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Personal Books sorted by Average customer review: high to low .

Personal
Director's Third Dimension: Fundamentals of 3D Programming in Director 8.5 (With CD-ROM)
Published in Paperback by Sams (2001-10-17)
Author: Paul Catanese
List price: $49.99
Used price: $132.24

Average review score:

The Bible of Director 3D. Period. BTW: It is current.
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-02-20
This book teaches with extreme clarity everything you need to know to program for Director/Shockwave 3D. A rarity amongst programming books due to the didactics, organization, and clarity/accuracy of code. It is current with Director MX 2004 and I suspect it is current with Director 11 given the information Adobe just released. You cannot go wrong with this one. The only problem is that it is hard to find, I had to buy my copy from a reseller.

Best Book Hands down for Interactive 3d Development
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-01-19
I have every book publish about developing interactive 3D using director. This is the best one of the bunch. After reading this book I wish I hadn't purchased any of the others. Although the book is for director 8.5 it still the best book for Director 3D +

As anyone knows reading this review knows Director is the only program that will allow you to create 3D games and programs for the web. Hopefully Adobe will update it rather than let a very powerful program fade away.

Great Book
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-07-16
This is an excellent book for Director and Director 3D. It is very in depth and involved, although a bit hard to understand at times. This book is not for beginners and requires a lot of hard work to obtain its end results, but they are very much worth it.

This is THE book for 3D in Director MX
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2003-05-07
Other reviews have captured the gist of this wonderful, accessible, and thorough treatment of Director's 3D functionality. What I would like to add is that Catanese's book is just as current with Director MX as it is with Director 8.5.

If you plan to do 3D in Director MX, either games or presentations, you owe it to yourself to read this book.

I got A for my project !
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2003-02-23
I'm an IT student and possessing VB & C/C++. I have never learn about 3D and Director before. So when I want to make a Director project (game), I need a book!
And this book is the great answer. Everything you need about Director 3D is in this book! (although this book doesn't cover about Havok Physics Engine).

This book tells you WHAT and HOW, I mean, this book not only tells you HOW to make something (ex: primitive object) but also explains about that thing. (ex: what is a primitive object). So, you're not only able to programm but also understand about WHAT are you doing.

This book explains from basic and the last page explains advance technique. So, if you start from first page and finish the book, you'll become an advance 3D Director programmer (even before you read this, you're nill in 3D Director).

OK, I'll tell you what I get from this book, here is my project: a Multiplayer First Person Shooting (FPS) game! (like Counter Strike, Quake, etc). Notice that this is my FIRST 3D Director project! And I got A!

NB: if you're NOT a programmer and don't WANT to possessing 3D Director programming SERIOUSLY, I don't recommend this book, for this book is code heavy, full of code programming, just try "Macromedia Director 8.5 Shockwave Studio for 3D: Training from the Source" (by Phil Gross).
Just a note: I learn about Multiuser form Director 8.5 Studio (you won't find about Multiuser in Director's Third Dimension).

Personal
Dream It Do It: Inspiring Stories of Dreams Come True
Published in Paperback by Planning Communications (2003-11-05)
Authors: Sharon Cook and Graciela Sholander
List price: $16.95
New price: $7.99
Used price: $2.35
Collectible price: $16.95

Average review score:

Dream It, Do It inspires one to take action!
Helpful Votes: 13 out of 13 total.
Review Date: 2004-03-26
There are many things I love about this book. For me, being a mother of two busy kids, I love the fact that the book is written in "bite-sized pieces". If I am waiting to pick up my son from basketball and have ten minutes, I can read an inspiring story from start to finish. The material and people profiled in the book are incredibly interesting. How did Bill Nye the Science Guy help revolutionize how kids view science? How did Maya Angelou find the strength to turn the pain she has suffered into such beautiful masterpieces? Each story has a lesson - one that I am sharing with my whole family. I've already given seven people this book as a gift!!

Success is an inside job!
Helpful Votes: 15 out of 15 total.
Review Date: 2004-03-24
This is a great book because some of our favorite famous people are spotlighted and their lives are examined from before they were famous. It's helpful to me because once again I can see that we are all the same in our humanity, and anyone who puts in the effort, diligence and spiritual "something" to accomplish their dreams will do it! It lets us see we can do it, too, in whatever way feels good to us!

