John Wayne Books

For people who like Tolkien's "other" stories like "Smith of Wooton Major", etc. this is a great book. It's amazing (or not) how much of his writing style shows a continuity throughout his works from a children's story to his epics.

A late start reading anything other than THe Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings prevented me from enjoying this when I was younger. This delightful story of a little dog's encounter with a grumpy wizard introduces us to the vageries of the "mystics". From the moon to under the sea to land, with a surprise ending, Roverandom experiences many things that make him glad to be a dog with his human friend. A fine read.

very relaxing read. aND also not as confusing as some of his other works. if your a tolkien fan its worth buying and reading!

After the hobbit, our younger children who love Tolkien had very little to read. We did get farmer Giles of Ham, but Roverandom was liked much better. Tolkien's imagination and word play are really delightful.

How different the world looks when you are made from small to tiny! How much fun you can have, and all the amazing things you can go and see, even when you are only a small dog, turned into an even smaller toy.

Roverandom! A children's novel written by JRR Tolkien, but an actual event. No, his dog was not turned into a small toy, and sailed over the world, too the moon meeting the man in the tower, the great dragon, seagulls and gods, but by his Son, who had lost his toy dog on a family vacation.

JRR Tolkien is more famously known for his epic story of: The Lord of the Rings. However, a large amount of work written by JRR Tolkien were children's stories, and this was one excellent. It is about a small dog, Rover, who gets changed into a small toy dog by a wizard, after taking a bit at him! Think before leaping!

After being picked up and placed into a toy shop, Rover is bought, and his adventure begins. Ever looking, and trying, to return to his home, Rover goes on an amazing adventure, around the world, below the seas, and too the moon. We meet amazing characters such as the man in the moon, another, old Rover, who can fly, great dragons, where children go when they dream.

The story is very well wrapped together, and even though was written, people of all ages can enjoy it. We have all lost thing, precious and not, and maybe we'll stop to think where they actually go! Many fans of Tolkien will see correlations to other pieces of his work, but Roverandom stands on his own 4 legs as his own little big adventure!

John Welshons is an amazing author. His first book, Awakening from Grief, has brought so much peace and healing to my family, friends and myself. With every turn of a page, I felt more and more blessed to have met John and been touched by his gift of healing the soul.

This book offers us a unique and precious opportunity to open our hearts to the fullness of our human predicament. John Welshons' approach is both incredibly loving, and - at times - breathtakingly honest. He is an extraordinarily gifted writer, a wonderful meditation teacher, and a wise and compassionate counselor. He seems to have a basic trust in our inherent inner strength and wisdom. He skillfully guides us to finding a place of quiet, loving contentment within ourselves in spite of all of the curve-balls life often throws at us. Through sharing some amazing experiences of loss and disappointment in his own life, he demonstrates - repeatedly - how to find real and lasting joy in spite of life's uncertainties. This book is a wonderfully accessible expression of the very same wisdom shared by Stephen Levine, Pema Chodron, and Elisabeth Kubler-Ross . . . in a somewhat less esoteric and more immediately comprehensible form. Awakening from Grief has changed my life. I hope you will allow it to work its magic on you!

A friend who lost her husband was helped quite a lot by this book, so I can't be too critical here. And judging by many rave reviews it has helped folks. However, I found very little unique material. If you've read a number of "self-help" books such as works by Pema Chodron, Eckhart Tolle, S. Levine, you know what deep, moving and inspiring books are like. This seemed too obvious, comprised of near-platitudes. I hope that anyone who is grieving and looking for help might do a little more research, or maybe just get this one from the library before buying.

It's been six years since I first read Awakening from Grief. I went through it slowly to savor all the support and advice and to write notes in the column. I hadn't lost anyone in that period, but still found the book gripping and useful. When my friend's brother died, I felt helpless, and rushed to the bookstore to buy and send a copy of this book to her. She read it in one day and was inspired to write a poem, which she shared at her brother's service.

