discusses using XML-based tools, the roles of software components, object technology, and metaprogramming in improving systems maintenance, as well as how to align software with business goals through strategic maintenance Product Details

* Amazon Sales Rank: #1121292 in Books
* Published on: 2007-05-07
* Original language: English
* Number of items: 1
* Binding: Hardcover
* 424 pages

Product Description

This concise, accessible text provides a thorough introduction to quantum computing - an exciting emergent field at the interface of the computer, engineering, mathematical and physical sciences. Aimed at advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate students in these disciplines, the text is technically detailed and is clearly illustrated throughout with diagrams and exercises. Some prior knowledge of linear algebra is assumed, including vector spaces and inner products. However, prior familiarity with topics such as tensor products and spectral decomposition is not required, as the necessary material is reviewed in the text.
Product Details

* Amazon Sales Rank: #281800 in Books
* Published on: 2007-01-18
* Original language: English
* Number of items: 1
* Binding: Paperback
* 288 pages

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The book is very accessible and the authors do an excellent job breaking up Shor's factoring algorithm into pieces that students can easily digest." Jonathan R. Friedman, Physics Today

About the Author

Phillip Ronald Kaye was born in Toronto, and raised in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. In 1995 Phil was accepted to the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Waterloo with an entrance scholarship. He completed his undergraduate degree in Systems Design Engineering in 2000 and was awarded the George Dufault Medal for Excellence in Communication at his convocation. During the Summer months following his undergraduate convocation, Phil worked as an encryption software developer at Research in Motion (RIM), where he continued to work on a part-time basis during his graduate studies. Phil did his Master's degree in the department of Combinatorics and Optimization at Waterloo. His Master's thesis was entitled 'Quantum Networks for Concentrating Entanglement, and a Logical Characterization of the Computational Complexity Class BPP.' Phil is currently a PhD student at the School of Computer Science at the University of Waterloo. Raymond Laflamme completed his undergraduate studies in Physics at Universite Laval. He then moved to Cambridge, UK, where he took Part III of the Mathematical Tripos before doing a PhD in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics (DAMTP) under the direction of Professor Stephen Hawking. Following posts at UBC, Cambridge and Los Alamos National Laboratory, Raymond moved to the University of Waterloo in 2001 as a Canada Research Chair in Quantum Information. Raymond is a recipient of Ontario's Premier Research Award and a Director of the Quantum Information program of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. He was named the Ivey Foundation Fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIAR) in September of 2005. Michele Mosca obtained a DPhil in quantum computer algorithms in 1999 at the University of Oxford. Since then he has been a faculty member in Mathematics at St. Jerome's University and in the Combinatorics and Optimization department of the Faculty of Mathematics, University of Waterloo, and a member of the Centre for Applied Cryptographic Research. He holds a Premier's Research Excellence Award (2000-2005), is the Canada Research Chair in Quantum Computation (since January 2002), and is a CIAR scholar (since September 2003). He is a co-founder and the Deputy Director of the Institute for Quantum Computing, and a founding member of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics.
Customer Reviews

Terrific choice for engineers interested in quantum computing5
This book is geared for the reader who has an undergraduate education in a technical field and who has a solid background in linear algebra, including vector spaces and inner products. Prior familiarity with topics such as eigendecomposition and more advanced mathematical topics is not required. The book reviews all of the necessary additional material. There are some places in the book where group theory is referred to, but these sections of the book are self-contained so that the reader can skip them if needed. It is a very accessible introduction to a complex subject that is fairly detailed and complete. Exercises are integrated into the body of the text. Each exercise is designed to illustrate a particular concept, fill in the details of a calculation or proof, or to show how concepts in the book can be generalized or extended. The following is a brief overview of the book:

1. Introduction and Background - Presents some fundamental notions of computation theory and quantum physics that will form the basis of what follows.

2. Linear Algebra and the Dirac Notation - Familiarizes the reader with the algebraic notation used in quantum mechanics, reminds the reader of some basic facts about complex vector spaces, and introduces some notions that may not have been covered in an elementary linear algebra course.

3. Qubits and the Framework of quantum Mechanics - Introduces the framework of quantum mechanics as it pertains to the types of systems that are considered in the book. Here the author also introduces the notion of a quantum bit or "qubit", which is a fundamental concept in quantum computing.

4. A Quantum Model of Computation - The circuit model of classical computation can be generalized to a model of quantum circuits. In such a model you have logical qubits carried along "wires" and quantum gates that act on the qubits. For convenience, the discussion is limited to unitary quantum gates.

5. Superdense Coding and Quantum Teleportation - Looks at our first protocols for quantum information. Examines two communication protocols that can be implemented using the tools which can be implemented using the tools developed in previous chapters. These protocols are known as superdense coding and quantum teleportation. Both of these are inherently quantum - there are no classical protocols that behave in the same way as these.

6. Introductory Quantum Algorithms - Describes some of the early quantum algorithms that are simple and illustrate the main ingredients behind the more useful and powerful quantum algorithms described in subsequent chapters. Since quantum algorithms share some features with classical probabilistic algorithms, the chapter starts with a comparison of the two algorithmic paradigms.