Very Empowering Read!
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2004-12-13
What I really like about this book, is that the authors do a wonderful job showing you how the super successful people had their starting points as well. They started with a dream, and then took action to follow though--to make their dream--their reality.

All too often we forget this simple truth.

One of the greatest psychological discoveries of the twenty century was NLP. Anthony Robbins did a great job promoting its practical application for the masses. The essence of NLP is that if someone could do something, you could copy him and achieve the same results.

But beliefs need to start somewhere. That's where this awesome book comes in. it shows you in clear terms how other went from zero to stardom. Reading stories from the super successful will help you gain a strong belief in yourself. It will spark a flame of empowerment - that says "I too can be great!" Which reminds me of a great quote from Mark Twain that is very apropos:

"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great."

Zev Saftlas, Author of Motivation That Works

Read this book to achieve your dreams!
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2005-10-19
"Dream It Do It," did it for me! It reinforced the passion and realization that I can achieve my most desired dreams. This is the most inspirational and motivational book I've read since "The Power of Positive Thinking," by Norman Vincent Peale. Cook and Sholander go a step beyond, and list steps for ALL of us to achieve our most innermost dreams. It certainly benefited me as I answered the questions in the journal they include in this extraordinary book. By writing my answers, I realized what was necessary to achieve my goals and dreams. I started following their recipe for success. And I'm not stopping!

After reading the stories of people who had overcome insurmountable obstacles, including physical handicaps, amputations, rape, cancer, and other adversities, I was immensely inspired. What made these people different than others? According to Cook and Sholander, they each possessed one or more of the 10 key essential elements of CPR. For some it was passion, persistence, and resilience. For others it was a combination of other elements that are needed for one to successfully achieve their long held dream.

Lance Armstrong was a dreamer. But life hit him with a heavy blow when he was diagnosed with testicle cancer at the age of 25. Even though the cancer had invaded his stomach, lungs, and brain, he fought back with chemotherapy treatments. He never lost sight of his dream...to win the Tour de France. Instead of focusing on the cancer, he realized that he was a great athlete. He focused on beating this disease and eventually achieving his dream. It took courage for Lance to hold on to a dream of winning such a competitive race, while fighting cancer. Yet, in his heart and mind he was confident that he was going to bicycle in the Tour de France and win. I was moved by Lance's deep faith in himself and his courage to beat his cancer and achieve his dream of winning the Tour de France.

Graciela Sholander and Sharon Cook give many examples of people, such as Barbara Walters, who fought so hard to become the first female co-host on the Today Show and the first woman to co-anchor network evening news. So many female co-hosts owe a great deal to Barbara. Her persistence didn't allow her to give up on her dream, even though she had to fight obstacles in her path to success. We owe a great deal to Barbara for her persistence. She has given her viewers so much.

AIDS researcher, Edward A Berger worked for ten years, and his persistence led through a breakthrough in developing a vaccine, and hopefully a cure for AIDS.

These people had to overcome insurmountable obstacles to achieve their dreams. Why didn't they give up? One reason is because they possessed one or more of the 10 key elements Sholander and Cook describe in this motivational book. Explaining how these people were able to achieve their goals can help all readers. Instead of saying, "Woe is me. I can't do it because of "this of that;" turn it around and say, "Yes, I can accomplish my dream. I have what it takes."

When I read about a young woman who had been in a car accident and had lost her left leg, pelvis, and hip, and then later became a ski racer, I was amazed at her confidence in herself. She knew life would be more difficult, but that didn't stop her from enjoying every minute.

So many stories about extraordinary people are included in "Dream It Do It." I was fascinated with all of them. What I particularly found helpful was the suggestions and advice at the end of the chapters explaining practical ways for ALL of us to become successful.

