The Encyclopedia of Superheroes on Film and Television

Book Description

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a complete guide to over fifty years of superheroes on screen! Each entry includes a detailed history, cast and credits, episode and film descriptions, critical commentaries and data on arch-villains, gadgets, comic-book origins and super powers, while placing each production into its historical context.

Four appendices list common conventions and clichés of superheroes on screen, incarnations, a sampling of memorable superhero ad-lines, and the best, worst, and most influential superhero productions from 1951 to 2003. Mr. Muir's Horror Films of the 1970s (2002) was selected as one of the thirteen "Reference Books of the Year" by the American Library Association.

Customer Reviews:

An excellent and recommended reference .......2005-05-11

Most coverages of superheroes focus on comic books and illustrators for the comic book world. John Kenneth Muir's Encyclopedia Of Superheroes On Film And Television narrows the focus to film and television superheroes, with entries by show discussing shows ranging from short-run productions like 'Isis' to 'M.A.N.T.I.S', 'Shazam!' and more. Each film and show receives critical quotes, overviews of plot and premise, cast and crew listings, and seasonal episode overviews. An excellent and recommended reference for film and television buffs.

Essential reading for superhero fans.......2004-05-10

"The Encyclopedia of Superheroes on Film and Television," by John Kenneth Muir, packs a wealth of information into more than 600 pages. It is illustrated with many black-and-white depictions of both animated and live-action characters. The bulk of the book is an alphabetically organized group of entries on specific superheroes.

A typical entry discusses a superhero and the various film and TV incarnations in which he/she has appeared. Muir discusses many types of superhero portrayals: animated and live-action, black-and-white and color, serious and spoof, and adult- and kid-oriented productions, even including direct-to-video features. The book is amazingly comprehensive, including both solo heroes and teams. There are the expected entries on such "big" names as The Amazing Spider-Man, Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, X-Men, etc. But Muir does not neglect the curious, cultish, or off-beat.

Among the many heroes covered are the Ambiguously Gay Duo (from a series of animated shorts on "Saturday Night Live"), Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Captain Planet and the Planeteers, Darkman, ElectraWoman and DynaGirl, Isis, M.A.N.T.I.S., the Six Million Dollar Man, the Tick, and many more. I don't doubt that there are omissions or oversights (I would have liked to have seen an entry on the Bibleman character, portrayed by Willie Aames), but overall it's an impressively broad gathering of heroes. The entries feature cast and crew credits from various productions, as well as episode guides to TV series. Excerpts from critics' reviews add further to the entries. Among the fascinating topics covered along the way are the superhero underpinnings of the film "Unbreakable" and the notorious unreleased Fantastic Four film.

The book includes endnotes, a bibliography, and an index, as well as a number of appendices. I found the most interesting appendix to be the one covering the cliches and conventions of superhero media: "The Dogged Reporter," "Gargoyle Pose," "Lost Powers," etc.

This book is well-written and fascinating. Muir takes the genre seriously, and brings insight and intelligence to this project. He is also not afraid to be critical. In his introduction he puts superhero lore into the context of United States culture. He also discusses his rationale for excluding or including certain characters when writing the book. I consider this book an essential reference work for public and academic libraries. But its accessible writing, user-friendly organization, and treasure trove of information also make it a worthy book for any individual with an interest in interest in superheroes.

Book Description

This comprehensive guide gives readers with basic music compositional skills the information they need to become commercially viable artisans. In addition to providing a foundation of prerequisite technical skills, including basic audio considerations and sound file formats, the book teaches the business skills needed to work successfully as an audio technician in the game development business. How-to features take the reader step-by-step, from purchasing the right equipment, understanding the various game platforms, and composing music and creating sound effects specifically for games, to the ins and outs of marketing, producing demo reels, determining fees, bidding projects, and negotiating contracts.

Turn your musical passion into a career with this valuable guide to the business and technical skills you need to succeed in the multi-billion dollary game industry.

Customer Reviews:

Rich in information but outdated.......2007-03-21

This book contains very good and valuable information for those wanting to get into the game industry, unfortunately it was written in 2000, so most of the information is completely old for today standards, specially in this field.

