W Books

I picked this book up due to Ravi Z. mentioning it several times in his various lectures. I lived up to everything I expected of it, a short read packed with thought dissecting richness.

I do not care for television based on the moral depravity. Malcolm gave an interesting look inside the juggernaught of television media. It is even easier to see his points in todays media, as they have become even more self-serving than when he wrote this book. A very insightful read and the excerpts of his lectures were an added bonus.

I really appreciate Malcolm Muggeridge's insider view of what the constant medial has done toward the erosion of moral values. Having been a main man at BBC, he has special knowledge about the fantasy of media and the reality of life.

This book is probably one of Malcolm's most interesting works for a couple of reasons. First, he is at the top of his game in his use of English and reason. Second, because this is the most unmitigated and focused response to liberal media I have ever read. It was so direct and harsh that66 at times I found I wasn't sure I agreed with him. However, the more I mulled over the thoughts and worked through it, the more I realized I was in agreement with his premises. Excellent and thorough, though it will seem a bit short.

Muggeridge was a modern-day prophet in that he had a clear perception and understanding of the impact of Television on Western Media. In his words, "It is a truism to say that the media in general, and TV in particular...are incomparably the greatest single influence in our society today...This influence [is] largely exerted irresponsibly, arbitrarily, and without reference to any moral or intellectual, still less spiritual, guidelines whatsoever. Furthermore, if it is the case, as I believe, that what we still call Western civilization is fast disintegrating, then the media are playing a major role in the process by carrying out, albeit for the most part unconsciously, a mighty brainwashing operation, whereby all traditional standards and values are being denigrated to the point of disappearing, leaving a moral vacuum in which the very concepts of Good and Evil have ceased to have any validity."
He clearly describes the power of the editor (of TV news/documentaries especially) to present "the truth" or "reality" live, in living color, through carefully edited clips--which present the event from the perspective of the editor--telling the story the way the editor wants to present it, which may be (and often is) very different from "the truth" as seen and experienced by the various people involved in the event.
Bernard Goldberg, in his book "Bias", has described several examples from CBS News, and there have been many more recently.
Muggeridge's only practical solution: "Put a Christian behind the camera." I believe he meant by that, a person who is truly following Christ and therefore is aware of and sensitive to his/her own worldview; who respects the beliefs and worldviews of others; and who makes a genuine attempt to "balance" the story by providing multiple viewpoints and not promoting his/her own view at the expense of others. Clearly, not a person who fabricates "facts" to support their beliefs or theories; not someone who "spins" or twists the facts, or who ignores data that does not fit their view or agenda.
A rather brief book - but I believe a powerful vision of the potential for Evil (Muggeridge's word, not mine) when TV editorializing/production is in the hands of men and women who thirst for power and who lack moral judgement. The "Greatest Generation" called it by it's proper name: Propaganda.
Thanks to the publisher for re-publishing this valuable book!

"City Heat" is an eclectic mix of skilled prose, thought-provoking poetry, and wonderful illustrations. The collection is a masterpiece from one the South's best humorists and storytellers. Each piece is a gold nugget in its on right. This is a "must buy."

William Park has the talent, sense of humor and noogies to tie together some wonderful writing that constantly leaves you wondering what's fiction and what's real, with marvelous illustrations, poetry and memoirs. Sometimes subtle, sometimes outrageous, this book will take you on a fascinating journey through this guy's yearnings, fascinations and oddities.

"The Duck Hunter" and "Florida Bound" are beautifully written stories about the South. The accents and remarks of the men on the front porch of the hotel in "Florida Bound" are funny, yet ring true. The ending of that story is terrifying and yet almost poetic.

A good read. I especially liked "The Third Game." I don't play chess, but could easily follow what the author was saying about the game, and about the dangers of success. I liked the way the story dropped back into history for the key, then roared into the climax.