This book should be on everyone's wish list. It will change the way you think and live your life. You will be thankful you read "Dream It Do It" and be thankful to Sharon Cook and Graciela Sholander for taking the time to interview so many amazing people. This book will surely direct the reader to find possible ways to achieve THEIR innermost dreams. Thank you for such an uplifting book!
Nancy A. Draper A Burden of Silence: My Mother's Battle with AIDS

Have You Ever Wondered?
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2004-09-12
Have you ever looked at a successful person and wonder how they became successful? In this wonderful, easy to read book not only do you find stories of peoples' successes, but you also find the challenges they faced, and how they overcame those challenges.

To quote the authors: "Life can knock us down flat. It's our measure of resilience that determines whether or not we'll keep dreaming and reaching for our dreams."

This book gives examples of people who have been knocked down, but they also share many stories of people who succeeded. More importantly, they also give the elements of the keys to their success.

The authors have developed a wonderful tool, which they refer to as "Dream CPR". Throughout the book, they discuss the "Ten Essential Elements of Dream CPR", and apply the elements to real life examples.

While reading the book, they got to the heart of the matter quickly, and I could see how the elements of Dream CPR applied.

If you need inspiration, look no further. This book will motivate you, and help you to achieve the success that you are dreaming about.

QUOTES from the book, DREAM IT DO IT:

"Despite what we've been taught, we don't have to be rich, famous or distinguished to make our dreams come true."

"If you have ever felt such tremendous enthusiasm and desire for something that you would gladly spend all your waking hours working on it, that you would happily do without pay, then you have found your passion."

"Following our dreams almost always requires us to take chances. There is no guarantee that we will succeed in our venture. But if we don't try, we will never know how far we can go."

"Most people who are recognized for their remarkable accomplishments started out stumbling and struggling just like anyone else."

"When our dreams are born of purpose, we can soar above the limitations to accomplish the seemingly impossible."

"If nobody was willing to try something new, nothing would ever be invented."

"A single action can completely alter your future, for better or worse."

A great book!!!!

Personal
Dying Was the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me: Stories of Healing And Wisdom Along Life's Journey
Published in Hardcover by Sunshine Ridge Publishing (2006-07-01)
Author: William E. Hablitzel
List price: $24.95
New price: $9.74
Used price: $7.99
Collectible price: $25.00

Average review score:

Inspirational
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-08-30
I have been fortunate enough to know Dr. Hablitzel. This book is a wonderful gift. I would recommend it for everyone. Dr. Hablitzel not only cures illnesses, he also teaches us lessons on how to live.

WONDERFUL

Could not put it down!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-08-30
I just finished reading this book, which never left my hand across a span of 4 hours. I traveled alongside William on a journey of his life stories from his career. An absolutely fascinating book, chaulked full of raw emotion and stories of healing. This book will leave you deep in thought and rejuvenated, ready to make the best of the rest of life. A must read in my opinion!

Better Than Chicken Soup
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2007-06-03
This is a must read book for anyone working in health care and anyone who is experiencing a health care crisis in their personal life. The book will touch your heart and bring tears to your eyes more often than the original Chicken Soup For The Soul. And it is better written than Chicken Soup.
The book shares stories of the courage patients have when they face the challenge of dying from disease. Each story will teach you about the strength of the human soul and leave you celebrating life. This is a book about the celebration and joy to be found in the experience of disease. The book illustrates that disease is actually a gift that teaches us many valuable lessons. We should not be afraid of the gifts we are given, but embrace them.
You will want to buy more than one copy so you can share the hope with those you love.

Powerful and mystifying
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2006-08-31
Dr. Hablizel is a story-teller of the first degree and the people and places he brings to life on his mystical and mysterious journey through medicine will stay with you long after you've turned the final page.

A unique, sensitive collection of life and death experiences encountered by physician William Hablitzel
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2006-09-12
"Dying Was the Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me: Stories of Healing and Wisdom Along Life's" is a unique, sensitive collection of life and death experiences encountered by physician William Hablitzel. In his view of death as the great teacher and enlightener, Dr. Hablitzel embraces the "uncomfortable duality" of being "both a physician defeated by death and the witness enriched by it (p. 10)." This luminous book of journeys with the dying has all the elements of the greatest teachings about life's meaning. Finding miracles in the everyday events, listening to the science, learning to overcome fear, embracing the unknown in death, and the miraculous process of human growth are all themes developed in these chapters and stories. Bridging the gap between science and faith, "Dying Was the Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me" is inspirational literature of the finest grade -- and especially recommended for medical and health-care professionals, as well as non-specialist general readers, who must deal with end-of-life issues with respect to their patients or families.

