Woody Allen Books

John R. Howe should be thanked profusely for his careful - without being labored - biography of Allen Hasselborg, an Alaskan hunter/naturalist/loner.
Howe chronicles the days and times (late 1800s to mid-1900s) of Hasselborg's life through his letters, ledger entries, interviews with those who knew him and occasional newspaper and magazine articles about the somewhat eccentric man.
While the emphasis given to detailed research might leave some writers stuck with boring copy, this book "sings" with Hasselborg and who he is. It includes his encounters with grizzlies and brown bears, scientists and government bureaucrats.
Howe, blessedly, doesn't get in the way either. His writing is spare, direct and compelling.
I would recommend this for anyone with an interest in bears, nature, hunting or people.

"Bear Man of Admiralty Island" is an extremely interesting and detailed study of a true American character, Allen Hasselborg. The stark, simple life Hassleborg lived for many years, in a remote, beautiful, wild, and dangerous place, makes the likes of Thoreau, Burroughs, Dillard, and the many other part-time shack dwelling, nature praising authors seem like commonplace pretenders in comparison. Where they wrote about life in the woods, he really lived it, and the details are fascinating. Were it not for Howe's research, I'm sure we'd never know about Hasselborg's life, and were Hasselborg alive today, I'm sure he wouldn't give a gall-dang anyway!

This really is an outstanding book. My background? Years of C and VB development, but no .NET; then tons of SQL Server 2000/2005 work (am MCITP, MCT in SQL Server).

I specifically wanted a jump-start on accessing SQL 2005 databases from VB.NET, and this book does it. The same method is used throughout the book: (1) briefly explain a topic; (2) write some code to illustrate its usage; (3) explain salient points in the code. The examples are extremely short & simple. Each stands alone and illustrates a specific point about .NET or SQL 2005. The authors do not, as some do, create huge coding projects in which learning points are too easily lost. And, not a trivial point, each example works!

If you are a SQL Server professional, you can skip or quickly flip thru some sections that focus on T-SQL, but if you are already a .NET developer you probably won't want to skip anything, because virtually every code sample deals with database access.

Excellent, excellent book.

It's the Best for Beginners and intermediate in VB.net05 Databases,I have read several Books previously and I Couldn't Understand well ,From Beginning to The end This Book explain step By Step all you Need For starting Programming in Databases using VB.Net 2005 and gives you a guide of Books to continue the next grade.

Beginnings: The Art & Science Of Planning Psychotherapy by Mary Jo Peebles-Kleiger (a psychoanalyst, clinical psychologist, and board certified clinical hypnosis expert) is a thoughtful and informative guide drawn from the author's years of experience in the outpatient department of the Menninger Psychiatric Clinic. Individual chapters address a wide range of psychotherapy topics, including enhancing the patient's ability to form an alliance, reality testing and reasoning, trial interventions and feedback, and much, much more. Advising an integrative approach and offering its resources as a primer and sourcebook, Beginnings is highly recommended and an invaluable addition to any professional or academic Psychotherapy Studies or Clinical Psychology reference collection.

"The voyage of discovery lies not in finding new landscapes, but in having new eyes"--Marcel Proust

"Beginnings, the Art and Science of Planning Psychotherapy" by Mary Jo Peebles-Kleiger, is a tremendous resource not only for working with clients in therapy, but equally in my opinion, for conceptualizing clients based on test findings. Those of us who teach assessment have long needed a text like this. In beautifully clear and compelling prose, Dr. Peebles-Kleiger combines meticulous scholarship with deeply thoughtful and provocative analyses to create a truly integrative framework for understanding those we wish to help.

I am a faculty member in the Clinical Psychology program at the University of Kansas. My specialty is personality assessment. I teach two required courses to our clinical graduate students, one on the "mechanics" of administering, scoring, and interpreting several widely used instruments (e.g., MMPI-2; Rorschach), and a second course on the integration of test findings. In 10 years of teaching assessment and report writing, I have consistently found that gaining expertise in instruments such as the Rorschach and the MMPI-2 is quite challenging for students. However, the greatest difficulty students encounter (and in my experience this is true of even the brightest students) is in developing the ability to integrate and contextualize test findings in a way that creates an accurate, rich and meaningful understanding of "a person."

This process is as fundamental in assessment as in therapy. However, unlike the therapy context in which this often occurs over a series of sessions in which information about a client is accumulated and digested, in the assessment context an examiner must integrate a great deal of information in the form of test findings that comes all at once. To do this sucessfully requires having a broad as well as deep and also flexible understanding of psychological disturbance, and this is just what Dr. Peebles-Kleiger provides in this remarkable book.

I began this review with a quote from Proust because I believe it speaks to the essence of Dr. Peebles-Kleiger new book. This is a text that can give us and our students new eyes.

My daughter loves this book. It shows that friends don't have to be the same or like the same things.