For those who want to know about the game industry in general.......2005-08-23

This book is very well written, its easy to go through it quickly. One of the features I really like is the different interviews with game music composers asking everything from equipment to techniques to inspiration.

This book gives a detailed look into the industry, don't expect to learn how to compose from buying this book. This book is for musicians that are beginning or are already working with computer games and need to know about the industry. Sorry but there will never be books around pretending to teach you how to compose music, composing like anything else is something that you learn by doing and not by reading books. But if you are a musician already, and love computer games, then you won't regret this book.

Solid advice for composers wanting to get into the industry.......2005-07-06

This is a great book for those composers and sound designers wanting to break into the gaming industry. I do not understand why many people read this book hoping to find technical audio information, but this is NOT a TECHNICAL AUDIO or ENGINEERING book. This book is in the same vein as Jeff Rona's Reelworld book or Richard Davis's Complete Guide to Filmscoring.

Invaluable industry advice and at preparing your audio demo reels, and making connections. Must have for any aspiring game music composer or sound designer.

Few specifics.......2004-04-22

Although an o.k. book, I have to agree with "mysticmusing" in his criticism. The industry advice is probably invaluable to professional or budding audio dudes, but it fills up half the book..!

There are very few specfic examples of actual techniques for composition, sound effect development or integration. There are no concrete examples of game audio as implemented within any game engine - be it by C+ or through e.g. DirectMusic.

All in all this book has very little to tell people that don't already master all the great techniques and tools. And if you do master those techniques and tools, I suspect half of this book would be old news.

mysticmusing get out and read about the industry.......2003-10-21

Great book, and ignore that first review where it talks about lack of coverage of developer issues. The term developer is not used the same way in the game industry as it is in the more general software world. Developer does not mean programmer. Game programmers use the term programmer (imagine that!). A developer is someone who works in a broader role to get the game created (or developed), like say a producer or project manager or whatever. It is not the narrow term that we all have come to know and love in other areas of software development. Maybe those chapters on how to get into the industry might do you some good after all, eh?

The Complete Guide to Internet Promotion for Musicians, Artists, & Songwriters

Average customer rating:

give me a break - this is hype
A dose of reality
A Good Guide
A Good Guide
not worth it

The Complete Guide to Internet Promotion for Musicians, Artists, & Songwriters
John Dawes
Manufacturer: TSA Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Business | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

General | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

General | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 1929378017

Book Description

This book is like no other written about promoting your music on the Internet. The strategies contained in this book have been used by the most successful artists on the Internet today. The system in this book will lay the groundwork you need for a successful career in the fast paced music business.

Now is the time! It has never been easier or more inexpensive to put your music online and promote it. With a strong online presence, you can gain more exposure for your music than ever before. The Complete Guide to Internet Promotion for Musicians, Artists & Songwriters takes you step-by-step through the web design and promotion process, to covering everything you need to know to succeed on the Internet:

*How to get your music on the Internet and protect it.

*How to get airplay on Internet radio stations.

*What a successful web site should look like.

*Marketing your web site online and offline.

*How to get free advertising and exposure online and offline.

*How to write effective promotional material.

*The secrets to submitting your site to all the major search engines.

*How to grow your web site's traffic and keep fans interested.

*How to effectively use email.

*How to track your royalties online and offline.

In this book, Tim Sweeney & John Dawes show you that can compete with major label artists and sell more CDs them. You will be able to reach a global audience, get noticed by the industry, and sell your music, 24 hours a day, year round.

A bonus section has been added to the book which contains a full index of Internet Resources to help you get started promoting your music online today and a comprehensive checklist to help you chart your progress.

If you are serious about selling your music online and want to gain worldwide exposure for your music, THIS IS THE BOOK!

Customer Reviews:

give me a break - this is hype.......2002-08-18

This book is overpriced with a ton of filler and no real meat. I was frustrated and felt ripped off. For the price of this book, you can get "How I Make $100,000/year in the Music Business" by David Hooper which has a lot of information on how to promote on the Internet and "Buzz Your MP3" which is all about promoting on the Internet. Pass on this one.

