Finance-Software

Though rudimentary, this book filled some gaps for me left by more advanced texts, including some definitions that I was fuzzy on, and enlightened me as to why some things are on financial statements in the form they're in, since I don't have a business education background.

The CD contains the text, which is handy on a laptop, but marred by having the text superimposed on a busy patterned background that has some kind of periodic highlights that are particularly annoying (the current generation of magazine, book and web site designers can't seem to grasp that the point of text is to be read, and that stuff that looks nifty on the computer screen may be darn near impossible to read in print; busy photo backgrounds, light text on dark backgrounds etc. belong ONLY in ads, where no one is expected to read the text anyway.)

Also, the spreadsheets would have been more useful if incorporated in groups into workbooks instead of individual ones. You can't readily get numbers from one to another. And the disk titles are of the "sheet23.xls" variety, not helpful for finding the one you want, so you have to either have the book listing handy or access them strictly from the CD PDF file text.

Being used to technical book web sites that contain errata, new material, suggestions from users, etc., I was disappointed to find nothing new there. And the list of web links, as usual in this fast-changing world, contains a number of missing links. I would have appreciated a good old fashioned bibliography in addition to the links, because you can usually find out of print books through a library, used dealers on the web, and most really important books and texts have current editions.

I consistently buy this book to distribute to participants in my company's credit training seminars. I have used the previous edition and this newest edition, both of which are very informative and easy to read. To the author... Great Job!

I am the author. I would like to point out that the reviews that appear here, which are dated prior to May 2002, are for the previous edition. In this new Third Edition, I have worked hard to take this top-selling, clearly written book, and add content in many areas to provide more depth to the book. There are six new chapters covering tax concepts, capital structure, business plans, working capital and banking relationshsips, accountability and control, and personal finances. In addition many other chapters have been siginficantly modified and or supplemented with new information. I hope you enjoy my book.

Despite the advertising, I would say that this book is of little or no use to all but the beginning investor who wants a very easy to manage entry/exit system. I could replicate the "extensive historical research" that these "prominent authors" have performed for their systems in less than a few days and I'm no expert.

There are more pages of text devoted to the history of Fidelity and to an overview and explanation of the Select Funds (the only useful chapter in the book for me) than to the 3 "powerful mutual fund models". The "computer programs" included on disk are nothing more than incredibly simple spreadsheet templates.

I'm not sure if the authors are bull-market opportunists or just naive, but their book was/is a great disappointment to me.

Very detailed information on risk level, returns, and how to invest in fidelity select mutual funds.

I have been looking for someway to track the different Fidelity investments and trade on my own. This book and computer program is finally the anwser. I have been using the computer program for 6 months and have finally made money on my own. When the Dow came down so severly in late summer and fall, this system told me what to invest in and not lose like the dow. I am looking forward to trading with this system in the future.

This book breaks you out of the stale circle of literature about project failure and silver-bullet recipes for success.

Sure, it is a good reference book to have for its extensive coverage of the field. It has been a worthwhile purchase for the quotable statistics and multiple case examples of project failure alone. It is clear that Andrew Holmes is exceptionally well-read in the subject, and the voluminous chapter references to other literature on project management are valuable in their own right.

What makes the case to read this book irresistible, however, are the insights. Some of the chapter headings make the point -"Business and IT: they just can't communicate"; "Over-commitment...when failure is the only option; "Eliminating the culture-gap". The text has scores of refreshing views. Andrew avoids, indeed scorns, the temptation to produce yet another single-ingredient recipe for project success.

If, as I do, you like to collect and use quotations to liven-up your communication, this book is another useful source. Every chapter begins with one or more stimulating extracts. For example, on optimizing delivery: "Software problems are not natural disasters like earthquakes or tornadoes in which human actions are more or less inconsequential. In fact, software disaters are entirely man-made, and we also have the ability to prevent them from occurring if we choose to do so" (Capers-Jones).

Most of the observations and ideas in the book are original and complex, but the text style is lively and readable and there is a novel diagram and illustration on almost every other page.

I can't speak highly enough of this book as a splash of colour in the otherwise rather worthy field of analysis of project failure.