3 comments about The Training Ground: Grant, Lee, Sherman, and Davis in the Mexican War, 1846-1848.

1. I was very disappointed with The Training Ground. It is a good read but you can't trust it. There are numerious factual errors. On page 160, Mr. Dugard states "He (Abraham Lincoln)was born in Kentucky and lived there until moving to Illinois at the age of 22." Maybe Mr. Dugard considers the 14 years that the Lincoln family spent in Indiana as just passing through? The Lincolns moved to Illinois when Abe was 21 and they had lived in Spencer County Indiana since he was 7.
   When I started the book, I hoped to learn more about men that I knew mostly from the Civil War. The farther I got into it, the more I felt a need to double check Dugard's statements



2. A history book that you cannot put down. Dugard impeccably details the landscape of war and the tremendous strength, loyalty, leadership and courage of young men faced with insurmountable circumstances. The writing is fluid, informative, and rich. One of the many strengths of The Training Ground is the manner in which the chaos and brutality of war is contrasted with individuals and how their lives are forever affected. I've heard the term "page anxiety" used with history books. There is none to be found here. I found this book bold, informative and told from a perspective lacking in its genre. An exellent, excellent read.



3. Did you know that George Pickett would become "something of a cult figure for graduating fifty-ninth in a class of fifty-nine and then later led one of the most famous cavalry charges in the history of modern warfare"? On page six, this book imparts the astounding historical fact that Pickett's Charge was mounted. 145 years, millions of words, hundreds of book, thousands of prints and paintings but Martin Dugard found the truth. However, there is no footnote proving that Pickett's Division road to battle on July 3, 1863. Without that little detail, I will continue to think they were an infantry division and the men walked both ways.
   The dust jacket says Dugard is a "bestselling author of non-fiction", while that may be true, he is not a historian. The book has multiple direct quotes and no footnotes to support them. At the end of the book is a section entitled "Selected Notes and Biographies" that is designed to make the book appear to be a serious history.
   The book is readable but neither a history of the War with Mexico nor a history of the men involved. This is a series of stories, strung together about men who would be generals in another war. At best, it is a readable introduction. At worst, it is full of errors, misquotes and misstatements.

No comments about The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer: My Life at Rose Red.

5 comments about Motivation and Goal-Setting: How to Set and Achieve Goals and Inspire Others.

1. Motivation and Goal-Setting by Jim Cario is a short book. Compared to many other motivation books on the market, you need to be prepared for only quick tips here. The book has about 100 pages of content - but of that, about half is taken up by redundant empty worksheets for you to fill in. Here's an example of a full page form. It has a grid. You descrie a situation you've seen as a team member or leader. You say what type of reinforcement should have been used, and what results should have been seen. It makes you do this 3 times. Surely an entire page didn't need to be devoted to this exercise. It's not just once - it is all through the entire book. You're paying for empty forms.
   
   What's in the other half? There are apparently 8 steps to achieving success. These are Identity, Values, Goals, Action Plan, Motivation, Discipline, Flexibility and Outcome. The book goes over each step of course, to help you understand it. Each section has a brief area showing you how to determine this trait in yourself, and then gives an example of "Margo", and unhappy 27 yr old office worker.
   
   Most of us know these basic things and were getting a book to help us do them more efficiently. Some of the chapters therefore seemed very light and unhelpful - but I suppose they had to be included for the sake of going from start to end and not just "jumping into the middle". However, the actual "meat" chapters were given the same light treatment. I can understand the "identity" chapter only getting a few pages - it's important to really understand what you want in life before you plot out how to get it. That's fairly clear. On the other hand, people are getting this book because they ARE having problems getting to their goal, so you would think the "action plan" chapter would be thick and meaty. Nope! It's got a few tips, and then skips right ahead. Were they trying to conserve paper? Keep their book under $x price point? It's hard to know. Surely if those were concerns, they could have handled the 800 giant forms differently. But I digress.
   
   So, their entire 3 pages (using large print) of action plan description tells you: Make a list of goals, start now, record your progress. Do planning at every level in your organization, and commit the energy and time to do it. Then they restate that same information, and have Margo do it. There's no actual help on how to do these things, or how to do them well, or what pitfalls to avoid, or so on. I knew to make a list! I knew to prioritize it. I got this book for help in doing these tasks.
   
   OK, on to motivation. Luckily, motivation gets a much more thorough treatment. The book should really have been called "Motivation Techniques". You get info on motivating yourself and motivating others. A key message of this area is that people respond to positive motivation, while negative motivation only makes things worse. The book says to give positive reinforcement quickly, with explicit praise for the action (not general praise). It says to give private feedback when it's negative, and to do it quickly and specifically. Then the book says to keep score - to show graphs and charts constantly of the progress.
   
