The Wal-Mart behemoth-beast's unchecked onslaught on our landscapes and local economies continues, but now there is more help to at least momentarily stymie the beast. With small victories here and there (the meatcutters' union win, for one, and that decision rendered right there in ARKANSAS, no less), this is one of the books that shows how we can be as good a friend to Wal-Mart as that it is to us, and we can learn from that very intelligent, mutating virus. This book helps a person think about retailing in the shadow of Wal-Mart the way an FBI profiler thinks about a criminal. It's not fighting fire with fire, but learning the weapons of the opponent and then thinking beyond them, to a more advanced level. It's an escalating fight. But it's a fight the little guy will win because Wal-Mart is now TOO big. The little guy is far more agile.
Learned about this book at sprawl-busters.com, a very helpful site (Al Norman's book is great as well!).

Don Taylor and Jeanne Smalling Archer explain how to prosper "in the shadow of the retail giants." This is quite literally a "how to" manual, filled with hundreds of specific examples, suggestions, strategies, and cautions which can be of substantial benefit to literally any small-to-midsize retail operation which is currently struggling to survive and then succeed. Of course, the David and Goliath metaphor is invoked. The co-authors stress the importance of courage, ten survival strategies, and "about 500 stones." (David needed only one well-placed stone. Today, he would need more "ammunition" because there are so many different "giants" to conquer. It is worth noting that David did not wrestle Goliath.) Interestingly, the "Big Three" (Wal-Mart, Kmart, and Target) all opened their first stores in 1962. They were not the first discounters but they had learned a great deal from pioneers such as Ann and Hope, Korvettes, Zayres, Arlands, and Gibson's. Once "Davids" themselves, they eventually became "Goliaths", demonstrating (in process) the importance of the ten strategies which are examined in Up Against the Wal-Marts.

The authors organize the material according to three overriding themes: change, improve, and succeed. In the 1990s, change has been the only constant. Improvement is not an option; it is an imperative. With regard to success, the co-authors leave their reader with this final statement: "Many small businesses are going to be successful competing with the giants, and we can't think of any reason why yours shouldn't be one of them."

This book covers everything you need to know about marketing and customer service for the large or small retail store. It's written in a easy to read style and gives ideas that can be used immediatly. Its help in developing our employee manual. I strongly recomend it!

A comprehensive listing of the addresses of former major leage baseball players. Indispensible for autograph collectors and for people who enjoy the game.

Because players and former players move around so much, it is often difficult to locate them. This book, which does get updated frequently, helped me with my own personal collection 10 fold. Highly recommend.

This book is superior in every way. Intended to explore the university grounds from a primarily architectural perspective, the author's writing is both impassioned and objective in its analysis of the unique architectural qualities of this wonderful university. Yet despite a clear cut architectural purpose, this book also manages to provide the best single, practical guide to the university grounds available. The author organizes his well written descriptions around a series of walks, and provides in-depth information, photographs, and history for each building or site encountered. The result is the ultimate guide for newcomers exploring the university grounds for the first time, as well as for those who already know them intimately.

Students, parents, historians, architects, professors...this book is for you! This comprehensive tour guide is just what you need to stroll the grounds and surrounding area of UVA. The writing is superior; the beautiful photographs distinguish this from any other tour book of the university! Buy this for the new student OR the graduate!

The combination of outstanding writing and splendid photographs makes this book a stimulating and comprehensive tour guide for the Princeton campus. The architecture,the grounds and the history of this university are brought alive by the rare combination of an accomplished writer and a gifted photographer. Students, parents, architects, scholars and historians will love this book!

This book is indispensable if you're a baseball autograph collector. I've gotten hundreds of autographs over the years using Jack Smalling's books. And if a letter is returned to you for an out-of-date address, you can simply send a copy of the returned envelope (with old address) to Jack and if he has a new address he'll send it to you for free! He's a heck of a nice guy. I'd also advice anyone buying the book to get on his mailing list (address is in the book) for autograph auctions and sales. I have no relation to Jack other than a satisfied customer, but he's truly the best when it comes to baseball autographs.