7. Algorithms with Superpolynomial Speed-Up - Examines one of two main classes of algorithms: quantum algorithms that solve problems with a complexity that is superpolynomially less than the complexity of the best-known classical algorithm for the same problem. That is, the complexity of the best-known classical algorithm cannot be bounded above by any poynomial in the complexity of the quantum algorithm. The chapter starts off by studying the problem of quantum phase estimation, which leads naturally to the Quantum Fourier Transform (QFT).

8. Algorithms Based on Amplitude Amplification - Discusses a broadly applicable quantum algorithm - quantum search - that provides a polynomial speed-up over the best-known classical algorithms for a wide class of important problems.

9. Quantum Computational Complexity Theory and Lower Bounds - Quantum computers seem to be more powerful than classical computers for certain problems. However, there are limits on the power of quantum computers. Since a classical computer can simulate a quantum one, a quantum computer can only compute the same set of functions that a classical computer can. This chapter examines this and some related issues.

10. Quantum Error Correction - Quantum computers are more susceptible to errors than classical digital computers because quantum mechanical systems are more delicate and more difficult to control. If large-scale quantum computers are to be possible, a theory of quantum error correction is needed. This is the issue discussed in this chapter.

Overall, I found this book well suited to self-study, particularly for someone with an engineering background. Highly recommended.

Great book5
For a beginner like me, I think this is a great book. I used to spend lots of time on N+C book but still got confused.

This introduction to Quantum computing book has lots of illustrations explaining how things are done step by step inside those complicated algorithms. If you study on your own with this book, there should be no problem. Then you can go back to review N+C's book and things would be much more clear.

Product Description

More than just Board review for USMLE, Steps 2 & 3, Blueprints Surgery, 3rd edition can help you during clerkship rotations and subinternship. The new edition has been updated with the help of residents to maintain a student-to-student approach. Features include: Concise, accurate, clinical high-yield content covering all you need to know for the USMLE and rotations USMLE style questions with full explanations provided in the answers Key Points in every section highlighting the most important, high-yield information for each topic Color-enhanced design to increase the usefulness of figures and tables Perfect for medical students -- physician assistants, nurse practitioners and related health professionals will also find Blueprints valuable.

Product Details

* Amazon Sales Rank: #338404 in Books
* Published on: 2003-05-01
* Original language: English
* Number of items: 1
* Binding: Paperback
* 152 pages

Customer Reviews

Not a good text for surgery!1
If you are looking for something to review and help while on the wards or for Step2, this is not a good text. It is way too general. Blueprints for some other topics are great, but not this one. I was very disappointed.

Just not enough...1
You can consider a book in two ways: (1) USMLE/shelf exam prep or (2) clinical rotation/patient exposure prep. This book fails in both respects. It is astonishingly brief, one of the smaller blueprints books in the series. It skims the surface of most surgical concepts and lacks much detail. It lacks the detail and topic coverage to be an effective textbook for exam study. As for rounds and actual surgeries, this may cover some of the topics that you will be pimped on, but you'll likely be running to up-to-date for more information. I would suggest First Aid for the Surgery Clerkship which more than prepared me for both the clinical aspects and the shelf exam or Essentials of General Surgery.

don't believe the anti hype5
the shelf exam emphasized all the main topics that were indeed covered in blueprints surgery. The shelf exam emphasizes application of concepts, there is no single text or question source out there that is so comprehensive that you will be able to take the shelf and generate the answer on the basis of straight memory recall. You need to be able to answer the questions de novo and apply what you've learned. Blueprints Q&A was a great accompaniment to blueprints surgery and there were actually repeat questions on the shelf exam from blueprints q & a. I read blueprints Q&A, and blueprints surgery, half of preTest, most of First Aid, and also Underground clinical vignettes for the shelf, I didn't learn a whole lot on rounds in the clerkship, but when I took the shelf I felt like there wasn't really anything on the shelf that wasn't discussed in blueprints.

Product Description

More than just Board review for USMLE Steps 2 and 3, Blueprints can help you during clerkship rotations and subinternship. They are especially helpful when studying areas outside your specialty. Physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and osteopaths find Blueprints a helpful companion to their study materials as well. / Concise, accurate, clinical high-yield content covers all you need to know for the USMLE and rotations / Includes USMLE-style questions with full explanations provided in the answers / Updated with the help of residents to maintain a student-to-student approach / Key Points in every section highlight the most important, high-yield information for each topic / Color-enhanced design increases the usefulness of figures and tables

Product Details

* Amazon Sales Rank: #216211 in Books
* Published on: 2003-07-01
* Original language: English
* Number of items: 1
* Binding: Paperback
* 352 pages

Customer Reviews

Who was the moron who edited this book?2
This book is absolutely rife with grammatical and spelling errors. If poor editing (or, more likely in this case, NO editing) bothers you, do NOT buy this book, as you will be too distracted by the numerous errors to concentrate on the content. Here are some of the more blatant examples from chapter 70: Paraneoplastic's Disorders; Endocrine's Disorders; Neurologic's Disorders; Hematologic's Disorders; Dermatologic's Disorders. Please, people -- it's called spell check, or use your half of a brain and hire a real editor.

Blueprints-medicine4
Blueprints series is overall pretty good. The Medicine book is a quick read that will give the reader a sufficient amount of knowledge and detail regarding that subject matter, however I think that it is appropriate to supplement some of the chapters with Cecil's to get a full understanding of the material. Overall, I recommend this book because it is a quick read and it isnt in the "bullet" style format that many of the books are- but rather in a flowing paragraph form.

