Resources Books

I am a Human Resources Professional who loved this book.
It is an excellent guide with tools for understanding the landscape of risk in the Hiring process.
Their broad scope of discussions around National and International safety and risk issues has help me to gain a more global prospective on background screening.

To employ someone is to trust them to some degree, so how does one know whom to trust? "Background Screening and Investigations: Managing Hiring Risk from the HR and Security Perspectives" is a guide to screening employees before they potentially become a problem for the company. The strengths of a person with an excellent record who appears to be brilliant may be far outweighed by a serious attitude problem or worse. How does a Human Resources official decide when is it safe to hire a convicted felon, or a sexual predator? How far can a company go before breaking the fair opportunity laws? All of these topics are tackled expertly in "Background Screening and Investigations", a must read for any employer who wants to assure a harmonious work environment.

Background Screening and Investigations: Managing Hiring Risk from the HR and Security Perspective not only discusses the issues from a corporate perspective, but from a candidate perspective as well. Targeted for the corporate environment, but with the general public in mind, the book discusses how background screening can negatively impact ex-prisoners, their family and community.

This book is an excellent reference not only for Corporate HR and security, but for any individual interested in how background checks affect the employment status of the prospective employee.

An excellently written book! Great reference point!

NLJackson

The Background Screening & Investigation book was extremely well written. I was expecting a boring reference manual, but instead found it to be easy and interesting to read, it is an incerdible resource! It also gives a contemporary view of background screening touching on many of the relevant issues of today such as Infinity Screening, Second Chance issues, International Screening and dealing with Sexual Offenders. I definitely recommend it for Security and HR professionals and others involved in the hiring process. Read this book today to avoid being in the news tomorrow for hiring the wrong person!

The original version of this book, published in 1972 by Alfred A Knopf, reflects the thinking of historian Roy A Medvedev in the period of August 1962 to August 1968. The revised and expanded 1989 version must first be examined in light of the original.

The original was translated by Colleen Taylor and edited by David Joravsky of Northwestern University. Medvedev couldn't get published in the USSR, and this work thus first appeared in the West. It was written primarily during the transition from Khrushev's anti-Stalinist reforms to Brezhnev's immanent social-imperialism.

August 1968 is also the month of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslavakia and the defeat of Dubcek's "socialism with a human face." This is also the period of Mao's Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution.

Stalin was as evil as Hitler, yet he rose to power in the first Socialist state. The Second World War played itself out as one totalitarian dictatorship in a death struggle with another, yet Stalin ended up through the course of events as an ally of the democratic and capitalist Anglo-American West in its life-or-death struggle against fascism.

Totalitarianism turns out to have been the big infatuation of the twentieth century intelligentsia. Medvedev represents Russia's awakening from this plague. He is wrong about so much, yet for his age he was so far ahead of his times.

This book is a classic, and I believe the original should be the preferred version. Stalin's terror is nearly beyond belief. It is tragic in a different way than Nazism; perhaps with consequences more evil.

If Leninism ever revives, this will be a classic, just as it is now in the wake of the Cold War defeat of Communism.

This book is a very thorough and well-written biography of Josef Stalin. It was one of the few books I read in college that I didn't mind reading. The information on Stalin's political and personal life gives the reader an opportunity to make informed judgements about Stalin's actions.

This book was the first in the Soviet Union to treat Stalin in an objective way. Prior to its release Stalin had been the great hero of the patriotic war the father of the country and so forth. Whilst the secret speech by Krushev had distanced the country from his system scholarship had not taken the step of subjecting his rule to objective analysis.

The author was a person who was an opponent of Stalin and prior to the fall of the regime was active in its criticism. The book goes through the issues associated with Stalin such as the decision to collectivize agriculture, the forced industrialization, the terror and the handling of the war. The author forms the view that Stalin was an unmitigated disaster. That is the country would have progressed economically better without him, and his handling of the war was catastrophic.

It is a good book to read with other western accounts such as Bullocks.

