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- A Must Have book for the plein air painter
- looking
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Cezanne: Landscape into Art
Pavel Machotka
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
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Similar Items:
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Cézanne's Composition: Analysis of His Form with Diagrams and Photographs of His Motifs
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A Cezanne Sketchbook: Figures, Portraits, Landscapes and Still Lifes (Dover Books on Fine Art)
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Cezanne in Provence
ASIN: 0300067011 |
Book Description
This beautiful book presents a new perspective on C_zanne`s landscape paintings, comparing them to color photographs of the same sites. Machotka, himself an artist, provides a close and thorough examination of how Czanne transformed nature into art, and the result is an original and illuminating study of the great painter`s methods and techniques.
Customer Reviews:
A Must Have book for the plein air painter.......2007-06-17
Although this is a great book for any art lover it is a must for the plein air (outdoor) painter. It demonstrates how Cezanne transformed his "motif", the scene he has selected, into a painting by showing photos of the motif side by side with his paintings. Machotka, an artist himself, discusses the artistic problems presented by each scene and Cezanne's various solutions as they vary over his development as an artist. Machotka is knowledgeable, thoughtful and writes well. This book will certainly extend your appreciation of Cezanne and if you paint plein air, will likely make you a much more observant and better painter. As a painter this is one of the few books on composition and technique that I recommend to other painters.
looking.......2000-07-29
Cezanne's influence on Cubism and later abstract styles can make the viewer forget just how important looking at his native landscape was to the painter. This wonderful book helps us see the fascinating ways Cezanne succeeded in "realizing his sensations" in front of nature and landscape. A book to return to again and again.
A GREAT BOOK.......2000-07-21
This is by far one of the best books I have ever read and had. Machotka details Cezanne in a great way. I was never a great fan of Cezanne before purchasing this book, now I'm a devoted fan! Cezanne would be proud to have someone like Machotka writing about his work.
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The Layout Look Book: Great Design Solutions
Loft Publications
Manufacturer: Collins Design
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0061139696 |
Book Description
Calvin and Hobbes books have taken the country by storm and here's the biggest, brightest one yet! Calvin and Hobbest soared to the top of the bestseller lists in its first month of publication, selling a million copies within 9 months of publication. Something Under The Bed Is Drooling exploded out of the stores, selling nearly a million copies within the first month of publication! Now, those two books are brought together in this over-size anthology-type book. Adding to the fun in The Essential Calvin and Hobbes are an original 16-page story and color Sunday cartoons.
Customer Reviews:
Graphic SF Reader.......2007-09-03
I am not sure I have ever met anyone who has read some Calvin and Hobbes comic strips and hated them. I suppose there might be a person or two out there allergic to stuffed toy tigers, perhaps, or had a horrible accident involving one. Those would be the only people I could think of that would not find these strips entertaining, no matter what age.
Calvin looks a little different in this one.......2007-06-02
This collection contains earlier C&H cartoons. Being accustomed to seeing a slightly different looking Calvin in the more modern works it takes a little getting used to. His head is HUGE! His mouth...HUGE...and also very much like those Peanuts characters. The way his body and feet are drawn is also like them. Maybe they were Watterson's inspiration? Aside from the bigger head and mouth, Calvin in drawn shorter and wider than we are accustomed to and Hobbes is also bigger than him (when he is a stuffed tiger) which makes Calvin look even smaller. I thought at first that he was four or five but then he refers to himself as a six year old so that hasn't changed. I'm guessing that Watterson refined his craft in the years following...after all, this was originally published in 1988!!!
In this collection we see:
Calvin meets Hobbes
Calvin meets Susie...and does some serious flirting???
Calvin goes to the doctor and lives to tell the tale
His mom lets him try smoking
Shrunken heads for dinner anyone?
Calvin vs Rosalyn...who wins?
Many, many more memorable episodes in this collection that will keep you coming back for more!
