Most Popular Books by Mike Jackson

In Bear''s War, the fifth book in the nine-book "Asps" series, and 14th Jim Scott Book, the team spends a good portion of the book tracking down a half-German, half-Egyptian terrorist. During that effort, they manage to damage the plans he has to make two major attacks on England, and one on the United States...only to have the attacks re-planned. On two occasions, they run into the Iranians offering substantial help to the al-Qaida terrorist they are trying to capture. Tragedy continues to stalk the combined team of Asps and former Janitors, but, as always, they fight the War on Terror, in spite of their losses...and add new and exciting characters. It is obvious to anyone paying attention that a much-weakened al-Qaida continues to find traction in many ways. Not the least of those efforts are in recruiting new members in several locations around the globe. The trick of the game is to thwart those efforts as fast as the terror organization can come up with them. This book, as with most of the "Asps" series, deals with those efforts.

Assassin I Am, Jim Scott Books #28, features three new characters who are, in time, joined by some old friends familiar to my readers. Fred Dupree and Rosemary Williams work under the direction of Harvey Puckett, as they set out to eliminate several al-Qaida affiliated imams, and also attempt to track down an al-Qaida bombmaker. The bombmaker is in America to teach his craft to others, and start a major campaign to destabilize the U.S. After Fred and Rosemary are joined by these old friends, the group then uncovers a major al-Qaida plot to set up the Caliphate of America. While such a plot would certainly be doomed to ultimate failure, the widespread death and destruction it could cause would change our way of life for years to come. With our borders wide open to the hoards of people crossing into the U.S., there''s no telling how many are Islamist terrorists. We do know several imams in this country are anti-American. With converts to the Islamist terrorist cause added to those crossing the borders, the groundwork for major terrorist operations has been laid, and at some point we are going to be dealt a severe blow if stepped-up attention isn''t paid to the situation. This book offers an implausible solution, but one that may need to be used in the future.

ANGIE DOES HAWAII is Jim Scott Book #39. This novel is a humorous Romance novel (with a WWII mystery tossed in). Angie Breite, the wife of Navy Captain Vic Breite, informs him she has purchased, with his approval and signature on the contract, a four and half acres piece of property, for $50,000.00. Due to the land prices in Hawaii, the price was way below what it should have been. The rub was there was a building, called a mansion or a castle, by Angie, which was in total disrepair. They are to discover a WWII mystery surrounding the building in time. Vic is to assume a new command in the coming days, but has some time to investigate the building with Angie. The more information they get on the building, and who actually owned it, the deeper the mystery becomes. Due to the construction style, they determine the building must have been built in the early 1900s, somewhere between the 1910s and 1930s. Using that as a starting point, they eventually determine that the building had to be used during WWII...for what was the question they spend a good deal of time trying to answer. Another aspect of the investigation was a find of a large collection of valuable books, one in particular was thought to no longer exist...there were no known copies of the book in existence. Adding to the mystery was the fact that the property was thought to be a vacant lot, according to other official records of it was the fact that property taxes on it were paid for the valuation of a vacant lot. While Jim Scott and friends were trying to solve the mystery, Angie was busy getting the building rehabbed. She, with advice from others, had decided that the best use of the building would be to turn it into an upscale bed and breakfast. As it would turn out, the building turned out to be a focal point of several romances of those involved with the program. One romance develops from a retired Marine in his late 70s who was left behind on a bus tour stop from the hotel he was staying at on his vacation. The house was passed off as a haunted house, thus one of the stops of the tour bus. His romance is with a woman much younger than he is. Another one is between a young Navy officer, and the daughter of a retired Navy Chief Petty Officer. Another was between Vic and Angie''s 16 year old daughter and a class mate. The sister of the old man''s love interest also moves her own romance along, with the help of the old codger, and the 16 year old young lady, known for playing matchmaker. All the while Captain Breite takes over his new command, and brings along the young officer who is involved in one of the romances. The command is of an amphibious squadron and the young officer is assigned to be the Assistant Operations Officer, and at a critical time when the possibility of the squadron putting out to sea at a time of unrest between two nations...the U.S.A. being one of the two. While waiting to find out what they were be doing, the Operations Officer suffers a heart attack, and the fast action of the young office saves his life. The young officer assumes the post of Acting Operations Officer, but has to get a promotion to make it work. All of this is well and good but it puts a severe strain on the young officer''s romance.

