Works Books

This cookbook is actually very beautifull. Havent tried the recipes in it yet, it was a gift for my mom. She really loved receiving it. It took a little longer to come to my house than i expected, but i did order it right around Christmas, so i guess that can be expected. I cant wait to try the recipes. The pictures are georgous!!

This book is so charming. The artwork is lovely and the recipes are good too. It's a book to use and treasure for years to come.

I bought this more for nostalgia, so in that case it gets 5 stars for pictures and memories. Most of the recipes are modern, yet impractical. There are a few that I would say are great heirloom recipes, but that's all.

Anything by Tasha Tudor is a work of art! Her illustrations, and down to earth practicality, is revealed -- upclose -- in this delightful book! This is the kind of book you can give a little girl of any age -- even 99!

Tasha Tudor's cookbook makes you long for the past when your grandmother taught you how to make the perfect pie crust. Ms. Tudor's own illustrations add to the charm of a book that reminds you of happy times spent in the kitchen. Her recipes and personal stories encourage you recreate that time with your own children and grandchildren.

Tax This! is an extraordinarily valuable book. It is well written and filled with informative information for all taxpayers. Nothing short of brilliant, this book provides an exceptional roadmap to dealings with the IRS.

This is an excellent resource. Shipped quickly and in great condition!!! Thank you.

This is good, solid advice for dealing with the IRS. The authors credentials make it very valuable because he comes from the "other side" and can tell taxpayers how the IRS really works. He truly is an "insider."

His book is not a lot of hype on tricky loopholes, but very solid advice for dealing with what can be a very frightening situation. I've interviewed Scott for my Internet radio show, EverydayWealth Radio, and found him to be a very conscientious caring resource for dealing with tax issues. I recommend this book and his other resources!

"Tax This" is a great resource for individuals, small businesses, and self-employed persons, like myself. From the general IRS and tax system information to the rules for dealing with an actual IRS audit, this book has all the information you'll need. The section on how to handle IRS Penalties and Notices and the the chapters on negotiating with the IRS were very informative and designed to save money. If you are currently involved in an IRS audit and want to know how to defend yorself or if you simply want to know some strategies for reducing your odds of being selected for an IRS audit this book is for you. I would recommend it for any taxpayer.

If you're faced with an encounter with the IRS, I would highly recommend getting this book for starters. Most tax experts will tend to steer you in one of two directions: knuckle under or fight the IRS up to and including jail time (for you, not the expert.) You need to understand what your options are before you seek outside help because all too often the outside help has an agenda that is not in your best interests.

This book does an outstanding job of laying out realistic stategies and options for helping you with tax issues and for working with, rather than against, the IRS to obtain the best possible outcome. It offers a refreshing change in the tax literature. By offering well-grounded, honest advice in a well-written fashion, this book should be in the hands of anyone seeking to resolve a tax problem without "giving away the farm" to the IRS.

Learn what your options are and how best to work with the IRS and you'll save yourself a lot of grief and a lot of green.

A solid overview of the emerging field of collaborative and shared leadership. Joyce provides insight in a book that is thick on content and coverage while being economical with words. I have found other peices helpful, like the audiobook and website which includes practical skill building tools and helpful links.

This GEM of a book is "fetchingly" elegant, brilliant and useful.
Mr. Joyce is a superb tactician and artist in how he superbly,
succinctly and simply, uses his wise words of the everyday in the workplace to create useful knowledge for the day-to-day practitioner of organizational and relational leadership. His book is well-crafted and offers realistic lessons for anyone interested in becoming a "catalytic companion" at work and play. All the "white" space he uses in the page layout allows the reader to comfortably insert themselves into his message and get the meaning of the book from within. And, it's internet interactive too. Great job, Mr. Joyce, I've already ordered ten copies
to give to my friends, work-mates and clients. Thank you for an original breath of organizational fresh air!

[...]

In Teaching an Anthill to Fetch, Stephen Joyce gives us a new paradigm for work and life. The purpose of the book is to enlighten us to the benefits of Collaborative Intelligence (CQ). Actually he makes a very strong case that we must embrace CQ if we are going to achieve the most from work and life.