Since then, I've made it a point to purchase a copy of this book for loved ones going through loss. When my father died last year, I re-read passages, and two entries were read at his services. So many people remarked how moving they found John Welshons' words. My brothers and I are donating two copies to the hospice ward, where our father spent the last moments of his life with us. The hospice social worker Xeroxed a copy of the poem ("... And no relationship created in love can ever die.") to display in the "family room" as she found it a true comfort.

This book sits on my bookshelf and is read over and over again. Another copy is in my lending library for anyone in need to borrow. I, and so many others, are grateful for the comfort found within these pages, which help us to find comfort within our hearts.

I found this book incredibly helpful when I was dealing with the death of my husband on 9/11. Even over 5 years later, I still refer to it for inspiration and have found the words to still ring true. I have found my way back to joy and this book offered me the light at the end of the tunnel during my long journey. I am forever indebted to John for his words.

Was charged but did not receive item. I have no confidence for your service and will not order from amazon anymore!!!!

Delivery was made without any trouble or delay and book was well packed . Thank you very much

As someone already mentioned, it's a pity you do not have a six star rating. This is probably the best cooking book, professional and other that I have come across. It's accurate and reliable, and mostly it seems to cover everything.
Every time I have needed a recipe,or any info regarding preparaation of a meal of any sort, i have found the answer in this book. i am amazed again and again as to how up to date it is, and how anything I might find in new trendy cook books and magazines, seem to have already been printed in this book.
i am always grateful to own it.

I followed the exact measurement of the chocolate chip cookie recipe and it turned out not so well, it's greasy and too soft.

Since this is a text book for me who is taking culinary classes at a local College, I am not really qualified except that I have worked with food for the past 6 years and love anything that will improve my cooking skills. This book has given me enough information into the science of how and why we do what we do in cooking. It is interesting reading, full of good information and the workbook is a must if taking classes. The only thing I can say negative about the book, is that it's not bedtime reading. Since I do drag it to bed with me and read for hours, I'm always looking for new positions to get into the make it more comfortable.

For purposes of discussion, pretend that your organization is a vehicle within which you and your associates travel en route to a series of destinations; for example, various stages of progressively improved operational efficiency and progressively increased profitability. One key question arises: How well is your vehicle performing?

The three "dashboards" (i.e. operational, tactical, and strategic) that Wayne Eckerson offers in this volume can help to answer that question. "The monitoring application conveys critical information at a glance using timely and relevant data, usually with graphical elements; the analysis application lets users analyze and explore performance data across multiple dimensions and at different levels of detail to get at the root cause of problems and issues; the management application fosters communication among executives, managers, and staff and gives executives continuous feedback across a range of critical activities, enabling them to `steer' their organizations in the right direction."

The ultimate success of the cohesive, comprehensive, and cost-effective system which Eckerson discusses in this book depends on several factors: sufficient leadership and resources at all levels of implementation, correct and consistent application of the right metrics, a compelling graphical user interface, and contingency planning which ensures user adoption while driving the organizational changes.

I especially appreciate Eckerson's provision of three mini case studies that illustrate how -- in real-world situations - the three performance "dashboards" can achieve the desired objectives. Specifically, those that are operational (Quicken Loans, Inc., pages 127-141), those which are tactical (International Truck and Engine Corp., pages 143-158), and those which are strategic (Hewlett Packard Co., pages 159-177). I also appreciate the material provided in Part Three (Critical Success Factors: Tips from the Trenches) as Eckerson correlates various multilayered applications built on business intelligence and data integration infrastructure that enables any organization (regardless of size or nature) to measure, monitor, and manage business performance more effectively.

All executives recognize the importance of accurate and consistent measurement of what really matters. Obviously, the "what" varies (sometimes significantly) from one organization to another. In my opinion, the three performance "dashboards" that Eckerson recommends can be of substantial benefit, whatever the given "what" may be but if - and only if - the aforementioned success factors are present. To repeat, they are: sufficient leadership and resources at all levels of implementation, correct and consistent application of the right metrics, a compelling graphical user interface, and contingency planning which ensures user adoption while driving the organizational changes.