CAUTION!!: When the information said "Includes cartoons from Calvin & Hobbes and Something Under the Bed is Drooling" I was under the impression that it contained just a few of those. Not so! It actually COMBINES those 2 books so that ALL of those cartoons are contained herein. I learned this because I ordered this together with Calvin & Hobbes...I am assuming it will be like this for other collections as well.
ONE OF THE BEST!.......2006-06-18
This calvin and hobbes collection is one of my favorites. I own every single one, but this one is better to me because it has more Sunday comics in it. The adventures, the fun, the snow, the beach...Bill Watterson shouldn't have quit. 5 Stars
Hobbes' Favorite Thing To Do.......2005-09-07
As you can tell by the cover on here, Hobbes' favorite thing to do is pounce on Calvin when he gets home from school.
Calvin does not like going to school, because he gets just about everything wrong, he tells Susie the disgusting things he brought for lunch, at recess there's the bully Moe and when he gets home, Hobbes pounces on him.
Calvin's mistake:Shouting out "I'M HOME!" when he comes in the door. He knows Hobbes will hear him and that gives him the advantage of pouncing on Calvin.
A fantastic collection of early Calvin and Hobbes comics.......2004-06-16
The Essential Calvin and Hobbes, first published in 1988, is chock full of early Calvin and Hobbes comic strips. No cartoonist, not even Charles Schultz, has captured the magical essence of childhood the way Bill Watterson did in this strip, and it should come as no surprise (although it did to Watterson) that Calvin and Hobbes quickly developed an incredibly loyal following. This strip went way beyond mere popularity. While I was in college, the campus newspaper decided to stop running Calvin and Hobbes (I think this was during one of Watterson's sabbaticals) - this resulted in nothing less than a furor on campus, as countless students immediately demanded the return of C&H. In a matter of days, Calvin and Hobbes were right back where they belonged.
How does a comic strip featuring a mischievous six-year-old boy and his stuffed tiger attract a fiercely loyal following of adults? Most adults would love to be children again, to know the freedom and sense of wonder that somehow withers inside the human soul after the onset of puberty. Calvin and Hobbes vividly recreates the feelings and emotions of the very essence of childhood. It brings back memories of things we forgot far too long ago, and it thus reawakens the deepest parts of our ever-hardening souls. Reading this comic strip is the next best thing to being a child yourself. Calvin does everything you used to do: he takes time to stomp in mud puddles, he lets his imagination run wild to make thrilling adventures out of even the most mundane tasks, he ponders the same deep questions you are now, as an adult, afraid to ask, he goes for the gusto no matter what sort of risk is involved, he is in every way a perfect specimen of childhood. Who, as a child, didn't pretend to be a dinosaur, walk around with a hideous expression in hopes of your facing freezing that way, tease the girls (or boys) you claimed to hate, journey to distant worlds unseen by human eyes, etc.?
Of course, Hobbes is just as important to the comic strip as Calvin. Hobbes is a tiger, Calvin's best and constant friend, a fellow partaker in the joys of childish innocence. To Calvin, Hobbes really is all that, and that is how we see him as well - until, that is, someone else comes into the frame, when he suddenly becomes nothing more than a stuffed animal. Watterson is a fantastic comic artist, and there is just something captivating about the way he draws Hobbes in his stuffed animal form. Everything about Watterson's art is fantastic, though, particularly the way it captures the emotions of its two principal characters.
Sadly, we have only ten years of comic memories in the form of Calvin and Hobbes, as the inscrutable Bill Watterson retired (around the age of 37) in 1995 and quite obviously has no plans of returning to the public arena. Watterson is actually frighteningly private and seems to be living a life of unmatched solitude. I find this extraordinarily sad: here is a man who captured the essence of childhood so vividly in the form of Calvin and Hobbes, a world bursting with life and possibilities, yet now he seems to have withdrawn from life itself. We must be thankful we do have as much Calvin and Hobbes material as we do, and The Essential Calvin and Hobbes, with 255 pages of black and white daily strips and color Sunday strips, features much more than just a chunk of it in and of itself.