Stephen uses the ant and the anthill to illustrate and contrast the difference between the ways of nature and how most individuals act. We need to realize that "at the most fundemental level all natural system are cooperative rather than competitive". The ants, while a very basic life form, by cooperating can accomplish wonders. Humans on the other hand, while extremely complex and highly developed, struggle in so many areas of life simply because we compete with each other rather than collaborate.

While the book's primary purpose is to teach the value of collaboration, it really is much more of a manual for developing or improving your life. Stephen starts with examining our belief system. "Our belief systems control the way we live. Beliefs make good servants but poor masters." Too often, we let beliefs master us, instead of being our servants.

The book is filled with meaningful quotations tied to the subject being discusses. There is a wealth of wisdom in the book. There is really so much wisdom that it would be difficult to absorb it all in one reading.

Some of my favorite bits of widsom are:

"The only happy people I know are the ones who are working well at something the consider important." Abraham Maslow

You can "survive any how if you have sufficient why." Nietzsche.

The book is well written, easy to read and has very important exercises at the end of each chapter. Also there are references to his website for "Go Deeper" on many subjects covered in the book.

The world is changing. The old system of command and control no longer works. If you are going to survive and thrive in today's more complex world, you must learn to collaborate. This is a wonderful guide to the new paradigm.

One word of caution, reading it is not enough. Take action on the lessons that are contained in the book.

This book reads as if a really engaging, curious and bright gentleman took a look around his bookshelves; pulled out the full range of quotes, tips, models, favorite stories; and then jammed them all into a big old shining aluminum can and painted "Collaborative Intelligence" on the front.

To be clear: "Collaborative Intelligence" is a GREAT way to market the stale old cliches of teambuilding. And no one who does leadership or organizational development should EVER get points taken off for writing the obligatory book to accompany the lucretive consulting gigs. But try as I might---I really couldn't find anything really new here. NOT that Joyce is putting anything out there as new. He is very respectful of citing his sources. And he does add value making the work of Senge or Sharmer perhaps a bit more accessible (although I always found the Senge "Field Books" to be extremely accessible. And "Presence" is a book I'd call brilliant.)

As it appears this book will sell---perhaps he can now afford a ghost writer or even an editor. There is a conceptual muddiness that runs through the book. One quick example: Joyce cites "Perception" as being one of the 5 elements of Perception. (page 30). On page 129 he introduces a question (and it is an important one) that he tells us "runs through the whole book." Mr. Joyce---why did you wait till the middle of the book for that?

That's the frustration---the guy really is good. The book really has a core sense of having a message that is vitally important on all sorts of levels. But the book itself is full of half formed, cliches (see the chapter on "Communication")and platitudes that get in the way of his message.

Look for his NEXT book. I'm betting that should he decide to partner with some of the folks he's read---he'll have something important to say. Maybe even something new and conceptually sound.


Roger Wright
Leadership and OD Consultant

I read a lot of business books. I mean a LOT. I even write one occasionally. What Stephen Joyce has done with this book is quite extraordinary. It's rare that we discover a TRULY new way of looking at how the world works. That's exactly what this book does. Joyce practically compels you see and act on new solutions and opportunities. I really think that this is one of the best and most useful books that I've read in a very long time. I highly recommend it.

The Testament of Devotion is a gentle invitation to slip into the divine centre amidst the whirlwinds of competing demands, incessant noise, superficial crowds and breathless hurry. Thomas Kelly, a Quaker writes as one who has stumbled upon the hidden treasure, the pearl of great price for which he would trade everything for - a life that grows out of an inner place of calm, peace, clarity and centredness. This divine centre, this inner peace is available to all who would pause and breathe deep and slip gently into it. It does not require the straining of the intellect, or elaborate rituals but humble obedience - a surrender to the 'Hound of Heaven' that offers us this gift of quiet, trust and rest. This place is where you learn to trust the Creator, the Savior and the world's true Lord and know that all is well, all manner of things is well.

