Recommended

His Dark Materials is a fantastic series of books. Plenty has already been said in these reviews about the subject matter and writing brilliance. However many people have referred to these as"children's" books, which I slightly disagree with. Young children (8+) will enjoy these if they are read to them - although the subject and language is likely to require further explanation at this age. For sole readers an age of 12+ is more suitable; plus many, many adults (including myself) have enjoyed reading these too.<br /><br />From my personal experience I didn't enjoy the second book in the series as much as either the first or third as I felt it wasn't as fast-paced and intricate. That said I do not mean that I `didn't enjoy it at all' just that I `preferred' the others.<br /><br />Other reviews have mentioned that the religious/church bashing may offend, which is perhaps true for deeply/strictly religious folk. However for non-believers I think the books may have the opposite effect, i.e. it may open their minds to the possibility there may be more to life than what we see, in a kind of spiritual sense. <br /><br />However, a word of warning. After reading this series I purchased Lyra's Oxford which was a big mistake. It adds nothing to this story and took no longer than 15 minutes to read. In fact it left me rather miffed with the author that my feel-good factor from reading the trilogy was then tainted by feeling I'd been ripped off with LO.<br /><br />In short - the trilogy is a very good buy but give the subsequent books based on this same story a big miss. <br />

PANTS!!

My 19 month old daughter loves this book - particularly the page where the giants trousers fall down to reveal his pants! She picks this up again & again & is clearly delighted when we pick this to read.

Buffy lives on and on

The first volume of the 'season 8' comics left me slightly confused; some interesting plot twists and developments but little of the feel of the real Buffy, little of the claustrophobic sense of the small American town fighting bravely back against supernatural foes. The second volume has really developed the narrative arc, introducing a subplot involving Faith and Giles. The dialogue is strong and really develops the flavour and tone of the original series,whilst the illustrations are well-constructed and allow the authors to introduce much of the humour of the TV series.

Another Triumph from Julia Donaldson

What a fantastic read and great for all ages - although the Gruffalo is still the frim favourite in our house this book gives it a real run for its money..... highly recommend this for all 1-7 year olds. Also as an adult that enjoys doing the voices (badly!) its easy to read this book aloud again and again without getting tired of it. <br />Julia and Alex are a great team - brilliant story and brilliant pics.

Not as good as the other Alex Rider books

My favourite books are the Alex Rider books like this one and the Jimmy Coates books by Joe Craig.<br />I started reading Alex Rider books because my brother used to like them as well and I have enjoyed them a lot so far. I started with the first one Stormbreaker. They are full of action and you just don't know what is going to happen next.<br />I would definitely recommend this book but only if you have already read Stormbreaker and the other Alex Rider books.<br />This one is number 7 that I have read and in my opinion it is not as good as the other books. There is too much talking and too many things in the story that are obvious like who is going to betray Alex Rider and other twists like that which are unsurprising. In my opinion the Alex Riders books are still amazing but maybe now the Jimmy Coates books are better.

Excellent!

I first folded out this book and put it in my son's moses basket when he was a week old, thinking he was probably a bit too young for it - but he loved it. It has stayed in his cot ever since. He has spent hours calmly staring at the pictures and keeping himself amused. He particularly likes the picture of the snail - 'hypno-snail' as we call him! Every night, as he settles down to sleep, our little man 'coos' to the snail until he drifts off.<br />Worth every penny!

Better as a song than a book

This is a great song for children but doesn't really work as a book. The words are crammed in so is difficult to read and very repetetive. My daughter loves all books but after two pages of this, she is ready to move on to something different. <br /><br />I'd buy a CD of nursery rhymes for this song rather than buy the book.

Excellent!

We have used these for our son, who has just turned 4, alongside the teachers handbook. These books allow him to practice writing the letters we have learnt. Most importantly he has a real motivation to do them and always wants to learn the next letter.<br />Hopefully he will be a bit ahead when he starts school in September!