   Here's my issues. The generic instructions tell you what to do, but not how to do it - and some are so generically Pollyanna so as to be nearly impossible. Say you have someone who simply is always late. This book tells you to "catch him being early and praise him". It assumes he IS going to do the good trait someday. It gives many warnings about negative reinforcement, but no real suggestions on how to handle problems in real life. It emphasizes keeping score - but in many work environments, that causes HUGE problem with inter-personal competition and unhappiness. Many organizations do much better without constantly keeping score.
   
   The book could be helpful for someone just starting out, who has never done any self evaluation of any kind and who needs the very basics on how to work with others. However, again, it should be titled to reflect that - "The Bare Basics of Motivating". With an actual subtitle of "how to set and achieve goals and inspire others", I expected much more actual content to help me do these things.



2. Motivation and Goal Setting's strength lies not in the destination, but in the map. Chock-full of various strategies and tips on how to set the goal and then motivate yourself into attaining the goal, even when said goal seems more unattainable than ever. Well written and easy to follow, Cairo's book's ideas can be applied to all areas of life. It reminds me of Guerilla PR: Wired as both books deal with attaining your goals.



3. Motivation and Goal-Setting shows rather than tells. Instead of launching into long-winded sermons about discovering your "true" identity, author Jim Cairo poses a few simple questions that set the reader off on an interesting path of introspection. By forcing you to get involved with the book by answering these questions yourself, Cairo is using the principles that he writes about. The exercises he suggests will start building momentum that you can carry right over into your own personal goals. The book falters only in the sections on motivation and change, where Cairo lapses into generic sloganeering about learning from mistakes and embracing change. Regardless, we [...] recommend this book to anyone who feels that they could use a second wind, from a high-school student struggling to remain motivated, to a 55-year-old CEO looking for fresh challenges.



4. This book examines motivation strategies through goal setting. It teaches readers how to define their goals or help employees define what their goals are. I have found through reading this book that setting goals are important for many reasons. It helped me discover that organizations must establish goals to give employees top down a foundation to build their own goals. It is important for employees to develop their own goals and for managers to help direct,and define their goals to help with motivation. Goal setting leads to motivation which in turn leads to increased productivity. This book strives to help managers as well as individuals establish goals and goal setting procedures as well as tips and tools that are beneficial. It has already proven to be a very beneficial tool for me in my business.



5. This book examines motivation strategies through goal setting. It teaches readers how to define their goals or help employees define what their goals are. I have found through reading this book that setting goals are important for many reasons. It helped me discover that organizations must establish goals to give employees top down a foundation to build their own goals. It is important for employees to develop their own goals and for managers to help direct,and define their goals to help with motivation. Goal setting leads to motivation which in turn leads to increased productivity. This book strives to help managers as well as individuals establish goals and goal setting procedures as well as tips and tools that are beneficial. It has already proven to be a very beneficial tool for me in my business.

No comments about Clay: Memoirs of a Gardening Man.

No comments about Clinging to the Wreckage.

No comments about St. Croix Notes: River Mornings, Radio Nights.

5 comments about The White-Haired Girl: Bittersweet Adventures of a Little Red Soldier.

1. This book was a gift, literally and... I knew nothing of the Cultural Revolution. This memoir was an introduction and an education into a devasting and horrendous period of time in China, told by a young girl whose educated parents were punished as traitors to the state. Despite that blemish on her record, she strives to be Mao's Best Kid, and model Chinese. Bright and resourceful, she learns for herself.
   
   Beautifully written, with stark and grim detail. I still get shivers thinking of the fear and insecurity when corrupt neighbors would betray friends. When the police might come and take your family away.



2. This book held me captive until I finished it. Jaia, and her husband Douglas, have created a wonderful picture of growing up during the Cultural Revolution. I felt as if I had been transported to China during those days and was right there, living out the same experiences as Jaia. This book is a must for anyone even slightly interested in China, its people, its culture and its history.



3. The White Haired Girl is about a young Chinese girl who had to grow up during the Cultural Revolution during the mid 1960's. She had to overcome the many difficulties such as having her mother taken from her in order for her mother to perform labor duties for the country of China during this time. The girl was faced with being sent away to school to learn and serve the "great" Chairman Mao. After reading this book, I think it's a great portrayal of this young Chinese girl during this difficult time for the Chinese. I like this book because it was great in detail with also a lot of hardships that this girl went through. At some parts of the book, it got boring. However it always seemed to bring itself back up to many high points of the factors of the Cultural Revolution. I recommend this book to people that are interested in different stories of the Chinese and the Cultural Revolution



4. While reading this book, I could see similarities between stories that my parents told me about their experiences. This book accurately depicts the grueling life they went through during the Cultual Revolution, and the everyday fears of survival. The fear of not being able to trust your next door neighbor for fear of betrayal. The fear of not being able to trust even your best friend.

