DK Essential Managers: Manage Your Time
We all might manage our time better if we could get everything done in  as little time as it takes to digest this nifty, palm-size, 72-page  quick-reference guide. Everything is covered here in a kind of how-to shorthand,  from analyzing your current use of time, working out priorities, and using time  planners to making instant changes (like filing paperwork, avoiding  interruptions, "filtering" information, making and taking telephone calls, and  reading and writing) and managing other people's time when you're the one in  charge. You'll get jiffy-quick advice on using the latest technology to do more  in less time, getting more out of your meeting minutes, and even remembering how  to schedule time off. On every page, boxed tips, lively illustrations, and handy  checklists and flow charts bring the ideas to life. Granted, if you're looking  for very specific or in-depth guidance, you might find this book too cursory and  general in its approach. But, if you're looking for a thumbnail guide to the  basics, it'll do just fine.It's worth mentioning that the book is part of the "Essential Managers" series  by reference publisher Dorling-Kindersley--a series comprising 20 itty-bitty  books on business and career topics that range from communication, leadership,  and decision-making to the management of time, budgets, change, meetings,  people, projects, and teams. Combining the talent of the "For Dummies" book  series for breaking down a lot of information into bite-sized bits and sidebars  with Dorling-Kindersley's signature design style of crisp, classy graphics on a  gleaming white backdrop, the books don't represent the cutting edge of business  thinking or reflect necessarily any unique individual perspective. Instead, it's  as if someone had collated the best general thinking on these 20 topics, and  rolled them out into 72 brightly designed and easy-to-read pages--studded along  the way with boxed tips, color shots of a multiracial cast of "coworkers"  animatedly hashing through the workplace issues of the day, and, on the last few  pages of each volume, a self-test of one's skills in the topic at hand. Again,  they're not for anyone who's looking for more in-depth or focused help on any of  the covered subjects, but they're perfect as a quick general-interest reference;  and, let's face it, they're so damn cute, and look so smart in a neat little  stack or row, that probably you'll want to buy a whole bunch to give as gifts to  your entire staff or department.--Timothy Murphy