Gripping and revealing

Fifteen year old Kambili and her brother Jaja are the children of a wealthy Nigerian business man, and they enjoy the benefits that their father's wealth provides. Their father is a well known and highly respected man who is not afraid to speak out against a corrupt and tyrannical government; he is caring of his employees and overly generous with his abundant riches. But at home their father reveals another side, he is a demanding and deeply religious man, perhaps fanatically so, and out of a misguided zeal imposes an oppressive rule over his family's life with occasionally brutality. He expects his children to succeed, and there is serious trouble if they do not. When Kambili and Jaja are invited to stay with their relatively poor aunt and cousins in Nsukka they experience a freedom and joy previously unknown to them, and set in motion a series of events that will have a drastic outcome.<br /><br />This is a moving, occasionally horrifying, but always enlightening tale. The characters are superbly drawn and individual. Kambili, who narrates the story, and Jaja are very appealing, they enjoy an especially close relationship able to communicate with each other with just their eyes. Their aunt and cousins too are very likeable; their aunt the complete antithesis of their father being fun loving and adventurous. Also in Nsukka there is the young and very manly Father Amadi, adored by all, who immediately takes a shine to Kimlablli, and awakens desires in her previously unknown.<br /><br />The Purple Hibiscus is equally revealing about life in Nigeria and about the contrasting lives of practising Nigerian Catholics who interpret and live their faith in different ways. In the latter there is a clear warning of the dangers of oppression. But whatever ones views in that regard it remains a gripping story, a story which is hard to put down; and if one does it is sure to continue to haunt ones thoughts.<br />

Good is the enemy of Great!