What we have here is a distillation of Quaker spirituality where the doctrine of the Inner Light of Christ can be realized in the lives of ordinary people and not just the super saints in all the routine and vagaries of modern living - a simple, gentle book that has the power to change us from deep inside. Be warned!

"The problem we face today needs very little time for its statement. Our lives ... grow too complex and overcrowded ... in frantic fidelity we try to meet at least the necessary minimum of calls upon us. But we're weary and breathless. And we know and regret that our life is slipping away ... in guilty regret we must postpone till next week that deeper life of unshaken composure in the holy Presence, where we sincerely know our true home is, for this week is much too full" (89-90).

Originally published by Quaker author Thomas Kelly in 1941, these words from A Testament of Devotion have never been more applicable than today. We live in a time of unprecedented complexity and confusion. Our high tech culture is obsessed with novelties, gadgets and an endless variety of "time-saving" electronic devices. The world has never known a society with more leisure time on its hands, and yet, we are among the most chronically exhausted, stressed-out people on the planet. There must be a better way!

"For over the margins of life comes a whisper, a faint call, a premonition of richer living which we know we are passing by ... we have hints that there is a way of life vastly richer and deeper than all this hurried existence, a life of unhurried serenity and peace and power. If only we could slip over into that Center!" (92).

Thankfully, the author offers hope for those of us who continue to struggle against the forces that would keep us from "slipping over into that Center" of Divine Love, out of which we are enabled to love others as we have been loved by God. The hope Kelly offers us can be found not only in the words he writes, but in the life he, and others, lived. Citing the examples of prominent Quakers such as George Fox and John Woolman, Kelly highlights those traits that set these spiritual leaders apart as passionately devoted followers of Jesus Christ.

The greatest insight for me, however, came through my reading of the biographical memoir written by Kelly's close friend and colleague, Doug Steere, which is attached to the end of the book. Here we discover that living out of the Divine Center came late in life for this intellectually restless, professionally ambitious, Harvard-trained, Quaker scholar. According to Steere, the pivotal event took place sometime in the autumn of 1937, during which time "a new life direction took place in Thomas Kelly. No one knows exactly what happened, but ... a fissure in him seemed to close, cliffs caved in and filled up a chasm, and what was divided grew together within him" (118). A year later, following a summer visit among Friends in Germany, Kelly himself testified to Steere, "It is wonderful. I have been literally melted down by the love of God" (120).

Could it be that each of us is not so different from Thomas Kelly, not to mention George Fox, John Woolman and every other prominent spiritual leader who has gone before us? Could it be that the quickest way to the Divine Center is to recognize and renounce our tendency to live on the fringe of God's purpose for our lives? Could it be that the only way for the spiritual fissures in our lives to close is by allowing the retaining walls we have built up around our souls to cave in? Could it be that the best antidote for "frantic fidelity" is a "holy meltdown"?

Thomas Kelly's A Testament of Devotion is a nugget of solid gold, carefully refined in the furnace of God's purifying love. As such, it issues a call for each of us to surrender our own lives to this same holy fire, with deep confidence that the One who melts and molds us is utterly trustworthy and has our best interest in mind. In the process, we are relieved from the burden of "frantic fidelity" and we can find rest for our weary souls as we recognize that it is God's work, not ours, that will stand the test of time:

"Thus we have begun to live in guidance. And [we] find He never guides us into an intolerable scramble of panting feverishness ... for after all God is at work in the world. It is not we alone who are at work in the world, frantically finishing a work to be offered to God ... we need not get frantic. He is at the helm. And when our little day is done we lie down quietly in peace, for all is well" (100).

I read this book 25 years ago and find that it gives me a feeling of the Inner Light and grounds me in what the spiritual life is all about. It is deeply Christian and yet can resonate with anyone who feels God as a living reality in all religions or no religion. It also touches upon what the Quakers call "consensus", how to let the guiding of the Spirit lead people into an understanding filled agreement about how to live, to heal, and to forgive. I have read other Quaker books, but it seems everything is here in this book. It uses less words than all the others and says everything.

What a beautiful book!! It you are into contemplative prayer, or have devoted a significant part of your life to meditation on God's purpose and direction, this book summarizes your life. Kelly has an amazing ability to describe the joys of inner peace, sifting the things of the world beyond through the sieve of the world within. Inspirational and delightful - enjoy.

