Reviewed by Rich Follett for Readers' Favorite

Maneuvering Your Career by James K. Lehman is a succinctly written, brilliantly conceived, impeccably organized, and eminently practical guide for coming out ahead in planned or unplanned career transitions. In twenty brief, easy-to-digest chapters linked by the umbrella metaphor (from Lehman’s childhood) of guiding a canoe safely through ever-changing waters, Maneuvering Your Career offers an utterly practical and easily manageable step-by-step workbook-style strategy for developing a personal set of goals, and a specific 90-day plan for positive career change. Each concise chapter is specifically focused, begins with an encouraging quote to set the tone, includes one or more of a series of relevant and entertaining personal anecdotes from Lehman’s own experience, features an exercise segment where readers can list objectives and plans and record personal thoughts and reflections, and concludes with a useful summary to help tie key ideas together. It would be hard to imagine a more informative and user-friendly tool for those trying to advance in the professional workplace or those trying to cope with and regroup from unplanned change.

Although James K. Lehman offers a great deal of valuable wisdom, insight and advice in Maneuvering Your Career, he is also refreshingly candid about his own missteps and failures, the result being that the reader feels as if a life coach is on the job, cheering from the sidelines. The positive “can do" attitude woven through the text inspires confidence in the reader, who has little choice but to entertain grander possibilities in the face of so much positive encouragement. This blanket of positivity is nicely balanced by cautionary tales from real-world experience. Maneuvering Your Career by James K. Lehman is a book that might make a real and lasting positive difference for people with real questions, seeking real answers. In this world of hype and glam, Maneuvering Your Career by James K. Lehman offers a down-to-earth and refreshingly no-nonsense approach to achieving job satisfaction and personal growth. I can see wide applications for this fine work.

Reviewed by Roy T. James for Readers' Favorite

The Path to Job Search Success by Tom Payne begins with an interesting observation that humans are psychologically wired to move in the wrong direction down the job-search path. Tom Payne therefore emphasizes the need to be well prepared with the correct approach at all times. In an interview, how well one presents one's achievements matters more than the achievements themselves. It is also essential that we give due allowance to the human weakness of having a stubborn faith in the meaningfulness of our achievements and a disregard for our failures. Especially in this, the importance of body language and the necessity to assume a high power pose cannot be over-emphasized.

Also, mastering the subconscious speech of non-verbal behavior is one of the most important job search tasks. One should be able to articulate one's strength in a compelling way, ie. create a sentence that contains the strengths most relevant to the hiring organization. Tom rates some questions in an interview as suicide questions. A few examples are: What are your weaknesses, Tell me about your worst boss etc, and he discusses techniques for answering these as well. Tom completes the book with the most crucial advice: “Always be positive. Always! And no excuses. Ever”

The Path to Job Search Success by Tom Payne is in fact a practical manual to prepare for any interview. Wise suggestions, inspiring real life stories and helpful tips make this book a worthy guide and reference. The book can boast of many new and valuable tips to make one a sure winner.

Reviewed by Eduardo Aduna for Readers' Favorite

Nelson Mandela once said that a nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones. Ghislaine Dean's novel shows us how one of the "advanced" countries in the world deals with its prisoners -and it's not a pretty sight. Rehabilitation clashes with punishment and inmates are given intermittent rays of hope while being stuck in an endless cycle of hopelessness and desolation. Ghislaine Dean's experiences were written with such emotional frankness that I found myself commiserating with her frustrations and celebrating with her whenever she encounters tiny triumphs.

Deprived of a Fighting Chance: An Inside Look at Rehabilitation in a Canadian Detention Centre is a beautifully raw and personal account of encountering ordinary people trying to do good things and being shut down by a bureaucratic system intent on keeping change, even if it is positive, to a minimum. It shows first-hand how being inside a detention center can distort the humanity of inmates, staff and guards; and reduce a supposedly rehabilitative facility into a melting pot of simmering hate and frustration that can only inevitably explode. Irritation and understanding clash whenever the correctional officers act more inhuman than the inmates under their charge. It is both sobering and frustrating to read each quote, each anecdote and each conversation about men and women trying their best in adverse conditions - only to be hindered by the very system that's supposed to help them eventually become productive members of society. I found my fists clenched while reading the chapter about Paul D. and my eyes wet when learning about the plight and determination of Farah H.

The novel shows how tiny glimmers of compassion, wrought by dedicated individuals, can touch the lives of the down-trodden and the desperate, and give them hope and motivation to become better than they currently are. With frank, no-nonsense prose that tackles a tricky subject head on, Ghislaine Dean's Deprived of a Fighting Chance: An Inside Look at Rehabilitation in a Canadian Detention Centre is one of those rare books that I would have no qualms recommending to everyone I know.

Reviewed by Anne Boling for Readers' Favorite

GRE/GMAT Math: A Systematic Approach was devised by Sid Thatte. As we go through school we learn math formulas but not all of us use them every day. If we don’t use them we lose them and sometimes we just don’t understand them. Then it comes time to take the GRE and the GMAT and we know we need to beef up our math skills in preparation. That’s when you need a copy of GRE/GMAT Math. The format of GRE/GMAT Math is much like a traditional workbook. There are no frills but good, solid, problem solving instructions. The focus is on learning concepts. The presentation is very logical and covers an extensive range of theories. The organization of this book is excellent. Sid Thatte has included examples, explanations, problems, and solutions. I would suggest a summary at the end of each chapter and perhaps some practical tests. The test-taking tips are very well done.