Product Description
Calvin and Hobbes contains hilarious pictures that cannot be duplicated in other mediums. In Short, it is fun to look at, and this is what has made Bill's work such an admirable success.
Customer Reviews:
Superb Calvin and Hobbes.......2005-06-03
Meet Calvin, he is a hyper active six year old know all, an only child to his mild mannered and harassed parents. His best friend and companion is a stuffed tiger called Hobbes, whom Calvin snared in his backyard by using tuna fish sandwich as bait. Ever since, Calvin and Hobbes are inseparable.
The Essential Calvin and Hobbes combines all the cartoons from Calvin and Hobbes and Something Under the Bed is Drooling plus there is a new poem, A Nauseous Nocturne. The author Bill Watterson, draws superb cartoons to accompany his amazing imagination. The good thing about `The Essential Calvin and Hobbes' is that it begins at the beginning and we get to see the things developing before our eyes like Calvin snaring Hobbes and their relationship developing.
You must have gathered by now that Calvin lives with his mom and dad and his best friend Hobbes. In vacations, weekends or evenings we can see Calvin and Hobbes walking or playing in open fields and woods. His genius classmate Susie Derkins lives down the road and in his classrooms we meet Moe, the class bully and the class teacher of standard 1, Miss Wormwood.
There is only one person in the entire neighborhood that is ready to act as a babysitter for Calvin, Rosalyn. Rosalyn is probably the only adult whom Calvin fears. And the only other thing that Calvin fears are monsters under his bed. Read out these books for a fun filled time.
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The Essential Calvin and Hobbes
Bill Watterson
Manufacturer: Andrews McMeel Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: B000NY49HI |
Average customer rating:
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The Essential Calvin and Hobbes
Bill Watterson
Manufacturer: Andrews and McMeel
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Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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ASIN: B000LAXKS8 |
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Odio Las Bicicletas!: The Essential Calvin and Hobbes
Bill Watterson
Manufacturer: Ediciones B
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ASIN: 8466601392 |
Book Description
The mullet-cut is a style in which the hair is short at the front coupled with a long mane at the back. Popular in the 1980s, entering the zeitgeist and becoming the hairstyle to have, the mullet is now in decline. The authors examine all areas of the phenomenon, from mullets in pop to advertising.
Customer Reviews:
a star in your own book.......2003-06-17
The Mullet is the crowning accomplishment of white trash icons everywhere. They wear their coifs with feigned ignorance and blissful indifference to the profound impact they make.
Long live the fashion trendsetters and indomitable champions of bad taste. Your trucks...your bumper stickers...your hair...your charm!
Variety is truly the spice of life!
good stuff.......2002-02-18
i love this book it is my bible i use it everyday
Ideal bizarre gift.......2001-07-14
Those people requiring a weird gift for a birthday, trailer park bridal party, etc, could do worse than giving this book a go. It's full of great pictures of fine heads, stories, and special features that give people a taste of the mullet lifestyle.
Personally I found it a bit short, however, and wouldn't buy it for *my own* collection - it's a read-once book. Buy it for a friend and read it before you wrap it, or better still get the local library to buy it instead (I did!).
FEAR the MULLET.......2001-06-15
I loved this book, it was great.. Pure fun!!!!!! The Mullet is a national treasure just like Jackie O. Spotting Mullet's is becoming the national pastime, I love going to the mall Mullet watching. I've also come to realize that carnival workers usually have the best Mullet's. For all you folks out there sporting the funniest haircut of all time, please don't change your hair style. You are providing us Mullet watchers with countless hours of fun & laughter. "AND REMEMBER FEAR THE MULLET"
RADICAL DUDE.......2001-04-05
This book was so awesome I had to buy one for me and one as a gift. My only complaint is that it isn't longer!