I loved this book. I read it to 6 different classrooms (grades K and 1) All of them enjoyed it. The two girls, one white and one black, talk about their friendship. Sometimes they like that same things and sometimes they don't. But they are still best friends. I have also purchased this for our church library. It teaches the best way to be a friend without being at preachy. The illustrations are delightful

In a seemingly seamless weaving of four authors'contributions, the publisher has made available an invaluable resource for preachers and also for for those who listen to them. The major contribution is an in depth interviewing of those who hear sermons; a corrolary contribution is the recognition that people hear the same sermon differently (shades of Roshomon). They interviewed persons from 28 different congregations and grouped their responses in "clusters" or "patterns of listening that are present even in the same congregation." The description of these patterns and the last chapter with suggestions about dealing with this phenomenon alone are worth the price of the book.

'Believing in Preaching: What Listeners Hear in Sermons' is the latest book in a four-part series on developing an understanding about how people listen to and respond to sermons and homilies. Supported by the Lilly Endowment, this project has involved many scholars at my seminary and elsewhere. 'Hearing the Sermon: Relationship/Content/Feeling', the second volume by Ronald J. Allen, professor of preaching and New Testament at my seminary, was published in fall 2004. The first volume, 'Listening to Listeners' by many authors, was published in summer 2004.

This series is of homiletical (preaching) resources designed to aid those who preach understand more about the way their sermons are heard and understood. The scholar team brought together a diverse group of people from 28 area congregations to be part of the study. The purpose of this study, this volume and the others forthcoming, could be formed out of the statement in the preface to the first volume, which the scholar team said to the congregation members -- 'Teach us how you listen to sermons so that we can help ministers become more effective preachers.'

This particular volume clusters material gleaned from the interviewing process around ten particular topics, each contained in its own chapter. Much of the material is taken directly from quotes given in the interviews, without too much editing (so that the quotations preserve the nuances of the interviewee's own speaking styles). One of the benefits of this process is the recognition of diversity even within particular congregations. 'Indeed, the authors of this book no longer speak of _the_ way people listen to sermons, as if all of us hear sermons in the same way.'

In terms of formatting, each chapter introduces the topic, including definition or clarification of important terminology. Questions used during the interview process are presented, and answers are given in clusters and sub-clusters - clusters are identified by bold-face type, and sub-clusters are identified by italics. Each chapter ends with a section intended for preachers for assistance in understanding how their own sermons can be strengthened.

Topics identified include some brought up in previous volumes of this series - the purpose of preaching, scriptural authority, embodiment, listener's relationships the preacher, pluralism, and more. Some areas might surprise a preacher - in the chapter on 'Controversy and Challenge in the Preaching Moment', contributing author Dawn Ottoni Wilhelm shares one interviewee's response that congregation members don't have to agree with the stand the preacher is making to believe the pulpit is the right place for such topics to be addressed. Even so, interviewees were better able to identify how these areas might be a problem than they were at what might make them hear such topics in sermons better.

The communal aspect of the preaching/listening experience is brought out in the chapter 'How Preaching Shapes the Faith Community' by Mary Alice Mulligan. Mulligan highlights some things that should be obvious (but often aren't) - that preaching is different from one-on-one conversation, so preachers should not be surprised if the congregation members hear things differently. Again, not all people clustered in the same way, as there were individual, aggregate, and communal identity listeners among the respondents. Mulligan draws on the work of Bonhoeffer, de Tocqueville, and Buttrick to show ways in which preaching and listening/responding can help form community.

In the chapter on 'Embodiment of the Sermon', contributor Diane Turner-Sharazz looks at many aspects such as eye contact, voice, gestures and movement, attire, and other physical aspects, but also the interesting item of 'perceived preacher preparation'. I recall from my own experience having a congregation member once tell me, 'I hate it when a preacher begins a sermon with something like, "On my way over here today I was thinking..."'. This speaks to this issue. If the preacher can't invest enough time in preparing the sermon, why should the listeners?

Among the chapters Ronald Allen contributed is 'Listeners Respond to Preaching in Diverse Ways', which is related to the chapter Allen and Mulligan collaborated on, 'Preaching and Pluralism in the Congregation.' In both of these chapters, a sensitivity to the diversity of listeners is cultivated, not just in terms of gender, race, socio-economic background, and other such aspects, but also in terms of how people listen and that for which they are listening. Allen identifies six broad clusters of responses to sermons (deepening in faith, thoughts, feelings, actions, cumulative responses over time, and negative responses). These responses are not mutually exclusive of each other. In both chapters, the need for preachers to be open and diverse enough in their own methods and styles is called for - 'This pluralism in qualities of preaching that motivate listeners to make positive responses to sermons suggests that a preacher cannot rely on one type of sermonic content to connect with the congregation, but needs to be able to develop sermons that present clear and persuasive ideas, that stir significant feelings, and that represent the preacher as a trustworthy person.'

This is a fascinating volume in the series, not least of which because it does bring together such a diverse body of responses from many voices, woven together with care in the chapters, themselves written by different people.