Personal
An Egg Is Quiet
Published in Hardcover by Chronicle Books (2006-03-02)
Author: Dianna Hutts Aston
List price: $16.99
New price: $6.00
Used price: $6.00

Average review score:

Wonderful Book
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-08-26
This is one of the most beautifully written and illustrated books I have had the pleasure to own. As a teacher, it is a book I will treasure forever.

An Egg is Quiet
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-03-21
Beautiful Book! My 4 year old daughter loves it since she saw it on "Between the Lions." Very educational and the illustrations are beautiful. I'd recommend it highly.

Exquisite, accurate, addictive, perfect
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-03-09
I purchased this book for my son and was amazed at the accuracy of the illustrations! It's gorgeous to look at, it has a wonderful story and it can be used as a reference book because the illustrator took the time to look up each aspect of the eggs! It's wonderful!! The story is great and I can't say enough about this book! If your child doesn't have this or any of this author's books in their budding library, I highly recommend it!

Beautiful book
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-01-30
This book is a gem, the information it gives is wonderful, interesting to children, and most of all the illustrations are outstanding. Every page is truly a work of art.

Diana and Sylvia's most amazing adventure with eggs
Helpful Votes: 14 out of 23 total.
Review Date: 2008-08-27
One of the great joys of being a children's librarian is discovering an amazing and astonishing book like "An Egg Is Quiet" by writer Dianna Aston and illustrator Sylvia Lang. From an egg's first appearance to its triumphant grand opening, an egg lives a very quiet existence (thus the book title).

The end pages (found on the back of the covers and facing page) first demonstrate to the reader, not only the amazing beauty of one egg, just one egg, but also the devotion to duty of the illustrator for showing us this beauty.

The next two pages display the amazing variety of egg patterns, from the cylindrical shape ending in tendrils on both ends of the Dogfish`s egg to the simple elegance of the Emperor Penguin's egg.

Inside the actual informational pages, the reader learns that:
An egg is quiet
An egg is colorful (these two pages get a Wow!)
An egg is shapely
An egg is clever
An egg is artistic
An egg is textured

Next we learn through a lovely comparison chart the growth patterns of a chicken, a fish, and an insect. My favorite concept of the book comes last. In the beginning are the eggs and their patterns. Now we are shown the birds (and a few insects, fish, amphibians) that come from those eggs. Frankly, to use the vernacular, I was blown away!!!

As a librarian on the lookout for creative informational books, I was thrilled to find this book and add it our collection. However, I want to be clear: There is no story here, other than the story of life, but that story is inspiring and awesome. In fact, another concept on display is the Creator's fecund imagination and creativity.

I would like to recommend this book for every home library , but only if someone sits down with the child to explain things. For school libraries "An Egg Is Quiet" is a must-have! Diana and Sylvia will take you on a most amazing adventure with eggs!


Personal
Emotional Clearing: A Groundbreaking East/West Guide to Releasing Negative Feelings and Awakening Unconditional Happiness
Published in Hardcover by Broadway (2000-01-04)
Author: John Ruskan
List price: $25.00
New price: $9.94
Used price: $1.55

Average review score:

The Goods.
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-08-31
This book is what it is: an unambiguous & insightful summary of why & how we struggle so much. I'm still reading it (trying to savor every sentence), but I doubt I've ever been happier about any other purchase.

One of the best
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2006-12-11
I have read Emotional Clearing over the past year and have been extremely inspired by it. It is definitely the best new age book I've read, and I've read quite a lot. The concept of acceptance has been essential for me because for 21 years I've suffered terribly with anxiety, stress, and panic attacks. I've always fought it and suppressed it with alcohol and became as a result alcohol dependent. The book has given me relief from the attacks and I've been sober for 10 out of the past 12 months.