A dose of reality.......2002-06-09

You can always tell when another guy who wrote a book writes a fake review in the testimonials. They always say the other book isn't any good and refer to theirs. Obviously this is the case with the other books pitched in the earlier reviews. I used this book after Sweeney's other book, Guide To Releasing Independent Records. His first book got me a distribution deal and a payment of $25,000 from using it. This book has started to help too. I have sold 306 CDs so far this year from my site that I start in March. I followed the section in the book on how to get people from your live shows to your site and it works. At $10 profit per CD sold on my site, the $30 bucks I spent on this book made me over $3,000. I would suggest you buy a copy and stop paying attention to the other self promoting idiots who wrote books and never worked with a band in their life!

A Good Guide.......2002-04-11

I wasted so much money on worthless internet books. Sweeney's book sounds just like his workshops. He lays out what you need to do in straight forward terms. I would highly suggest this guy's book especially when at his Las Vegas workshops he predicted what internet music sites and companies would fail and why and then when I looked at my notes recently he was exactly right.

Use this book with the articles in his free newsletter.

A Good Guide.......2002-04-11

Use this book with the articles in his free newsletter.

not worth it.......2002-03-30

Not worth the money. I highly recommend you avoid this title and check out something else, like BUZZ YOUR MP3 by Brian Freeman or HOW I MAKE $100,000 by David Hooper. This just wasn't worth the money and the hype isn't worth believing. Sorry cholly.

Average customer rating:

great for cave dwellers
Works Even For "Older" Musicians
Necessary for the Hip Hop Entrepreneur in the 21st Century!

The Musician's Guide to the Internet
Gary Hustwit , and Todd Souvignier
Manufacturer: Hal Leonard Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0634010123

Book Description

This book was the first internet guide specifically written for musicians. Now fully revised and updated, the second edition is loaded with even more practical information on how to take full advantage of all the information age has to offer. Topics covered include: equipment requirements; getting online; e-mail; chat, IRC and instant messaging; MP3s and compressed audio; how to build your first website; internet radio and streaming audio; file sharing; selling music online; building web traffic; and more.

Customer Reviews:

great for cave dwellers.......2004-03-06

I simply cannot believe all the positive reviews this book got. This book is made up of the most basic, simplistic garbage you are ever likely to find. Here's a checklist of things authors Souvignier and Hustwit recommend to help aid your musical ePromotion efforts: 1) A COMPUTER 2) Modems and 3) Broadband. (OH REALLY?!?!?!?!) They devote entire chapters to such inane 'advice' as the need for an internet connection.

There are only 88 pages in this foray into the bloody obvious, but they are so desperate to pad the page count that they count the cover as a page.

This is the stupidest book I have ever seen. The advice offered is so beyond basic that it is staggering. Unless you've only just now come out of a coma, DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS LOUSY BOOK. As for me, I'm going to demand my money back from Amazon.

Works Even For "Older" Musicians.......2002-05-17

Being an "older" musician--that is, I didn't grow up with a computer attached to my head--I've been rather biased in my attitude toward the Internet, thinking that the tools it had to offer were mostly hype. In truth, I was just intimated. However, having read "The Musician's Guide To The Internet"--and now being informed rather than ignorant--I'm neither dismissive or scared! And that's a nice change for a geezer like me!

Necessary for the Hip Hop Entrepreneur in the 21st Century!.......1998-04-06

This book is one that we at nichemarket recommend highly in our Booklist for any Hip Hop Entrepreneur serious about a career in the music industry! --Walt Goodridge, President, Hip Hop Entrepreneur Association

The Incredible Internet Guide to Pop Music (Incredible Internet Guides)

Average customer rating:

The Incredible Internet Guide to Pop Music (Incredible Internet Guides)
James R. Flowers
Manufacturer: Facts on Demand Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

Directories | Catalogs & Directories | Reference | Subjects | Books

General | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 188915024X

Book Description

Over 1,500 web sites show you where to find lyrics, images, MP3, fan clubs, concert info and much more!