"Good is the enemy of Great". A rather harsh opening shot from Jim Collins gets his book underway with a sense of honest purpose. Written after the highly successful"Built to Last" (BTL), which focused on how to build an enduring company from the ground up, Good To Great (GTG) instead focuses on ordinary companies that made the transition from obscurity to amazing financial performances that put giants like GE, Coca-Cola, Disney and Intel to shame!<br /><br />The impetus for this venture came whilst the author was having dinner with a group of thought leaders shortly after his earlier book was published. Bill Meehan, then managing director of McKinsey SF, cheekily remarked to Jim"we love BTL around here...Unfortunately its useless...The companies you wrote about were for the most part always great. They never had to turn themselves from good companies to great companies...what about the vast majority of companies that wake up part way through life and realise that they're good but not great?"<br /><br />The comment stuck firm and fast with the author, making him question whether a good company could actually become great - by virtue of the same definition of those companies he wrote about in his earlier book. Being a man of purpose, he embarked on a 5 year long scientific research project to find out. The greatness he searched for would lead to him find 11 companies that exhibited stock returns 6.9 times the general market in the 15 years after their transition point to greatness. As the author points out when putting that in perspective, GE only managed a return of 2.8 times, over the same period of 1985 to 2000 - or another way, $1 in the 11 companies GTGfund compared to $1 in the overall market fund, would get you 471 times initial investment compared to 56 in the market.<br /><br />Monetary statistics aside, the findings laid out in the book are worth taking the time to peruse. Armed with a research team of 20 enthusiastic researchers, and after accumulating 15,000 hours of research, the group (as the author humbly points out, the researchers and he together are responsible for the findings) devised a theory based on the interviews and findings they collected, that helped describe how these 11 companies made the transition. They ran an acid test, running this by the key executives of those companies, and received a resounding vote of acknowledgement. Their sampling range for the initial company set was immense, every company in the Fortune 500 from 1965 to 1995 was subject to their scrutiny, and from this range, their systematic searching and sifting eventually gave them their GTG 11. To bring these companies into a monitoring group, they found `comparison' companies for each of these 11, against which they could compare performance before and after the transition to greatness took place. They also had a control group of `unsustained comparisons' of companies that made a short term shift to greatness but failed to maintain the trajectory.<br /><br />The 11 GTG and their comparisons were as follows: Abbot-Upjohn, Circuit City-Silo, Fannie Mae-Great Western, Gillette-WarnerLambert, KimberlyClark-Scott Paper, Kroger-A&P, Nucor-Bethlehem Steel, Philip Morris-RJReynolds, Pitney Bowes-Addressograph, Walgreens-Eckerd, Wells Fargo-Bank of America.<br /><br />The companies themselves give a lesson in point about the greatness factor - they were not big industrial players to begin with, and have a very dissimilar profile to the cover page companies that usually get associated with greatness. It also delivers a great point about the first theory gained, CEO Leadership - how many CEOs can you name from the 11 GTG companies? More on that later.<br /><br />As expected, the theories put forth by the author are the real gem of the research. As most simple but hard learnt lessons learnt through life, these theories appear obvious after the fact, but have striking implications for all those companies out there looking to become something more than a medium term has-been. The theory itself is split into 3 stages: Build Up, Breakthrough and Flywheel. The book tackles these in that order, beginning with Build up.<br /><br />There are three main aspects in the authors theory that comprise the Build Up stage: Level 5 Leadership, First Who then what, and Confront the Brutal Facts.<br /><br />An interesting view of the Level 5 Leadership traits that the author proposes, is that they fly in the face of standard Management bravado and theory. Level 5 refers to the top level of leadership, as defined by the author and his team. Level 5 leaders stand above those below, by virtue of their behaviour and action, and it is this, claims the author, that allows them to lead a company from good to great with ease. Lee Iacocca gets many a mention in the book as a great leader who was coveted world wide as the CEO of Chrysler, together with his tenacious traits, boisterous personality and go get them attitude. However, the author points out in surprise, that as admirable as this may seem it doesn't bode well for a GTG transition CEO. Instead, it emerged that Level 5 leaders had personal traits that set them far and apart from such cover page leadership as demonstrated by Lee Iacocca. These LEvel 5 leaders reserve their ambition for the institution, largely giving up the drive for personal success. Also, the leaders of the GTGs were not seasoned veterans of transformation or industry leading characters that were brought in to instigate and manage the transition either. In fact, 10 out of the 11 GTG CEOs emerged from within the company, putting the comparison companies trend of external recruitment of stellar CEOs to shame. The leaders of these 11 GTG companies were far from the stereotype charismatic CEOs we would expect. The author states, they were just humble plough-horses who had the sheer drive and will to turn the companies around in all faces of adversity. Humble, modest, self-effacing, understated, driven, resolved, and sharing - just a few of the startling revelations in the book about these leaders.<br /><br />The next point made, about First Who then What, was the most amazing of them all. The executives of the 11 GTGs all shared a similar personnel based organisational strategy leading up to the GTG transition point. They all agreed that they would concentrate first on getting `the right people on the bus, and the wrong people off the bus' before they figured out where to drive the bus! What would appear at first, to be a practise that could find itself in a footnote of global management strategy on team building, is in fact a key component to the core operating procedures of these 11 GTG companies. In some cases, they immediately hired persons they considered to be the `right' people without even having a role for them to take on. Wells Fargo embarked on such a talent injection drive instigated by the then CEO Dick Cooley. He acknowledged that bringing outstanding talent on board would ensure that the company was readying itself for whatever the industry would throw at it during the deregulation era. It goes without saying, that if Warren Buffet describes the resulting Well Fargo team as `THE best management team in the industry', the strategy has some merit! It became clear that this point of people as being the PRIMARY asset of a company, was the key driver in getting the company ready for the next phase of transition. Without the right people on board, says the author, companies are not prepared for what they must do next to become great.<br /><br />Confronting the brutal facts, is something that most companies shy away from in many forms. Whether its by concocting short term remedy fixes, or plain ignorance of the facts, without realising the harsh realities of the market forces and features of the industry around it, a company has a much diminished chance of transition to greatness. The author points out, in the comparison companies there were cases where strong charismatic CEOs were the main liabilities that prevented transition, as well as being the main causes of a short blip of amazing growth and prosperity! These CEOs refused to face the reality of the situation ahead of them, and installed a climate of hiding and secrecy in the teams below them, often hindering free flow of data. They drove the company by fear and dictate, often neglecting succession plans and never investing the same rigour into getting the right people on the bus, and the wrong off the bus, as the GTG companies. Reference instead, is made of Churchill, whose strong personality was matched by his Level5 traits. He set up a separate organisation during WW2, that fed him brutal facts that his government may find disturbing and hence ignore or hide from him, quoting him as saying"I...had no need for cheering dreams. Facts are better than dreams." The author adds more fortifying points to this aspect of facing brutal facts gleaned from the 11 GTG companies, even going further afield and mentioning how he conducts his lectures during his tenure at Stanford Business School. Red flags were issued to his students, allowing them the unhindered ability to question him once only each term, mid-flow or whenever they felt the need to raise the flag, without any fear of repercussion from him at all. The GTG companies had installed a similar climate in their organisations, allowing employees to freely improve on performance via open suggestions, thus allowing facts to influence decision making without hindrance.