Sunday, May 24, 2009

The Proper Care & Feeding of Marriage

Title: The Proper Care & Feeding of Marriage
Author: Dr Laura Schlessinger
Publisher: Harper Collins Publishers
Copyright: 2007
ISBN: 0-06-114284-0


I strongly recommend this book.

Man or woman – if you think your marriage is great or if you think it is hopeless; or anywhere in between - read this book. Dr Laura makes you think about how YOU can make your marriage better. She makes you think about what is important to your spouse and focuses you on positive things under your control.

By considering, thinking about, and answering some of Dr Laura’s questions I developed a personal action plan that I hope and expect will take my marriage to new highs.

I’m confident her insights and questions can help you improve your marriage regardless of its current state.

“The Proper Care & Feeding of Marriage” would make a great wedding present. It’s inexpensive and probably more valuable than anything else the new couple will receive. And that goes for second marriage couples as much as first timers.

I intend to reread “The Proper Care & Feeding of Marriage” at regular intervals. I’ve set up a reminder in Outlook to dust it off and review and renew my care & feeding marriage action plan.

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Friday, May 15, 2009

The Theory of Constraints and its Implications for Management Accounting

Title: The Theory of Constraints and its Implications for Management Accounting
Author: Eric Noreen, Debra Smith, and James T Mackey
Publisher: The North River Press
Copyright: 1995
ISBN: 0-88427-116-1


I recommend this book.

This is a somewhat dated but still very relevant summary of the Theory of Constraints (TOC) first introduced by Eliyahu Goldratt in “The Goal”. The basic concepts reviewed are:

• Throughput Accounting (TA)
• Managing Constraints (Identify, Exploit, Subordinate, Elevate, Reiterate)
• Managing Non-constraints
• Drum-Buffer-Rope (DBR) scheduling
• The Thinking Process (TP)

The “Thinking Process” in particular seems to offer a new and promising problem solving structure. I plan it try it out over the next several months.

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Saturday, May 9, 2009

A Boy and His Tank

Title: A Boy and His Tank
Author: Leo Frankowski
Publisher: Baen Publishing Enterprises
Copyright: 1999
ISBN: 0-671-57850-2

I recommend “A Boy and His Tank”.

“A Boy and His Tank” is the first of three science fiction novels in this series. I read them in reverse order not realizing they were a series until I started reading the second volume. One should read them in their proper sequence, but I thoroughly enjoyed them anyway. Each novel stands on its own merits.

Mickolai Derdowski, citizen of New Kashubia, is made an offer he cannot refuse and joins the army. Mark XIX main battle tanks of his day are crewed by a sentient artificial intelligence and one (Mickolai) human.

Mickolai’s training, adventures, and love life are creative, amusing, and always entertaining. These books are not “Great Literature”. They are better than that. They're fun.

The author, Leo Frankowski died in December of 2008 ending the series. It’s worth reading anyway. His web site (link below still operating as of this writing) is amusing in its own right.
http://www.leofrankowski.com/content/

The series in its proper sequence is:

Title: A Boy and His Tank
Author: Leo Frankowski
Publisher: Baen Publishing Enterprises
Copyright: 1999
ISBN: 0-671-57850-2
A Boy And His Tank

The War With Earth
Author: Leo Frankowski
Publisher: Baen Publishing Enterprises
Copyright: 2000
ISBN: 0-7434-9877-1
The War with Earth

Kren of the Mitchegai
Author: Leo Frankowski
Publisher: Baen Publishing Enterprises
Copyright: 2004
ISBN: 0-7434-7182-2
Kren of the Mitchegai (The Boy and His Tank)

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