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Psycho Paths: Tracking the Serial Killer Through Contemporary American Film and Fiction
Philip Simpson
Manufacturer: Southern Illinois University Press
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0809323281 |
Book Description
Philip L. Simpson provides an original and broad overview of the evolving serial killer genre in the two media most responsible for its popularity: literature and cinema of the 1980s and 1990s.
The fictional serial killer, with a motiveless, highly individualized modus operandi, is the latest manifestation of the multiple murderers and homicidal maniacs that haunt American literature and, particularly, visual media such as cinema and television. Simpson theorizes that the serial killer genre results from a combination of earlier genre depictions of multiple murderers, inherited Gothic storytelling conventions, and threatening folkloric figures reworked over the years into a contemporary mythology of violence. Updated and repackaged for mass consumption, the Gothic villains, the monsters, the vampires, and the werewolves of the past have evolved into the fictional serial killer, who clearly reflects American cultural anxieties at the start of the twenty-first century.
Citing numerous sources, Simpson argues that serial killers’ recent popularity as genre monsters owes much to their pliability to any number of authorial ideological agendas from both the left and the right ends of the political spectrum. Serial killers in fiction are a kind of debased and traumatized visionary, whose murders privately and publicly re-empower them with a pseudo-divine aura in the contemporary political moment. The current fascination with serial killer narratives can thus be explained as the latest manifestation of the ongoing human fascination with tales of gruesome murders and mythic villains finding a receptive audience in a nation galvanized by the increasingly apocalyptic tension between the extremist philosophies of both the New Right and the anti-New Right.
Faced with a blizzard of works of varying quality dealing with the serial killer, Simpson has ruled out the catalog approach in this study in favor of in-depth an analysis of the best American work in the genre. He has chosen novels and films that have at least some degree of public name-recognition or notoriety, including Red Dragon and The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris, Manhunter directed by Michael Mann, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer directed by John McNaughton, Seven directed by David Fincher, Natural Born Killers directed by Oliver Stone, Zombie by Joyce Carol Oates, and American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis.
Customer Reviews:
COULD HAVE BEEN A KILLER.......2001-04-07
THE AUTHOR HAD A GREAT IDEA TO WRITE A BOOK ABOUT THE RISE OF THE SERIAL KILLER IN RECENT ('80s AND '90s) POP CULTURE, MOST NOTIBLY IN LITERATURE AND THE CINEMA. THE BOOKS HE CITES ARE THE RED DRAGON, THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (BOTH BY HARRIS), AMERICAN PSYCHO (ELLIS), THE ALIENIST (CARR), AND ZOMBIE (OATES). ON THE VISUAL SIDE, HE DISCUSSES MANHUNTER (MANN), TSOTL (DEMME), SEVEN (FINCHER), NATURAL BORN KILLERS (STONE), KISS THE GIRLS (FLEDERS), AND HENRY:PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER (McNAUGHTON). THIS IS A GREAT SELECTION OF WORKS TO USE TO ILLUSTRATE THE RISE IN POPULARITY OF THIS UNIQUE GENRE AS EACH HAS SOME NAME RECOGNITION OR NOTORIETY TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC. WHY THEN DO I ONLY REWARD THE AUTHOR'S WORK WITH 3 STARS? WHILE READING THE BOOK, I GOT THE DISTINCT FEELING THAT SIMPSON WAS TRYING TO IMPRESS ME WITH HIS DEGREES. TO COMPOUND MATTERS, HE MAKES IT HARD TO FOLLOW HIS DISCUSSION ON A CERTAIN NOVEL OR FILM IF YOU HAVEN'T READ OR SEEN IT. THE WORST PART WAS HAVING TO SLOG THROUGH 8 PAGES OF PREFACE AND THEN 25 (!) PAGES OF INTRODUCTION. I'M NOT ONE TO PUT DOWN A BOOK WITHOUT COMPLETING IT BUT IN THIS CASE I WAS SORELY TEMPTED BEFORE THE FIRST CHAPTER. HAVING SAID THAT, I'M GLAD THAT I PERSEVERED TO GLEAN THE GOOD PARTS OF THE BOOK. IT'S NOT OFTEN THAT I FIND SOMETHING ON MY FAVORITES (THE RED DRAGON, AMERICAN PSYCHO, AND MANHUNTER). THE OTHER BRIGHT SPOTS IN THE BOOK WERE THE 15 PAGES OF NOTES AND 10 PAGES OF WORKS CITED. WHILE NOT FOR MASS CONSUMPTION, THIS BOOK WILL REWARD THE PERSISTENT READER WITH SOME OF WHAT YOU'RE SEARCHING FOR ABOUT THIS GENRE.
