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Comment on Unusually Excellent: The Necessary Nine Skills Required for the Practice of Great Leadership Kindle Books by William D. Price "Will Price"

William D. Price "Will Price" — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 05:37:46 +0000

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

the power of authencitiy, April 4, 2011

William D. Price "Will Price" (Mountain View, CA) -

This review is from: Unusually Excellent: The Necessary Nine Skills Required for the Practice of Great Leadership (Hardcover)

My mentor and a fellow CEO sent me a copy of Hamm's book. Hamm's career allowed him to see many of the technology industry's "unusually excellent" leaders up close, and in this book he shares a practical framework for great leadership.

It's a quick read and the framework is useful to understand the core qualities that separate average leaders from unusually excellent leaders. Hamm's model notes that competence is only 1/3 of the battle, with credibility and consequence rounding our the model. Self-awareness, trust, a compass to navigate challenging decisions, the ability to share and empathize...are all EQ level traits. Pure competence, IQ, is not enough. Lehman, Enron, AIG....all companies full of high IQ people who lost their way and operated without a compass.

Hamm's book celebrates self-awareness and authenticity as key tenets of leadership. It's worth reading.

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Comment on Unusually Excellent: The Necessary Nine Skills Required for the Practice of Great Leadership Kindle Books by C. P. Michel "navalair1"

C. P. Michel "navalair1" — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 05:23:19 +0000

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

Truly Excellent, February 11, 2011

C. P. Michel "navalair1" (San Francisco, CA USA) -

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This review is from: Unusually Excellent: The Necessary Nine Skills Required for the Practice of Great Leadership (Hardcover)

This is fundamentally a practical guide for leaders to realize their full potential. This book packages diagnosis, case studies, and actionable tools for leaders to achieve their best. It's a fabulous read - inspiring & exceptionally useful. Highly recommended.

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Comment on Unusually Excellent: The Necessary Nine Skills Required for the Practice of Great Leadership Kindle Books by Russ Pillar, The 5850 Group

Russ Pillar, The 5850 Group — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 05:13:26 +0000

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

An Unusually Excellent Book, March 3, 2011

Russ Pillar, The 5850 Group -

This review is from: Unusually Excellent: The Necessary Nine Skills Required for the Practice of Great Leadership (Hardcover)

In Unusually Excellent, John Hamm writes compellingly, convincingly, and accessibly about the time-worn bedrock principles of leadership. Peppered with sports analogies and sprinkled with germane and interesting business anecdotes, Hamm shows us time and again that the most successful leaders are committed to a personal set of core principles that generate power--and a following--through authenticity. It's a reminder to all of us, regardless of whether we hope to helm a Girl Scout troop or a Fortune 500 firm, that having a strong moral compass--and committing to the direction that that compass points--is a timeless lesson we'd all do well to heed.

Unusually Excellent certainly is that, but it also happens to be unusually engrossing, enlightening, and entertaining. I wholeheartedly recommend it.

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Comment on Robert B. Parker’s Killing the Blues (Jesse Stone) Kindle Books Reviews by Dearel J. Friend "New Kindle fan"

Dearel J. Friend "New Kindle fan" — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 06:49:37 +0000

24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

B For Effort, Needs to try harder, September 13, 2011

Dearel J. Friend "New Kindle fan" (Phoenix, AZ) -

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This review is from: Robert B. Parker's Killing the Blues (Jesse Stone) (Kindle Edition)

Okay, I pre-ordered this. My curiosity about who the family would pick to continue Parker's writings were just too much for me. Once I got my Kindle notification that it was now available for download, I eagerly did so.

Well, if I were to be kind I would just say I'm "underwhelmed". But, in all honesty, the author needs to try a little harder, whether you compare it to Parker or even as a "stand alone".

The writing is clumsy at times and where RBP could have said it in a page, this writer sometimes stumbles all over himself trying to say something. Remember that sparkling RBP dialogue? Gone...dead with Robert. Where RBP avoided..or minimized the "she said", "he said" business, this guy can't write dialogue without it.

Hopefully, the guy that ends up writing the follow-on Spenser novels is better at minimalism. This book will see well because alot of RBP followers will buy it just to see how the new book is written. They'll be a little disappointed.

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Comment on Robert B. Parker’s Killing the Blues (Jesse Stone) Kindle Books Reviews by miller stevens

miller stevens — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 06:12:58 +0000

27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

Parker rolling in his grave, September 13, 2011

miller stevens (seattle) -

This review is from: Robert B. Parker's Killing the Blues (A Jesse Stone Novel) (Hardcover)

I thought I hated those Zombie Jane Austen novels ... but at least the writers of those could write and it was clear these were pastiches. This is just awful. I got about a third of the way through it and thought my eyes were going to bleed. It's not just that the poor characterization, lame plot and just dreadful writing was such a slap in the face of one of the greatest writers we've ever had, it's that this is in itself so awful it should never have been written. It totally feels like a high school junior read some of Parker's novels and thought he'd take a crack for a school project. If this guy considers himself a friend of Parker, he should be absolutely ashamed of himself.

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Comment on Robert B. Parker’s Killing the Blues (Jesse Stone) Kindle Books Reviews by Don In Fremont

Don In Fremont — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 06:03:43 +0000

69 of 72 people found the following review helpful:

A clear change in direction, but still Jesse..., September 13, 2011

Don In Fremont (Redmond OR) -

This review is from: Robert B. Parker's Killing the Blues (A Jesse Stone Novel) (Hardcover)

Your reaction to the simple existence of a Jesse Stone novel written by someone who's not Robert B. Parker will likely define your approach to reading it.