A good source4
I have just finished my internal medicine rotation and found this book quite useful to study from. It is easy to find relevant material and it had everything but the very most recent research, which you won't get in any book anyway. Overall, I use it and plan on using it as a reference when needing to go over internal medicine again. P.S. I also find Harrisons necessary, and the washington manual of course.

Product Description

More than just Board review for USMLE, Steps 2 & 3, Blueprints can help you during clerkship rotations and subinternship. They are especially helpful when studying areas outside your specialty. Physician assistants, nurse practitioners and osteopaths find Blueprints a helpful companion to their study materials as well. Concise, accurate, clinical high-yield content covers all you need to know for the USMLE and rotations Includes USMLE style questions with full explanations provided in the answers Updated with the help of residents to maintain a student-to-student approach Key Points in every section highlight the most important, high-yield information for each topic Color-enhanced design increases the usefulness of figures and tables. Perfect for medical students -- physician assistants, nurse practitioners and related health professionals will also find Blueprints valuable.

Product Details

* Amazon Sales Rank: #459062 in Books
* Published on: 2003-11-01
* Original language: English
* Number of items: 1
* Binding: Paperback
* 128 pages

Customer Reviews

"Blueprints" in Psychiatry5
This is a great concise review of psychiatric disorders, their diagnosis according to the DSM IV and management options. This series has served me well in my core rotations in psychiatry. Especially, if you do not have much downtime and you need something quick to review, this is a great resource.

An ok book, but not comprehensive.4
I am glad this book was not too long, could you really stand to read much more about this topic. Anyways, I found this book to be ok. It covered most topics and hit the highlights. There were definitely details that showed up on the shelf exam however that were not included in this book. For some reason, the psychiatry shelf exam is one of the tougher ones. I used this book in combination with a little pocket book called "Psychiatry: Current Clinical Strategies." That little book filled in details that this blueprints book skipped. Using the combination of the two books was adequate for the rotation and to do well on the shelf exam.

This book is sufficient for USMLE step 2, but I used other sources for to study for the boards, such as First Aid, Boards and Wards, and Prescription for the Boards.

too basic3
not enough info for the shelf- very basic- some good charts- i mainly used pretest and platinum psychiatry vignettes to study- good for quick review

Product Description

Strong leaders are essential to business success, which makes leadership development a business imperative in today's competitive environment. Leaders are needed that can do more than manage - leaders are needed that can make a business great. In addition, there is increasing pressure on organizations to demonstrate the wise investment of development dollars. This requires the effective use of leadership development methods, as well as the ability to demonstrate the success of those methods. The Leadership Scorecard combines an explanation and discussion on best practice leadership development methods and incorporates ROI measurement & evaluation methodology.

· Helps HR practitioners implement & evaluate leadership development programs
· Shows how to communicate and overcome barriers to implementation
· Combines theory and practical case studies to illustrate developing a scorecard approach
Product Details

* Amazon Sales Rank: #956386 in Books
* Published on: 2004-05-19
* Original language: English
* Number of items: 1
* Binding: Paperback
* 317 pages

Editorial Reviews

Review
"The Leadership Scorecard does an outstanding job of connecting decisions about investment in the development of leadership talent to the competitive and financial success of the enterprise. It also provides practitioners and executives with a clear decision methodology to determine their optimal investment in leadership talent, as well as tools to document the impact of those investment decisions. A must for anyone involved in the development of leaders."
--Walter L. Jackson, Ph.D., Vice President, Talent Management & Strategic Staffing, Hartford Financial Services Group

"The Leadership Scorecard is a real gift to our understanding of the relationship between leadership and sustainable business success. The
books comprehensive coverage not only helps us to demonstrate the added value of leadership development but also provides a smart tool to
sway the core of our corporate values. You will gain a significant return on investment if you apply Jack Phillips and Lynn Schmidt's systematic how-to approach."
--Diederick Stoel, CEO & President, ProfitWise, the Netherlands

"In this volume, Jack Phillips and Lynn Schmidt have provided a sorely needed, robust methodology for measuring the ROI of leadership development, with the added contribution of providing strategies for converting data into monetary values. Their practical guidelines should command the attention of those charged with oversight of the company leadership development process as well as members of the top management team."
-- Robert J. Kramer, Ph.D., Principal Researcher for Leadership Development and Organization Effectiveness, The Conference Board

From the Back Cover
Business/Human Resources

The Leadership Scorecard

Jack Phillips and Lynn Schmidt

"The Leadership Scorecard does an outstanding job of connecting decisions about investment in the development of leadership talent to the competitive and financial success of the enterprise. It also provides practitioners and executives with a clear decision methodology to determine their optimal investment in leadership talent, as well as tools to document the impact of those investment decisions. A must for anyone involved in the development of leaders."
- Walter L. Jackson, Ph.D., Vice President, Talent Management & Strategic Staffing, Hartford Financial Services Group

"The Leadership Scorecard is a real gift to our understanding of the relationship between leadership and sustainable business success. The books comprehensive coverage not only helps us to demonstrate the added value of leadership development but also provides a smart tool to sway the core of our corporate values. You will gain a significant
return on investment if you apply Jack Phillips and Lynn Schmidt's systematic how-to approach."
- Diederick Stoel, CEO & President, ProfitWise, the Netherlands

". Jack Phillips and Lynn Schmidt have provided a sorely needed, robust methodology for measuring the ROI of leadership development, with the added contribution of providing strategies for converting data into monetary values."
- Robert J. Kramer, Ph.D., Principal Researcher for Leadership Development and Organization Effectiveness, The Conference Board

Strong leaders are essential to business success, which makes leadership development a business imperative in today's competitive environment. Leaders are needed that can do more than manage - leaders are needed that can make a business great. In addition, there is increasing pressure on organizations to demonstrate the wise investment of development dollars. This requires the effective use of leadership development methods, as well as the ability to demonstrate the success of those methods. The Leadership Scorecard combines an explanation and discussion on best practice leadership development methods and incorporates ROI measurement & evaluation methodology.