Not many books cause me to want to be quiet and small. Welcome to reading Thomas Kelly's A Testament of Devotion. Simple, profound Kelly invites us to an inner journey into the presence of the holy. Words fail-buy it

Well, as we all know, it's a real good book. lots of useful information with a wealth of experience behind it.

Wow that is really a great book, pretty much everything is in there, from individual skills (throws, cuts, etc), team skills (defense and offense tactics), etc. Probably the best book about Ultimate Frisbee to date.

This book is great for learning (and relearning) the fundamentals as well as quality techniques of upper level play. I would especially recommend it for any high school or college level player or coach.

It took almost 2 weeks for the books to get here. The next time I will proably use Barnes and Noble where the free shipping takes about 5 days. I needed these books for my grandsons' birthdays, and they were very slow in arriving. Even if your shipping is free, it needs to be faster. I hope to hear from you. Clairelis Baxter

Found the book to be very helpful in teaching new skill development and game strategies.

A great book for plant lovers in the high plains, or the high desert. This book contains inspiring photographs and great plant lists (the most valuable part of the book, as these lists are nowhere to be found elsewhere), as well as wise advise from a well experienced gardener. I've thoroughly enjoyed reading nearly every page of this book. On the downside, the plants in the book may be difficult to find, unless you join a rock garden club and grow the plants from seed. I wish the plant portrait section was three times as big. But overall, this book is indispensible.

I agree with others, lovely prose, lovely photos, good organization. However, if you are looking for a true mountain (high altitude) gardening book, this won't do it. The author is of course speaking of her own experiences but I purchased this book believing it would help me to be a "Colorado Gardener." Not one word on dealing with elk and deer attacks on your plants or that short and really unpredictable growing season above 7500 feet in the Rocky Mountains. This book did make me miss my old mid-Atlantic garden badly!

Lauren Springer is a gifted writer as well as a gifted gardener. She has a knack for passing on her knowledge in a very interesting way, making the book more than just a plant encyclopedia.

In part, this book is a novel about her own garden, but she goes far from her own chunk of dirt to show and describe plants which work in a variety of climates. If there's any one gem I pulled from this book it is to plant the correct plant for the specific micro-climate rather than trying to adapt the micro-climate for the plant you've chosen. This is much easier to do, more rewarding, and requires less maintenance.

This book is a good read now, and a good reference for later on.

I bought this book back in the mid-1990's after attending a lecture by Lauren Springer. Of all the books in my extensive garden book collection- I would list this as one of the top 3. As a Landscape Architect, I frequently review the suggested plantings and incorporate many of the plants she suggests into my xeriscape designs for clients. When her book first came out, it was difficult to find seeds (let alone plants) that are profiled in the book. Fortunately, most of the plants are available now but some may require ordering from places like High Country Gardens.

As others have said, she has an interesting writing style that will have you reading and enjoying the text- not just looking at the pretty pictures!

In The Undaunted Garden: Planting For Weather-Resilient Beauty, gardening expert offers the novice gardener a wonderfully written, illustrated and presented guide to the art and science of growing and maintaining a lovely year-round garden despite harsh climatic conditions. Here are to be found all the information, guidance, tools, and ideas and inspiration to achieving a healthy garden suited to environmental conditions. Springer's informative and engaging text is enhanced with lists of more than 1,000 attractive, resilient plants; complete and detailed descriptions of 64 especially recommended plants; and more than 250 superb photographs. The Undaunted Garden is a core addition to any personal or community library gardening reference collection!

Although it's aimed at adults, Vanishing Act is the best children's book I've ever seen. Kids treat it like a puzzle as they pick out the animal from its background. It gives us a chance to explain to them about life on earth when they are totally engaged. The photography is beautiful, too.

Art Wolfe has turned wildlife photography upside down. Instead of isolating animals in their environment, he has shown them as part of the ecosystem in the most striking way.

Amazing and highly recommended.

Bought this for a Christmas and everyone wanted to look through it before I gave it away. It is great fun for all ages!!!