The Independent Musician's Contact Bible

Average customer rating:

like being at the candy store.

The Independent Musician's Contact Bible
David Wimble
Manufacturer: Omnibus Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Spiral-bound

Business | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

Web Marketing | Business & Culture | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

Consumer Guides | Reference | Subjects | Books

Directories | Catalogs & Directories | Reference | Subjects | Books

General | Reference | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0968621406

Book Description

The Indie Contact Bible is an amazing resource created for musicians and songwriters of all genres. It contains over 3400 services that will either play, review or help you to sell your music.

This book has been created by a fellow musician with your immediate need in mind, which is to get your music heard, and moving towards greater exposure as soon as possible. The contacts listed are people that will listen to your music, and if they like it, will present it to their readers and listeners.

Customer Reviews:

like being at the candy store........2001-08-20

Hmmm. where to start. Endless resources and contacts make this book the single best investment I've made to spread my music to radio, 'Zines, mp3stations and the like. The only downfall is, while it saves you ALOT of legwork (and guesswork), it only lists the URL's of each entry. Ya gotta score the contact names and email addresses on your own...and a few of the links are now defunct.A form to order a free update is included, though, so ya really can't go wrong.

The Professional Musician's Internet Guide (Book & CD Rom)

Average customer rating:

Very solid and to the point book for audio and the Internet

The Professional Musician's Internet Guide (Book & CD Rom)
Ron Simpson
Manufacturer: MixBooks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Songbooks | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

Business | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

General | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

General | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0872887383

Book Description

The opportunities for musicians to market and sell their music on the Internet have never been greater than they are today. This book levels the playing field by giving every musician the opportunity to promote and sell their music to a global audience. It addresses the various technical issues (Mac and Windows) today's musicians face preparing and uploading their music to a website, and includes details on how they can get the biggest websites to notice their songs. An accompanying CD-ROM provides helpful HTML templates and audio test files (in various web-ready formats) that allow musicians to upload and test web audio files from a free web hosting site, set up e-commerce music sites, and much more. The bible for musicians wishing to take advantage of all of the opportunities the Internet offers for promotion, sale and distribution of music!

Customer Reviews:

Very solid and to the point book for audio and the Internet.......2001-05-15

I ordered this book as soon as I heard about it. When I got it, I was very happy. It covers all the basics including intermediate to advanced topics. Personally I like it very much because you can find everything that you will need to get started or advance with audio and the Internet. This is a great book for anyone who wants to create audio for the web.

Song Sheets to Software: A Guide to Print Music, Software, and Web Sites for Musicians

Average customer rating:

A Songwriter's Guide To The Galaxy

Song Sheets to Software: A Guide to Print Music, Software, and Web Sites for Musicians
Elizabeth C. Axford
Manufacturer: The Scarecrow Press, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

History | Business & Culture | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

Printing | Graphic Design | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

General | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

Directories | Catalogs & Directories | Reference | Subjects | Books

Book Description

Song Sheets to Software is about learning and teaching music through new, stimulating, and accessible means -- computers and the Internet. A landmark resource for anyone who wants to know more about music, the book is divided into five chapters. Chapter 1 is a detailed history of songs sheets, covering early American religious, folk and popular music in print, as well as songs in musicals, silent films, talkies, radio and records. Chapter 2 covers print music royalties, copyright laws, formats and terms, while the last three chapters consist of annotated listings of 600+ music software titles, 6,000+ music-related web sites for musicians, and Internet tech terms.

Customer Reviews:

A Songwriter's Guide To The Galaxy.......2002-04-08

"Song Sheets to Software: A Guide to Print Music, Software, and Web Sites for Musicians" provides both the aspiring and the professional musician, songwriter, and/or music publisher with a comprehensive, concise, and logically sequenced "roadmap" to the vast array of music-related and/or music publishing resources of the Internet. In doing so, it fills the "information gap" that has long existed between those who create music and those who are in business to exploit and/or promote it. As opposed to the more common, "hunt and peck" approach of any number of music publisher "directories" available for purchase on this and other bookseller web sites, this new, highly effective "tool" offers left hemisphere hope for those with right brain preferences.