This book is by no means an "easy read" but it will generously reward those who absorb and digest its material with appropriate care. Then what? He fully understands how difficult it is to ensure adoption by others, and, to manage performance effectively throughout the given enterprise. In the final chapter, Eckerson notes that performance dashboards can easily backfire and cause performance to decline or stall instead of climb. He then identifies what he characterizes as eight cardinal sins " that can turn a performance dashboard into a performance quagmire." How to avoid them? Eckerson offers nine strategies to ensure adoption and eight strategies to manage performance.

I highly recommend this brilliant book as well as Dean Spitzer's Transforming Performance Measurement. Both are eminently worthy of thoughtful and rigorous consideration. However, that said, I also offer a caveat expressed by Peter Drucker in 1963: "There is surely nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency what should not be done at all." Invoking again the "vehicle" metaphor introduced in the first paragraph of this brief commentary, I presume to suggest that if you and your companions don't know where you are going, "any road will get you there."

The first two-thirds of the book were extremely disappointing and added very little value to the understanding of how to create effective dashboards. Instead, the author spent far too much time discussing IT concepts and buzzwords such as datamarts, multidimensional databases, operational data stores and OLAP tools. Much of the book reads as a platform for why one needs to invest in IT to help manage your business performance. It wasn't until the final third of the book that some useful concepts were explored regarding how a non-IT person should go about developing a solid performance dashboard.

Modern corporations collect vast amounts of data. Unfortunately, they too often mistake having massive amounts of data for having useful and actionable information. They are not the same thing. Even when a company knows how to transform data into usable information, there are still steps left to take that that information and make it accessible and usable throughout the organization in a manageable and coordinated way.

Wayne Eckerson explains how to use performance dashboards to display information on screens that help people do their job, understand where they are against the company's strategic objectives and goals, and give them the ability to drill down into the data as required by their job. These screens should be designed to be simple to read and understand (he says they should be designed with for a 12 year old), but empowering for their users.

There are three broad types of performance dashboards: Operational, Tactical, and Strategic. These must be handled differently, and I think the author does a great job in explaining how you should implement these. Each type gets a case study of a company that shows the reasons and methods for the implementation.

This book is for more for technical types, but it should also be looked at by the business types involved with driving and supporting such an initiative. I also appreciated Eckerson's emphasis on the a thaw between the usual tensions between the IT and Business teams.

A helpful and useful book.

Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI

Overall this is a great book, which is extremely well presented... A key point to take home is, that dashboards are not just fancy displays with graphs/ RYG lights, but a set of applications to monitor, measure and manage business performance, with a solid business intelligence and integration infrastructure.... Also, author's point of views on different types of dashboards (strategic, tactical and operational), and the types of audience for each of these types, and their analysis requirements were very insightful.. This coupled with BI maturity model that the author presents, is an invaluable guide for organizations to assess their current state, and provide the roadmap for thier performance management needs... Three detailed case studies have been presented to explain three types of dashboards.

A lot of tricks and tips throughout the book... Strongly recommend this book...

The book delivered exactly what I have expected from it. It provides clear picture about how Performance Dashboards work. It is very well structured, blends theory with experience and targets keen developers and users.

When I purchased the book, I was asked to put forward a proposal for a comprehensive Performance Management system. I really benefited from the systematic approach used to build such system.

It recommend it for anyone who is implementing performance management system, or even business process management systems which also provides performance dashboards of the automated processes.

There are no hobbits, elves, orcs, or ents in Farmer Giles of Ham, but this short tale is a worthy addition to the rest of J.R.R. Tolkien's books. Farmer Giles is a stout, not very brave fellow who lives quietly in the Middle Kingdom, a land which seems to be located somewhere in the middle of the modern land of England. One day Giles' dog Garm stumbles across a giant, Giles gives the giant a blast with his blunderbluss, and the giant stumbles off to tell a dragon about the rich pickings to be found. Giles blunders and bluffs his way through several sticky situations before finally gaining wealth and renown.