GRE/GMAT Math is not for everyone; it is for the serious student that truly wants to learn math. As with any math book, the reader needs to work through the questions because just scanning this book will not be enough. Math has never been my strong suit so I appreciated the way the author presented all the steps to the problems, even the basics. He never skips steps or takes short cuts. However, he does show ways a more advanced student can speed up test-taking time. He presents the concepts in an easy-to-learn or brush-up manner. I highly recommend this book.

Reviewed by Samantha Rivera for Readers' Favorite

Walking into a facility where the doors are outside of your control, where you’re locked in small hallways with no way out, where your every move is viewed and recorded can be a terrifying experience. It’s all in a day’s work when you’re in a supermax facility. Maximum Insecurity will teach you everything you’ve ever wanted to know and more about the life offenders lead in a supermax and what it’s like to work there as well. At times it’s terrifying and yet Dr. Wright is able to overcome it. This is his story about working in a prison and about growing as a person throughout the experience.

If you’ve never been to a prison (or even a jail) then this book is an excellent tool for understanding what life is really like inside those walls. As a doctor in a supermax, author William Wright is witness to everything that happens and all the offenders who spend time there. He has a lot of great insight and he’s able to share it with plenty of humor. I was extremely interested in what goes on in a supermax facility, being one of those few who’s never seen the inside of those walls for any reason (not even a tour or to visit someone). Maximum Insecurity is an excellent depiction of what working in a supermax facility is really like, with no holds barred. Dr. Wright is completely open and honest about how he feels being locked in the facility with offenders and working with them as well. I definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in the prison system.

Reviewed by Mary C. Blowers for Readers' Favorite

This short book caught me by surprise. P.J. Ingram-McPhee weaves together episodes from a seemingly ordinary life where only the person living it knows there is so much more going on. Stories from her childhood, from life with longtime friends, and her relationship with her husband are at once hilarious and meaningful. You won’t believe that so much can happen to one woman as she regales with tales of accident-proneness and secrets. When you are done laughing, the author gets right to the point of “I Almost Gave Up.” She reminds us that God is all-powerful and has a purpose for everything in your life — even the crazy, funny bits.

I loved “I Almost Gave Up.” P.J. Ingram-McPhee’s writing style reminds me of that of my favorite famous Southern writer, Flannery O’Connor. The stories kept me turning pages right to the end to find out how she would tie it all together; I was not disappointed. I was touched by her passion for the people of God and her vow to “always have encouraging words for everyone I meet.” When you think of all she has been through, surgical pins, steel plates, and all, you realize that she is a walking miracle and has the attitude to prove it. If you are weighed down and discouraged by life, I promise this book will both lift you up and also put your eyes on the One who can make the difference for you. Somehow God has put all P.J.’s trials into a crazy quilt of testimony to His goodness and mercy and He can do the same for you.

Reviewed by Maria Beltran for Readers' Favorite

"Management by Steel Trap: A Project Management Framework" is a book that consists of eleven chapters that discuss the steps in project management. Chapter 1 is an introduction to project management where the industry's terminology and phrases are explained. The next chapter elaborates on a lot of subjects that pertain to the steps in project management based on the philosophy of steel trap laying. The next chapters further elaborates on the actual framework of management by steel trap until the goal of the project is achieved. Each of the phases in this form of project management is discussed thoroughly and the book also contains tools and templates that should be useful to project managers.

Lakshmi Narayani is an IT professional working with a Masters degree in Commerce. She is currently working with Accenture and has 14 years of experience in the IT industry tucked in her belt. Systematic and thorough, her book, "Management by Steel Trap", is designed to assist project managers complete their work successfully. This book suggests that managing projects and accomplishing project goals can only be done using the right project management framework. Setting a milestone and utilizing systematic questioning are also important. Narayani writes in a methodical way herself. And this makes the book easy to follow and understand. It is obvious that the author knows exactly what she is talking about. Better still, she knows how to impart knowledge in a way that is easy to understand. This book is a must have for anyone who wants to learn additional project management tools like the frame work for decision making, conducting meetings effectively, mastering the job of team management and other relevant topics.

Reviewed by Dr. Oliva Dsouza for Readers' Favorite

Life purpose needs to be understood from three dimensions: 3D, 4D and 5D. 111 Inspirational Life Purpose Quotes and Exercises to Find Your Purpose in Life by Suzanne Strisower teaches us just that. Through lovely quotes and exercises, one can discover the right way to carve out one's unique life path and become a lifestyle entrepreneur. Waters twelve principles of a new reality are beautifully incorporated into the book to help people identify their destiny and path in life. A list of tried and tested websites have been provided by the author to allow the reader to easily figure out some of the essential information required to zero in on their path. Through beautiful quotes, the author guides you and takes you to a different reality which most of us tend to ignore. Living with clarity and focus is very important in the little time we have on this earth. This book talks about how essential it is to have a "God's eye" view of every event in our lives.

For those having a midlife crisis, or for that matter any kind of crisis that makes them question the purpose of their lives 111 Inspirational Life Purpose Quotes and Exercises to Find Your Purpose in Life by Suzanne Strisower is the perfect workbook. Each of us has a different life purpose. This book is meant to provide a clear focus, meaning and direction to your life and it does so without a hitch.