After prefacing the motivation and inspiration that resulted in this vital work, the author begins with a brief, albeit thorough history of the relationship between the creative origins of songwriting and it's business counterpart, music publishing. This provides the necessary "foundation" upon which further knowledge of this and "all things music" can be acquired, utilizing contemporary computer-related technologies.

In the chapters that follow, readers are equipped with a music-related software glossary, indexed website address locations, and even an Internet vocabulary dictionary. This empowers the modern day equivalent of Shakespeare's bards, poets, and minstrels with apprehension-free and confident access to cyberspace. When seeking the services of a reputable music publisher, this wonderful reference work may just prevent many a
would-be tunesmith from becoming "Lost In Space" as well. And this, in this author's opinion, is a benefit to humankind. As Nietzsche pointed out, "Without music, life would be a mistake."

Average customer rating:
The Virtual Musician: A Complete Guide to Online Resources and Services
Brad Hill
Manufacturer: Schirmer Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
Library Management | Library & Information Science | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Internet | Home Computing | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books | Internet & Education | Online Searching | Web Browsers | Web for Kids
General | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
Web Services | Web Development | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0028645839

Amazon.com

The Virtual Musician is the musician's map to the Internet. The first 70 pages can be skimmed (or maybe even skipped). After that, the guide provides a good mix of fan forums; music publications; and educational, record label, and MIDI sites, as well as resources for musicians. Learn how to tune a piano online. Discover obscure music-related Web sites, such as Vangelis' ("Chariots of Fire") fan page. The Virtual Musician comes with a CD-ROM containing PC and Macintosh utilities to play .wav and MIDI files, interactive piano lessons, and general Internet information. It is a useful resource for musicians and music junkies alike.

On-line resources for classical and academic musicians: A guide through the wilds of the Internet

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On-line resources for classical and academic musicians: A guide through the wilds of the Internet
Hope Ehn
Manufacturer: H. Ehn
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

General | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0006P8VKK

Book Description

Babylon 5 has given the small worlds that make up The League of Non-Aligned Worlds a voice on the galactic level, and has allowed them to act on almost equal footing with the more powerful races. This book introduces in great detail the races and planets of this political alliance, providing games masters and players with invaluable information on dealing with them in the Babylon 5 universe.

Average customer rating:

Don't Waste Your Time

Six Sigma and the Industrial Engineer

A Six Sigma Overview

Old wine in a new bottle

Unfortunately too much of a commercial

Six Sigma: The Breakthrough Management Strategy Revolutionizing the World's Top Corporations
Mikel Phd Harry , and Richard Schroeder
Manufacturer: Currency
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
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The Six Sigma Way: How GE, Motorola, and Other Top Companies are Honing Their Performance

The Six Sigma Handbook: The Complete Guide for Greenbelts, Blackbelts, and Managers at All Levels, Revised and Expanded Edition

The Ultimate Advantage

Working With Culture: How the Job Gets Done in Public Programs (Public Affairs and Policy Administration Series)

The Lean Six Sigma Pocket Toolbook: A Quick Reference Guide to 100 Tools for Improving Quality and Speed

ASIN: 0385494386
Release Date: 2006-03-21

Amazon.com

Mikel Harry and Richard Schroeder think they've figured out a management program that really works. While at Motorola in the 1980s, they helped pioneer Six Sigma, a process that "guides companies into making fewer mistakes in everything they do--from filling out a purchase order to manufacturing airplane engines." Since then, the two have left Motorola and have turned Six Sigma into a lucrative business that saw over $100 million in consulting contracts in 1998. And now the book.