This neat little paperback book gives you enough of Paris to fit in your pocket. It has lots of full color pictures and lots of information packed into its 144 pages. I have never been there, but I definitely would like to go visit Paris after reading this book. Buy a copy and maybe you will too!

I just want to correct the previous review from a reader in Georgia (USA). The Spanish version is a different book with different cover and ISBN number. The ISBN for the English version is 2831563151 (pub. date May 1998) while the one for the Spanish version is 2831665634 (pub. date Oct. 1998). This is a great little book...I shall be able to provide my true review when I come back from my trip to Paris in a month. See you soon.

Big Play has the best writing on college football Ive read since Dan Jenkins' classic Saturday's America, and the best stuff on pro football since Tex Maule was at his peak in Sports Illustrated. A great book, particularly the Bart Starr-Johnny Unitas comparison.

I've had the pleasure of knowing Allen Barra since 1970 or so when we wrote for the UAB (University of Alabama in Birmingham) student newspaper. A very imaginative writer, he could write 15 inches of column on anything and everything, and while he wrote mostly about entertainment items back then, sports was always something that intrigued him.

Over the years, I occasionally read his articles in INSIDE SPORTS and other publications, then in the early 1990's, I picked-up a Village Voice because of the blurb on the cover "Barra on Tyson," and we've renewed our friendship. But, please don't think that this review is merely the writing of an appreciative friend.

From the early 1990's, I've read his works in a variety of publications and webzines, such as Slate.com., and the New York times: sometimes agreeing with him, sometimes not, but always enjoying his way of cutting through the bull. Allen sometimes has a way of over-analyzing situations that drives some folks nuts, but he actually developed, with the assistance of an economics professor at the UAB whose name I forget, a great way of using statistics to compare two players from different era.

With regards to this collection of articles, I cannot tell you if these 38 articles, covering 20+ years of writings, are the cream of the crop, because there are some I've read that aren't included that were terrific, too. However, I will tell you that these are written by someone who knows how to write about sports in a way that tries to place it in perspective to the society that we live in. Usually when a writer tries to do that, they end up in a fourth and inches situation and then get caught behind the line of scrimage, and the ball is turned over. In BIG PLAY, though, Allen gets the first down everytime and succeeds on such a scale that I am truly puzzled why he has not won a Pulitzer Prize.

This is an excellent book for anyone who loves football and appreciates great writing.

"Big Sky Journal," based in Bozeman, Montana, is for the most part a celebration of the great outdoors, a kind of literary Field and Stream. This "treasury" of articles from the journal features a fair number of accounts of fishing and hunting, but if that's not your interest, there's more here to choose from. I particularly enjoyed Kim Zupan's reminiscences of riding in punkin roller rodeos, Ralph Beer's humorous essay on restoring a 1930s Montana State Highway Department snowplow, and Fred Haefele's mini-memoir of working as a timber faller. Laugh-out-loud hilarious is Jon Jackson's account of a 1972 cross-country trip with Raymond Carver in what turns out to be a stolen car.

A section on rivers includes Annick Smith's appreciation of the Big Blackfoot, the centerpiece of Norman Mclean's much-loved "A River Runs Through It." Rick Bass captures that self-effacing, wonky pride of long-time Montana residents in his essay about a rain-soaked fishing trip on the Yaak River. John Barsness describes an archaeological dig along the Missouri River, unearthing the site of a fort that burned down in 1844.

The spirit of Edward Abbey also infuses the pages of this book. Doug Peacock (inspiration for the Monkey Wrench Gang's Hayduke) has a fishing essay, and Ralph Beer writes an "apology" for being once angered by Abbey's famous diatribe against ranching. I happily recommend this book for lovers of the outdoors and good writing and to anyone whose imagination is inspired by the mountains, prairies, and rivers of Big Sky country.

The best collection of writing about the West I have ever read!

Joe has done a great service for parents. We shared these books with our son hot off the presses, and he was immediately captivated by them. The art is great and the teaching is solid. It isn't easy to get a toddler to sit and listen to a story about the trinity much less provide an explanation. What a great help to have these books. Thanks Joe.

These books are great! The illustrations are amazing and the characters will capture your heart while teaching children the truths about God.

Joey has captured the innocence and energy that make children so special. Adults will be reminded of the faith and trust of children that we should all have when it comes to trusting God.

These books make a perfect gift for any child or a unique baby shower gift for those who are expecting. Joey has not only presented the truth of God in easy to understand books, but his illustrations really come to life. I love them all!

Be sure to read the Forward and A Word to Parents in this book. It is a great message to adults as well!

Rev. Allen shows each of us that forgiveness is possible with the help of God and our faith. This is an incredible story of a courageous family through one of the largest cruelties of life. The author also share his vision as to what church and Christianity is really about and how to aspire a more Christian heart toward humanity.

Few books reveal the soul of a family faced with aids like this one. I highly recommend it to those trying to understand this facit of American society today.