The late 1990's saw the publication of numerous scatterbrained, and ill-intentioned, attempts to descredit Vladimir Lenin, Nikolai Bukharin, Leon Trotsky, and Karl Marx, by associating their actions, and ideas, with those of Joseph Stalin. One must ask, "were these attempts in any way successful?" Luckily, the answer is an emphatic, no. The individuals who bought into the "Marx and Lenin created Stalinism" theory, alluded to in works such as 'The Black Book of Communism', by Mister Courtois (or Miss), 'The Passing of an Illusion', by Mister Furet, and 'The Soviet Tragedy', by Mister Malia, already harbored such fantastic illusions. Most of the population has no interest in Sovietology, so attempts at descrediting Lenin, Marx, Bukharin, and Trotsky, were, and are, virtually fruitless (I took a Public Speaking course at a local community college, and most of the students hadn't even heard of Lenin, Marx, or Trotsky!.)

To find true objectivity, on the subject of Sovietology, one must reach back into the distant past, and read Roy Medvedev's incredible, 'Let History Judge'. One could refer to Medvedev's writings, as "Solzhenitsyn, without the racism and bitterness"(a spew of biographies show that Solzhenitsyn is without question anti-semitic; however, this fact doesn't mean he's no longer one of the elite writers of the twentieth century). 'Let History Judge', is not so much a history of Stalin, but a history of Russia from 1917-1953. Described, with minute detail, is Lenin's seizure of power, Lenin's benevolent feelings toward Stalin (which ended effectively after the Eleventh All-Congress of the Bolsheviks), Trotsky's role as leader of the Red Army, Trotsky's complete ineptness in regard to the left-opposition, and Stalin's remarkable, almost super-human, political abilites. In addition, one will never discover a finer description of collectivization anywhere (although I must admit Conquest's 'Harvest of Sorrow', is pretty excellent). Russia's grain production in 1930-1933, were almost certainly below pre-WWI levels, apparently, but Stalin wanted Russia to appear forceful, so he sold grain internationally, as if it were "business as usual", which resulted in the death of millions of non-guilty peasants (however, one can not deny George Carlin's classic quote, "there are no innocent people, once you're born, you're guilty as charged").The description of the horrible Gulag system is not quite as great as Solzhenitsyn's, but it's pretty darn close. Unlike Solzhenitsyn, Medvedev doesn't slander the dead, or embark on anti-semitic diatribes (thankfully, for the population at large, Medvedev critiques much of what Solzhenitsyn wrote in the 'Gulag Archipelago' with absolute clarity).

The price is pretty high, but at 800+ pages, the person isn't really buying just one book, they are buying a multitude of books, which cover a variety of subjects. In addition to, 'Let History Judge', I would also strongly recommend you read Edvard Radzinsky's 'Stalin', Volkogonov's 'Autopsy of an Empire' (being a Yeltsin staffer, Volkogonov is biased, but there is some interesting anecdotes!), and Robert Tucker's magnificent two-volume biograpy of Stalin. Unlike other works on the subject of the Russian Revolution, these works actually take a "scholarly" approach!

Morell's astounding level of research reveals the Leakeys individually, as a family, and as dogged searchers for the truth about man's origins--and as living, breathing humans. Through letters, diaries, journals, personal interviews, and family archives, they speak to the reader with unprecedented candor about their personal travails, but more importantly, about their early struggles for funding, their fossil discoveries in remote desert locations, their constant surprise by the historical record, and their uncertainty, to this day, about modern man's exact lineage.

Some Leakey peccadilloes, never secret, are fully documented here: Louis's constant womanizing and his "adoption" of young female researchers, such as Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Birute Galdikas; Mary's scotch-drinking, her cigar-smoking, and her intolerance of those on her Stinker List, some of them other researchers; and Richard's boyish brashness and arrogance, along with his health problems and dislike of Donald Johanson. Less appreciated, however, is the fact that before Louis's work and significant discoveries, people still believed that early man was from China or Europe, not Africa. Mary Leakey was the first person ever to excavate a Paleolithic site, and her meticulous care about documenting the tools and animals found in the same stratae as her hominid fossils, told here in detail, revolutionized the way fossils were recovered and catalogued. Richard found as many hominid fossils in two years (1971 and 1972) as Mary and Louis found in 36 years, and his level of dedication to research since finding his first hominid fossil at age 6, his mentoring of young researchers, and his creation of museums and foundations in Nairobi have perhaps received less attention than they deserve.