This is a very good book.
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2007-01-30
John Ruskan has put together a very well thought out system of understanding feelings, karma and life. He has been working at this for quite some time, but the material has a timeless quality. I've read the book twice and took a great deal more from it the second time. There is something the rings true about karma and how our suppressed feelings and conditioned patterns attract that which is needed for them to come to the surface and give us the opportunity to grow through them. Of course, sometimes we do not chose or are not able to grow through difficult feelings. Emotional Clearing offers a deep, thorough treatment of the concepts that underly the challenage of this universal truth. Thus, this book helped me grasp the very spiritual nature of self work. I'm indebted to Ruskan for this, simply put. This book is not, gratefully, scientific or academic. Yet it is precisely assembled and thorough, affected by Ruskan's well-organized logic, but also by his practiced access to feelings, instinct and intuition. The modality he has developed takes the theory further by offering therapeutic techniques that are based on long standing practices. Like yoga, like breathwork. So it is more than theory. If you want a book or process or modality that also guides you directly to effective action, this book does that. But don't get me wrong, the theory can occupy a thoughtful person for quite some time too. I would know, having found the book two years ago and finding myself still involved with it and even now using my experience with it as a jumping off point for writing and working. There has been a decided improvement in the flow of my life since first discovering Ruskan's website and then buying the book. For spirtual seekers and people wanting to improve thier life in a deep, authentic, sustainable manner, this book is effective.

One of the best
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2006-12-11
I have read Emotional Clearing over the past year and have been extremely inspired by it. It is definitely the best new age book I've read, and I've read quite a lot. The concept of acceptance has been essential for me because for 21 years I've suffered terribly with anxiety, stress, and panic attacks. I've always fought it and suppressed it with alcohol and became as a result alcohol dependent. The book has given me relief from the attacks and I've been sober for 10 out of the past 12 months.

One of the best
Helpful Votes: 9 out of 9 total.
Review Date: 2006-12-11
I have read Emotional Clearing over the past year and have been extremely inspired by it. It is definitely the best new age book I've read, and I've read quite a lot. The concept of acceptance has been essential for me because for 21 years I've suffered terribly with anxiety, stress, and panic attacks. I've always fought it and suppressed it with alcohol and became as a result alcohol dependent. The book has given me relief from the attacks and I've been sober for 10 out of the past 12 months.

Personal
The End Times: New Information for Personal Peace (Kryon, Book 1)
Published in Audio Cassette by Audio Literature (1997-08)
Author:
List price: $17.95
Used price: $40.95

Average review score:

I'm Still Thinking
Helpful Votes: 14 out of 16 total.
Review Date: 2002-07-15
I'm in awe I think. I've never read anything like this book. And I have read other channelled books. I really can't make up my mind about it's validity. A very thought provoking book and it makes me want to read more. This is the first of the Kryon Books and I'm glad I read the THE PARABLES OF KRYON first, because it was so good I immediately ordered this first in the series. I've really got to think about this one. But I do recommend it highly. Just be ready for new material. I've already ordered the second in the series which is supposed to answer the questions raised in the first book. Wish me luck.

Mixed Feelings
Helpful Votes: 27 out of 32 total.
Review Date: 2004-08-05
I did a review for the second book as well so I'll just add some different stuff here. I am very open minded (and open hearted which I think is more important) and found an underlying theme in the four books I read that did not feel right to me. You can read the material and just sense how it makes you feel. Some of the reviews make it sound like if you don't read it or if you find any issue with the material then you're a limited person. That's not the case at all! Just because something is channelled "from the other side of the veil" doesn't mean it's totally kosher. We exist on the other side of the veil too and we are all surrounded by beings all the time. It's up to us to determine what we want to integrate into this lifetime and what we don't. Trust your intuition with any material you read or listen to, your higher self knows what's what.

Excellent information, helpful tips for the new millenium
Helpful Votes: 27 out of 31 total.
Review Date: 2003-05-20
The first time you read this book you will have the feeling that Kryon is speaking directly to you, through the voice of his channel, Lee Carroll.
Although this book was first published in 1992, the information presented here is more relevant now than ever. Kryon will give the reader knowledge about Karma, meditation, Jesus Christ and the times we are living. With the premise that we all came here on our own will, to learn and progress, Kryon leads the way on the transformation we crave in this new millenium. He will help you contact your guides and accelerate you spirituial growth, if that is what you relly want.
If you are a metaphysician or are into self growth, you will find that the easy, yet warm language and teaching of Kryon apply to your life.