If, like me, you are a long-time reader of the late, lamented Grand Master Parker, you will be rightly skeptical. The stylistic differences, coupled with clearly different skill-sets, will be off-putting. The choices Michael Brandman makes early in the book will drive you crazy. You might want to fling the book out a window, even.

If, however, you come to Killing The Blues as an admirer of the Jesse Stone TV-Movies, on which Brandman and Parker were frequent collaborators, you'll likely be spared such self-righteous angst.

Brandman seems to be blurring the lines between book and movie continuity now, to the point that Killing The Blues is much like those "tv tie-in" books that support CSI and other long-running series. The settings and characters now resemble the movies more than previous books.

By itself, Killing The Blues is a very effective story of obssession, redemption and all the themes Parker made resonate so well. It weaves a few compelling plot-lines together pretty seamlessly. It's very entertaining crime-fiction commerce.

As summer approaches Paradise, Jesse is greeted with a new wave of car thefts, all Hondas. Clearly an organized-crime expansion into His Town to feed their chop-shop appetites. Jesse wants to stop the crimes, but the Paradise Board of Selectmen want to stop the threat to The Season, which creates some cross-purposes, and opportunities for Jesse to display his ironic aversion to authority.

Jesse hears from his old boss in L.A. A former victim of Jesse's dark past, Ruthless Thug Rollo Nurse, has been released, and word has drifted that Jesse will be his target. The cat-and-mouse between Jesse and Rollo form the core of the book's narration. The other threads of Brandman's story weave around it, and provide nice balance.

When Parker died, Jesse seemed headed towards a really fun relationship with Sunny Randall. That's "resolved" rather quickly, so we can watch Jesse do the dance with Alexis Richardson, neice of a town Selectman, and PR person. She wants to launch a Rock Festival in town. Sparks fly, take-out is consumed, frolic ensues.

As Jesse gets close on the car-thefts, Rollo arrives and begins to work his twisted revenge scheme on Jesse. Brandman stages these quite well, creating some real loin-girding moments for us. He also does good work in forcing us to observe Rollo's psychosis as a result of Jesse's Great Flaw. It'll keep ya thinking.

Brandman also takes a trendy whack at school bullying, starting and finishing an episode at the local Junior High providing some character beats for Jesse, but nothing significant beyond them.

So, for Parker fans, what's missing? The obvious is that Parker wrote human dialogue better than almost anyone, so anyone else using the characters is going to suffer by comparison. There's also a marginalization of Molly Crane that is saddening. She's there for comic relief, but the banter between her and Jesse is just functional, totally lacking Parker's insightfulness. She is, here, a reflection of the TV version.

And there's the whole commercial orientation. Parker loved to make money, of course, but he always had something on his mind, and used his characters to flesh out those thoughts. Brandman has a whole other direction here, and it occasionally disrupts the reading experience.

However, anyone getting too high on their horse should remember, in literature, characters always live on. Parker wrote a Philip Marlowe by himself (Perchance To Dream), after finishing Chandler's Poodle Springs, and it was huge fun. Jeffrey Deaver just published a James Bond novel. Ace Atkins (YAY!) will pick up the Spenser series. The key is how involved the Parker estate remains in the execution of these series. That influence will determine the quality of future installments primarily by ensuring selected authors stay true to what made the characters worth continuing in the first place.

So, get Killing The Blues, have fun with it, be wistful, and enjoy the ride. It's what Parker would've wanted us to do.

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Comment on PanDigital 72-70FW 7-Inch Tablet Computer – White (Remanufactured) by Laurie

Laurie — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 06:08:25 +0000

112 of 116 people found the following review helpful:

Great product, June 30, 2011

Laurie (Indiana, USA) -

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This review is from: PanDigital 72-70FW 7-Inch Tablet Computer - White (Remanufactured) (Personal Computers)

I bought this as a birthday present for my mom. She enjoys surfing the web right before bedtime and had been using her ipod touch, but the screen is soooo little it's hard for her to see anything. She is also disabled and there are days that she is in bed or on the couch all day unable to move. I wanted her to have something larger that was a multi-tasker that was easy to use. SHE LOVES THIS TABLET!! It has taken her a few days to get the hang of it, and she says she still hasn't discovered all of the bells and whistles, but it lets her surf the web without having to sit at a desk where the computer is. It's also an ereader and the built in Barnes and Noble app is awesome and very easy to use. It also comes with a couple of games (one of them is solitaire, she was thrilled :) )But she has already downloaded a few more from the app store. In my opinion, it is totally worth the cost and I am just thankful to see her so happy.

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Comment on The Photoshop Elements 9 Book for Digital Photographers (Voices That Matter) Kindle Books Reviews by P. Mullin "gadgetboy"

P. Mullin "gadgetboy" — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 06:00:44 +0000

37 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

Great asset for newer PS users., December 30, 2010

P. Mullin "gadgetboy" (Philly, PA) -

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This review is from: The Photoshop Elements 9 Book for Digital Photographers (Voices That Matter) (Paperback)

So if you are like me you do not use PS everyday. This book makes it easy to find the steps needed to tweak your photos. It gives you step by step instructions on how to make photo adjustments. I don't want to spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to sharpen the picture or adjust eh white balance. I love the way the book just walks you through the steps.

The author has an odd sense of humor that comes out in his chapter intros but I don't hold it against him.

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