"You must go to the Lost Child! You must rescue my son and bring him back to me!"

A strange and unfathomable demand, uttered by an enigmatic Frenchman on the eve of Christmas, 1852 will cause Captain Tor Petersen and the crew of the "Ellyan" to embark upon a long and perilous voyage--a journey that will take them from the placid waters of the Caribbean and plunge them deep into the lawless jungles of French Guiana. There they will confront marauding natives, soldiers and escaped slaves, even death itself. At the end of their quest lies a fortune in gold and the realization of their dreams; and perhaps for Tor himself, something he has long sought but never found...a thing more precious than any glittering metal.

"The Lost Child" is a tale of romance and high adventure, based on a legend of the Caribbean, one that that may indeed have its roots buried in truth. The story is set in a historic time period underscored by periods of conflict and transformation, including moments that will force each of the "Ellyan's" crew to confront deep and abiding changes in themselves--a challenge not so far different from our own era.

"You must go to the Lost Child! You must rescue my son and bring him back to me!"

A strange and unfathomable demand, uttered by an enigmatic Frenchman on the eve of Christmas, 1852 will cause Captain Tor Petersen and the crew of the "Ellyan" to embark upon a long and perilous voyage--a journey that will take them from the placid waters of the Caribbean and plunge them deep into the lawless jungles of French Guiana. There they will confront marauding natives, soldiers and escaped slaves, even death itself. At the end of their quest lies a fortune in gold and the realization of their dreams; and perhaps for Tor himself, something he has long sought but never found...a thing more precious than any glittering metal.

"The Lost Child" is a tale of romance and high adventure, based on a legend of the Caribbean, one that that may indeed have its roots buried in truth. The story is set in a historic time period underscored by periods of conflict and transformation, including moments that will force each of the "Ellyan's" crew to confront deep and abiding changes in themselves--a challenge not so far different from our own era.

Everybody has to make decisions-they are unavoidable. Yet we receive little or no education or training on how to make decisions. Business decisions can be dif_ cult: which people to hire, which product lines or facilities to expand and which to sell or shut down, which bid or proposal to accept, which process to implement, how much R&D to invest in, which environmental projects should receive the highest priority, etc. This book gives you all the tools you need to... clarify and reach alignment on goals and objectives and understand trade-offs in reaching those goals, develop and examine alternatives, systematically analyze the effects of risk and uncertainty, and maximize the chances of achieving your goals and objectives. Success (getting what you want) depends on luck and good decision making. You can't control your luck, but you can maximize your odds by making the best possible decisions, and this book gets you there. Broadly speaking, this book organizes and presents otherwise formal decision-making tools in an intuitively understandable fashion. The presentation is informal, but the concepts and tools are research-based and formally accepted.

Decision analysis has changed very little since Decision Analysis for Managers (first edition) was published. However, in light of recent megatrends (e.g. the "Great Recession" of 2008, collapse of commodity prices - especially oil and gas, the poor performance of large projects), more discussion of project risk (cost, schedule, and technical) within the context of DA is appropriate. And, in light of these same megatrends, a more detailed and thorough discussion of decision quality is an appropriate addition to the original text.