Book Description
Rock & roll has been around for almost 50 years, and since 1967 Rolling Stone has been following the circus, reporting with wit and insight on its antics. Now Rolling Stone and Chronicle Books join forces to deliver the first five decades of rock & roll as it's never been read before. The Decades of Rock & Roll delves into Rolling Stone's vast archive and pulls out the most interesting, insightful, and seminal essays and interviews written in the history of music journalism. Full of the funny stories and vivid details that bring history to life, the pieces are organized decade by decade along with newly written retrospectives from crack writers like Rob Sheffield and Anthony DeCurtis. Stars like Little Richard, Bob Dylan, and Robert Plant are revealed in incredible interviews. Paul McCartney gives his top ten songs of the '60s as does Moby for the '90s. Black-and-white photos capture Otis Redding on his knees, screaming into the microphone, or Donna Summer wreathed in '70s glitz. From R&B to punk rock to rap to grunge, The Decades of Rock & Roll gives fans of all ages the lowdown on the way it was, and the way it is today
Customer Reviews:
Looking Through The Years of Rock.......2001-12-27
Rolling Stone has been the voice of rock since its inception in 1967 and through the years they have consistently issued first rate books whether it be their encyclopedia or books of interviews and reviews. The Decades of Rock & Roll continues their winning ways. The book is coffee table sized, but not as bulky and is loaded with some great pictures. But the real meat of the book are the essays by the likes of Robert Palmer, Chet Flippo, David Fricke, Kinky Friedman, Jim Farber and Kinky Friedman. Each decade from the 50's to the 90's is well represented as artists as diverse as Ruth Brown, Madonna, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Public Enemy are examined. Sprinkled throughout the book are artists like Robbie Robertson, Steven Tyler, John Fogerty, Suzanne Vega, Ozzy Osbourne and others top ten lists of albums and songs from a particular era, group or genre. All in all, this book is a must for any fan of music and music history.
Product Description
Oversize softcover. History of Rock 'n' Roll posters and 74 pgs. of 9 1/2" by 15" full-color poster reproductions.
Product Description
Plenty of gambling books explain how to play the games; thats Gambling 101. Gambling 102 takes you to the next stage, where youre playing the games in the best manner for the least amount of effort. Within these pages, gamblings Wizard of Odds provides the best strategies possiblealong with the easiest learning curvefor all the casino games, from baccarat to video poker, from sic bo to sports betting.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent gambling book.......2007-08-10
The "only" gambling book I have found that is straight facts, sound math and good advice...and most importantly, no gimmics.
good gaming analysis.......2006-03-13
A great statistical analysis supported by the author web page wizard of odds
A Must for All Gamblers of All Levels .......2005-11-14
This book simply cuts to the chase with pertinent information on the various games of chance offered at the casinos. Yes, games of chance, that is what casino gambling is, and Shackleford points it out brilliantly. When my nieces and nephews turn 21, this book will be mandatory reading prior to their ever entering a casino! This book is also helpful for the advanced gambler. The insights and various charts aid to confirm/assist one in their playing the games of chance!
The Wizard provides mathematically-correct strategies.......2005-08-25
First a disclaimer: I work for the Wizard and I edited this book for him. That said, one reason I work for him in the first place is because I respect that he knows what he's talking about. He's the worldwide authority on gambling math, and his website WizardOfOdds.com is the definitive resource on proper gambling strategy.