<br /><br /><br />The Second Stage of transition, the Breakthrough stage has 3 aspects that help drive a company through transition into greatness: a hedgehog concept, culture of discipline, and technology accelerators.<br /><br />The Hedgehog concept can bring a few chuckles to most cynics of management fads. However, that's precisely what it exemplifies - the reluctance to grasp any old management fad and strategy that appears as in fashion at that moment in time. Instead, it shows that the 11 GTG companies found a core concept, a core focus that spanned"What they were passionate about","What they can be the best at in the world" and"What drives their economic engine". The source of the name is best left explained in the book, but the concept it relates to is as prickly and hard to grasp as a hedgehog itself. The GTGs essentially concentrated on one unifying concept that encapsulated the three points, and drove towards this focus with ruthless desire. The key concept in play, points out the author, is that the hedgehog concept is not a goal, strategy or intention to be the best, it is a brutally realistic understanding of what the company can in fact ACTUALLY become the best at. At this point within the book, everything starts to come together - the pieces fall into place - the previous theories and the endless references to the interviews they conducted with executives of the GTGs and comparison companies, all start making sense. The teams within these GTG companies, made up of the right people, led by the right leader, armed with the right data, were able to pick the correct direction and focus for the company (the correct hedgehog concept). Without these ingredients, as in the case of the comparison companies, strategy and focus would wane and waver at the executive level, and in some cases endlessly shift direction, thus never gaining sufficient momentum to carry the company up the chain. Instead, the GTG companies were able to pick the correct concept, with full understanding of what they could be the best at, how they would make the money to do so, and be safe in the knowledge that it would motivate the company personnel who had a passion for this principle. A good illustration of the concept is Walgreens idea to `become the best convenience drug store', carefully placing stores in specific locations to ensure customers would bring higher profit per-visit than before. They would even close down existing stores that were profitable, just so that they could open one a block down, that fit the concept better, being on the corner with two entrance points! Another great point raised by the author, is the GTGs who ensured they paid as much attention to the `Stop Doing Lists' as much as the `To Do Lists', even if it seemed harsh and painful to do. The tenacity and discipline helped ensure that together with a keen understanding of the economic drivers, this ensured a better chance of sustained transition. This allowed companies to shut down key operations that were part of their history, but had no place in the future. Thus they were able to focus entirely on the concept that would make them great.<br /><br />The Culture of Discipline is something that the GTGs seemed to be able to exhibit whilst the comparison companies lagged behind. The GTG organisations required little bureaucracy, and little or no micromanagement of staff to delivery the targets they needed. To do this, they required Disciplined People, Disciplined Thought, and Disciplined Action. It becomes apparent that the 2nd point made in the build-up stage, about bringing the `right people on the bus and getting the wrong people off the bus', was the absolute foundation that allowed the companies to breakthrough into greatness and sustain the performance. To illustrate this discipline, the author makes reference to an unusual concept of"rinsing your cottage cheese". His wife is a champion Ironwoman Triathlete, and the phrase stems from the practised discipline of Dave Scott, Ironman Champion 6 times over. His training regime was rigourous to begin with, and despite burning over 5000 calories a day, and being on top form, he would rinse his cottage cheese to get the extra fat off. The key is that there was no evidence whatsoever that he needed to do this, that rinsing would indeed remove the fat, instead its the realisation that doing this was just one more small step that he took to ensure that he continued to excel. This sort of discipline was exhibited by the GTG teams (though in operational aspects of their industry and not in culinary skill at work of course!) who would even go so far as to chase off disruptive Union Reps from the shop floor since they were seen as not adding any value and just inciting bad performance! The discipline was exhibited excessively at the executive level too, with such fierceness that the GTGs would actively avoid any idea or option that didn't fit their hedgehog concept, even if it offered immediate and huge rewards.<br /><br />The technology accelerators chapter has one lean point to make. Technology often brings a promise of market leadership, but what is core is the correct evaluation and adoption of this technology than the technology itself. The simplest example of this within the book is when drugstore.com emerged in the internet era. Walgreens, a direct competitor of drugstore.com, faced a huge write off from its stock value as drugstore.com went public and generated huge interest. The Walgreens approach to this threat and technology opportunity was simple,slow and steady. It looked at the concept of internet shopping, wondered how it could integrate it into its hedgehog concept of `convenience shopping' whilst adhering to its economic units of measure (profits per visit) and it slowly introduced a website that began with prescription ordering. This took off, and over a prolonged period of time, the web operation emerged into a viable revenue stream as more functions were added. In essence, technology is seen as a tool that helps GTG companies, but never drives them.<br /><br />The final stage of the GTG transition, is the act of sustaining the performance. The Flywheel concept is used to describe how GTG companies move slowly from stage to stage, but when they breakthrough, they are able to maintain the performance by the same or slightly less effort and process. No immediate strategy, or burst of effort, or single person was responsible for the transition, and therefore is required for sustaining the growth of these companies past breakthrough. Instead, the author points out using the analogy of the flywheel, a single push to a large flywheel moves it a little, but if you exert that same effort, constantly, pushing it a little at a time, it will gain momentum, moving faster and faster, until it reaches breakthrough and is able to sustain its movement with fewer pushes than before - BUT it still requires that push otherwise it slows down. This is how the GTGs operated before, during and after the breakthrough. They never waned, they never gave up, they just drove at the task in hand, disciplined and focused.<br /><br />The book is written exceedingly well, and delivers the subject matter in a clear and enjoyable manner. What is apparent, is the sheer effort that it must have taken to bring this work to fruition, and this is made even more evident from the conclusions derived from this research. They are initially simplistic, making you think its easy to make the transition, but the more you read the more you realise that the approach needs to be holistic, and more importantly, the implementation requires great resolve and discipline. Something that these GTG companies strove hard to acquire and put to to work, to obvious great effect.<br /><br />A highly recommended book for those companies that are looking to make a transition to the next level. But be warned, its not an easy ride if this book is anything to go by!

