F Books

Left Behind is a wonderful series. I am looking forward to listening to all the audio cd's.
I have read the books and they are just as great.

better!! The plague, or whatever it was that wiped out billions of people on earth is gone. Now the survivors must make sense of the rubble. Thye must find Rabbi Ben Ezra (i think thats his name) and also the Anarchist's forces of evil. SOunds a bit like Star wars? Well, its pretty good, keeps you listening. each episode ends wiht character arch or cliff hanger.

I just finished listening to the last of these episodes yesterday. The characters go through incredibly difficult times, but are preparing for even worse days ahead. This is the 6th in a series of 12 sets. The last episode in this set really leaves you hanging - time to order set #7!

Yes, these audio dramas are the BEST thing that could happen to Left Behind. The crew that put this together do an awesome job of using the "theater of the mind" to dramatize Tim LaHaye/Jerry Jenkins' New York Times Bestseller Christian fiction novels!

Assassins details the relentless pursuit by Rayford Steele for vengeance against God's enemy, as well as many other events that take place as the Tribulation Force tries to survive the Tribulation.

It's non-stop action, brilliant acting, super sound effects, and neat music. If you like Left Behind...get it!!

This series is awesome, because it gives the listener a chance to vizualize what is happening in the story, just by hearing it. If you haven't already, start collecting the series, with "Left Behind", and go on from there.

lots of step by step examples. nice guiding. not an indepth guide for choosing and using auto-colors.

This book is one of the best. It motivates a person to paint-paint-paint. This book has great tips, illustrations, directions and good common-sense.

I've never airbrushed before I got this book, but I feel like I have a head-start after reading it. It explains things very well, like the may types of automotive paint, and demonstrates the use of stencils and freehand sheilds. He even has a computer that he can make designs with! I always thought everything was done freehand. He also explains and demonstrates how to highlight and very effective use of shading and shadows. He even shows how to do a carbon fiber effect. Very cool! I highly recommend this book. Thanks!

This is one of the best books of it's kind! I absolutely love this book! I've been a fan of Craig Fraser and Jon Kosmoski for years, and they(mostly Craig) have done a wonderful job compiling information and demonstrating various techniques in the field of automotive airbrushing. Though focused mainly on the automotive genre, these techniques can be used in any field of airbrushing!! Craig is one of a kind, and he has been a tremendous mentor to many, and a terrific teacher to "airheads" everywhere. For the price of the book, you will get priceless information! It's well written, informative, and loaded with the coolest tips and tricks!!!

If you like custom painting, you'll find several -other- nice books about the theme. This is not the only I've got about car painting and custom painting, but in fact, is not the one I like the most...

Even if it contains nice step-by-step procedures, and goes with most of the painting proceses you may want to know, is not a great font of inspiration -for me-. It is most like a airbrushing book, that goes even in painting things that I would never paint on cars... and really hate to see on cars...

Craig Fraser is surely a very good airbrush painter, but if you are looking for some custom painting, without getting your car out of mind, I'd suggest rather to buy "how to paint flames" or "pinstripping masters"... maybe also "advanced custom painting technics", but not this book.

All in all, it is not a bad book, is just not the kind of information I like to have on my library.

"Battling Wall Street: The Kennedy Presidency" is great reading for people who want to move beyond books about the mechanics of the Kennedy assassination. The book helps explain why the "Eastern establishment" and a lot of other influential people, might want to get rid of President Kennedy. Another book, "History Will Not Absolve Us : Orwellian Control, Public Denial, & the Murder of President Kennedy" provides additional pieces of the puzzle by explaining how the American establishment, including leading establishment liberals like Noam Chomsky and Alexander Cockburn, have worked to sell the Warren Commision's 'lone gunman' cover-up. The amazing thing about the Kennedy assassination is that, despite a lot of nonsense coming from the mainstream media, the American people know it wasn't a lone gunman and the killers didn't do us a favor.

In reviewing the thoughts of most researchers of the JFK assassination, one sees that most of them invariably bring up the Cuba issue, and occasionally Lee Harvey Oswald's possible involvement with this issue.
Now, however, in this book, Professor Donald Gibson may have uncovered the real issues behind the death of President Kennedy. He reveals so many issues, in fact, that one has to begin to decide which one is the crucial one, the one that provoked the conspirators to decide to kill him.