In Six Sigma: The Breakthrough Management Strategy Revolutionizing the World's Top Corporations, Harry and Schroeder explain Six Sigma and show how it's working at companies such as General Electric, Polaroid, and Allied Signal. The authors contend that most companies today are working at a "sigma" level of between 3.5 and 4, and that with just a one-sigma shift, companies will experience "a 20 percent margin improvement, a 12 to 18 percent increase in capacity, a 12 percent reduction in the number of employees," as well as "a 10 to 30 percent capital reduction." Sigma is a quality metric that counts the number of defects per million opportunities (DPMO). For example, a sigma level of 3.5 means that a process has 22,700 DPMO; a sigma level of 4.5, 1,350 DPMO; and a perfect six sigma, 3 DPMO.

At the heart of Six Sigma is the notion that quality saves money--lots of money. Harry and Schroeder argue that for most companies "the cost of quality is roughly 25 to 40 percent of sales revenue ... at six sigma the cost of quality declines to less than one percent of sales revenue." The idea is not to create quality-assurance programs but to eliminate the need for them altogether. When a company is operating at six sigma, costs that would otherwise go to inspection, rework, warranties, and customer service drop to the bottom line. Six Sigma is a compelling concept that many companies have tied their futures to. Well written, this book is a great introduction for investors, managers, and anyone who sees Six Sigma on the horizon. --Harry C. Edwards

Book Description

The extraordinary breakthrough management program--heralded by GE, Motorola, and AlliedSignal--that is sweeping corporate America with its unprecedented ability to achieve superior financial results.

Six Sigma is the most powerful breakthrough management tool ever devised, promising increased market share, cost reductions, and dramatic improvements in bottom-line profitability for companies of any size. The darling of Wall Street, it has become the mantra of Fortune 500 boardrooms around the world because it works.

What is Six Sigma? It is first and foremost a business process that enables companies to increase profits dramatically by streamlining operations, improving quality, and eliminating defects or mistakes in everything a company does, from filling out purchase orders to manufacturing airplane engines. While traditional quality programs have focused on detecting and correcting defects, Six Sigma encompasses something broader: It provides specific methods to re-create the process itself so that defects are never produced in the first place.

Most companies operate at a three- to four-sigma level, where the cost of defects is roughly 20 to 30 percent of revenues. By approaching Six Sigma--fewer than one defect per 3.4 million opportunities--the cost of quality drops to less than 1 percent of sales.

This is because the highest quality also results in the lowest costs. When GE reduced its costs from 20 percent to less than 10 percent, it saved a billion dollars in just two years--money that goes directly to the bottom line. This is the reason Wall Street and corporations as diverse as Sony, Ford, Nokia, Texas Instruments, Canon, Hitachi, Lockheed Martin, American Express, Toshiba, DuPont, and Polaroid have embarked on corporate-wide Six Sigma programs.

Six Sigma should be of paramount importance to every forward-thinking executive and manager determined to make their company world-class in their industry.

From the Hardcover edition.

Download Description

What is Six Sigma? It is first and foremost a business process that enables companies to increase profits dramatically by streamlining operations, improving quality, and eliminating defects or mistakes in everything a company does, from filling out purchase orders to manufacturing airplane engines. While traditional quality programs have focused on detecting and correcting defects, Six Sigma encompasses something broader: It provides specific methods to re-create the process itself so that defects are never produced in the first place.

Customer Reviews:

Don't Waste Your Time.......2004-02-05

This is a poorly written 300 page piece of marketing fluff for the Six Sigma Academy consulting group. Either save your time by skipping the book and contacting the consultants directly or find a different book if you really want to learn about six sigma

Six Sigma and the Industrial Engineer.......2002-11-23

The book gives a good general overview of the Six Sigma system. It offers little real ability to do projects UNLESS you are an industrial engineer (IE), in which case it gives you a concrete case to sell your solutions to management. Six Sigma appears to be a buzz word for PART of an indutrial engineers repitoire of skills. ...