Great Book

What a great follow on from the Gruffalo. My daughter loves it and it's a great way to teach children not to go off on their own.

good but it doesnt half annoy me

i have read all the cherub books and i am not knocking them as a good, teenage book that most would find as a lighthearted easy read. However, i can't escape the fact that everytime i read the books i am constantly infuriated by the charcters descriptions and personality's. Muchamore makes such a fuss of trying to make 'james adams' the idol for teenager constantly hammering home how good looking he is and never ending success with women. frankly, it becomes annoying and seems as though muchamore is trying to represent what he thought he was when he was in his teens. The style 'james adams' adopts such as tracksuit bottoms to skater clothes once again annoys me as its complete lack of depth shows just how unaware muchamore is of current styles and fashions.<br /> Further more, the character of lauren adams also gets to me as, like james, she is given no floors and is a very bascic representation of a girl in her early teens. All in all, yes i do enjoy reading cherub books for what they are and that is a easy read but the obvious 'brown nosing' relationship Muchamore has with his characters makes me very angry. The sunday times quotes : 'punchy, exiting and whats more you'll completely wish it was true'. Well yes i would like it if it was true so i could go kick james's and his little chums heads in.

This is such a good book

I first heard this story when my friend read it to her Son over and over again whilst we were on holiday together. I actually enjoyed listening to the story(LOL) and I never got bored of hearing it. The book is great and it rhymes really well. I have now bought this book for my son and I am sure he will love it. EDITED - I have now started reading this book to my Son and he does love it!

Loved it

I'm sorry I read this book so quickly, but I couldn't put it down. Emma, the main character, is fantastic. She is so funny. Her troubles start when, during a bad bout of turbulence on a plane she tells all her secrets to the man sitting beside her. He turns out to be the big boss of the company she works for, and he knows everything about her! Their romance is lovely. Emma learns that it's okay to be herself, and to be honest. She even starts telling people some home truths, which is well overdue. Jack learns to open up too. The ending is perfect. <br />