The death of Kennedy seems to this observer of the American scene a resolution of the struggle of the two forces to decide who really rules America. Since people who run the government colluded with the murderers of the president, it's pretty obvious who really runs the show.
Readers of this book may want to try Gibson's second book, "The Kennedy Assassination Cover-Up". After forty years, Americans should want a reasonable answer to the question of who killed Kennedy. Gibson may provide the answer.

In 1989 a book was published called "Crossfire", in which Texas-based journalist Jim Marrs reviewed most of the information he thought was then available concerning the JFK assassination. A large part of the book dealt with those people and groups whom he thought were the most likely to have killed Kennedy. Allen Dulles and his CIA were included in his list.
Donald Gibson has added one more suspect to this list in this book, and it would appear to this reader that someone has finally made sense of the events of November 22, 1963.
From this one book alone, one could seriously accept the idea that the eastern establishment, the Wall Street crowd, the corporate elite and all their connections had the most to lose with Kennedy as president. They had the motive and means to kill the president and then to cover it up. Gibson flatly states the establishment and the CIA's interests were intertwined. In fact, the CIA was merely the enforcer for the Council on Foreign Relations global agenda. Both Allen Dulles and John J McCloy were extremely important members of the Council, who managed to land on the Warren Commission and lead the cover-up. In fact, a case could be built that they organized the plot. All they needed was the green light from someone in the inner circle of the Rockefeller-dominated Council, like one of the Rockefellers.

this book helped give me a whole new meaningful perspective on the kennedy assasination..it sifts through all the misinformation, and the same tired trashy expose type books on the kennedy presidency that don't give any meaningful information, i am much more interested in a president's policies economic and otherwise as opposed to his sex life...i highly reccommend that anyone interested in politics, economics, or the kennedy assasination read this book twice and very slowly. gibson lays everything out clearly in an easy to understand way, i highly reccomend this book.

This book is a great read. The subject matter is interesting and thought provoking. I had the privilage of having Prof. Gibson in class. His knowledge is vast and inspiring. His passion has motivated me not only in the college realm but in life itself.

I was shocked, as the rest of the world about the horrible terror attack on September 11. To read this biography about this family who lost a husband and a father and by the strenght of God they moved on, that is so amazing. It was easily written, and I think I could have read it from page 1 until the in in one go, I did not want to stop reading it. I recommened it with all my heart!

Elizabeth Anderson

My faith in God has increased by reading this book. This book is well-written, honest, and one that many readers can relate their own lives to. The religious parts of this book are not "pushed" onto the reader. I recommend this book for people of all Christian faiths. This book reminds us all that many valuable things can come from horrible tragedies... even 9/11.

Rebeccasreads highly recommends BEAUTY BEYOND THE ASHES as a profoundly moving personal journey of this woman's American Dream which curdled on 9/11 into a nightmare when her beloved husband, Former Lt. Commander Tom McGuinness, Co-pilot of American Airlines Flight 11, never came home.

Always a searching Christian, gladdened when Tom was called to Christ, Cheryl's spiritual life is transformed when she dedicates herself, now alone, to God's ministry knowing that that is exactly what Tom would have wanted. In that dedication, fraught with despair & succour, she experiences the trauma of sacrifice & the healing of forgiveness.

In addition to revealing her touching personal story, Cheryl McGuinness also shares twelve powerful Biblical principles that guide her through her loss & her life's journey. & as every life will contain sadness & loss, her suffering, devotion & surrender to God's love & purpose through Jesus Christ, is both inspirational & healing.

Beauty Beyond the Ashes is a great book with a powerful message..."with God there is always a way through even the most difficult circumstances." There are so many wonderful principles in this book that will challenge you to depend more on God and less on yourself. I admire Cheryl for the way she has allowed God to use this tragedy to help others who have also been victims of violence.

This is a wonderful book to read. I was both inspired and encouraged, knowing that God's love is evident even in the most difficult of circumstances.

I was truly honored when asked to give my humble review on this work. My heart ached as I picked up the book and gazed upon the cover picture of a family that continues on after being touched by hell itself.

Cheryl McGuinness is the widow of Lt Commander Tom McGuinness, Co-pilot of American Airlines Flight 11. The pain of the memory of that day seared through my mind as I prepared myself for what words I may find written from this woman's heart. I have to tell you from the onset that after reading her book, I have a deep love and respect for her.