One caveat, the edition for sale here on Amazon has been replaced by Vol. 11, which is available on the Baseball America website.

I have been using Jack Smalling's autograph handbooks for over 5 years (the version shown is edition number 10), and my autograph collection has grown exponentially. If you want to collect autographs of retired baseball players, then this is the book for you!

What a great book!!! A definate plus for any autograph collector. Very useful, easy to read, gives tips on how to write to a baseball player (past or present). An all around great book, if you love baseball as much as I do, you'll buy this book.

Lavishly illustrated, this coffee table sized book is nicely structured by architectural eras from Federalist to Modern. Twenty-six homes are featured, mostly of private residents with a few museum-types.

My only complaints were a lack of exterior pictures. Since the book was organized by architectural eras, it left something to be desired that some of them just had interior shots. Also the captioning was a bit bizarre--pointing out objects of interest that were not in the picture and sometimes the wrong caps with the wrong picture.

Overall though, the book is a treat. I particularly liked some of the modern interior design done in older homes. The photography is magnificent. An excellent wish book!
-sweetmolly-Amazon.com Reviewer

What an outstanding piece of artwork! The text and the photographs blend beautifully to give the reader a wonderful behind the doors look at some of Washington's most captivating homes and their residents. This book is a must for a holiday gift for those who love architecture, Washington, Washington people, decorating, history, or those who just love a good book! Congratulations Jan Cigliano and Walter Smalling!

Wow, was I suprised when I finially read this book. I had looked at all the pretty pictures, (one on nearly every page) but with all the books I read, this one took a back seat for awhile. I must say that in reading the book, what I liked best, is that they kept it down to just five major houses. Ms. Brierton not gives a good discription for each house, she also included how it was aquired, what was done to it and what is yet to be done to it. The people who restore these homes are just like you and me. They are all trying to save money and still have the finest restored "Victorian" home around. It was very helpful knowing that the homes didn't necessary start out nice, but were appartments houses or sometimes just very run down. This give me HOPE in restoring my home. I like how she presents the homes as a restored yet liveable addition to the neighborhood. Her reviewing different eras of homes helped also. Mine is a very late victorian . I would like to see a bit more information on the "how to's" but she really has done a fine job. I heartily recommend the book to anyone restoring an old "Victorian" home.

I feel I need to address the first reviewer's concerns about the accuracy of this book (with the exception of Mr. Grave's foreword). Indeed, the reviewer is correct about the Law School Library. The architect of that work is mistakenly identified in the text. It was E. A. Glendenning and not Herbert Hilmer. The records of the University architect and archivist both contain this mistake; and it wasn't until I researched the records of the Law School itself (on this reviewer's prompting) that I discovered the truth. I apologize for this, and any other instances of mis-attribution.

However, I must take issue with the alleged mis-identification of the person responsible for the master plan. Steger, McGirr, and Chatterjee all verify that the organization of that master planning committee was initiated by the president's office, and not by Chatterjee alone. However, most everyone involved with the process credits Chatterjee with being the primary mover of the entire idea of remaking the campus by pushing for high quality, high profile architecture. This is made explicit in the introduction of the book, and much credit is given to Chatterjee for this. However, it would be wrong to say that he orchestrated the master plan committee and gave it its landscape focus.

Taking into account the comments of the above reviewer, this is still a wonderful book. I have a copy and thoroughly enjoyed reading it. It has excellent colour 3D maps and colour photos, with a couple of pages of text for each building. A good read if you are interested in architecture, particularly modern.

This is another book in the excellent series by Princeton Architectural Press covering US campuses. The book gives a 15 page history of the campus with reference to its architectural roots.Then there are chapters covering each part of the University. Each chapter starts with 3D view of the area to be covered. Then a colour photo of each building is shown together with a page or two of text describing the buildings history, architecture and use. If you are interested in architecture I can strongly recommend all guides in this series. I bought one and was so pleased with it I buy them as they come out and have never been disappointed.