Gambling 102 assumes the reader already knows how to play the games, which is why it's not called Gambling 101. In Gambling 102 the Wizard shares his strategies for a whole host of casino games, as well as for NFL sports betting, where some of the most interesting content is. There's also some info on slot machines you haven't read anywhere else, as well as rankings for hands in Texas Holdem poker.
Perhaps the best thing about this book is that it's written by an expert. There are so many gambling books out there written by hacks who are just guessing. Not this one, this is the real deal.
Book Description
If you're in new product development, or simply work in management and depend on new products for your livelihood, this is definitely the must-read of the decade. You're going to love the increased productivity and the freedom to be creative of this new product development system.
Where do you suppose it originated? Toyota, wouldn't you know. If familiar with what's going on in industry today, you're already aware that the Toyota Production System is the envy of Western manufacturing. Companies like Dell Computers and Pella Windows are using it to sock it to their competition. But did you know that Toyota's new product development system is just as important to the ongoing success of Toyota? Consider this. Toyota's new product engineers are 400 percent more productive than those employed by most companies. Talk about productivity. It's enough to make top management want to dance a jig. This book explains that system and how it can be implemented.
Hold on. Before you click the order button, or surf to another site, let us make you aware of one more very important thing. The Toyota new product development system this book explains has very little if anything to do with the Toyota Production System. The former is how Toyota develops new products. The latter is how Toyota manufactures them. Both systems deliver extremely high productivity, both free people to do their best, but beyond that, there really aren't many similarities. You need to read this book to find out why. Believe us when we say, no company that depends on an ongoing flow of new and improved products can afford to ignore the revelations it contains or the potential advantages in terms of productivity and creativity that can accrue from following the method outlined in Product Development for the Lean Enterprise.
Customer Reviews:
Almost Perfect.......2006-09-01
Everything written is a bullseye with the exception of glaring ignorance regarding Six Sigma - what it is and isn't. What is written relative to Lean here should be taken verbatim as applying to Six Sigma also - there is no difference. Similarly, the written characterizations of Six Sigma should be ignored. To quote Senji Nihwa, Taiichi Ohno's lieutenant at Toyota for decades, in a good-natured ribbing, "You Americans, always trying to categorize things. Call it Lean, call it Six Sigma, it makes no difference to us...it's all the same." And so it is.
The book is extremely well written and accurate with the exception noted above. If readers can simply meld the descriptions as also being characteristic of a Six Sigma organization, and discard the mischaracterizations of Six Sigma as written, they are in for a very positive learning experience.
Thumbs up!.......2006-04-03
Thumbs up, but I'd recommend you attend his workshops over the book if the opportunity presents itself.
The book is written as a fictional account of a company's journey from process hell to an environment where engineers can devote themselves more completely to the craft they love. It is complete with protagonists and antagonists. The many men and women who have devoted large portions of their careers to wrestling with new product development process issues and trying to improve the quality and efficiency of product development processes may justifiably take offense at being cast as the antagonist, but it wouldn't be much of a story without the villains.
The book raises some very good issues and points out some very good practices that have contributed to Toyota's success. Toyota's design philosophy is optimized for lowest possible risk to model year goals. American management teams would do well to think about optimizing for low risk instead of highest efficiency and lowest development cost. For many companies the cost of developing a new product is a fairly modest portion of their overall cost structure and the price they pay for missing new product introduction dates is far greater than the gains from tailoring their internal processes for the lowest cost development.