Cherry Picking: If the Cherries Arenât Low Enoughâ¦Get a Ladder! by Mike Jackson exposes the pitfalls, hazards, and consequences of selective selling. Beginning with a well-argued premise, all the way through actionable and transformative approaches any sales professional can follow, author Mike Jackson makes an irrefutable case against cherry picking as a sales strategy. In this book you will identify how your thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes influence critical sales decisions, especially when it comes to deciding whom you will, or wonât, engage in your âA-gameâ sales presentation. Cherry picking thoughts are powerful and can manipulate the sales professionalâs decision to cut presentations short, or worseâreject fully qualified customers, resulting in another lost sale. Written with humor and clarity, Cherry Picking is an essential resource in any sales training curriculum, and a must-read for anyone striving for sales success.

Forty-five easy to play ukulele songs and a play-along CD. Songs from artists including: Hank Williams, Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash alongside traditional tunes.Songs include:- Achy Breaky Heart- Buffalo Gals- Cockles And Mussels- Drunken Sailor- Goodnight Irene- Home On The Range- I Walk The Line- Waltzing Matilda

After the resounding success of their first short-format self-help book 57 Minutes: All That Stands Between You And a Better Life, authors and entrepreneurs Mike Jackson and Pierre Lever turn their attention to another topic they have extensive experience with-business management. Perfect for new or aspiring managers, recent graduates, or anyone who believes they may have missed the fundamental principles of management along the way, Management in 57 Minutes offers tried and true management secrets in a succinct and easily readable format. Jackson and Lever believe that the best learning comes from experiencing successes you''d like to repeat and failures you''d like to forget. And while books claiming to prepare you for these experiences flood the market, many of them are too theoretical and far too long. Jackson and Lever wrote Management in 57 Minutes specifically to provide first-time managers with practical leadership insights and to answer the question: what should we know at the beginning of our careers that will give us the best possible start in management? Invest one hour to read this book, and gain strategies, insights, habits, and tips that will carry you through a lifetime of management challenges.

In this book, Billy''s Rescue, the seventh book of the Asps series, (and 16th Jim Scott Book), Billy Garcia is taken captive by an Islamist group, intent on questioning him. Once away from that group, Billy is kidnapped by a press-gang type operation of Taliban and al-Qaida "recruiters" inside Afghanistan. In both cases, pity the terrorists, because they know not what they have done, nor what they let themselves in for. While Billy is dealing with his problems, the rest of the Asps, the Scotts, and friends, deal with tracking down CIA traitors, who had been recommended to the CIA by the White House. With al-Qaida intent on setting up a drug operation in Colombia, the team once again visits that country, to thwart the Islamists. Also in this book, a very rich liberal supporter of the President gets crossways with Jim Scott--never a good idea. In this book, the team and friends twice have to divert from their other engagements to "rescue" Billy Garcia, from Islamists holding him. Some should have been trying to rescue the terrorists instead. The back story of this book--outside of dealing with the international Islamist problem--concerns how a very rich liberal individual nearly causes great embarrassment to the President--and dumps a major problem in the lap of the new Director of the CIA, who previously wasn''t too sure just how good an idea the Asps really were.