   Accurate, moving, and told it a concise narrative style, this book is a must read account of life in China.




5. I enjoyed "The White-Haired Girl" much more than most other memoirs from the Cultural Revolution. This book really made me feel that I was experiencing events from the perspective of a child in a time of tremendous chaos and political upheaval. Although the author certainly experienced considerable hardship, her story lacks the self-pity or moralizing one often finds in similar accounts.

   One proof of the author's skill is the fact that I found myself more interested in the people she writes about then in the political events surrounding them. The people who fascinated me the most were Ms. Sun's father and her friend, Little Plumb. I have a feeling that I would have been interested in their stories regardless of the environment or historical circumstances in which they lived.

   One or two parts of the book irked me a little. For example, in describing the romantic evolution of her first love, Ms. Sun says something to the effect that Spring's perfect love turned into Summer's splendid passion and she didn't even tell her mother. I took this to mean that the relationship became very serious, perhaps even physical, and that she concealed this fact from her mother. While I sympathize with Ms. Sun's desire not to be explicit on this subject, I also find the metaphor to be a little weak.

   But aside from such insignificant flaws, this is a powerful, honest, and well written memoir that I recommend warmly. I am curious to see the author's next project.

No comments about Napoleon : A biography.

No comments about Standing Like a Stone Wall.

4 comments about Second Coming: The Strange Odyssey of Michael Jordan-From Courtside to Home Plate and Back Again.

1. I agree with back and forth. People who slam the book are biased. MJ has a good and bad side, and the people who whine are probably his fans or have shares in his company. The problem is players from different eras can't be compared. How do you compare Oscar Robertson to Earvin Johnson? You can't...but you can compare them relative to the players in their era, to players they played against, and compare their relative greatness to the relative greatness to the players from other eras. Compare Michael to others relative to his contribution of others...don't just compare scoring, or Dominique Wilkins would be surely better than Bill Russell...only a misinformed or ignorant NBA basketball fan would think something as preposterous as that. Kudos for Sam Smith and taking off the kid gloves. If the book is all trash journalism, why didn't Michael sue for slander or defamation of character? There must be some truth to it.



2. I have mixed feelings about Michael Jordan. On the one hand, he is a great athlete. I respect his work ethic. He has turned in a number of great performances and is no doubt one of the greatest to have ever played the game of basketball.

   There is a flipside. Michael Jordan got all kinds of special treatment while he was in the NBA. He was the first player I noticed who was granted all kinds of trips to the charity stripe because of unbelievably, ticky tack calls. He scored at least ten points a game at the free throw line from bogus calls. It was great when there was a picture session for 'greats of the game' with Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and Michael Jordan. Magic told Larry not to stand too close to Michael or they might call a foul. In front of reporters and television viewers, that was a classic comment by Magic. I believe Mike got 99% of all calls in his favor because he was such a cash cow for the NBA. Dominique Wilkins was robbed of a slam dunk championship when Mike scored a perfect 50 doing the same dunk Dr. J did years before. I doubt Dr. J ever received a perfect 50 for it. Dominique's dunk was much more impressive, and he received a 49.5. Please. Mike got in a fight with Reggie Miller, and only Miller got suspended at first. Only after there was an outcry did Mike get suspended. How are Mike's punches different? Mike elbowed Kevin Johnson to the ground for all to see, and Kevin was called for blocking!

   I am not too impressed that the bulls beat the lakers in the NBA finals. Magic was double teamed every game every minute he was in. On top of that, James Worthy and Byron Scott were injured. Magic and Larry never won three championships in a row because the competition, teams, and players in the 80s were much better than the nineties. Luc Longley, Will Perdue, Bill Cartwright, or Bill Wennington stopping Kareem? Ha!

   Sport Magazine recently had a piece on the ten greatest moments and ten greatest players ever in the NBA. Mike was ranked number one all time player. Kudos to Mike for mentioning in 'For the love of the game' that to pick a "greatest ever" is impossible because of all the different eras and evolutions of basketball. The nineties bulls were given three of the ten greatest moments in NBA history. This is just more Mike bias. Give me a break. There are hundreds of classic and amazing moments in NBA history. One of the moments picked was Mike beating the Jazz in the final minutes of his last game. He put his hand on Bryon Russel's backside and shoved him out of the way. Then Mike made the game winnig shot. All eyes were on Mike, but the ref did not make the obvious call.

   There is also Mike's arrogance. According to him, Wilt Chamberlain was a fluke eventhough Wilt was a great all around player. He made a comment about Magic and Larry reaching a 'certain level of greatness' and that the two were not good on defense. What? Are we talking about the same Larry Bird? Shaquille Oneal is also much better and much improved than Mike gives him credit for. Shaq has turned into a solid defender, passer, and he works hard at both ends of the floor.