This is a funny little story with a lot of tongue in cheek asides which will remind readers of The Hobbit. This edition features much additional material in the form of notes by well known Tolkien scholars Christina Scull and her husband Wayne Hammond. These notes are highly illuminating, allowing us to see once again Tolkien's rich mind in action. An especially charming inclusion are notes Tolkien made for a planned sequel to Farmer Giles of Ham. Sadly, Tolkien never got around to writing the sequel, which is a real pity because the notes give hints that it would have been just as much fun as Farmer Giles itself.

While those who associate Tolkien only with hobbits may be a little disappointed with Farmer Giles of Ham, those who recognize that his genius extended far beyond the shores of Middle Earth will treasure this little tale forever.

Long ago, in the lands of the Little Kingdom, there lived a farmer by the name of Aegidius Ahenobarbus Julius Agricola de Hammo - or in the vulgar form, Farmer Giles of Ham. A no-nonsense man was Farmer Giles, and when someone steps onto his property, he is there to meet him with his blunderbuss. However, when the next person to set foot on his property is a giant, Farmer Giles soon finds himself dealing with kings and knights and legendary swords and, worst of all, dragons!

I have long been familiar with J.R.R. Tolkein's famous books - The Hobbit and The Lord Of The Rings - but, this cute little book shows that just about everything that he put his hand to he did beautifully! This is a most wonderful little book, one that is sure to entertain any lover of good fantasy literature. I loved this book, and highly recommend it!

A minor work by Tolkien, published in 1947, this small book (a bit larger than a short story, but well shorter than a typical novel) is set in an undetermined time in England (but which looks like the early middle ages, allowing for a number of anachronistic details, and unconnected with the Middle Earth of his most famous works). The hero goes through a series of encounters with mythical creatures and medieval knights, but his simplicity makes him always turn out on top. In that sense, this book has a tone that is remarkably similar with Chretien de Troyes great medieval book Perceval. So, in a way, this might be seen as Tolkien's own (indirect) try at the Arthurian legend.

This is the story of how a farmer (and his dog) defend their farm from ogres and dragons and the like, which propels them reluctantly to fame and riches. Filled with irony, humor, and good morals, (not to mention fairy-tale action) it is a story that shows Tolkien's lighter side.

Farmer Giles of Ham is a fairy tale like story. It is rather short, and LOTR fans will find it lacking a lot of the depth Tolkien usually has. I would recommend it to a younger audience to get kids interested in his greater works. Still, it is pretty entertaining.

This particular Tolkien's story might not be a classic but it is still a wonderful narration, full of comical characters. It is also accompanied by illustrations that might interest a child more in picking up the book to read. Compared to other Tolkien's writing, this is extremely brief. Tolkien was well-known for his vast imaginations and this yarn of his was another example of his ingenuity. Although the story line is brilliant, the language itself is not as beautiful or as smooth as other Tolkien's literary effort. Nonetheless, it is a humorous tale that brings smiles and laughter throughout all of the few pages.

This is a true crime book that attempts to capitalize on the gory nature of the subject to elicit the strongest possible emotional reaction from the reader. Forays "inside the mind" of Gacy are basically subjective, and may be more concerned with generating outrage than with getting at any larger truth.

That being said, it also does a serviceable job of laying out the facts of the case, and anyone who wants to learn about the horrifying details will get their fill here.

Balancing sensationalism and facts is the basic task of the true crime reporter-- this author has chosen to be as sensationalistic as possible, but also has included far more information than is necessary. This means that the book has passages which are a little boring, and passages that are very, very disturbing.

If you want to learn about Gacy, then I suppose that this book is as good a read as any, although something about the fact of the book itself seems sleazy-- for all his condemnation, Cahill is basking in the reflected glow of an obscene act, and that is a little unsettling.

Some of this book was interesting, but most was very slow moving. It just didn't captivate. I believe it could have been better written. I don't feel that I or the author ever got "into the mind" of John Wayne Gacy. Then again, to the author's credit, after reading the book, I'm not sure if anyone could accomplish this feat. I came away feeling that on the surface, Gacy seemed calm and even rational almost all of the time, but was totally the opposite while committing the murders. Either way, the book didn't flow well and is lacking. It wasn't as "meaty" as expected... no pun intended.