A lover of both variety AND substance, I frequently growl over ingredients missing in many popular literary genres. Short stories vary, scene to scene, but lack the novel's gravitas. Humor and art seem perpetually oil and H2O. Where are those sytheses of prose, poetry, reflections, evocative art that stir my heart? City Heat is surely one.
Following Norman Mailer and Truman Capote (inventors of the "factoid" and the "non-fiction novel" respectively), Will Park has crafted one swell "book-pie," tasty and relevant and personal and poignant. This savory dish melds all that stuff I love, tossed in with some art for relish, a taste of memoir (listen up, Oprah!), a dash of Everyman and several cups of imagination in a melange so rich and compelling as to solicit a swoon if inhaled too fast.
Yet the prospect of reading straight-through is inviting. Each selection is a wonder, reviving new interest while transporting the reader light-years from the previous selection (though City Heat is NOT a work of science fiction--or porn, either, despite the tittilating title).
I was thoroughly satisfied to have touched and been touched by the psyches of kids, warriors, concubines found unexpectedly in swamps, foxholes, asphalt jungles. Wow.

This represents an interesting and effective approach to a difficult topic. Part two is especially good.

LeBon, Adam. "City of Oranges". W.W. Norton, 2007.

Living Together

Amos Lassen

Some of the most memorable experiences of my life took place in the city of Jaffa, Israel. It is a fascinating place occupying its own little area outside of the thriving metropolis of Tel Aviv. Jaffa sits as a city within a city much like the French Quarter of New Orleans, Jaffa has great restaurants, art galleries, shops and a port but above all, it is a historical site. The streets are narrow as they have always been and the people are a mix of Arabs and Jews, also just as it always been in Jaffa.
Adam LeBon's "City of Oranges" is a balanced look at the history of modern Jaffa and the birth of the State of Israel. LeBon looks at the lives of six families and by doing so makes the Israeli/Palestinian conflict more personal.
Jaffa is a city of layers of people, events and times, of Arabs and Jews living peacefully together, sharing lives and experiences. LeBon looks at the history of Jaffa by looking at Jewish, Christian and Moslem families to show that the struggle in the Middle East is a human struggle. It is the story of longing for a homeland and fortunes that changed and also the history of a multi-ethnic city that was changed by what was happening in the area. LeBon emphasizes the needs of the Jewish people to have a state and shows the tragic consequences this has caused for Arab neighbors. He names neither villains nor heroes but shows us people, like you and me, trying to find a way through what is going on. Adam LeBon, celebrates the capacity for endurance as we read about the ways people come to terms with themselves and each other.
The families that LeBon writes about are Christian Arab notables, Muslim aristocracy, Sephardic Jews and Ashkenazi refugees from Europe. We see the story of Israel told in a microcosm, the struggle for land and the fight for political supremacy and the Jewish ambivalence to fight with their neighbors. We also see Jew and Arab helping each other through the years.
Many of the aspects of the Israel-Arab conflict are captured here. We see the proletarian Jews of Tel Aviv defeating the rich Arabs of Jaffa with their nationalism and we see how violence separated a community that was once solid. It is extremely poignant to read how refugee Jews were chased out of Arab countries and then lived in the lands that once belonged to Arabs who themselves became refugees when the Jews chased them out.
Throughout the book there is an interweaving of history with what was going on in everyday life. This is an intimate history and to me, at least, I did not feel the author's biases as I read. He attempts to understand without judgment and this is not an easy task. He looks at one town and from it gives the history of the State of Israel and the catastrophe of Palestinians by using the lives of Jaffa's Arab and Jewish residents.
LeBon has a wonderful knack for detail and allows individual opinion to be expressed without any type of judgment. Courage and trauma mark the histories of both Arab and Jew and we see clearly that neither side has really listened to the other because as LeBon states "any recognition of each other's losses is a kind of surrender" in a battle for territory as well as memory.
LeBon does condemn (but does so quietly) the excesses of both sides. He talks about the Israeli occupation and the corruption of the Palestinians, Israeli racism, and Palestinian suicide terrorism. His conclusion is one of compromise and I am sure that because of this, there will be readers who find cause to object.
LeBon has done extensive research especially in the lives of the families--two Christians, two Muslims and two Jewish. It is from his interviews with family members, memoirs and private archives that he is able to give us vivid portraits to show us the narrative of the modern Arab/Jewish and Palestinian/Israeli relations. He brings us into the lives of each generation as we witness both political and social upheaval and urban decay and redevelopment and war and its aftermath. It is through the family members that we see the issues of everyday life in Israel today. The families share so much and still sit on opposite sides of issues that are violently divisive yet they still manage to live together, as friends, in the most cosmopolitan city in the Middle East. It is this look at the human lives behind the volatile headlines of the world press that gives us a new look and understanding of an area that is often described as the "powder keg" of the world.