The implementation of highly redundant development paths (called sets in the book) will be far less revolutionary than the book would have you believe. It really comes down to a willingness and ability to make the necessary investments. Readers who have studied Japanese companies will find much that is familiar. Publicly held Japanese companies are far less driven by quarterly results than are their American counter parts. Japanese companies typically have few (if any) small stockholders looking for short term gains. The largest stock holders in a Japanese company are often other Japanese companies. They tend to set long term strategic goals e.g. to dominate the world car industry in 5 years. While these businesses must make money to sustain themselves they are content with smaller earnings than their American counterparts making it possible to re-invest larger portions of their revenues back into the company. Some of that reinvestment shows up as investment in engineering work that reduces risk to new product introduction dates. But make no mistake about it, there are no miracle cures. During the initial stages of introducing a risk adverse strategy you are getting less (new features) with more (investment), but on time, likely with better quality, and you can build economically on that investment for a future stream of new products.
Efficiency can be a huge problem, but not always. In many organizations engineering efficiency is disappointingly low. The book tries to make the case that Toyota's engineers are 4X more productive than the engineers of the fictitious company in the book (approx. 80% productive compared to ITRs 20%). The measure of productivity is not explained, but it is implied that it is simply the number of hours/week that engineers spend engineering instead of (presumably) unnecessary process compliance. It is unlikely that Toyota's engineers are on average really 4X more productive than the best of American engineering teams. A comparison between Toyota's engineering and one of America's best is probably a better comparison than a fictitious engineering team. The book does not sight any objective evidence for the 4X claim. Although few companies share their productivity numbers, 65% is a widely accepted number for staff utilization. If Toyota's staff utilization really is 80% then that would put them about 1.23X more productive. In actual fact productivity is far more complex to measure and since it is so complex many observers chose a metric and then measure changes rather than focus on an absolute #. Lack of evidence aside, the book does highlight some interesting opportunities for improvement in the area of knowledge retention and reuse.
I have no doubt that there are companies whose developers are 20% productive. Lack of stability in the organization is certainly a contributor. The ineptitude and unending churn of engineering management teams is a frequent cause. Many companies have suffered at the hands of corporate management teams looking for quick fixes to the perception that their projects take too long, cost too much, and fail too often. They are often executives who have no engineering experience and no way to objectively assess the performance of their teams. They are driven by fear and uncertainty. They have often set goals that are hopelessly impossible to begin with. The result from the engineer's perspective is an unending stream of organizational change meetings to roll out the new engineering management team, introduce their dramatic new ideas, and get the teams trained. This is immediately followed by or coupled with a call to heroic self-sacrifice in an effort to meet the hopeless goal with the new structure. Sound familiar? If you we're drawn to this book it probably does.
The first thing that any student of Japanese industry learns is its strong reliance on life-time employment. While there has been some decline in longevity in recent years it remains the expectation for most Japanese employees entering the workforce. The long-term expectations and thorough understanding of the company and its markets which the most senior managers obtain during their long careers fosters more emphasis on incremental improvement rather than radical re-birth. Either strategy can work, but the highest probability of long-term success is with the incremental improvement paradigm.
Mr. Kennedy is a joy to talk to with a refreshing directness and wealth of experience. The book has a "sensational" tone, but you'd expect that in a work that was intended to get your attention and interest. The advice he offers in person is well reasoned and sound. Well worth the price of admission.
Highly Recomended for anyone interested in Product Development.......2006-03-23
For anyone interested in the next stage of Product Development -- this is a must read. The Toyota system encorporates what I felt has been missing in the product development process for so long. It takes into account the chaos that exists during development and actually encourages it instead of covering it up.
I've beginning to incorporate these concepts into our process and am excited about the results I'm seeing.
Best book available on lean development........2006-01-31
Even in the academic literature, there is no better reference. Note: do not buy the book "the minding organization" where the author refers to in the book.
Interesting Perspective.......2005-07-29
I like this book. The "story-like" format of this book is entertaining but it gets a little old for a hard core techy like me. I definitly gained some interesting insights into the Toyota development system but would have liked more focus on the facts and the theories than on the story that was used to convey the message. The ideas are very enlightening, surely valuable, and worth the read. I can over look the style to get to the ideas. It was an easy read and the "story" moved along nicely. I recommend this book but would like to find one without the fluff of the "story" vehicle.
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