I first read this book in 1988 and recently read it again. It still gave me the creeps. In the same league as Helter Skelter by Vincent Bugliosi and The Boston Strangler by Gerald Frank. I highly recommend it.

Chilling. I could not put this one down. This book is a dramatized cover of the life and crimes of John Wayne Gacy which reads like a fiction novel (read: not boring or heavy with Dr. Bob said this) yet provides clear, factual, and consistent information in with some of the author's speculation as to what went on in the mind of Mr. Gacy.
The end result is a story which will make the hair on your arms stand on end - not only with possibilities and facts, but the feasible likeness of Mr. Gacy's mindset through his actions.

I don't know how anyone my age or near my age who grew up in Chicago or the outlying suburbs could not remember the Gacy case. I had just turned 14 and was a freshman in high school when news first broke of his crimes. I remember my mother turning off the television for the 5:00 PM local news because of the lurid footage showing the remains being carried out of the house in bags. And I remember the Chicago Tribune running a full page showing individual pictures of all of the identified victims; the yearbook and school pictures of the boys looked like most of my classmates.

I first read this book back in 1987. I recently read it again, almost 20 years later, and I still believe it to be the most thorough, comprehensive book on Gacy. Cahill, an excellent journalist, has done an excellent job of presenting a complete picture of the man and his crimes. He managed to "get inside Gacy's head" (an unhealthy place) to give the reader a clear look of Gacy's personality, views on life, attitude towards his victims and reactions to his trial.

Along with covering the crimes, investigation, arrest and trial of Gacy, Cahill also delves into Gacy's childhood and early years, including his relationship with his abusive father. The book is detailed, and Cahill writes with the kind of insight that only comes from having a complete understanding of his subject. It's also clear that Cahill researched Gacy thoroughly, and he notes in his introduction that he culled his information from a number of sources.

As can be expected, this book is scary stuff, with two chapters in particular being extremely disturbing and frightening to read. Cahill doesn't merely describe, he casts the reader in the role of witness to one of Gacy's murders, showing Gacy's core of pure evil. That said, this is also the type of book that is tough to put down, and also the type that stays with you long after having finished it.

I too could not disagree more with the reviewer who accused Cahill of plagiarising "Killer Clown." They are two very different books. And while "Killer Clown" is a good book, written largely from a legal/trial and punishment perspective, the better of the two by far is "Buried Dreams." The best overall book on Gacy.

great transaction.recommend seller.I have studied Japanese culture and music.I keep it out for company to enjoy. It is one of my favs.

As a child I always been fascinated by Japan. I always loved Japanese culture from its rich history to its tapestry of fashion,pop culture, and its people including geishas. My interest in geishas really didn't hit its peak until I read Arthur Golden's novel "Memoirs of a Geisha". After the novel, I went out and bought or checked out any and every book about geishas.

I finally got around to checking out the John Gallagher coffee table book on geishas "Geisha: A Unique World of Tradition, Elegance, and Art". I personally enjoyed reading this book and looking at the gorgeous pictures. I loved the illustrations that dissected the geisha's wardrobe and makeup. I found the book pretty informative but there were times when I felt like the author was straying away from the topic of geishas and more into Japanese history. Was it really that necessary to go into the Heian and Edo periods? The author also does a bit of name checking but never get the people he name checks to say anything in his book. Liza Dalby gets a brief mention and that is about it. If anything Liza is the go to expert on geishas, not John Gallagher who I suspect is more familiar with Japanese history than with geishas. If John really knew a lot about geishas, why on earth did he use a lot photos of tourists dressed up as maikos? Think about it.

For a reference book on geishas, John Gallagher's book sure as heck isn't it. Go read Liza Dalby's "Geisha". For beautiful color photos, "Geisha: a Unique World of Tradition, Elegance, and Art" is the book for you.

My daughter loved the book. It is filled with remarkable photographs, drawings and excellent information about the world of Geisha. Would recommend.

Memoirs of a Geisha is a poorly written and pathetic work that somehow became a Best Seller and is now an equally pathetic film which only goes to show that anyone with the right connections gets things published and can make a movie.

However it has shown people something about the orient and has caused interest in the subject of these women.