City of Oranges'' is a book that probably all
> sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict could read
> profitably. By taking as its subject the
> interweaving
> histories of several families _ Jewish, Christian,
> Muslim _ over more than a century in what was once
> the vibrant port of Jaffa, now an adjunct of Tel
> Aviv,
> it reminds us that the struggle, whether a triumph
> for one party or a tragedy for another, had a human
> cost for all. The book is not only the story of a
> longing for home and homeland amid changing fortune,
> but also the chronicle of an ancient, multi-ethnic
> city and how it was forever altered by the tremors
> that shook the Middle East in the 20th century. The
> author, Adam LeBor, understands the desperate need
> for
> the Jews to found a secure state and the tragic
> consequences this had for some of their Arab
> neighbors. There are no heros or villains in his
> narrative. Only ordinary people trying to find their
> way through extraordinary circumstances. "City of
> Oranges'' refuses to be a book of lamentation or
> triumphalism. Rather, it celebrates the human
> capacity
> for endurance and the simple small ways that people
> make peace with themselves, if not with each other.
>
>
>

OK if the title is too cryptic for you...for something to begin something else has to end or it would just be continuation. Zionism and the establishment of a "Jewish State" in the Middle East would by definition be the signal for the end of the Ottoman Province of Palestine (including parts of Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Egypt). The new state by definition would be a 'western' style democracy with socialist overtones. So there would have to be a drastic change in how and who ran things.

This book by Adam LeBor does a remarkable job of looking at the changes to Jaffa and Tel Aviv as a microcosm for the who Middle East problem. By looking at the long term (beginning at the end of the nineteenth century) effect of Zionist immigration to the 'Holy Land' (HL, has less of a stigma or side to it). After having lived in relative harmony (as long as the Moslems were the top of the pyramid) for many centuries the influx of European Jews and their European ways would have to upset the balance. Of the three groups, the Christians were put in the most desperate of positions since they were never in charge or control of their destinies.

LeBor does a good job of following the participant families as they go from rulers to ruled, rich to poor, immigrant to ruler, and ruler to emigrant. The best part of the narrative is LeBor's concentration on the effects more than the causes. Causes can be ambiguous but effects are usually straight forward.

Needless to say this is as objective a story as can be written by anyone of the history of the HL over the last one hundred years, and that it will takes decades if not centuries until there is anything like a final settlement of the issues. Just like the scars that remain from the Partition of India, or the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans (from the Czech lands) after WW2; it will take more than the changing of the names of the towns and cities to heal up the wounds and for the scars to fade.

City of Oranges is a refreshingly balanced account of the modern history of Jaffa and the birth of the Jewish state.
LeBor's eye for detail and the rich family accounts bring the story to life, turning a historical account into a thoroughly enjoyable read. Reading about the lives of the six families and their truly amazing experiences manages to personalize the Isreali-Palestinian conflict.
It's an innovative approach that makes this book worth reading for anyone interested in Israel/Palestine.

I used this book, along with the Cliffs Notes book for the CLEP Principles of Management exam, and passed the exam after studying for 4 days. If you have any sales/management experience, it will help you with the questions on this exam. The practice exam questions were actually more difficult than the ones on the actual exam.

To all the people who are trying to pass this clep test as badly as I wanted to, here is the truth about this book...

Im a senior student at BU and i've taken so many management classes over the years that I was keeping the MG 301 (this clep) till the end not to waste time and money...

Truth is, I studied this book pretty well and the first thing I can say is that it is quite outdated with the material presented in 2008.

The best way to prepare is to skim over the most important chapters in the book and take the OFFICIAL study guide exam. From the official preparation test you should get a feeling of which notions were not even covered in the REA manual.


All in all I passed with a 54, I got the credit but I wasn't as prepared as I thought i'd be!

Good luck to you all!