A Six Sigma Overview.......2002-10-17

Six Sigma superficially is an excellent concept and this book serves the reader well in providing a detailed description of the concept. Early chapters take the reader on a journey through various companies providing an education on the importance of benchmarking, measuring defect rates, implementation strategies, and measuring six sigma performance. When the book begins to focus on implementation and deployment in later chapters the paint strokes begin to get very broad. The ideas provided to the reader are oversimplified and basic. For example, "Companies that improve their ability to consistently meet their customer's needs will produce positive bottom-line results." Really? I believe that the 1% of managers that are unware of this concept are not reading this book. The inability of this book to lay out a detailed plan for implementation results from the fact that each business is significantly different. If after reading this book the six sigma concept is appealing one could consider employing a consultant or creating a team for implementation. In my opinion the book also applies more to businesses with easily measurable performance such as manufacturing products as opposed to service providing businesses. Although customer satisfaction can be measured it is much easier to note an increase in monthly unit production. In summary six sigma is a difficult concept to initiate without the full commitment of your management team but the individual businessman will gain some valuable managerial skills through the book's good advice.

Old wine in a new bottle.......2002-02-08

As a person with exposure to Software Engineering Institute's Capability Maturity Model, I can say with conviction that the authors of this book have tried to sell the concept of Six-sigma the way corporate chieftains want to hear. i.e increase in bottom-line.

The book gives a good, superficial account of what is Six-Sigma with reference to implementations in Motorola, General Electric and Allied Signal.

While CMM is specific to software development process improvements (off-late its branching into HR aspects as well) six-sigma addressess other industries as well.

This book is a marketing tool kit for the authors' consulting practice.

I know of people who have gone through six-sigma certification process and have heard of people in GE commenting about its ineffectiveness.

Let me provide an analogy here and you will understand better.
Unless you the have the will-power to quit smoking, no amount of patch intakes will help you do that, right? Same case here...unless there's a management commitment and will-power to drive for process improvements (any model) success is hard to come by.

GE (If I recollect rightly) infact, made it mandatory to go through Six-sigma training for its employees to be promoted to a certain level higher-up.

Only such management commitment would help in process improvements (through any quality model)

I am sure many of you would be familiar with concepts and ideas of Six-Sigma. There's no doubt about it. Its plain common-sense.

In today's world, there are many industries that are head and shoulders above Six Sigma.

At the worst case, Six-sigma may be suitable for software companies whose quality practices are not something to write home about. But even then software companies have CMM. Why choose six-sigma which is more complex and expensive?

There are simpler and cost-effective techniques for smaller and medium sized companies in any industry. Such techniques evolve over a period of time with experience.

Nevertheless, this book is a good reading material that will throw lots of corporate jargons.

But please don't be misled by those jargons.

Unfortunately too much of a commercial.......2001-07-21

I purchased this book to learn more about the reemergence of six sigma as an approach to business change. Unfortunately this book is more of a commercial for the authors services than a discussion of the approach, where it can be applied and how to be successful with it.

The book first part of the book is filled with hyperbole and leans heavily on the idea that if it worked for GE and Motorola then it will work for you. It is important to recognize that the average six sigma project generates less than $100,000 in value. So the value of the technique is in spreading it out wide and far in your organization and letting the people doing the work improve what they do.

This is not an approach for people looking to do transformational change or to address signficiant structural issues.

To the authors credit they do describe the six sigma processes and steps at a level that you can understand it and have a conversation about six sigma at a dinner party. They achieve this result.

However, the book does not go much beyond this. It is very light on the applicaiton of this to services -- a real issue given that most people are employed in service related activities. It directs people to invest heavily in training black belts in the techniques whcih is the service provided by the authors.

For people who have an understanding of TQM techniques much of this is a reconfiguraiton of the techniques not the breakthrough revolution that the book describes.

Although this has more detail than Hammer's Rengineering the Corporation, this book is too heavy on the advertising messages to help people understand the technique and its applicability to their business.

Average customer rating:
Six Sigma (Audio cassettes): The Breakthrough Management Strategy Revolutionizing the World's Top Corporations
Richard; Narrative read by James Lurie Mikel Harry; Schroeder
Manufacturer: Bantam Doubleday Audio Cassette P
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000QKT7TO

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Six Sigma, the Breakthrough Management Strategy Revolutionizing the World's Top Corporations

Manufacturer: Doubleday
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000HFHK1A

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