This book is certainly a good result. It is extremely well written and very well illustrated. Quite a bargain in matters of content and price.

A must have for anyone interested in these women or merely Japanese history.

This book is extremely inexpensive for the number of pages and high quality photos. I found the captions and photos to express much meaning about the lives of geishas and it gave a look into the japanese culture, as well. I highly recommend this book as one for enjoyment and relaxation, as well as for research and such studies. Everyone of all tastes will enjoy this.

*To those who stated that this book doesn't give a look into the dark, seedy world of geishas -- geishas are different from prostitutes...geishas express art, dance, and culture and aren't trained to be prostitutes...several geishas have innocently entertained famous, powerful people such as Prince Charles, and other dignitaries in the past...*

This cookbook is a 'must have' for anyone who works in a professional pastry kitchen. Period.

I love this book. I wish it would've been the Baking and Pastry text at my culinary school. It has so many good recipes and method descriptions. I also like the presentation section which pulls everything together for the professional pastry cook/chef.

Chef Gisslen shows you concise and usable methods for preparing every type of pastry found in the modern kitchen. Full of reference material and photographs, this book guides you to better baking. His recipes are consistently successful and easily scaled to large or small service.

I cannot say if this particular B&P book is really any better or worse than any number of other similar texts. It is the textbook from cooking school a few years ago. Even today despite the number of baking and pastry books I have since bought, this one is still the one I use most often, and the first place I go to when I need a correct, authoritative B&P recipe. Even most of my home baking comes from this book.

The chapters are well chosen. Each one covers one subject, and I have yet to come across a category of B&P that is not covered by this book; it even includes confectionery and sugar work. The TOC also lists all of the recipes in the book in chronological order, making it easy to find a specific recipe. It also has nice explanations of the basic types bread and cake procedures; the recipes, for the steps, then refer you to the appropriate type of dough or batter method. It has also has charts on baking failures and likely causes, which I have used more than once or twice. The one odd thing I noticed is that the yields are kind of low for professional recipes, like a couple of loaves of bread or a couple of cakes; good for culinary students learning in a kitchen or even at home. There are large quantity recipes, but they are hidden in the back where you are likely not to notice.

Also note what it does not have. It does not have really basic culinary info like how to operate in a professional kitchen or how to tell when bread dough is properly kneaded or how to fold batter. It is a list of proper make-up procedures and recipes only.

I'm a culinary student and found this book to be pretty well-written. This was the assigned book for my culinary baking and advanced baking classes. It showed me how to make all kinds of pastries, breads, muffins, scones, etc. I also used the following books which helped me prepare for the type of questions encountered on my baking exams:
Study Guide for Baking: Key Review Questions and Answers with Explanations by Melissa Heilman
Study Guide for Advanced Baking: Key Review Questions and Answers with Explanations by Melissa Heilman
These study guides helped me get very good grades on my baking exams in culinary schools. I give these 3 books excellent ratings.

The New media Frontier serves both as a primer on the use of internet technology for churches and ministry, but also as a collection of thoughts looking to the present and future to discuss ways in which churches, ministries, and missions have been and will be shaped by the use of technology.

The first section of the book focuses on the `primer' element. The contributors offer overview and reflections on `new media' and the church, as well as beginner's guides to using blogs and other web technologies (video, podcasts, etc.) in a ministry setting. Much of this basic information was presented with few assumptions, and for those who aren't tech-savvy it could be a great resource to understand the "hows and whys" of new technology and media.

The discussions in the second half move beyond the basics into discussions of how new media has, can, and will affect churches, pastors, and ministries in the coming years. These chapters range from discussions of `cyber communities' centered around blogs, using new media in teaching situations, seeing Facebook as a tool for pastoral counseling, and how new media will shape the church's forays into issues like bioethics and social justice.

I appreciated the discussion that is represented in The New Media Frontier. It felt odd to read these thoughts on pages, because so many of them seemed like conversations that would be at home on blogs and websites - and many of them probably started out that way. In this sense, the book represents a particular moment in time - a moment when many churches have begun to consider how technology affects their ministry but have not yet fully embrace the opportunities provided by new media. This book can be a great resource for those who have yet to commit to the possibilities presented by new technologies and a launching point for conversations about how they will allow the new media frontier to shape the future of their ministries.