In The Beginning
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 8 total.
Review Date: 2002-10-23
The End is the Beginning. A new way of looking at the world and an explaination for so many mysterious sayings that no one seems to have an answer for. But Kryon does from a whole different perspective. I read and was amazed. If your ready for something new try this one. It's a great read.

AMAZING, A MUST-READ!!!
Helpful Votes: 8 out of 8 total.
Review Date: 2005-08-22
I highly recommend this book to all, young or old, no matter what socio-economic status ... this book is a must-read. When read with an open heart and a faithful mind, this book will confirm what your intuition has already been telling you. Very comforting, very promising, very exciting.

Personal
Equity Happens: Building Lifelong Wealth with Real Estate
Published in Paperback by Lightbulb Publishing (2005-12-01)
Authors: Robert Helms and Russell Gray
List price: $29.95
New price: $28.00
Used price: $18.05

Average review score:

Very good Book
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-06-11
This is a very good book, I've read several real estate books in the past and this one is one of the better ones. Content is more down to the real world and has a lot of number crunching which is great. Recommended reading.

Excellent Book
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-01-24
This is a book that turns conventional wisdom on it's ear. This book was eye-opening for me in much the same way that "Rich Dad Poor Dad" was years ago. This book is a great starting point for anyone interested in real estate investing. I also recommend looking up their podcast on I-tunes called "The Real Estate Guys".

Excellent Action-Oriented Book
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-12-31
I learned of the book through a weekly podcast of Real Estate Guys Radio, which is hosted by the authors. I have read many books on real estate investing, but this one really challenged my thinking on several philosophies. (I hate to admit this, but I had some similar ideals to the fictitious Conrad Soomer in the introductory section).

Since finishing the book, I have created a written plan and made an offer on a six unit apartment building. I have also re-evaluated my previous guiding principle of paying down loans faster and am planning to pull some equity out of existing properties.

I strongly recommend this to any reader who understands that real estate investing is a proven way to build net worth, but needs a kick in the pants to get started.

One of the best RE books I've read in awhile!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-10-10
I gained so much from reading (and re-reading sections) of the book, I bought copies for all my RE partners. I read A LOT of real estate books and was very impressed with the ideas and the presentation. A must for newbies to help you get the concepts down and experienced people to reflect and review and learn some new things.

the most honest book I have read so far on the subject
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-08-28
These guys have a great and entertaining way of writing about real estate. They are also honest, there's none of this "make a million overnight with real estate" garbage. Instead they lay out the foundations for changing your mindset, which a lot of books dont even mention. How are you going to win at the real estate game if you have the wrong mental attitude and work ethic going in? After they change your attude, they lay the foundation for getting started in real estate, and telling you realistically that there will be ups and downs, but over the long haul, like a 15 year or more period, you will make substantial wealth with real estate. Loved the tone of the book as well, funny and frank with their information. They have a home study course, which I'm sure goes into more detail than this book does, and I'm going to order it. But this book is a great place to start.

Personal
Ernst & Young's Personal Financial Planning Guide
Published in Kindle Edition by Wiley (1994-12-31)
Authors: Ernst & Young, Martin Nissenbaum, Barbara J. Raasch, and Charles L. Ratner
List price: $19.95
New price: $9.99

Average review score:

Great book for everyone!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-08-31
This book explains the general principles of financial planning and gives other resources of useful information. It also talks about some specific situations. While it cannot teach you how to do it yourself, it is a good start for everyone who needs to do financial planning!

Great Guide
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-06-01
This is a great book. It is full of helpful information on the financial planning process. I highly recommend it!

a good book for people who is cautious about personal financial planning
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2008-06-18
If you are cautious on your personal finance and don't want to just listen to your financial advisor, the book might be good for you. It covers a lot of topics of personal finance. The second part is especially good. It talks about the financial issue at life time changes such as marriage, becoming parents, divorce, etc. Very solid information on tax issues. A lot of tips on tax saving.