Tthis novel, The Tickleton Affair, Janitors Book #5, is a book of industrial and military espionage, Dan and Janet Orf from Dog Pound and Toboggan meet Jim Scott and some of the Janitors from Baghdad Butcher and Back to Iraq. Those who have read Dog Pound and Toboggan have undoubtedly figured out that Dan and Janet are two of three characters who will become Janitors (they''ll join the team in the next book, Saltwater Connection). In this novel, Dan and Janet are dispatched to investigate and protect a scientist/industrialist who is doing highly classified work for the government (after he is nearly killed early in the book). They work with the Janitors in this effort. A special note here to readers living in, or familiar, with Sedona, Arizona. A bit of literary license has been used to make the book "work better." I am well aware that there is no restaurant facility in the Sedona airport. Also, the ranch portrayed here is no longer owned by those who owned it at the time setting of the book...as some of you reading this story will no doubt know. Industrial espionage is as old as industry. When industry is coupled with military implications mixed in with an unscrupulous master spy to gather information, the "norm" is sometimes ignored. This is the story of such a mixture, and the master spy happens to be from Mainland China.

Pool Of Blood is the third and final book of the Becker Trilogy, and Jim Scot Books #24. In this book, Bob Becker, his wife Michelle, and some other help, try to right a wrong. A man is convicted of murder due to having stepped into a pool of blood near the body of a murdered woman, whom he had been arguing with only hours before she was killed. During his investigation, Bob also deals with someone trying to kill Michelle. The case of the man wrongly convicted leads Bob to Australia, where he is assisted by old friend, now-Colonel Walter Kilgorie, an ASIS Agent, and others...including Jim and Holly Scott. No matter how smart a criminal may be, his misdeeds almost always catch up with him. In this story, six bad guys have to face their crimes in various ways. One somehow manages to escape the justice he probably deserves, while another gets more than he might have bargained for. This case takes Jim and Holly Scott, and Bob Becker from Missouri to France, then on to Australia. During the Australian portion of the trip, Hector Garcia joins them. The four also make a stop at the Solomon Islands--where the three Marines visit the sands of Guadalcanal, to pay homage to the Marines who died there.

If you would like to be equipped with the necessary skills to handle all forms of negotiation in life, then you have definitely come to the right place! The book "Never Split The Difference - Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It" by Chris Voss brings to our attention the fabled and legendary negotiating skills of the FBI hostage team, and how we can practically use those skills in both work and relationships. He leads us through on a step by step journey that makes learning and embracing the subtle nuances of negotiation a walk in the park. Never shy away from a confrontation again. Never compromise and never accept less than what you truly want. Voss''s book is a true revolution, combining tough negotiation skills with the fine art of emotional intelligence, giving the everyday person access to tactics that can broker even the toughest deals every time. This book holds a detailed, comprehensive summary of the original book by Chris Voss and it succinctly collates all the important facts into easy-to-remember points for quick and effective understanding of the original work, so that you can hit the ground running and start to see the benefits from Never Split The Difference in the shortest possible time! DISCLAIMER: We are convinced that our professional summaries will introduce more readers to the full book who otherwise would have turned a blind eye by the sheer commitment. Our intention is sincere in that readers could use this summary as an introduction or a companion to the original book, not as a substitute.

JSB #25 - Back To China - Dear Reader Dear Reader I''ve had requests for another Jim Scott book, because some readers evidently weren''t satisfied with the help he gave Bob Becker in Bigfoot Bait or Pool Of Blood. So here is the requested book, Back to China, Sim Scott Boks #25. In it, the new President asks Jim to help retrieve two topflight physicists from China, where they were taken after the Chinese kidnapped them in a bloody shootout on the streets of Las Vegas. The President is made aware of Jim''s capabilities by Tony Henry, now Sir Anthony, the British SIS (MI6) Chief. A previous President, who had served during the time the Janitors were together, happens to be visiting the White House at the time. He also endorses Jim as the man for the job. A side issue in the book is the matter of a Chinese team bent on assassinating the new President. When I was just a young lad, the thought of flying at the speed of sound was unheard of. Yet lo and behold, we now have planes flying at much faster speeds. Therefore, reaching the speed of light should not be written off as impossible. While the sci-fi folks have come up with ideas like portals, et cetera, for mankind to travel to the stars, in reality it will have to be done at least faster than the speed of light, to accomplish the job. Perhaps such speed is being worked on at Groom Lake (Area 51). If so, I am well-satisfied we don''t know about it. I also hope no one in Washington, D.C. knows about it either, since no one there seems capable of keeping their mouths closed about our technological breakthroughs. This is the story, in part, of a couple of guys who are working on that very project...in Area 51.