Is it possible to communicate the fullness of the ever changing, ever expansive category of "New Media", using a book? That is just what John Mark Reynalds & Roger Overton attempt to do, as they bring together some of the best voices from the Christian movement in New Media. The results are a fascinating and informative book, that for now is a complete and relevant guide to the things Christian media creators should know and should care about.

The book is written by a team of well-researched writers, who speak from experience. It begins especially well, and explains the history and the relevancy of the New Media from a Judeo-Christian worldview. From there it continues to build the case for Christians to learn to use the new forums of communication now open to us.

The points it raises are fascinating, and to the point. Each question is handled well, and nothing is simply dismissed or glossed over.
It explains why Christians should err on the side of liberty when it comes to the new media, and at the same time explores the pitfalls and weaknesses in the New Media movement.
The communication style of each writer is easy to read, but very well researched and full of information. I found myself highlighting and marking sections of the book to come back to. There possibly couldn't be a better resource available for the Christian interested and/or involved in producing for a new generation highly attuned to the ever changing world of media. The author brings out this quote that; "as long as Liberty prevails, a chance for more entrepreneurial activity in information distribution will exist."
The incredible tools that the New Media bring to the table will need to be defended, for freedoms sake. True Christianity has and will do well under the microscope of free information access.

If you are new to the realm of online media and blogging, this is a great start, but without mentioning up and coming and widely popular twitter and spending so much time on the awful Youtube, rather than the more relevant and high quality sites for video available [...]I wonder how long this book will last before needing to be republished?
Of course that is the point... Technology changes, and the old media can only take the church so far before we are irrelevant.

I work in producing media that falls into both the old media and new media categories, and I found this book to be extremely relevant to the questions I had in trying to navigate the expansive waters of the internet revolutions aftermath. Great discussions will come from reading this book, and I imagine most of them will be communicated, like this review, via the New Media.

Shepherd Ahlers
Intern, City on a Hill Productions

The New Media Frontier is an amazing book for anyone that realizes the millions of people that are far from God that won't be reached by "traditional" methods of sharing the Gospel. As well as those wanting to utilize social media/ blogging / podcasting / twitter to grow people outside the 4 walls of the church. This book not only shares the why we should use online media for reaching out, but also shares alot of the how to aspects as well. I would say that I am an above average techy kinda guy, and I was surprised at how much I gleaned from the writers. It was a great surprise when I was half way though the book and read a chapter by Rhett Smith, a great guy I met at the Echo conference in Dallas last month. All in all I would say this book is a must have for anyone that is wanting to extend their reach !

The New Media Frontier: Blogging, Vlogging and Podcasting for Christ edited by John Mark Reynolds & Roger Overton

The New Media Frontier is written as a collection of essays on various topics related to new media and Christian faith (as the authors view it). Many of the authors seem cautiously optimistic at best regarding the implications of New Media for the Church. Author Matthew Lee Anderson goes so far as to write a chapter entitled, "Three Cautions among the Cheers: The Dangers of Uncritically Embracing New Media." (emphasis mine)

Needless to say, this book is definitely geared towards those who still need some persuading the "the internets" are here to stay and are not just for porn, video games and pedophiles. As is often the case with the Church it seems a couple years behind. No mention of Twitter, several mentions of You Tube without a single reference to Vimeo, no serious discussion of internet campuses, and a very indepth chapter on Right leaning politics (seemed out of place unless you are talking to Pat Robertson and his protoges). For folks looking for good reasons to get into New Media as a Christian with serious reservations or doubts, this is a phenomenal book. For folks who are already pretty well sold on the concept, the practical sections are pretty basic and the rest is just making a case for why we should be using New Media.

The authors opinions were varied from, as previously stated, cautiously optimistic to really fully embracing and utilizing New Media.

Rhett Smith and Mark D. Roberts both gave great arguments for and examples of fully utilizing new media for community, outreach, impact, etc. Stephen Shields had excellent thoughts on the use of New Media for non profits, missions and churches engaged in social justice and advocacy.

