2011 February

Archive for February, 2011

The Beginner’s Guide to Real Estate Investing

The Beginner’s Guide to Real Estate Investing A hands-on guide for anyone who wants to make a fortune in real estate

In The Beginner’s Guide to Real Estate Investing, successful real estate investor and author Gary Eldred gives readers concise and straightforward advice on avoiding common mistakes and achieving uncommon success in the housing market. Full of proven wisdom and the insight of a veteran investor, this comprehensive guide covers everything novices need to know about real estate, but also offers proven guidance that will help experienced investors stay sharp.

Eldred doesn’t offer a quick-and-easy blueprint which wouldn’t work anyway or promise overnight success. He covers topics real investors need to make real money. Whereas most real estate books take a one-size-fits-all approach, ignoring the fact that the market in Peoria isn’t anything like the market in Chicago, Eldred shows investors how to adapt their strategies to fit changing market conditions. He covers more than just types of properties or financing, but also explains topics like tax certificates, commercial property, and discounted notes. Rather than tell investors what to do and exactly how to do it, Eldred provides the conceptual tools investors need to weigh the pros and cons of any course of action, allowing them the freedom to make their own success. This book doesn’t just tell readers how to finance a condo or rehab a fixer-upper; The Beginner’s Guide to Real Estate Investing covers all the vital aspects of real estate for anyone who’s serious about making money.

Gary W. Eldred, PhD (Gainesville, FL), has been a successful real estate investor for over 20 years and has served on the business school faculty at Stanford University and the University of Virginia. He is the author of such successful real estate titles as The 106 Common Mistakes Homebuyers Make (and How to Avoid Them) (0-471-12658-6) and Value Investing in Real Estate (0-471-18520-5), as well as the Make Money series,
Customer Review: I own the 2nd Edition 2008 version
I am a brand new investor, investing in real estate in the Miami-Dade/ Broward County areas. I have read several articles on real estate and also have listened to CD’s on wholesaling, foreclosures, and other such topics. This is the first actual book I have read on any real estate subject. I have found that this book has been very easy to follow and comprehend.

Read the full post...

February 26th, 2011 | Posted in Business and Investing | No Comments

Hero of the Underground: A Memoir

Hero of the Underground: A Memoir

I wasn’t afraid of death.

How could I be? I lived under death’s shadow every day. When you swallow eighty Vicodin, twenty sleeping pills, drink a bottle of vodka, and still survive, a certain sense of invulnerability stays with you. When you continually use drugs with the kind of reckless determination that I did, the limit to how much heroin or crack you can ingest is not defined in dollar amounts, but in the amounts your body can withstand without experiencing a seizure or respiratory failure. Yet at the end of every binge, every night of lining up six, seven, eight crack pipes and hitting them one after the other bam! bam! bam! every night of smoking and snorting bag after bag of heroin . . . after all of that, when you still wake up to see the same dirty sky over you as the night before, you start to think that instead of dying, maybe your punishment is to live—to be stuck in this purgatory of self-abuse and misery for an eternity. Sometimes you start to think that death would come as a blessed relief.

Toward the end, I found myself contemplating death again. Only this time I wasn’t going to leave it to chance. I was going to buy a gun, load the thing, place the barrel in my mouth, and blow my fucking brains out.

I sat on my parents’ sofa as I pondered this. All I needed was a gun.

And then all–
of my problems–
would be solved.

Read the full post...

February 26th, 2011 | Posted in Biographies and Memoirs | No Comments

Confessions of a Carb Queen: A Memoir

Confessions of a Carb Queen: A Memoir

When her doctor told her she could suffer a stroke just by walking across the street, Susan Blech knew drastic action was called for. She was only 38 years old, and the scale registered a life-threatening 468 pounds. Rejecting the idea of gastric bypass surgery, Susan relocated to Durham, North Carolina, giving up all that was familiar and $70,000 of her life savings to devote herself to losing weight and getting healthy on the famed Rice Diet.

In Confessions of a Carb Queen, Susan Blech speaks candidly about topics no obese person has dared to address: fat sex, eating binges, the lies you tell others, and the lies you tell yourself. She explores the psychological component of overeating and the connection between her own binge eating and the aneurysm that left her mother brain-damaged and paralyzed when Susan was a toddler. Her gripping story—a blend of memoir, advice, and delicious, health-conscious recipes—is a testament to her personal strength and willpower, and will be an inspiration to all who read it.

Customer Review: A Book Only A Current Or Former Fat Person Could Understand!
Meet Susan Blech, a former 468-pound woman who backed on the pounds despite being healthy and fit as a kid and then a bodybuilding in young adulthood. But, as she says in her book, LIFE happened and the rest was history. Thankfully, at the age of 38, Susan took back her life and lost 250 pounds. But it wasn’t before some rather humiliating circumstances in her life woke her up to this grave problem that she had been trying to deal with since the weight came pouring on. Anyone who has ever been obese will relate to these stories because they hit home. Susan moved to Durham, North Carolina to lose the weight…how did that go? This little square book reads like a riveting suspense novel and will entertain, educate, and motivate you to start doing some confessing of your own.
Customer Review: Nauseating
If you want to read about a woman’s multiple sexual encounters, descriptions of male genitalia, the woes of on-line dating (and the author’s obsession with it), or the many places and ways to have sex, then this book is for you. If you want tips on how to beat carb addition, then go elsewhere. Other than cutting out salt and hiring an exercise coach, this book has nothing of value to offer. It was one BIG disappointment.

Read the full post...

February 23rd, 2011 | Posted in Biographies and Memoirs | No Comments

Mastering Digital SLR Photography 2E

Mastering Digital SLR Photography 2E Are you ready to use the new breed of digital SLR to go beyond point-and-click snapshooting and explore what it has to offer the world of photography? If you have already conquered most of a digital camera’s basic capabilities and now wonder what to do with the enhanced features found in digital SLR cameras, this is a dream guide to pixel proficiency. Mastering Digital SLR Photography, Second Edition includes extensive updates that cover the vast improvements in technology in the last 2-3 years, including new camera models, raised bar on resolution, vibration reduction, new kinds of lenses, and more. It goes beyond the standard coverage offered in most general camera books, covering features and techniques specific to digital SLR photography. From initial discussions on hardware selection to professional-level tips and techniques for sports and action shots, this is the comprehensive guide that any photographer needs for refining their digital SLR skills.
Customer Review: Mastering Digital SLR Photography
This book was the single book I read from cover to cover to find out all the bells and whistles on my Canon XT! From a – z, I learned how to take better pictures before putting them into a photo editing program. Mastering Digital SLR Photography gave me a better appreciation of taking pictures with confidence. Easy to read and understand, this single book took me from being just an amateur to begin my road to becoming a professional photographer.Mastering Digital SLR Photography 2E
Customer Review: Mastering Digital SLR Photography 2E by David D. Busch
I am new to the digital D-SLR world and moving from point and shoot to composing my own picture. Searching for all books that can help me in this process and this book is certainly one of the best I’ve read. It’s easy to read and even provides some chuckles. I rate it 5 out of 5 stars for what information I’m looking for.