Planning for an Uncertain Future
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2007-07-01
When I started teaching financial planning to US Air Force officers planning on reentering the general economy it was a little known subject and you had to scout up your material from pamphlets, magazines and newspapers with help from stockbrokers.
"Ernst & Young's Personal Financial Planning Guide" published by John Wiley & Sons, which is the same publishing house that publishes the JK Lasser's tax manual puts the information all in one volume.
Of intense interest to us is the chapter on starting your own business, which as authors we are doing in our senior years. The material is geared to the younger generation who are just starting out, but the advice is sound and easy to understand without an extensive background in accounting and economics.
Financial planning is rough at this period in our history, because of the skyrocketing prices of necessary goods and services not used in the consumer price index, hence they are excluded from inflation percentage calculations. Gasoline, medicines and health care are three I can name, off hand, that affect the general population, but fall outside the index. This phenomena is not addressed in the planning guide, but then Congress has not touched it since the Johnson adminstration either. It is not something that winning the lottery will answer for an individual, but it is like trying to hold a large balloon half-full of water in one-hand and keep it round.
"Personal Financial Planning Guide' is the best we have found for a realistic look at all aspects of financial planning. The table of contents and index are outstanding for locating information.
Nash Black, author of "Taxes, Stumbling Blocks & Pitfalls for Authors 2007."

INDISPENSABLE!!
Helpful Votes: 8 out of 9 total.
Review Date: 2007-05-13
Absolutely one of the best financial planning reference tools around! If your personally planning to restructure your financial life or hire a professional to do it for you, then this book is a must have. It provides a wealth of information as well as an extensive array of guidelines and tips for every area of your life . I especially like that it brings to light concerns of areas you may not be immediately affected by (aging parents) but should be planning for now. Having hired a professional, this book has proved Indispensable in that we have been able to knowingly select and plan individual or particular methods of approach towards our financial futures and better implement them through a professional planner!!!

Personal
Etty Hillesum: An Interrupted Life : The Diaries, 1941-1943
Published in Hardcover by Henry Holt & Company (1996-11)
Author: Etty Hillesum
List price: $27.50
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Collectible price: $74.00

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Intelligent Conversion Story
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-04-27
This book is an intelligent conversion story. The author, Etty Hillesum, begins writing at a time when her life was repugnant; and yet, she is obviously very intelligent and so reading what she wrote during that period is not a waste of time.

Towards the middle of the book, Etty begins to change, and by the end, she is an admirable person - not just because she is intelligent, but also because she is good. It seems that her will changed, which is the definition of conversion.

I would compare this book favorably with "Surprised by Joy", which is the autobiography of C.S. Lewis. "Surprised by Joy" is a great book for Christians. "Etty Hillesum" is a great book for anyone.


Shawn T. Miller

A "Can Only Bring 5 Books to a Desert Island Book" for me...
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-10-27
This book would be one of the five. Its not about the Holocaust, not really. It is about one of the most soulful women who we all could learn so much from about how to approach our days. I cherish this book with all my heart. It came to me in a very weird way however! My parents were viisting me in Seattle when I lived there and while browsing in Elliott Bay Books, my mom handed me this book and said, "When I die I want this book buried with me!" I know, thats kind of a weird sell but she bought me my own copy (along with a separate one for her future plans) and I read it in one evening. I couldn't put it down. While she lived just a short distance from Anne Frank and was writing her journals at the same time, they are equally moving but worlds apart. Etty was in her late twenties while she wrote and her outlook on life is simply among the most remarkable I have ever encountered. I don't think I need to be buried with it but that doesn't mean I don't recommend it extremely highly for both men and women. Its a privilege to be able to recommend it, to know that even while her life was so tragically cut short at Auschwitz, that her journals survived and that maybe just one person more will come to her journals as a result of this review. You know what? I'd like to be buried with this book too. Also include a cupcake.

flowers and fruits grow where they are planted
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-07-25
Etty Hillessum's diaries and her letters from Westerbork serve as an outstanding testament to the human spirit and the ability to find the sacred in the most horrific of situations. Although she was not a saint in the sense that Teresa of Avila or Juan de la Cruz were saints, she could properly be considered a mystic and a good example of a modern who had 'enlightened' insights. I find her diaries at once humane and modern in the sense of a liberated 'bohemian' who explored her sexuality and her psyche. As her diaries progress, her inner life (and oneness with God) deepens as the horrors of the realities of being Jewish in Europe during the Second World War becomes more apparent. I highly recommend this book! It will change your life!