The Leadership Scorecard will be of interest to CEO's, executives, managers and professionals involved in leadership development, coaching and mentoring programs, action learning projects, training and performance improvement. Features include:
* Scorecard model in a step-by-step process
* Case studies integrated throughout the chapters to support application in an organizational setting.
* Proven measurement and evaluation techniques

Written by two of the most well-respected authors in the field, they make a case that strong leadership does have an impact on the bottom-line and outline the benefits to the organization of implementing a leadership scorecard.

Jack J. Phillips, Ph.D., is Chairman, ROI Institute, Inc. and a renowned expert of measurement and evaluation. He provides consulting services for Fortune 500 companies in the USA and to organizations in 40 countries.

Lynn Schmidt is a business executive with extensive experience in leadership and organization development who has implemented measurement and evaluation techniques in a number of organizations. She is a frequent presenter on the topic of leadership and measurement and evaluation at national and international conferences.

About the Author
Jack J. Phillips, PhD, is a world-renowned expert on measurement and evaluation and chair of the ROI Institute, Inc., which provides consulting services, workshops and keynote addresses for Fortune 500 companies and major organizations around the world. He developed the ROI MethodologyT, a revolutionary process that provides bottom-line figures and accountability for all types of training, performance improvement, human resources and technology programs and is used worldwide by corporations, governments and non-profit organizations. His expertise in measurement and evaluation is based on nearly thirty years of corporate experience in five industries. He has served as training and development manager at two Fortune 500 firms, senior HR officer at two firms, president of a regional federal savings bank, and management professor at a major state university.
Phillips is the author or editor of more than 30 books and more than 100 articles.

Lynn Schmidt is Vice President, Learning and Development, for Charter University at Charter Communications. Previously Director of Nextel Communications' Leadership Institute and Chairperson of the ASTD ROI Network Advisory Committee, in 2002 she received the Jack and Patti Phillips ROI Practitioner of the Year Award.

Product Description

Praise for Battling for Competitive Advantage

"[Battling for Competitive Advantage] systematically unravels and explains the complexities of modern business and warfare. This excellent book will prove helpful to business leaders as well as the academic community charged with explaining successful leadership of large organizations."
-General Barry R. McCaffrey, U.S.A. (Ret.), Professor of International Security Studies at West Point and NBC News Commentator

"Colonel Ken Allard doesn't just have supreme military intelligence, his operational brilliance extends to the business world as well. Battling for Competitive Advantage teaches you that business is war and that Ken is the perfect commander-in-chief to follow into your business battles."
-Ron Insana, Coanchor, CNBC's Business Center

"In war, they don't give out medals for second place. In business, as in war, you can't win without first surviving. [This book] offers the hard-won wisdom from one warrior's world to another. Read, laugh, squirm, survive, and win!"
-Scott A. Snook, Associate Professor, Organizational Behavior Harvard Business School

"In the post-9/11, post-Enron environment, Ken Allard's Ten Commandments of Military Leadership are directly applicable to today's business CEOs."
-Tom Petrie, Chairman and CEO, Petrie Parkman & Co.
Product Details

* Amazon Sales Rank: #692289 in Books
* Published on: 2003-12-26
* Original language: English
* Number of items: 1
* Binding: Hardcover
* 240 pages

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
The author, a former army colonel currently featured as a military analyst on MSNBC and NBC News, is convinced that corporate America can learn vital lessons from the U.S. military. Business executives, according to Allard (Command, Control and the Common Defense), today function in a chaotic atmosphere dominated by globalization and rapidly changing information technology. He argues that recent corporate scandals such as the collapse of Enron as well as the high salaries of CEOs are symptomatic of the lack of leadership in industry, a loss that seriously impedes business success. Drawing on myriad examples from the military, Allard provides a series of war plans that he believes can change the corporate environment. Included is a recommendation to emulate the training followed at West Point to build idealistic managers, to devise overall military-like strategies rather than marketing plans and to be aware of and responsible for security programs to combat electronic terrorism. While Allard's proposals to improve business leadership have merit, many of the military analogies are repetitive and forced. Much of his advice is delivered in an off-putting, hectoring tone that sometimes borders on bragging, and his potshots at former president Clinton feel inappropriate for a business manual.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review
The author, a former army colonel currently featured as a military analyst on MSNBC and NBC News, is convinced that corporate America can learn vital lessons from the U.S. military. Business executives, according to Allard (Command, Control and the Common Defense), today function in a chaotic atmosphere dominated by globalization and rapidly changing information technology. He argues that recent corporate scandals such as the collapse of Enron as well as the high salaries of CEOs are symptomatic of the lack of leadership in industry, a loss that seriously impedes business success. Drawing on myriad examples from the military, Allard provides a series of war plans that he believes can change the corporate environment. Included is a recommendation to emulate the training followed at West Point to build idealistic managers, to devise overall military-like strategies rather than marketing plans and to be aware of and responsible for security programs to combat electronic terrorism. While Allard’s proposals to improve business leadership have merit, many of the military analogies are repetitive and forced. Much of his advice is delivered in an off-putting, hectoring tone that sometimes borders on bragging, and his potshots at former president Clinton feel inappropriate for a business manual. (Jan.) (Publishers Weekly, January 12, 2004)