I purchased this book as a gift for my elderly grandma. Both she and the rest of my family enjoy looking through the beautiful photos to spot the camouflaged animals.

This is such an amazing and wonderful book of photos taken by Art Wolfe. "Vanishing Act" refers to the natural camouflage of living beings as they blend into their environment, as a means of self-preservation.

Honestly, I have had to look at some of the pictures 3 or 4 times before I could locate the animal, insect, bird, etc. that was lurking there. There is a "cheat sheet" in the back of the book, but I am determined to locate these creatures without resorting to outside help.

It is so amazing that I could look at a large picture 3 or 4 times and not see what I was looking at; however, once you see it clearly you can't understand how you could have missed it in the first place. Isn't nature grand? I have two of Art Wolfe's works hanging on my walls and they are the first things commented on by any visitor to my home.

Buy this book!

A mezmerizing coffee table book. It's almost a puzzle to find the incredible creatures in the photos that have natural camouflage. Large format views with lots of detail. A nature lover's must-have.

Some of us like it rough. This dame plays the way we used to play in the streets of Philly. There is elegance, there is subtle intelligence, yes, all that, but the best part is that when the ball hits you, it stings like hell. She writes of life and living, but also of eternity and death. She is somber, but never depressing. The language itself is encouraging, even when her message is not. This is a 20th century poet who has seen it all and isn't afraid to remind us of what man is capable of. The techniques are modern, too, but the love of language surely belongs to the old world. This is the kind of poetry we all used to love to read. She plays hard ball.

This book was and still is my first poetry book; not because I haven't read anyone else's, but it's the first compilation that I was really willing to pay the often outrageous prices for. (LOL) I am not an avid poetry reader, nor am I familiar with the current favorite contemporary poets, but I find that she really does succinctly portray "life's improbability as well as its transient beauty" quite well.

As a younger reader , I do have a bit of a problem identifying with the poetry that she writes pre-1972 (that is, the first few sections before the 'Could Have' section), because I don't really know much about it. As a note though, I probably should say that 'Nothing Twice,' which is about the probabilities of chance, from the pre-1972 section has been a real gem. Anyhow, the travelogues, the places, the books are things that frankly, I'd ask my parents and they probably wouldn't know either, or know very little about. I suppose if I researched enough, I would have no trouble understanding her message, but the stuff I really bought this book for was the pro-1972 sections. I can identify the issues because they're fairly general knowledge and have a certain mocking humor to some of them, but the words do just pull you in. The poems are addressed to one, and to all, and you feel like you're part of the whole. There are instances in which you feel like she's writing about you and the instances you've gone through, and that's what makes you feel amazed at the depth of understanding she has on these matters.

I first discovered her poetry in my high school English class and was surprised to find this book as the only book available in my favorite bookstore (and costing almost triple the cost of a volume of poetry that must have been 600 pages long, with of course long-dead, long-cherished poets). Oh, wait--I did find another book containing her work (that I don't remember the name of) but I bought this one because there were simply more poems that I liked. After a month or two of muddling around and waiting for the price drop (which it didn't), I just gave up and bought it. I can't say that I've regretted that decision.

And...if you still have trouble deciding, the Nobel Prize for Literature she won should be more than enough of a pull to help you decide. It wasn't as much of a deciding factor for me, but it's always nice to know that somewhere in the depths of the blackhole that is my room, I actually have nobel prize literature that I understand and can recommend to others...

My favorite poems from her have been 'Could Have,' 'The Onion,' 'Discovery,' 'True love,' 'Under One Small Star,' 'Pi,' of course 'View with a grain of Sand' because of wordplay, but I find that every time I re-read it, I uncover more about the poems and so that favorites list keeps on getting longer and longer.

It may sound a little strange, but I keep it with me when I travel for long periods of time away from home and turn to it when I have that rare solitary moment to really think about life and what its inner workings are because it just gives such a realistic criticism that you sort of go...wow. Never really thought about it like that before.

