The Trainer's Tool Kit

Rating:
Summary: Good overview, but . . .
Review: I think this is a very good overview of a number of training topics, and would be very useful as a secondary resource for those who are trainers (or, perhaps, are not trainers, but find themselves conducting training classes anyway). The authors give a concise, easy to read overview of each topic in "checklist" format, which is a mixed blessing. It's easy to pick out each item in the list, but it's very tiresome to see 200 pages of checklists. Using more illustrations or tables (there are maybe four in the entire book) would go a long way toward making this a more interesting presentation.

If you just need to know *how* to accomplish some training-related task, this book will get you going. If you need to know *why* you are doing something, need/want more in-depth analysis of adult learning theory, or just want a more detailed description of training methods and techniques, I would make this a secondary source for you. Maybe a good intro to adult learning should be first, such as Bob Pike's _Creative Training Techniques Handbook_.

Rating:
Summary: Quick Lookup Training Checklists
Review: None of the ideas in this book of checklists are bad, and some are quite good . . . but the volume as a whole lacks a key theme or common idea. I also prefer a more expository writing style; the endless checklist format gets tiresome after awhile - for me, anyway. I would look elsewhere for an introductory training book.

Rating:
Summary: The Trainer's Tool Kit
Review: The Trainer's Tool Kit is a comprehensive collection of overview ideas to get new trainers and training managers thinking in the right diretion. The content covers all facets of developing a training program--from creating a needs analysis to benchmarking to training the trainers to budgeting. With seventy-seven topics covered in a 200-page book, each chapter gets only about two pages. This book does not give you indepth knowledge, but it does give you a general cross-section of the concepts training managers and trainers should be contemplating when developing a training program. This is definitely a book for beginners.