From the Inside Flap
Today’s competitive business environment is so hazardous–from the threat of terrorism to black outs, from global competition to information overload–that it seems more like battle and waging war than commerce. Trying to implement even the most brilliant of business strategies is frequently impossible in the face of a shifting landscape that feels like it requires night vision goggles and precision guided weapons over marketing plans and metrics.

To help you survive (and maybe even thrive!) you need to understand the way of the warrior, and who better to train you than former National War College dean and MSNBC military commentator, Ken Allard? Whether you recognize it yet or not, the military is just a violent form of economics, and military training holds more lessons for the businessperson than not.

To succeed in today’s turbulent business environment, standard business operating procedure no longer works. For companies and management intent on thriving in a landscape of global conflict and competition, new skills must be learned and old habits abandoned. Business as War: Battling for Competitive Advantage draws sometimes startling yet keenly insightful parallels between the strategies and tactics of the United States military and the challenges that companies face in the no-holds-barred world of business. Through firsthand accounts from his military and business career as well as real-world examples that apply cutting-edge military perspectives to the everyday world of business, Allard clearly illustrates how military lessons–when implemented correctly–can lead a business down the road to success.

First, you’ll be introduced to the traditional military arts of leadership and strategy. You’ll discover how true leadership–an essential key to both business survival and prosperity–can unite an organization at every level. You’ll also learn how forming a coherent strategy can make supporting courses of action much easier to determine. Building on these critical elements, Business as War moves on to discuss the personification of the art of command, better known as "generalship," as well as how to develop the leaders needed to run a successful business operation.

After examining how people fit into the business equation, Business as War explores the proven techniques that form the basis of solid business practice. You’ll receive an executive education on a variety of important issues, including:

* How to transform information into business intelligence
* Developing modern enterprise security measures that encompass physical, computer, and information assets
* Streamlining the information-sharing process
* Changing business hierarchies to fight networks
* How to be globally effective and operate in a world where the unknown will always be a threat
* Getting corporate boards to do their job

Many of the principles that apply to war also apply to business, and in tough economic times, survival is a matter of waging war. Business as War adapts the effective tools of war to a business environment where new competitors and difficult challenges are constant threats to you and your company.
Customer Reviews

This should be required reading for all business executives!5
This book should be required reading for all executives! If you are a business executive who is tired of being surprised by your competition, or you want to maximize your competitive advantage, read this book!!! Also, if you want some customized help from experts in the field, consider hiring Ken's new firm, Business BattleLab, LLC. You can contact them through auditexec@gmail.com. You really can improve your competitive advantage and keep from being surprised!

Misleading book - No business as war1
I ordered this book to read about business war games.
There is nothing about business. Only comments about his military life. I learned nothing. A wast of time and money.

If you want prosperity, prepare for paucity...5
I was a student of Col. Allard at Gerogetown University. In his class, Technology and National Security, one of his most important lessons was the continuing way in which the offense is guaranteed to adapt to whatever defense you can mount. And vice versa... In his new book, Col. Allard takes such lessons, accumulated by milennia of warfare, and applies them to the modern business world. I recommend this book for anyone truly interested in implementing effective leadership and strategy in their organization.

Product Description

In Business @ The Speed Of Thought, Microsoft chairman and CEO Bill Gates discusses how technology can help run business better in the near future. Success, he tells readers, will come to those who create a world-class digital nervous system so that information can easily flow through their companies for maximum and constant learning. He stresses the need for managers to view technology not as overhead but as a strategic asset, and offers detailed examples from Microsoft, GM, Dell, Merrill Lynch and many others to demonstrate his point. He shows technology can: Convert every paper process to a digital process, thereby freeing workers for more important tasks, Speed Communications around the world with fully integrated computer systems, Stimulate employees to develop and implement business strategies, Speed your companys reflexes through e-mail, Handle routine business analysis, focusing your employees on using information, and much more. Gates also includes a candid assessment of some of Microsofts miscalculations and how technology helped to turn failure into triumph. He covers how specific sectors of the economy are using technology to revolutionize themselves, and even gives readers a peek at some up-and-coming technologies. Also available as a Time Warner AudioBook featuring original material by Bill Gates interspersed throughout. One day laydown: March 25 1999.
Product Details

* Amazon Sales Rank: #457037 in Books
* Published on: 1999-03
* Released on: 1999-03-24
* Original language: English
* Number of items: 1
* Binding: Hardcover
* 496 pages

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
So where do you want to go tomorrow? That's the question Bill Gates tries to answer in Business @ the Speed of Thought. Gates offers a 12-step program for companies wanting to do business in the next millennium. The book's premise: Thanks to technology, the speed of business is accelerating at an ever-increasing rate, and to survive, it must develop an infrastructure--a "digital nervous system"--that allows for the unfettered movement of information inside a company. Gates writes that "The most meaningful way to differentiate your company from your competition ... is to do an outstanding job with information. How you gather, manage, and use information will determine whether you win or lose."