   Mike's corporate poster boy behavior is laughable. He did ads for AT&T and then MCI. The Wayans family is also split between the two companies. Mike talked about the enviroment in Rayovac ads and then pitches hot dogs? Mike is not the only athlete who will pitch anything and everything to make millions. I wonder if Mike has checked into Nike's labor practices.

   Players like Mike and Charles Barkley soured me on the NBA. Charles played like a thug and got away with it because he was a star. Plus, Charles insisted on wearing number 34 at Philadelphia eventhough it was retired for NBA great Billy Cunningham. The star treatment and inflated egos has grown old, and that has turned a lot of people off to sports. I miss the Lakers and Celtics match ups of the 1980s.




3. "Second Coming: The Strange Odyssey of Michael Jordan - from Courtside to Home Plate and Back Again," by Sam Smith, is a biogarphy about Michael Jordan. It starts out a little before he won his first NBA championship with the Chicago Bulls. It tells about the seasons leading up to his retirement in October of 1993. Through that time, the author talks about the next two seasons. It talks about Jordans' personality at the time, and some of the problems he was having to deal with. It profiles Jordans' gambling troubles and the troubles he was having with the media. This book is similar to the book "Tiger Woods: The Makings of a Champion." These two books are very similar because of their genre. They are both biographies about famous sports stars. The only difference between the two is that the Tiger Woods book talks more about his childhood than the Michael Jordan book does. I thought that this book was very good. I liked it because I really liked the structure of it. I thought that it was really easy to read because it goes in a logical order. I think that since it has good order, this serves as a good model for writing. There really is not much imagery in the book because it is a biography. I thought that this book was very good because it tells a lot of good stuff about Michael Jordan's professional career. I think that one thing that this book lacked was information on his personal life. I think that I could have realated better to the story had there been more personal info on him. I think that anybody who likes to follow Michael Jordan would enjoy this book very much. Overall I liked this book a lot and I hope to read more books by this author.




4. There is a type of sports fan endemic to Chicago: guys whose formative years spanned decades of losing seasons, guys who never learned the ups of fandom, just the downs, until the only joy they could take from professional sports was the cynic's pleasure of having their low expectations fulfilled. Guys, I admit it, like me. When a winner does finally appear in a city like Chicago, these fans react like albino fish brought up into the sun from the lightless depths, blinking uncomprehendingly: they know something is happening, but nothing in their experience tellsthem how to react. The good news is that most of us recover from the shock after a year or two, and that most of us don't become professional sportswriters. Then again, there's Sam Smith.

   Smith's "Second Coming" purports to be a hard-nosed examination of Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls during Jordan's "retirement" from the NBA following the death of his father, Jordan's travails as a minor-league baseball player and subsequent return to basketball, with (at first) less-than spectacular results. A sequel to "The Jordan Rules", Smith's first uncensored-behind-the-scenes look at the Bulls during their early-'90's title runs, this book is both less shocking -- you only have to open any week's sports pages to realize that today's pro atheletes are not choirboys -- and more mean-spirited than its predecessor.

   If Sam Smith were an NBA player, he'd be Bill Laimbeer: moderately talented, but cursed with a congenital inability to pass up a cheap shot (Smith takes gratuitous aim at everyone from the Bulls' TV announcers to Madonna) and the obnoxious habit of feigning bafflement that anyone would take offense (Smith is shocked, *shocked* that Jordan and others had less-than positive reactions to "The Jordan Rules").

   There's no doubt that many aspects of professional sports are open to criticism, and Michael Jordan is no exception. But "Second Coming" provides little criticism and lots of tabloid-style dirt-dishing. Smith reports the facts of Jordan's gambling sprees (by far the most legitimate fan concern covered), but then sabotages his own credibility by mentioning every scurrilous rumor, most of them proven to be false, that followed those events and the shooting of James Jordan. I held on as Smith hammered away at his theme -- that Jordan was too old, too selfish, and too poor a leader for his comeback to be successful -- waiting for the "bonus chapter" (added to the paperback edition) on the Bulls' historic '95-'96 season. How would Smith explain his remarkable lack of predictive skills? He wouldn't, preferring instead to concentrate on the antics of Dennis Rodman.

   If you want to know more about the dark side of professional sports, and maybe even do something about it, read Mike Lupica's scorching fan manifesto "Mad as Hell". If you want to read about Jordan and the Bulls, buy Bob Greene's sublime "Hang Time" and its sequel "Rebound". Lupica may be a bit overinflated and Greene a little too uncritical of his subject, but at least neither of them have forgotten the reasons why we started watching the game in the first place