Mrs. McGuinness shares with the reader the events that happened on September 11th and all that followed, but she doesn't stop there. Instead of dwelling on the deep grief and pain that she and her family suffered; she shares the sweet story of her life with her husband before the tragedy hit and the victory she is determined to have now.

In reading her words you find deep commitment to a loving God, deep commitment to a grieving family, deep commitment to a supportive nation and unfaltering faith in her God for a bright future, not only for her and her family, but for the country she loves. That is a lot to come out of such a traumatic event.

She unashamedly shares her faith in God and tells how she clung to Him in each and every circumstance that she has had to deal with. The author shares insights for the reader that may be hurting, to help them overcome their crisis and bring encouragement.
I could never put into words in a short review what is inside this book. I believe what impressed me more than anything was the fact that the author does not just dwell on her loss, although you are well aware of the pain she has suffered, but understands everyday that someone, somewhere is experiencing pain and heartache; and because of that, she opens her heart to them, reaching out to help heal their sorrows.
It is said, you cannot truly understand pain unless you have felt it. Mrs. McGuinness understands the pain and through her words sooths the soul.

This book is more than a story of September 11th, it is a hand reaching out to those who hurt and saying, there is hope for tomorrow and we must never lose sight of that.
A must read! Thank you Mrs. McGuinness for your faith in God and in the future.
Shirley Johnson/Senior Reviewer
Denise's Pieces
MidWest Book Review

I was thoroughly educated. Though the author isn't an African American, unlike many non-black authors, I did not detect any bias or racism. He just presented truths. I higly recommend this book for those interested in African American history after the civil war.

This book is gives an excellent synthesis as to how freedom was experienced in various regions of the South after 1863. One of the finest books within the historiography of American slavery and freedom. Litwack goes to great lengths explaining the freedom experience, the failures of the Freedmen's Bureau and the hesitations ex-slaves felt after 1863. A must read and must have for anyone interested in slavery, its aftermath and Reconstruction.

Few populations in history have gone through the dramatic changes that African Americans underwent at the end of the Civil War. People who had suffered slavery for generations suddenly found themselves free, a welcome yet uncertain status that required considerable exploration and adjustment. Leon Litwack's book examines this transition, concentrating on how freed African Americans perceived freedom and how they shaped the conditions of their freedom in the aftermath of the Civil War.

For many African Americans, change began with the Civil War. Slaves in areas occupied by Union soldiers would be liberated from bondage, while many African Americans took up arms as the war went on. The end of the war and the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment meant freedom for African Americans, freedom to live their lives as they wanted. For most, the first step was finding their scattered families and coming to terms with their time as slaves. Freedom also meant discovering a new identity, especially with regards to their former masters, as African Americans now had to deal with whites in new ways both socially and in the workplace. Finally, African Americans faced the challenge of creating a new society free of the restrictions of slave life, which led to the establishment of modes of religion, politics, and the press to serve their particular interests.

Litwack's book is an indispensable study of African Americans in the aftermath of emancipation. Based on a wealth of primary sources (including the invaluable collection of oral interviews conducted by the Federal Writers' Project during the 1930s), he argues that no set experience defined how African Americans dealt with freedom. What emancipation demonstrated was the interdependence that existed between African Americans and whites, an interdependence that did not end with freedom but was shaped by attitudes and tensions that remained from the experience of slavery. The result is a book that is essential reading for any student of the era, as well as for those seeking insight into race relations in America today.

During the Civil War and the years of reconstruction which immediately followed, blacks experienced an interlude of optimism and hope from the harshness and repression of slavery. It was a time of great social upheaval and former masters and slaves were forced to adjust to a new order. In, "Been in the Storm So Long: The Aftermath of Slavery, "Litwack writes of slavery's aftermath with a slave's point of view from contemporary accounts, diaries, and interviews conducted under the Federal Writer's Project. We learn how blacks perceived and experienced freedom.

Freedmen articulated their independence in many and varied ways, but fundamental to being free, was having one's own land. Former slaves soon found that land was not easily acquired despite their newfound freedom. Powerful forces conspired against them. Their fate became tied to plantations, working in the fields, just as before but now as contract laborers.

The new relationship as planters and laborers kept blacks from exercising the full range of privileges which should have belonged to them as citizens. Land ownership should have meant independence and self-sufficiency to former slaves. In slavery, they had worked the land and harvested its bounty but they were not the beneficiaries of their labor. With emancipation the idea of owning land "remained the most exciting prospect of all." (399) It epitomized the meaning of freedom.