The book is peppered with examples of companies that have already successfully engineered information networks to manage inventory, sales, and customer relationships better. The examples run from Coca-Cola's ability to download sales data from vending machines to Microsoft's own internal practices, such as its reliance on e-mail for company-wide communication and the conversion of most paper processes to digital ones (an assertion that seems somewhat at odds with the now-infamous "by hand on sheets of paper" method of tracking profits that was revealed during Microsoft's antitrust trial).

While Gates breaks no new ground--dozens of authors have been writing about competing on a digital playing field for some time, among them Carl Shapiro and Hal Varian in Information Rules and Patricia Seybold in Customers.com--businesses that want a wakeup call may find this book a ringer. With excerpts in Time magazine, a dedicated Web site, and an all-out media assault, Microsoft is working hard to push Business @ the Speed of Thought into the national dialogue, and for many it will be difficult to see the book as anything but a finely tuned marketing campaign for the forthcoming versions of Windows NT and MS Office. Nevertheless, as Gates has shown time and time again, him, Microsoft, and perhaps even this book you may ignore at your own peril. --Harry C. Edwards

From Booklist
There's a companion Web site , and the back cover carries the message that Gates is donating his share of proceeds to charity. See also Clark's Netscape Time, p.1450. Bonnie Smothers

About the Author
BILL GATES is the chairman and chief executive officer at Microsoft Corporation. His vision and commitment regarding personal computing have been central to the success of Microsoft and in the advancement of software technology. He lives with his wife, Melinda, and daughter, Jennifer, in the Seattle area.

COLLINS HEMINGWAY is director of executive communications at Microsoft Corporation. He had been involved with Microsoft's systems products since 1987 and from 1994 to 1996 was director of international and partner marketing for the Personal and Business Systems Division.
Customer Reviews

PHB Fodder1
Do you remember that 90's Dilbert strip where the boss is listening to tapes on management-speak? In the strip, the boss repeats phrases and sentences as if it were a foreign language, and becomes gradually more confident with verbose, quasi-technical jargon. This was the first thing I thought of while listening to this book.

If you are looking to study management-speak as a foreign language, _Business @ The Speed of Thought_ is likely to be the next best thing to a Berlitz course. Otherwise, it's a completely unremarkable business book that has a bit of future prophecy. The observations and predictions do date this book; 1999 predictions about knowledge-workers and about using the internet for education seem uninspired at best.

Interesting Book4
"Business @ the Speed of Thought" is an interesting book written by Bill Gates, a very well-known person of Microsoft fame. A lot has changed since 1999 across the business and technology sectors, but many of the lessons laid out in this book still apply as well today as they did in the late 1990s.

One of the key themes/lessons stressed by this book, that of "networking" in the context of teams and relationships, has become more visible, important and relevant since the book's publication, in my opinion.

A number of the approaches espoused by this book, including "digitizing internal processes," "digitizing relationships with business partners" and "build and utilize the power of networks," among others, are touted today by a number of companies as keys to their success.

Whatever one's opinion might be of Microsoft, "Business @ the Speed of Thought" provides an interesting perspective on business and technology from the point of view of one of technology's most successful operators.

Information velocity5
In fifteen months we will reach Bill Gates' proposed milestone (10 years) of an era where information velocity, and our ability to deal with it at 'The speed of thought' will make or break any business. The tech-bubble crash has certainly dampened the progress, but the book is nonetheless undeniably relevant - arguably even more so in today's fast-paced world. Companies such as Wal-Mart, Mark & Spencer, FedEx and many others are prime examples of lessons well learned. Don't be left in the dust, build your own digital nervous system before it is too late.

Product Description

Launch a money-making venture from the comfort of your own home.

Starting a home-based business has special challenges. From preparing the right business plan to your first successful sale, The Home-Based Business Kit gives you the tools you need to succeed and make a profit. Experienced home-based business owners show you how to:
• Write Your Business Plan
• Analyze Market Data
• Prepare a Budget
• Manage Your Time
• Handle Family Distractions
• Set Up Your Home Workspace
• Negotiate with Vendors
• Hire Employees
• Find Customers
• Raise Start-Up Money

Additional features include:
• Case Studies
• Checklists
• Sample Business, Marketing and Financial Plans

Now is the time to turn your skills, hobby or big idea into real money.
Product Details

* Amazon Sales Rank: #1473258 in Books
* Published on: 2005-08
* Original language: English
* Number of items: 1
* Binding: Paperback
* 288 pages

Editorial Reviews

About the Author
D-M Boulay received her undergraduate degree from Boston College, and both her Master’s Degree in Nonprofit Management and her law degree from Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota. A veteran of the Vietnam War and past critical care nurse, she started her own law practice 25 years ago. Since then, she has helped many other entrepreneurs to start and manage their own businesses.

Ms. Boulay is an arbitrator and mediator of business disputes. She is past president of the Minnesota As

Diana Brodman Summers received her JD from DePaul University College of Law and her undergraduate degree from Roosevelt University. She is an arbitrator for both the Cook and DuPage County mandatory arbitration programs and was recently appointed to the Liquor Commission for the City of Downers Grove. Ms. Summers is an active member of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, the American Bar Association, the DuPage County Bar Association, and the Illinois State Bar Association.