This is all I used to study for the Principles of Management CLEP test. I read through the book once, took both practice tests, and then read through the answer explanations for each test. Then I loosely paged through the book a second time and took some notes on what I though was important. I think taking the notes made it all come together. I took the test and got a 73. This book is great and all you will need to pass! I have used the REA books previously for History of the United States I and College Freshman Composition. I did fine on those tests but I had to supplement with other sources. This book is more complete and I was better prepared for this exam in less time. I highly recommend it!

I read this book once through. Took each of the practice tests. This is the only thing I used, and I passed the test. What more can be said.

I've been in the military for a while now and a lot of the management concepts are very close to what I've learned. I advise anyone, especially GoArmyEd students, to CLEP this class. It's the easiest 3 credits you'll ever receive because you may know it already. There are some of the same concepts in management as PLDC, BNCOC, and other MOS schools, just different lingo. That's where this book came in for me. It helped me translate what I already knew into "civilian language." Passed the exam and now I don't have to spend 12 weeks in the Principles of Management class. Yay!!!!!

This book has achieved suprisingly long-lived popularity among my two kids, who are now ages 6 and 4. They've enjoyed this book on and off for years. While other books will get some attention and then are dropped, this is one they seem to keep coming back to.

Though it's only 10 pages, there's a lot here: shapes, colors, numbers, letter and basic nursery rhymes. The kids love the tactical fun of the lift-a-flap discoveries, and that's a good way for them to learn.

This is an excellent board book for the all those little children who love Clifford the Big Red Dog. Clifford stands out on the front of the book. I highly recommend this book.

My 22 month old really likes this book and it is fun and educational. A good learning tool!

Highly recommend it....my son loves opening the flaps and having me read them. Clifford books are great!

Clifford is a wonderful children's character. Before Clifford was a Big Red Dog, he was a small red puppy. This is a good book for 3-100. It is about a big red dog that went to live with a girl named Emily Elizabeth who raised him and showed Clifford how to have a big heart. I think this book is wonderful for kids while learning to read.


I loved this book when I was 3 years old and I still love it and now I am 12. I just think that it is a fun book to read because it feels like you are with Clifford when he goes on his adventures. My favorite book of the ones that Bridwell has written is definitely Clifford's Schoolhouse. I just love the pictures and the flaps to the book. It comes in hard cover and paperback.


I really hope that my book review helped. I hope that you will buy this book for your child. I promise you they will like it for years to come.

- Vic Wharton

I really like this book. I wish it was around when I was about to enter college. It does not give specific advice on th how's and what's of college life but the antecdotes of the author and other contributors let you know you aren't the only one who has ever had an embarrassing moment in the dining hall or a crazy roommate. I bought it for my cousins who are going into college soon and I wrote in the margins some of my experiences. I really think this is a great book for past, present, and future college women.

If you love Lynn Peril's column in BUST Magazine, "Museum of Femorbilia," you'll love COLLEGE GIRLS. A smart, funny, irreverent narrative of The College Girl deftly constructed from pop culture, women's history, advertising, and strange ancient texts that aren't really ancient at all, but that only Lynn Peril could find and synthesize in such an engaging manner.

College Girls is the best book I've read in a long time. If you have any interest what so ever in women's history, college history, pop culture, etc. BUY THIS BOOK.

In this interesting read, author Lynn Peril chronicles the birth and development of the college girl. Ever since she appeared on the scene in the 19th century, the college girl has been the hot topic of conversation, incurring the curiosity--and wrath--of everyone from writers and philosophers to doctors and parents to social commentators. Whether it was doctors wondering whether "too much" education "endangered" her reproductive organs (Dr. Edward Clarke, who considered himself an expert in this area, claimed that too much education would leave a female college graduate with "undeveloped" ovaries) or books and magazines ("Seventeen" and "Better Homes and Gardens", just to mention a few) advising college-educated girls and women not to be "too smart" to avoid scaring away potential suitors or schools wondering whether women should learn "male" subjects such as math, history, ancient languages, and philosophy or "female" subjects such as learning how to fix and operate an iron, the college girl has been constantly scutinized, ridiculed, and regulated over the years (and unfortunately, even today), all just for wanting to get an education.

Not only does this book contain a history of the college girl, it also contains some interesting info on the history of the women's colleges, such as Vassar, Mount Holyoke, Wellesley, and Bryn Mawr, among many others. But most importantly, I came away with an important message that's not in the book, but that I will pass on to you and that is: Never be sorry for wanting to get an education. No piece of advice, no warning, no admonishment, no outrageous medical or scientific claim should ever stop you or me.