The expectation of land redistribution, "forty acres and a mule," was ill founded and unrealized. The success of "such experiments [that] took place at Davis Bend, Mississippi, where blacks secured leases on six extensive plantations...[and] repaid the government for the initial costs, managed their own affairs, raised and sold their own crops, and realized impressive profits"(376)was an aberation. Any lingering hope that the government would redistribute land were dashed when on May 29, 1865, President Andrew Johnson pardoned former Confederates and permitted them to reclaim confiscated or occupied lands. Thereafter the Freedman's Bureau and Federal troops enforced the restoration of lands to their former owners. Not only was redistribution denied to freedmen, but fundamental legal rights were limited as well.

What did freedom mean to an emancipated slave who had never experienced it? According to Litwack, "newly liberated slaves adopted different priorities and chose different ways in which to express themselves, ranging from dramatic breaks with the past, to subtle and barely perceptible changes in demeanor and behavior." (292) Initial uncertainty about what to do gave way to "the urge toward personal autonomy"(293), which meant leaving the plantation or farm. To move about is so fundamental to our society today that we take it for granted, but to an emancipated slave it must have been nirvana. In contrast, former slave owners emmitted "cries of ingratitude and betrayal [that] were repeated with even greater vigor and frequency than during the war, compounded this time by the feeling of helplessness." (301)

Movement was an act of freedom, but one which swelled the black populations of nearby towns and cities. Shifting racial etiquette and ostentatious behavior served to harden racial sentiment. Disputes over public space occurred on the sidewalks, streets, and on public transportation. "Almost every white man remained convinced that only rigid controls and compulsion would curtail the natural propensity of blacks toward idleness and vagrancy, induce them to labor for others, and correct their mistaken notions about freedom and working for themselves." (305)

The planter class wanted freed slaves to understand that they must either work for whites or starve. Crops had to be planted and harvested and they had to know there would be labor to do the work. Black Codes were written so whites could control freedmen for their economic need. Fortunately for freedmen, Black Codes were short lived. But never-the-less the sentiment which created them continued and enforcement persisted where the Freedmen's Bureau did not put a stop to them, or where blacks had no recourse for appeal.

Legal rights were further restricted when " Union commanders moved quickly to expel former plantation hands from the towns and cities, to comply with the request of planters to force their blacks to work" (375) and by passage of vagrancy laws which applied only to blacks. Once under control and returned to the plantations, restrictive "voluntary" contracts served to keep them there. Even where labor was scarce, the former slave could not effectively exercise his rights. What bargaining power he had to reject a contract was limited. If he held out too long, he could be evicted, and he still had to support himself
somehow. "Although the freedmen's Bureau recognized his right to contract elsewhere, it insisted that he contract with some employer; if not he could be arrested for vagrancy." (443) His options were very limited.

Having no land and without full legal rights, freedmen could not pull themselves up from the aftermath of slavery and achieve the promise of freedom. That freedmen in the South slipped back into a condition of semi-slavery after the civil war has effected race relations and politics ever since. The following paragraphs focus on other issues which returned freedmen to the land under conditions almost as bad as they had experienced before the Civil War.

One would think that with the establishment of the Freedman's Bureau, passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the13th, 14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitutional, black's independence would be assured. But these actions represented problems of reconstruction on a national level. The Freedman's Bureau was the first large scale Federal relief agency with a broad mandate to assist blacks in the aftermath of the Civil War.

The 13th Amendment abolished slavery but in response to the Black Codes, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act over a presidential veto. The 13th Amendment granted citizenship to persons born in the United States and was a result a long battle between President Johnson and Radical Republicans in Congress on the roll and the scope of federal power. The 14th Amendment affirmed the constitutionality of the Civil Rights Act and went further to protect the rights of citizens. The 15th Amendment forbade the states from denying voting rights to former slaves on the grounds of race and color."With some justification, white Southerners accused the north of hypocrisy in seeking to impose upon them the racial equality which most Northerners would have abhorred." (260)

From the freedman's perspective, emancipation was a time to be jubilant in spirit, with a hopeful outlook and upbeat mood. But if self-ownership meant freedom to a former slave, it represented an economic loss to their former masters. While there was no recompense given for the loss of value to white owners, there was no payment given to freedmen either for their work as slaves. If what it meant to be free had to be experienced to be learned by former slaves, being without slaves had to be experienced to be learned by whites. "What most whites found difficult to accept was not so much the freedom of the slaves as the determination of ex-slaves to act as though they were free." (338) In the end old compulsions led to a new dependency to get back the agricultural labor system they were used to.