David Wayne, Roger Overton, Fred Sanders, Joe Carter, and Jason Baker, Scott Ott and Matthew Eppinette all delve into the benefits of information availability and accessibility, collaboration and sharing across such varied fields as bioethics, journalism, apologetics, theology and education. Many also expressed the potential downside of difficulty in separating the wheat from the chaff with some much availability and accessibility.

Bottom line, depending on your starting point and perspective, this book can come across well balanced and address all of the relevant topics you care about, or it can come across all over the map and a little mixed up.

A great read for that pastor whose church is not growing and the only communication is gossip and complaining, or for the youth pastor who can't figure out why all of his students seem perfect to him but he hears from parents that their going off the deep end. But if you are looking to expand an existing social media strategy at your church I would look to Chris Brogan, Seth Godin and Guy Kawasaki, who spend a lot more time talking about the conversational and community building aspects of New Media.

I became aware of this book well before it's release thanks to the work of Rhett Smith, one of the book's contributing authors. So, I was very excited about getting the chance to take a look at and review this book.

The proper title is The New Media Frontier: Blogging, Vlogging, and Podcasting for Christ. It is partly a primer on new media and partly a look at the many diffrent uses of these tools in the context of church and faith.

The first section focuses on media in general. The first two chapters nearly rolled right over me with deep philosophical arguments for the use of new media. It even went so far as to compare the new media revolution with the Russian Revolution, which felt like something of a stretch, but still made sense. The remainder of section one was devoted to explaining the different types of media out there such as blogs, video blogging, and podcasting - as the title implies. For someone who is new to these tools, this section provides a great primer of not only describing what these tools are, but how to get started using them as well.

The second section provides practical application of these tools in specific areas of faith and ministry. These areas include theology, youth ministry, and creating community. Each chapter is written by a different author who is something of an authority on the topic at hand. This has it's ups and downs because the reader is likely to connect with one author's style more than another or with one chapter's topic more than another. The benefit, howeve, is that you are able to hear from someone who is passionate about the topic they are addressing.

In reading a book like this, I have to remember that I'm an early adopter and have been using computers since I was 3 or 4. Keeping that in mind, I think that this book would be extremely valuable to the computer illiterate or the internet fearful. Because of the way the book is laid out, even if you are familiar with these technologies, you should be able to find new ideas or ways of thinking in the areas that most interest you. Finally, it should serve as a good jolt for anyone who is considering the use of new media to get going and give it a try. After all, there's no time like the present.

Dottie Brewer has a lot to say about life's choices, mistakes made, and lessons learned. A fresh, witty, and wise voice, she inspires us to get moving on life's paths, ordinary and extraordinary.

We can all relate to this book. I loved it. It's a great read.

I really enjoyed reading this book. The author really gives some fresh insight to life in her book that is about an unusual event in her life. Don't miss this one.

The title would lead you to believe that Dottie's Brewer's book is all about the numbing ordeal of marrying one of the those people who've had their fifteen minutes of fame and don't know it, but the tales between these covers completely eclipse that small portion of the book. Dottie's story is an optimistic one of how being positive through life's traumas can get you through some pretty bleak times like being married to John Wayne Bobbitt. It'll bring a smile to your face and put hope in all the right places.

Ahead of the trend...Brewer's "stream of conciousness" style brings to mind the current focus on opinion style books. Much in the vein of Terri Hatcher's "Burnt Toast" and the like.

This woman's down-to-earth, unjaded look at her world and the world around her is endearing. Dottie's writing style is like dishing with your best girlfriend...she will make you cry and leave you laughing.

Brewer's story is the story of everywoman growing up today, learning as she goes and faced with a comnpletely new set of options and obstacles from those that went before us. Dottie looks at each one and moves through them (from breast implants to abusive relationships), of course hindsite is 100%. Because this is written after-the-fact it allowed her to step back and take a more complete look at some situations...and probably was a little cathartic.

...and then there is that part about John Wayn Bobbitt, inquiring minds want to know!