Wisala Szymborska's poetry passes the test of intelligibility which is important to me. Virtually all of her poems are self contained in that they do not make arcane literary allusions. In other words, her poetry can be appreciated by the average reader which I consider myself to be. She does not limit herself in subject matter so her poetry contains something for everyone, and also with a subtle humor and an obvious understanding of the human condition. She does not require a lot of words or a lengthy poem to share her own unique insights. Reading this Nobel laureate one thinks how nice it wold be to meet this great lady. Although I devoured this collection the day I received this book, it is one which I will certainly read again.

The Nobel Laureate in Literature of 1996 was proudly bestowed on Wislawa Szymborska, the first Polish woman to receive the prize for literature. While they are other Polish recipients like poet Czeslaw Milosz, Wladyslaw Reymont, and Henry Sienkiewicz to have received the honor, Wislawa is the first woman. While she writes poetry mostly, she has written prose. My biggest problem with poetry is that when it's written in another language, I believe it gets lost in translation but rather the meaning is not lost among its readers. The translators have the arduous task of translating from Polish to English. If you anything about Polish, it's not an easy language to translate from especially to English. But Wislawa is worthy of receiving such top honors because she is now well-known, highly regarded and respected. She has not changed much since she was awarded the NObel prize. She still lives in the same three room apartment in Cracow, she still smokes, and she is still the same humble person who despite her own feelings is quite worthy of such a prize.

...Containing over eighty poems from seven original collections, this book serves as a well-rounded and pleasant introduction to Szymborska's work. This is a good choice for anyone interested in good poetry, women under communist regimes, or Polish literature.

It's a good book, with a lot of collections of articles from history. But it'll be nicer if it has more of the author's own opinion

Anyone interested in history, academically or otherwise, should read Zinn's work since history is written by the winners, the best fighters, the most arrogant, sonmetimes, the most patient. It would be wise
for history teachers to present "the other side". I highly recommend his work.

This account of the history of the US is taken from the "little people's" point of view. Very eye opening.

History is sometimes written with the goal of documenting the attitudes or opinions of a particular class of people, such as the intellectuals, the politicians, the scientists, or the warriors. Each of these groups has made important contributions to human accomplishment, which should not be forgotten or discarded under the guise of some egalitarian or multicultural reading of history. But when the stories of these groups are documented in history, too often other voices are deafened, and these voices represent the vast majority of historical participants. It is not enough to view history through the eyes of intellectuals, politicians, or warriors. For an historical account to be meaningful, it must offer insight into the collaborations, opinions, belief structures, and longings of those who chose not to become famous, but instead chose to indulge themselves in the unique fascinations that each historical epoch possesses.

But because most humans throughout history did not record their experiences, the historian is left wanting for accurate appraisals of these experiences. Diaries, journals, and other personal writings can assist the historian in this regard, and there have been many uses of these throughout the historical literature. It is important to remember though that because of the paucity of these personal documents, one should not be too hasty in imputing the opinions of their authors to the entire population at the time. One cannot view them as representing the "voices of the people" without establishing this with (difficult) statistical analysis.

Sometimes however these documents were written more as a catharsis, as a way of expressing, in a strong and determined way, an idea, grievance, or opposition to the status quo. The opening quotation in the book by Frederick Douglass reinforces this view, for in that quotation Douglass essentially states that power must be challenged before it can be defeated (Douglass does not want to stop with mere words though, for in the same quotation he asserts the need for physical confrontation if necessary).

It is in this light that this book should be read. It is a collection of essays and letters that reveal attitudes that are not the typical ones that one would be exposed to in United States secondary schools. Those readers familiar with the author's earlier book on United States history will appreciate this book even more, but both can be read independently of each other. This is not a book that will please the elitist historian who discounts any view of history that does not magnify the contributions of intellectuals or military leaders over and above the "common" person. It is a book for those who are genuinely interested in the moods and aspirations of the people of a given time, if only from a limited vantage point. It will certainly upset the intellectual equilibrium of anyone who holds to a view of American history that has been sanitized by the educational establishment.

I am a high school history teacher and I use this in class. It has been extremely helpful especially combined with the free teacher's guide which you can find online. Each primary source is introduced with a brief background which provides some context.