I always wondered what they were doing over there in the Girls Dorms. Now Lynn Peril has written a work which traces the development of women in the college world. While she starts with a first graduate in 1631 her focus is on developments from mid-nineteenth century to the nineteen - seventies. In this the theme of women's achieving equality in freedom over their own private lives is central. The world of over- supervision, and restriction yielded in time to the not necessarily happy one of women 'hooked up' in relationships in which sexual pleasure became 'ego trip' and intimacy and love, left on the sidelines. In between however there is the realm where greater woman's freedom and autonomy were at the heart of a general liberalization of campus life.
Peril uses a wide variety of sources to trace the developments in fashion, in style, in sleeping arrangements, in attitudes towards the marital and career prospects of college women. She makes use of students handbooks and yearbooks, advice manuals, popular novels. She provides a full picture of what their lives were like, and how they were transformed through the decades.
One central question again relates to intimacy and the dignity of women, with a strong suggestion that rampant promiscuity is not a sign of liberation but rather of a new kind of enslavement. Apparently the fuddy- duddies had it a bit right when they suggest that for most women sexual pleasure must come in the context of loving and committed relationships if they are to satisfy their deepest human needs.

As a long time reader of science fiction, it's always a pleasure to discover a new author with genuine talent. Mark Tiedemann is such an author, and Compass Reach is a genuinely good book. As hard as it is to imagine, he has created a believable space opera. There are no stereotypical heroes or villains here, no mock heroics, no paint-by-the-numbers galactic empires. Instead, there are heroes who have doubts, make mistakes, get confronted with sitations they can't deal with...and yet, somehow they manage to survive and overcome. There are villains who are villains for believable reasons...Mr. Tiedemann makes you understand why they behave the way they do, and even empathize with them (not an easy trick!) And those inscrutable aliens...just what are they up to? It's all set against the background of a very well-realized galactic civilization, with supporting details that bring it to life in a most convincing fashion. After finishing this book, you have the feeling you have been somewhere and done something. Kudos to Mr. Tiedemann for creating such a memorable novel. I recommend it most highly.

The first thing I have to say about Tiedemann's work is that once I begin one of his stories I don't want to put it down.
Whether it's a new Asimov Robot Mystery or his Secantis series, this author keeps you turning the pages. Compass Reach is crisply paced, with richly drawn characters and a compelling story. Tiedemann cooks up a spicy stew of Bradbury mystery with Asimov's galactic scope and a dash of Heinlein's humor. Watch for Metal of Night, the 'second' in the series, and Feel the Impact When Worlds Collide!

"I picked up COMPASS REACH last year after seeing it on the short-list for the Philip K. Dick Award, and discovered a sophisticated novel about interstellar civilization, aliens, and the humans who are trying to come to terms with a universe they know little about. At face value, that description may sound like standard fare, but this book isn't. And that's because of the characters and the way Tiedemann reveals them. I've always been drawn to the strange, imaginative worlds of possibility that comprise the science fiction genre, but what makes me a fan of Tiedemann's universe, in particular, is the beings who inhabit them. He writes about the human condition with an immediacy that makes you feel the world he's depicting is real. Instead of the neat political and ethical boxes that usually comprise 'space opera', he embraces ambiguity and talks about life as it is and how it might be under fully-realized future conditions.

"He's very visual, too. From the tortured landscape of the opening chapter to the startling evocation of Earth at the end, the world of COMPASS REACH is vivid and rich, equal to the intellectual and emotional explorations of the book--which are all multifaceted and fascinating. He addresses questions I've always wondered about when reading or watching traditional science fiction. Questions like, What would life be like for the people on the bottom of the economic pyramid in an interstellar culture? How would "wealth" be determined in such a system? How would interactions with alien civilizations change the way we see ourselves? What are the ramifications of--?

"Well, you get the idea. This novel is a sleeper. I hear it is on the preliminary ballot for the Nebula Award. I hope it wins! It's a refreshing twist on old ideas, liberally laced with some new ideas, but with a central power and drive that rewards close reading. The images stayed with me long after the last page. I don't have a lot of time to read for fun, so I'm a little behind, but I'm starting PEACE AND MEMORY, the third book in Tiedemann's Secantis Sequence, right now. This is a writer to pay attention to and enjoy for a long time to come.