It would seem self evident that to survive people would have to work together in the south. The planters owned the land and needed laborers to work it. Freedmen had no land and needed work to survive. How the problem resolved itself was not very satisfactory. Without any political power, blacks were at a disadvantage. Not owning land and with curtailed legal rights, blacks were vulnerable to exploitation. The old model of plantation operation was there to mimic under new circumstances. "To listen to the former slaveholder, emancipation had changed only the method of compensation, not the basic arrangement, not the mutual understanding that had underlain the old system." (337)

The problem was how to get the people back on the land? The movement of blacks on the road was unsettling to whites. All these people were moving about and not in the fields where they belonged! From a government standpoint the Union Army and the Freedman's Bureau had a stake in keeping order. If there was not enough work for everyone outside of farming and people were not on the farms, that meant a huge welfare problem. Thus to the controlling agencies maintaining order under reconstruction meant getting blacks back where they belonged, on the fields. The old dependency of the plantation system returned with blacks depending on whites and whites depending on blacks. The old system wasn't fair and the new system didn't turn out to be too much better. As one old former slave put it when speaking on Lincoln (and freedom) "'Lincoln done but little for the Negro race and from living standpoint nothing."' (449)

The only hope blacks had for effective emancipation was with the North through reconstruction. But, there were no clear cut ideas that emanated from Washington: no prescient leadership and no determination to see the issue through to its end. The two federal entities that were most evident throughout the south were the Union Army occupation forces and the Freedman's Bureau. Blacks looked to them for help, but, in general, the only conclusion that can be reached is that what help was received was inadequate.

The Freedman's Bureau objective of returning former slaves to the land, facilitated the move back to a plantation system. Blacks had little hope for justice. "The ways in which a local Bureau agent or provost marshal considered the grievance of a freedman differed markedly from the deference paid to a prominent planter." (384) While supposedly free, now the black remained a second class citizen.

As reconstruction came to an end, the New Orleans Tribune used an appropriate term to refer to blacks under restrictive regulations as "mock freedmen" (377) effectively summarizing reconstruction's lasting effect. What came next was a system of debt peonage which kept blacks tied to the land with little chance of improving their condition. Sharecropping satisfied black laborer's desire for at least the feeling of having his own land. The planter provided the land and implements in exchange for half of the crops. But somehow the books didn't balance at the end of the season and the sharecropper or tenant remained in perpetual debt to the landowner.

Reconstruction came to an end because it was contrary to too many people's interests and blacks did not have enough political power to keep it going, at least to insure the achievement of true freedom. Without land and full legal rights, black political struggle was postponed for generations.

Anyone with a serious interest in the Civil War should read Been in the Storm So Long. Litwacks's work is more than just black history; it explores the principle cause and consequence of the war. Unlike many general histories that preceded it, "Been in the Storm" relies heavily on primary sources. War-era diaries and letters of whites, Union Army records, Freedman's bureau reports, and Depression-era interviews of former slaves and their children, provide most of the material. The outrage of southern whites who watched trusted slaves pick up and leave when freedom came, echoes throughout the book. So too does the uncertainty of the era. Some blacks may have dreamed big, but most just wanted freedom, security, and opportunity. Though some lasting gains were made, the struggle for full freedom would be much longer.
Certainly, "Been in the Storm" is the place to start for Emancipation reading. Though the coverage of early black politics was not as strong as in Eric Foner' Reconstruction, I know of no equal for the early social consequences of Emancipation.

I am 52 years old my husband recently had a triple by-pass thus forcing us to change many bad food habits. Since the name Betty Crocker is enough to tell the consumer that it is a tried and true product I was very excited to see a healthy style cook book. Without hesitation I ordered it. I liked it so well I took it to my neighbor to look at. She then also purchased one. I have tried many recipes and love them all so far. This cookbook will be in my household for years to come and will someday look like my grandmother's old Betty Crocker cookbook.

This is a very good book on foods that are good for a healthy heart. I have added the book to my cooking library.

Easy to follow recipes with a reasonable number of ingredients. Comes with complete menus and lots of information and tips about eating for heart health. A well designed cookbook and a useful tool for healthy living.