Ms.

Product Description

The simple, practical and easy-to-apply ideas in this guide will help business owners identify the main reasons behind their lack of work-life balance and, most importantly, how to fix it. The experiences, tips, and coping mechanisms of thousands of business owners around the world who were consulted in the writing of the book are compiled into one easy reference that can get even the most out of control business owner back on track. The tips can be implemented quickly and with little or no cost, allowing readers to become the boss in both their businesses and their lives.

Product Details

* Amazon Sales Rank: #1309618 in Books
* Published on: 2007-11-01
* Original language: English
* Number of items: 1
* Binding: Paperback
* 240 pages

Editorial Reviews

About the Author
Andrew Griffiths is a professional marketing consultant. His company, The Marketing Professionals, provides practical and creative marketing solutions to both large corporations and small business operators. He is the author of several business books, including the 101 . . . series and Secrets to Building a Winning Business.
Customer Reviews

A life changing book!5
To have the ability to write a book like this and make it credible you are required to be have

a) lived a life like Andrew Griffiths
b) have the balls to tell people the truth and
c) chunk it down so everyone (and I mean everyone) can get something out of it!

This is a book that changes lives. If you want the same old, same old, life, then dont go near this book.

If you want to know how to dramatically increase the amount you suck out of life, then run (dont walk) to get 101 Ways to Have a Business and a Life

Should've Been Called "Every Entrepreneur's Bible!"5
This weekend I picked up three books on time management at Borders...Two of them I've heard of before, written by quite well known authors and business experts.

The third one I grabbed at the last moment before I headed to the check-out, and I am so glad I did!

Andrew Griffith's "101 Ways to Have a Business and a Life" is an amazing read! It's not just a time management book. It should've been called "Every Entrepeneur's Bible!"

It covers everything from managing your time and money to managing your relationships, health, employees, vendors, customers, family, kids, and much much more...I swallowed it in about 3 hours (ok, I skipped some section, but that's how I always read anyway).

The other two books were great, but this one stood out for one big reason: it was based on the author's true story of how his business life took a toll on his relationships and his health, and how he made a decision to "wake up" and realize that his business is "slowly killing" him.

Personal story - that's what's unique about this book, and makes his message so much more compelling. Andrew is also being very candid - he shares the things that most people are embarrased to admit even to themselves, and offers simple solutions.

The book is very easy to read, split into 1-2 page segments, just right for busy entrepreneurs.

I think the book cover doesn't do it justice...I'd love to see Andrew's photo on the front cover!

Go to your local book store and get it today!

P.S. If you're a life coach working with business owners, this is a great book to create your own coaching program around....You can even partner with the author to coach people based on his ideas!

P.P.S. Ok, I am off for a 2nd walk today...Andrew's words are magically inspiring!

Product Description

In Presenting to Win: Persuading Your Audience Every Time, the world's #1 presentation consultant shows how to connect with even the toughest, most high-level audiences--and move them to action. Jerry Weissman shows presenters of all kinds how to dump those PowerPoint templates once and for all--and learn to tell compelling stories that focus on what's in it for their listeners. Drawing on dozens of practical examples and real case studies, Weissman shows presenters how to identify their real goals and messages before they even open PowerPoint; how to stay focused on what their listeners really care about; and how to capture their audiences in the first crucial 90 seconds. From bullets and graphics to the effective, sparing use of special effects, Weissman covers all the practical mechanics of effective presentation--and walks readers through every step of building a Power Presentation, from brainstorming through delivery. Unlike the techniques in other presentation books, this book's easy, step-by-step approach has been proven with billions of dollars on the line, in hundreds of IPO road shows before the world's most jaded investors.

Product Details

* Amazon Sales Rank: #105952 in Books
* Published on: 2003-03-13
* Original language: English
* Number of items: 1
* Binding: Hardcover
* 304 pages

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

In Presenting to Win: Persuading Your Audience Every Time, the world's #1 presentation consultant shows how to connect with even the toughest, most high-level audiences--and move them to action. Jerry Weissman shows presenters of all kinds how to dump those PowerPoint templates once and for all--and learn to tell compelling stories that focus on what's in it for their listeners. Drawing on dozens of practical examples and real case studies, Weissman shows presenters how to identify their real goals and messages before they even open PowerPoint; how to stay focused on what their listeners really care about; and how to capture their audiences in the first crucial 90 seconds. From bullets and graphics to the effective, sparing use of special effects, Weissman covers all the practical mechanics of effective presentation--and walks readers through every step of building a Power Presentation, from brainstorming through delivery. Unlike the techniques in other presentation books, this book's easy, step-by-step approach has been proven with billions of dollars on the line, in hundreds of IPO road shows before the world's most jaded investors.

About the Author

Jerry Weissman, the world's #1 corporate presentations consultant, is known worldwide for his confidential executive coaching sessions. Weissman's private client list reads like a Who's Who of the world's great companies, including the top brass at Yahoo!, eBay, Intel, Intuit, Cisco Systems, Microsoft, and many others. Weissman's techniques have helped nearly 400 client firms hone persuasive IPO road show presentations that have raised hundreds of billions of dollars in the stock market; and have helped hundreds of other public and pre-public firms develop and deliver crucial business presentations.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
What's Past Is Prologue

My first experience with the power of the spoken word came on December 8, 1941, when as a child, I joined my father and mother at the family Philco radio to hear President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor, deliver his stirring Day of Infamy speech. I'll never forget how he concluded, his rich voice reverberating: "With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounded determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph. So help us God." In that exhilarating moment, Roosevelt's potent words pierced through our dismay, lifted our spirits, and restored our confidence in our nation and in our future.