The inside title page says Volume One of the Secantis Sequence. If this is the opening foray into this universe, I can't wait for what's to come! Too many far future stories these days rely on virtual superhero protagnonists and just about everyone else in the book is from Lake Woebegone--you know, "above average"--as if ordinary people have disappeared or the writers have stopped believing that ordinary people can have adventures. The fallacy of course is that in extraordinary circumstances, people become extraordinary. Tiedemann shows us how this happens and then dazzles us with one of the most compelling adventures I've read in a long time. This is the way this stuff should make us feel! Exceptional work! More! More!

I'm an optimist. Even at forty-eight years of age, I haven't been able to shed that outlook, which others might see as a character flaw. I suppose I have a "Star Trek" point of view. While "Compass Reach" is not remotely "Trekkian", it does evoke that which is the real human spirit, the will to survive, the need to "do the right thing" even in the face of adversity. In over forty years of voracious reading, not restricted to any one genre,I am occasionally rewarded with a story that touches a really thought provoking chord. This is a great read which expresses the paradox of being a hero--which is that those who truly are never seek to be. Fargo just wants to survive, he's far from perfect, and in the beginning, he doesn't even know himself...how's that for real! This is what science fiction is truly capable of--a believable human drama sparked from the encounter with the new, the alien, the future.

There is no better study guide for passing the postal exam than Mr. Parnell's. All info is up to date right with postal guidelines. No other study guide is as easy to understand and follow. As we all know it is practice that makes perfect.I had searched for a study guide like this and purchased three others before this from the list here.
I had a hard time understanding and putting the formulas together from other manuals.That was all cleared up after the first listen to the first cd. There are lots of secrets that no one else has.If you need any proof, I got a 100% on my exam.So do yourself a favor and purchase this guide.you need no others.

Using this book as a study guide to prepare I recently took the exam for the Raleigh area. Test results = 100% carrier, 96.8% mark-up clerk. Without a doubt, this book was the reason for my success---it prepares you for the exam in every possible facet, right down to the completely realistic answer sheets (they are set up the same on the actual exam). Don't take this test without preparing for it (as many people unfortunately do). This book will get you prepped.

I scored a 99.3 on the exam after preparing with this guide. I did this on my own with NO veteren or disabled extra points. It can be done and you can get to the top of the list. Very easy!!!!

this prep book WILL get your scores to the top 95% exam mark. the higher the score the sooner you get called in by the post office. simple as that. took the test and within 6 months, i am with the post office (long island, NY). scored a 97.84%. my friend went from a 95% to a 100% and was called in as soon as the list was available (3-4 weeks). a simple 2.16% made the difference of 5-6 months wait before getting called.

I am retired USAF, and purchased this book and CD set to prepare for the postal exam. I was one of the 5 hired out of hundreds who tested in Oct 2003. I now have 11 months as a Mail Carrier.

We have just completed this book in our home group. This is amazing. We no longer feel guilty or useless when it comes to sharing our faith.The true life stories are so encouraging. We put into practise praying as recommended and found out what a huge difference this was.Each chapter has lots in it to discuss. We often would spend a night discussing the chapter and then doing the questions the following week. This is all about relationship evangelism. My only ( small) negative would be that it is not specific enough regarding specific tools that you can use to lead someone to God. Our home group followed it up with The Way of The Master DVD series.The two balance one another nicely.We have all experienced leading people to the Lord this year as a result.Get the book and don't just read it -do it. It is one whose message never dates.

Thompson explains evangelism in a very personal way, demonstrating the responsibility each believer has to share the love of Jesus with everyone they know, from their family to total strangers. He discusses the circles of people with whom every believer interacts, beginning with self, and moving out to "Person X" (p. 111). King introduces the concept of stages in making disciples, and provides practical applications for individuals and small groups at the close of each chapter.

Thompson's desire as communicated in this work is that believers would be obedient through building relationships with believers and unbelievers, in order that God might be glorified. The additional material provided by King contributes in a practical way to this goal. The book achieves this desire. This book would be an excellent resource for personal or small group study in a church setting.