The Leakeys believe at least two and perhaps three or four different hominids may have lived in certain areas simultaneously, sharing space for a million or more years, and that the exact line of descent to modern man is still unknown. Tens of thousands of extinct, fossilized species of hippos, elephants, saber-toothed cats, crocodiles, antelopes, and even insects, unearthed by the Leakeys, are overwhelming evidence that if species, including hominids, do not change and adapt, they die. While some may argue about how certain hominids are labeled, no one can argue with their existence in the historical record, and nearly all of them have been unearthed by just one family. These contributions continue beyond the purview of this book into a new generation: Dr. Louise Leakey and her mother Maeve (Richard's wife) found yet another completely new hominid species in March, 2001. Mary Whipple

This is an engrossing story of archealogy's first family. The title hints at their adventures, loves, intrigues, battles, all most passionate. I could not put the book down. The landscape of archealogy will forever be, for me, after this book, a color filled map with the land of our ancestors fully pictured in my mind. No longer will archealolgists seem to be dull digging tan people,but exciting real people, made of the passion of us all. A superb read

Amidst the splendor and corruption of Africa, this family battle the weather, the government, the prejudices, the lack of funds, and even each other. Their intelligence and love for the country is evident as they search for prehistoric evidence of earliest humans. The more I read about them, the more I admired their contribution to East Africa and to the world.

This is a long, engrossing, detailed book about the Leakey family and their impact on paleoanthropology in Africa. It's a real pot-boiler of a book--hard to put down and a totally fascinating study of the family. You get a real sense of their human failings as well as their triumphs. The family comes across as stubborn, intense, egomaniacal and prickly, as well as totally dedicated to their pursuit of man's ancestry in Africa. Although the author has a higher opinion of the Leakeys than some of their rivals (Donald Johanson), she by no means glosses over the more unsavory aspects of their characters. I would highly recommend this book, regardless of your level of familiarity with paleoanthropology.

This book gets five stars because it includes practical information I was able to implement. I hate books on theory that don't give you a sense of how to put that theory into action. We've been able to incorporate these ideas to create a process of our own.

It was well organized, easy to read!, and I loved that the author lets his personality peek through. I actually laughed out loud a couple times and you can't often say that about business books.

Finally I have found a book that makes the complicated simple. Employee benefits and all of its components are both extremely important and overwhelming! Mr. Sears, who obviously is a true expert in this field, walks though a process that while in-depth is still simple to follow and understand. When looking at employee benefits I think there are three objectives most companies are looking for:
1. Provide the best package possible while at
2. The best price available and
3. Save time and internal resources
The Benefits Performance Process provides the path to those objectives through real examples and with an enjoyable style. If you are involved with your companies' employee benefit program, then this book is a must!

Heard him speak at the ISCEBS Symposium...dynamic...got the book from him there. Sears argues that we should apply strategic planning principles to our employee benefits and that failure to do so is one of the reasons they don't work right. But, more than that, he goes on to tell HOW to go about fixing it. I particularly loved the workshop method he outlines. The process outlined here actually goes beyond just employee benefits. I hope he writes a book about planning for broader business issues.

For me, it is great that this isn't a textbook..I don't have time to read those and run a business. I found this to be a lively read. He makes his point and gets on to teaching how to do it.

Every Human Resources Manager, CEO and CFO needs to read "The Benefits Performance Process" and implement the plans outlined within it. Without doing so, they are simply throwing away money and valuable employees. Every company that offers benefits to its employees will want to be sure that they are doing the best that they can when it comes to providing a competitive package while getting their money's worth. Matthew Sears offers the plan to do just that. Whether your company employs 50 or 3,550, you can benefit from this book.