Later, I learned more about the ability of words to move people's minds in my graduate classes in the Speech and Drama Department at Stanford University, where I studied the works of the great Greek orators. Still later, in my work as a news and public affairs producer for CBS Television in New York, I witnessed the momentous impact of the words of great national leaders, from John F. Kennedy to Martin Luther King, Jr.

But I never fully realized the universal significance of communication until I left the broadcast medium and entered the world of business. The medium of choice in business is the presentation, and I soon discovered the force it can exert: A poor presentation can kill a deal, while a powerful one can make it soar. Early in my business career, I was privileged to work on the Initial Public Offering presentation, known as an IPO road show, for Cisco Systems, and saw, on its first day of trading after the road show, Cisco's valuation increase by over 40 million dollars.

The big Aha!for me was the realization that every communication is an IPO. Everyone communicates every day. You do. I do. Every time we do, we can either fail or succeed. My job is to help you succeed in your everyday communications, just as I helped the Cisco IPO, and as I've helped hundreds of corporations like Microsoft and Intel, and thousands of clients who are executives or managers or salespeople just like you. My job is to help you persuade every audience, every time.

The very same principles that propelled Cisco's success reach all the way back to the classical concepts of Aristotle. Those same basics underlie Abraham Lincoln's towering rhetoric that healed a nation torn asunder by civil war. They underlie Sir Winston Churchill's inspiring orations and Franklin Roosevelt's assuring fireside chats that rallied their nations to the victorious defense of the free world. And they underlie Martin Luther King's rousing speeches that spearheaded the civil rights movement.

They also underlie your sales pitch, your presentation to a potential new customer, your bid for financing, your requisition for more resources, your petition for a promotion, your appeal for a raise, your call to action, your own quest for the big Aha!

They are the principles that will empower you to present to win.

Customer Reviews

Presenting to Win is an excellent tool4
This book is an excellent tool. It focuses very specifically on effectively creating a business presentation. The tips were valuable to be and I have been creating presentations for several years. It will also be very easy to reference in the future.

Homerun after homerun after homerun ...4
This book is about making CONSCIOUS decisions for balancing the story board itself for hard facts, visual, ethical and psychological aspects, politicily correctness etc. but of course doesnt stop there.

The book shows and discusses which elements you need to convey your story and why you use certain presentation technics over others to achieve your goals.

The book is devided in 14 chapters. Each chapter is focused on either

a) How to create or develop your basic story or on
b) How to enhance it

(by using the described technics and its implications and reactons it will provoke).

What makes this book standing out is the careful analyzation of the aspects that came into play when giving an presentation.

That obviously includes the analytical skills itself but also the time and effort to explicitely mention and discuss (dis)advantages of each element.


The carefully chosen presentation samples will be disassembled throughout the book and taken apart into its peaces, analyzed, explained and put back together.

Where required, the example will be (dis)assembled several times to bring the points across.

Its the analysation of those presentations and its aspects to a granular level and putting the gained knowledge into a conscious presentation creation process that make the book so valuable.

Most books tell you just how to use software to make graphics etc. but this book tells you what you have to present to your adience to actually win them over.

The fact that the many aspects are explicitely explained helps you visualize the options you have at your disposal and the reason why you chose one presentation form over another.

While this book focuses on presentations that show off your assets and the art of persuasion. There is also a companion book "In the line of Fire" which focuses more on the defense to hardball questions.

I do also want to recommend a third book - "Dan Roams: Back of the Napkin" which focuses more on the technical aspects of how to find your story, and a strong focus on visualizing it fool prove and providing rock solid hard facts that wont be beaten.

What Jerry*s books does express very well is the fact that giving a presentation is like being an athlet.
You will have to exercise "verbalize" regularly to be in top form when it counts.

Good luck to you !!

You will never present the same way again...and your audiece will thank you5
Jerry Weissman is one of those rare people who has written an authoritative sounding book about how to present and has the real experience and background to justify every claim he makes.

The book starts with the premise that the presenter must focus on the audience and that he must make them focus on him. He must understand the mental point they are at (Point A) and moves them to Point B. He must understand what is in it for them (WIIFY) and constantly use it as he constructs every slide to walk them to Point B. He must also understand the setting of the audience, and his main points of argument. Finally, he must tie those points together with a flow structure that fits his argument.

That's the first half of the book and as someone who has through some awful presentations, I can only wish reading this book were the equivalent of a driver's license for public speakers.

The back half of the book draws on his background in television and employs standard cinematic techniques to improve the appearance of PowerPoint. It's easy to overlook this part, but it makes a huge difference as well.

I've now had a chance to see people who have used these techniques for years present, and it makes a huge difference. I have also seen someone present in a tough situation using these techniques for the first time. This person is level-headed and not given to fads. His comment? "I wish I had run to Jerry's book ten years earlier."

If you speak in public, this is the one book you have to read, and re-read. It is common sensical, based in fact, and surprisingly intuitive.