Monster''s Palace, Jim Scott Books #26, introduces a new hero, Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer Clyde Feegle, a Navy SEAL. Clyde and two other Military personnel (one Army, one Marine) form a unit working with the CIA to find and eliminate al-Qaida (and other terrorists) trying to get more involved in the international drugs trade. They zero in on one very large international drug operation, with no idea who is running the operation...they set out to discover who. Their task is complicated by attempts on Clyde''s life, authorized by an irate second in command of the drug group, who loses a relative in the first operation of the book. For readers of my other books, we also have some old friends lending a hand. Forbidden fruit often has adverse outcomes, as is the case in this book. The leaders of the international drug operation in this book venture far afield from the norm, with tragic results, as their depravity ultimately causes them, or at least one of them, much pain. Meanwhile, some of those working to dethrone those leaders, have their own awkward relationships, but one out of left field relationship just happens, with a happy ending.

The Myth of the Fear of Rejection walks you through step-by-step exercises that help you discover and overcome the thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes that prevent you from closing.

THE NAKED PLUMBER is Jim Scott Book #37. This is another cozy mystery. In it, Detective Ward Newman of the Troy Police department is assigned a case where a headless body is found. After finding the head, and determining it had been cut off with a sharp instrument, after death, the search is on for the killer. After doing some investigating, it is soon determined there are a number of possible suspects, including the local prosecuting attorney, but reasonable alibis start to pile up. One person who has no alibi, is still thought to be unlikely. A good deal of investigating brings them to a very likely suspect, one who had no alibi at all, but Ward and new detective Bill Keating, who is assisting Ward with the case, don''t think he is the killer. Along the way, the killer strikes again, this time a man who was a suspect on a previous case, and had not been ruled out for this one, is also killed. He is sliced in two pieces with what is believed to be something on the line of a very sharp machete. Even before the first murder is committed, an old school chum of many involved in the murder investigation arrives in town, planning to return to Troy after several years away. She has a young son with her, but no husband. The boy''s father was killed in action, before he and the boy''s mother could get married. His mother gets a job teaching at the local high school, and he joins Detective Keating''s baseball team. The lad and Detective Keating become close, and the boy''s mother and the detective become involved in a romance. With the investigation moving along, nearly all of the suspects are cleared in one way or another. Since they feel both murders were done by the same person, most of those who had an alibi for the first murder, had even better ones for the second one. All of which leads back to the suspect who had no sound alibi for the first murder, and he had none for the second one either. But the two detectives still both felt he wasn''t the murderer. Meanwhile, Betty, who was a consultant for the Police Department, had a nagging feeling she knew something that would be of use in solving the murders, but she couldn''t bring it up in her mind. She was also preoccupied with doing her best to help the budding romance along, as both parties involved in it were unsure of themselves, and Betty was busy encouraging both to get with it. Finally, with nothing better to do, the detectives worked on either arresting the one main suspect, or clearing him. They do wind up arresting him, but free him soon thereafter. One of the things that made him the prime suspect was an old case against him that he had been found guilty of. While this case was ongoing, some friends of the department prove he is innocent of it. In time Betty finally remembers what it was she thought might be important, and winds up using her cane again. At about the same time, the detectives also solve the case.

Dances are graded in order of complexity and are suitable for ages 7 to adult.