By "Maximizing the Performance of Your Employee Benefit Plan" you will be learning how to assemble a benefits team, analyze current plans and problems, develop concrete objectives and plan for your company's long-term success. Through self-analysis and workshop exercises your team will develop guidelines to follow. From there you will have a plan to follow that will see you through staff changes, acquisitions, and changing regulations. "The Benefits Performance Process" is a workshop to go; it is a plan to help you develop a plan that will eventually benefit your company and your employees.

Matthew T. Sears is an Executive Vice President of Athens Benefits Insurance Services and a Fellow of the International Society of Certified Employee Benefits Specialists. You couldn't ask for a more qualified guru in the benefits performance process. Yet his book is an easy to read, understand and implement guide to improving your benefits plans. Sears is straightforward and concise, while being upbeat and friendly in his text. You likely won't find another business guide like this one and why would you want to? When it comes to improving your current plans, this is the guide to follow.

Don't put off thinking about your benefits plan until the day before your renewal is due. Don't wait until the premiums are upped once again to do something about it. Don't fear the CFO telling you to cut costs by 30%. You can be prepared. If you're not, you may lose the loyal employees you have to another company who has followed "The Benefits Performance Process."

Review by Heather Froeschl of BookReview.com.

While this book is purported to be a manual in how to manage young people, the advice can be applied to the management of all employees. If you are a manager, you must:

*) Not expect people to work extended overtime with little or no compensation.
*) Praise employees for work well done.
*) Not expect people to work at jobs that lack an inherent meaning.
*) Set an example by your actions and words, not just your words.
*) Allow people to have a life outside their job, not expect their job to be their life.

If you do these things, which should be part of the standard managerial playbook, then your employees will be more productive, happier and you will retain them. If you don't, you will become one of those managers who blame everything besides incompetent management style for the fundamental problems of their company.

This book is great reading for 'Baby Boomer' Managers and for those who belong to Generation X. Claire Raines describes the wants and needs of both generations; giving pratical advice to 'Boomer' managers on managing the 'X' generation. As an X generation reader, Raines' gives incite to why some'Baby Boomer'Managers are "All work, no play" and what frustrates them about Generation X employees today. Excellant source of information for both generations!

Beyond Generation X is an insightful look at how Baby Boomers and Gen Xers can peacefully coexist in the workplace. I recommend it especially for Boomers who have trouble understanding their Gen X workers (and vice-versa). Claire Raines (a Boomer herself) has some great ideas and presents them in an easy-to-follow manner. One thing to remember about this book is that it's not attempting to classify individuals. It's just helping us understand generations. It's also a quick read. I read it in an evening.

Whether we like it or not a great generation gap exists between the boomers and the gen xer's. This book helped me to understand what I, as a boomer, represented to the younger generation. These younger folks are not lazy, they just need a different motivational program. This book is a must read for those interested in surviving problems associated with the current labor shortage.

Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction is unique in every way. First, it is the rare book co-authored by a Caucasian male and an African American female. This bi-cultural authoring team provides a richly textured narrative captivating in every way.

Second, while many books outline African American history, and a number of books highlight African American religious history, this book narrates the history of African American personal ministry. Readers not only are inspired by amazing Black heroes of the faith, they are also equipped to provide biblical counseling, soul care, spiritual direction, and spiritual friendship to one another.

Kellemen and Edwards use a historic model of ministry (sustaining, healing, reconciling, and guiding) to map the contours of how African Americans provided healing and hope to one another. As the title suggests, this is not a book that stops at excruciating suffering. Rather, it shows readers how past African Americans empowered one another to move beyond external and internal suffering to eternal and supernatural victory.

Some may assume by the focus on African Americans that this book is only for one race. Nothing could be further from the truth. By embracing the legacy of past African American Christian ministry, all people of all races learn how to grow personally and how to help others to grow in grace.