I got this book about a year and a half ago, and although it's not always the one I'm cooking from, a lot of my favorite and healthy recipies have come from it. Some of the ingredients can be a little tough to find, and there are a few recipes that need a little extra spicing up, but overall I've been extremely happy with everything I've made from it! The healthy eating and tips in the front of the book are also very helpful when trying to know what to feed your family to keep them eating right. It's like a mini class in nutrition :)

Easy to understand, beautiful pictures, nutritional values for each recipe.

This is a timeless classic, very readable as the author puts you in a place (rocky intertidal or a mudflat) and then describes the animals you will see. It is written with a wise eye and wry humor. The long lived sea anemone in Scotland that was done in after 80 some years by the "ineptitude of (we suspect) a botanist".
It is more specific to central California, but still useful in Southern Calif and the northern coast as well.

This book, as it was written, is a masterpiece of natural history. It is a contribution to humanistic biology that has style and description that is uncrippled by the invidious academic flatulence of the professional "scientist". It makes no pretensions. It was written by a man fascinated by the tidal seashore and the animals found therein. Read it and read it well.
Then read "Beyond the Outer Shores" by Eric Enno Tamm an unconventional biography of Ricketts that does full justice to the man and the myths.
Having gone through these impressive volumes I hope you will join me in despising Stanford University Press for what they did to Ricketts before his death and for allowing David Phillips to desecrate his memory in Edition Five.

This is probably THE serious book to have if one is going to immerse oneself in the California intertidal. Originally produced by Ed Ricketts (of Steinbeck/Cannery Row/Log From The Sea Of Cortez fame) the book has been upgraded, revised, re-edited by a plethora of "co-authors" since Ricketts' untimely death. It still retains much of Ricketts' then-revolutionary Habitat focus, which will either work for you (it does for me) or annoy the hard-core systematists out there. This ISN'T a light book to lug into the field or a light book to read -if you are just day-tripping The UC Press has a number of smaller & more accessibly illustrated field guides that I would reccomend, But if you are seriously into mmarine Bio and have some time on your hands along the California Coastline, you owe it to yourself to get this book. Even here on the Coast of Maine and twenty years removed from the West I still fid myself referring to it...

This is an amazing book. It was a landmark in its time, and is still useful today.

I can't believe that someone else has not reviewed this excellent guide to the intertidal biota of the Pacific Coast. This book has set the standard for reference guides to marine life along the Pacific Coast, as well as other locations. It is much more than a field guide -- though it also serves that role. This book describes the intertidal zonation patterns of the Pacific Coast as well as the ecology and aspects of the natural history of the organisms that live there. The book contains good taxonomic references as well. This is the book that many of the country's marine scientists cut their professional teeth on. If you are interested in marine biology, the diversity of life, or the ecology of nearshore habitats, this book is definitely for you. The main strength of the book is the logical organization by type of habitat and vertical elevation on the intertidal zone. The main challenge of a book like this is to remain up to date, which the publisher has managed by producing revised editions on regular basis. This book is a must for any field or arm chair marine naturalist!

I bought this book for my husband who is a clinically depressed, recovering alcoholic, but he wouldn't read it, so I did. It is a remarkable book, and I found so much wisdom and help from the author's words. I recommend this book to anyone who is depressed or has any addictive behavior, as well as to the people who love them. EXCELLENT!!

Beyond the Blues was given to me six years ago and I have read it daily ever since. (It's in a daily reading format - one page per day.) The author really knows of what he writes. Depression is devasting and is a non-curable disease. However, it can be kept in remission forever if properly treated. Beyond the Blues, if read faithfully, can be a wonderful part of that treatment. I wouldn't consider starting my day without my daily "fix" which validates my feelings, encourages me to never give up, and kicks me in the butt when I need it. I have since given at least 15 copies of this book to others. All have expressed how helpful it is.

A must have book for anyone who wants to get help from someone who has been there and knows what it is like. This book is a keeper or better yet, do what a friend of mine did for me, pass yours on to someone you know who needs it , than get a new copy for yourself.

In Beyond The Blues: Treating Depression One Day At A Time, Edward Haas provides offers 365 daily meditations to engender fresh insights helping to resolve the states of chronic condition so often a part of clinical depression. Haas brings to bear his own sixteen year battle against self-defeating, self-destructive behaviors arising from his own diagnosed clinical depression and now spends his time sharing a message of hope, unity, and faith with others in the battle for good mental health. These vigorous, conscientious, and highly recommended reflections will nurture the reader's self-esteem and strengthen resolve to maintain a daily reprieve from a state persistent, chronic, clinical depression.