A Hauntingly Beautiful Gift
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2007-02-22
This is one of the most profound documents ever written. Etty Hillesum was truly a person who had reached transforming union and had the ability to be able to share her experience through journaling and letters. She was unwaivering in her desire to see the beauty and meaning of life in one of the most difficult situations ever experienced on this planet. There are no words to express how deeply this work has influenced my life, except to say that I go back to her writing over and over again. She is a bright light for anyone seeking spiritual growth.

If Ann Frank wrote as a vibrant young woman
Helpful Votes: 7 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 2007-01-17
In nearly all of our nation's middle and high schools the Diary of Anne Frank is required reading. This present volume ought to be a required follow-up reading for the older student.

This Owl Books publication includes excellent photographs and commentary to bring alive holistically the full presentation of this intelligent and searching young woman's life and vision, whose eight well-preserved copy books reveal to us her soul, supplemented by personal, surprisingly joyful and hopeful and positive do-not-lose-heart letters from a way station on the road to Auschwitz. Together this corpus of writing presents bright light in the deepest darkness and locus of despair. One cannot read these living words on the way to certain death without weeping, and reflecting, at the unreasonable cruelty and inexorable deadly fruit of any total war. One cannot read this without a cry for the end of all war.

Please read this book in a prayerful way. Consider the promising and peaceful lives which were lost, whose voice rings out truly here in this thick volume of her writings, and resolve to work for peace, that we may never study war, no more. Let us work for peace, and pray with the prophet that our swords may soon be beat into plowshares, that all may live in peace to their fullest promise.

This book brings to us the reality of the horror of hateful war, through Etty's human and hopeful and joyous and beautiful voice, ever encouraging those in the deepest despair until she herself is also placed on the road to Auschwitz, a road from which so very few ever returned.

Personal
Executive Coaching for Results: The Definitive Guide to Developing Organizational Leaders
Published in Hardcover by Berrett-Koehler Publishers (2007-12-01)
Authors: Brian O Underhill, Kimcee McAnally, and John J Koriath
List price: $34.95
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Executive coaching for results
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-10-09
Executive coaching for results provides an interesting insight into the world of executive coaching across the US. The authors and their contributors have condensed into this volume much of the coaching research on what makes for effective coaching, coach matching and coaching impact. These research elements are mixed with excellent short real life case studies which illustrate the points made from the rsearch.

Overall this is an excellent read.

Ultimate Coaching Tool
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-05-07
Using contemporary data and years of coaching experience, the authors offer a robust tool for guiding the coaching process. Experienced and beginning coaches will find gems that will enhance their coaching effectiveness. This book is a focused, no-nonsense guide to effective leadership coaching and development.

Executive Coaching for Results
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-05-29
Executive Coaching for Results provides an invaluable service to the field of talent and management development:direct information from dozens of top flight corporate leaders and practitioners of executive coaching.
Quite simply there is nothing else like this book in the marketplace and anyone who wants to gain a comprehensive knowledge of the state of the art of this ever dynamic field and area of practice needs to purchase a copy today.

Excellent book
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-05-12
This book is a helpful and practical guide with stories, research and ideas. The authors describe how organizations successfully implement coaching. A must read for any leadership development professionals!

A Comprehensive Coaching Guide
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-05-02
This book belongs in every internal and external coach's library! Leadership Development, Talent Management and Human Resource practitioners, who play a direct or indirect role in leadership development, would also find it greatly beneficial.

This very comprehensive and easy-to-read resource covers all aspects of executive coaching. The research, authors' experience and organizations' first-hand learnings and best practices are insightful and invaluable.


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