The concepts in this book have shown this reviewer that being an effective witness is simple but not easy. Simple, because one only need look to his own family and friends to see opportunities to witness; however, it is not easy, because the flesh wars against the spirit and we must daily bring our troubles to the cross and lay them down. Concentric Circles of Concern: Seven Stages for Making Disciples will be another tool in the box for the work of ministry.

This book was required reading for a class, and it is one I will be keeping. I enjoyed it so much, that I have purchased it for a couple of my interns for a practical reading assignment.

In spite of the age of the material, every bit is still for today. This is a classic in relational evangelism.

Are you concerned about the salvation of your family, friends, neighbors and community as well? Then this book is a great starter for people who enjoy sharing the Gospel in their homes and community. This book has diagrams and pictorial effect that aid the reader in developing a home mission plan that permeates throughout their neighborhood and eventually to the world.
Thompson takes the reader through a seven stage process of relationship building that is so effective that members of ones' household become disciples that are productive in producing more disciples.
The author concludes that healthy, loving relationships will be generated as a result of understanding and implementing each stage in the process of making disciples, by first starting at home. This author's proposal begins with the discipleship of family members. This is unusually heard of, often times missionaries, preachers and evangelist start outside their home - however, the author has demonstrated that the real need for a loving family relationship begins with the person seeking to develop a clear conscience by knowing and loving God first, then self, then family , then others for the purpose of making disciples

This book is helping change our church and the way we do outreach and evangelism. The author's premise is that we cannot reach the world for Christ if we are not reaching our families, friends or inner-circles first. If there are any broken relationships or "ruptured relationships" in a christian's life, then we are not able to go and share the gospel message honestly with anyone. It is a powerful book that is very blunt and sometimes slaps you in the face with the honesty and insight of the author.

There are so many books on the market right now on every topic. This one seems no different. It is hard to choose which books are worth your time. I was required to read this for a Christian Discipleship class in college. It completely changed my life. I have given it to friends and family. Many of them are busy people, but I give it to them with a promise, "This is worth every second you spend on it; this will change you life."
Oscar Thompson gives you a glimpse of the heart of God towards people. It is not another "method" to seek converts. He shows you how to effectively love people.
Read this book. It is worth every bit of your time and money. Evangelism starts in the heart of God. Be a person after His own heart.

Great Conga book. Was recommended to me by others. The only thing that I don't like about this books is that it doesn't use standard notation.

I found this book invaluable for learning the basics of conga drumming without a teacher. I used it for several months before hitting my first conga class, and was really glad I had worked with the book. I was able to pick up right away with the rest of the class on several of the rhythms. However, I will warn anyone using the book that this drumming world is steeped with "variations". That is, you'll frequently find that your teacher is using a slightly different variation than the one taught in the book. This is fine, however, since it's usually easy to alter what you're doing slightly.

One of the more impressive aspects of the methods in this book is the holistic approach, for example, teaching how to feel the clave underneath the rhythms you're playing. The book also does about as good a job as any book can at teaching the hand technique, although I highly recommend complementing this with good videos of accomplished conga players. Youtube, for example, is a great resource. Here again, though, you will find different philosophies of technique, and again your teacher may have his own emphasis.

This book is extremely readable and it teaches you terrific grooves right from the get-go. I'm a pianist who has decided to learn some percussion and I am having a blast learning to play the conga. Even my non-musician girlfriend has learned some of this stuff!

Very recommended! I think Alan Dworsky used a very clear graphic way of teaching the Conga playing, without getting into music reading instead, he uses symbols for the diferent strokes, and easy numbers. It is great for begginers but stil a good book for advanced players, because it goes through many aspects of the conga.
If you are into conga playing, get this book for the price of half a conga lesson I am sure you will get some mileage out of it. I have been playing congas for years and I discovered a few things in this book I didn't know. Go for it! (...)

I agree with all the other reviewers... this is a great book for beginners and advanced (as well as folks somewhere in the middle, like me).

One thing I didn't expect to like, since I can read regular music notation, was their concocted music notation. To my surprise, I like theirs better. It's very intuitive, and after a while, you can pretty much sight-read the rhythms. If I hear/see a conga pattern I like in the future, I'll probably write it down using their notation.