I have found "Beyond The Blues" to be an invaluable tool in my recovery from depression and also in my recovery from substance abuse. It is written loosely in the format of what it was like, what happened, and what it's like today. It is very down to earth because the author has been to the "black hole" himself many times, and hasn't just heard about it from a book or classroom. It is very useful in that it offers solutions on how to get out of a depression once you are in one. What astounds me is the number of professional people who work in the field who have seen my copy and bought one or more copies themselves. I cannot use enough superlatives about this book. It thoroughly amazes me each and every time I read it.

My 22 month old daughter loves to read this book with me! i think she likes that the main character is a big girl and she's spending the day with her mom- something my little one can really relate to!

This is truly a wonderful book!
This story is told by the little girl who is going to town with her mother for the morning.
She has a big green pocketbook, just like Mama's, but hers is empty and she can't find anything to put inside it.
Mama says "hurry", because the bus is coming, so the little girl brings her empty pocketbook along anyway.
During the course of the morning, she gathers many treasures and by the time the bus comes to return the girl and her mother home, her pocketbook is full.

The little girl's view of the world is refreshing and enchanting~
She observes that the cool marble walls in the bank smell like pennies~ And she is amazed that, at the drycleaners, the machine knows exactly where to stop for mama's suit.
This is a delightful book that moms and daughters will enjoy, but both boys and girls will like hearing it, and seeing the usual best from Candice Ransom and Felicia Bond's awesome pictures.

Fantastic story, amazing illustrations. My daughters and I have both loved this book from the first time that we read it. The story is sweet and you just want this little girl's day to last forever. A must read, over and over.

This book reminds me so much of when I was a little girl and went with my mother to run errands. Back then the stores really did hand out keyrings and pocket calendars and my Grandma worked at a dry cleaner so I got to see the "magic machine" a lot when people picked up their clothes. My girls both love this book, even though the oldest is now 13. We have completely worn out the binding of the hardback copy we have!

This is a wonderful book for mothers to read to or with their daughters. A simple day of errands turns into something magical between them and a hand-me-down green pocketbook holds the key to a delightful day.

In this well written, fast paced and content rich book, Shultz points out the importance of a good board. She makes anyone involved in corporate life aware that a board is a powerful capital asset. Proper selection is the key to success. The book describes in detail how to avoid the major pitfalls in the process. The work is based on in-depth interviews with many CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, Startups and Pre-IPOs, from whom she gleans fascinating information. The Board Book will reward those looking to maximize opportunities

The first, last, and only book you will ever need about boards. It's full of anecdotes, basic information and a variety of check lists to help any chairperson or board member function expertly.

Shultz's work has been a great help to me as a new board chair.
The many examples with analysis are an effective method for helping me understand the whats and the whys of board selection and roles.
She does not seem to be afraid to refere to actual examples of poor practices.
This book is not for you if you are not open to the notion of a truly independent board.
The checklists and appendecies are also very useful for reviewing board performance and/or setting-up a board.
I highly recommend this work if you are a board member, contemplating being a board member, or are creating a board.
My interests are primarily in the privatly held company boards. The majority of examples are for publicly traded companies, however the principles seem to transend the "type of organization " issue.

Joe McMullen

In this well written, fast paced and content rich book, Shultz points out the importance of a good board. She makes anyone involved in corporate life aware that a board is a powerful capital asset. Proper selection is the key to success. The book describes in detail how to avoid the major pitfalls in the process. The work is based on in-depth interviews with many CEOs from Fortune 500s, to Startups and Pre-IPOs, from whom she gleans fascinating information. The Board Book will reward those looking to maximize opportunities

As one who serves on several Boards of Directors and also one who reads a fair amount of corporate governance material, I found Susan Shultz's THE BOARD BOOK strongly on point. Sitting and "considering" directors as well as new and experienced CEO's will all benefit from reading the book.

Besides being based on lots of her own personal experience and research, Shultz's approach to making the book highly anecdotal lends a real-world tone to what is sometimes a legalistic approach to writing about the duties and practices of both CEO's and Boards.

I suggest that time would be well spent reading this book.