The true power of Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction comes in the narrative vignettes themselves. Reading this book is like reading a Christian version of "Roots"--compelling, exciting, thrilling, troubling, illuminating, deeply moving, and redemptive.

If there's only one book that you can read on spiritual formation and Christian nurture--read Kellemen and Edwards. If there's only one book that you can read on African American ministry--read Kellemen and Edwards.

Looking at the cover of Beyond the Suffering, one might assume the book is only for African Americans. Not so. While it certainly tells the poignant story of slavery in America, it captures the essence of humanity when it is rooted in a profound, life giving faith in Jesus. It is a story of suffering, hope, grace, and deliverance. It paints a picture of a community that understood that shared sorrow is endurable sorrow. The stories told by the slaves remind all of us that there are always two stories, the earthly story of pain and grief and God's bigger story of redemption and glory. Beyond the Suffering is an inspiring narrative that demonstrates in a powerful way that it is possible to move past unbearable pain into the land of joyful anticipation. Beyond the Suffering is full of wisdom for today's soul care givers from the professional counselor to the spiritual friend, pastor, and lay care giver.

Few books have touched my heart as powerfully as Beyond the Suffering. This is no ordinary story. It is the extraordinary account of the history and legacy African Americans. Using a biblical and historical modeling of soul care and spiritual direction, this book introduces many "heroes" of the faith. One thing is for sure, there is no sugar coating in this book! The personal accounts of slaves contained in this book will both challenge you with deep sorrow and encourage you with supernatural hope. But, I believe that is exactly the goal of Kellemen and Edwards. They understand that the history of African Americans is filled with terrible injustice and inequality. Yet, they demonstrate with great clarity that the history of African Americans is filled with much greater hope, healing, and forgiveness.

As a person ministering in a multicultural setting, I have been able to use the stories in this book to help people understand that the principles they contain go beyond any single culture or race. These stories are filled with biblical insights I am sure will produce great fruit for the entire body of Christ. Kellemen and Edwards do a phenomenal job in articulating the value of the African American legacy for every one of us. This book should be used in Sunday School classes and small groups all around the country. I have already shared some of the book with my youth group, which has created healthy discussion and reflection.

Finally, this book is written well. The authors navigate the issues with sensitivity, compassion, and humility. They realize that in many ways the personal accounts really speak for themselves. And after navigating through such turbulent waters (the "suffering"), Kellemen and Edwards find a way to leave the reader with a profound sense of hope (the "beyond" the suffering). And that combination makes this a powerful and transformative resource.

Beyond the Suffering proved to be a fascinating experience for me and not just another book on slavery. I was able to walk with and in a sense experience the pain and the numerous challenges that the African American slaves endured during the oppressive days of unjust suffering. The book is written on two levels, it is obviously well researched and thereby a scholarly and credible source of history, but secondly, it is "jus plain" good reading, if you will pardon this expression of former slaves. The book helps to debunk the myth that Christianity for the African American is a "white man's religion". The numerous quotes from former slaves inform the reader that the slaves "got it right". They rightly utilized Biblical principles in order to help them in their time of distress in spite of how the Bible was being misused by those who agreed with and promoted slavery. The book offers a firm foundation for the origins of many of the hymns and sayings in the African American community. The song "Lift Every Voice and Sing", as well as the many other songs referenced in this book, has taken on more in depth meanings for me. These songs were born out of real experiences and calls for the reader, whether African American or of a different ethnic group, to gain a deeper sense of the pain experienced and the empowering faith that the slaves exemplified.
The book reviews the tremendous suffering placed upon the African American slaves and provides a plausible answer to the question "how did the slaves endure this much adversity?" The answer to that question is embodied in the books explanation of sustaining, healing, reconciling and guiding, a process born out of suffering that can help anyone walk with another who is in pain. The sense of community genuinely practiced by the slaves enabled them to leave for us a lasting legacy of faith that could join the "wall of faith" giants as depicted in Hebrews, chapter 11 in the Bible. The slaves truly practiced what it means to be a church in the midst of hypocrisy and crisis. I see this book as a must read for the faith community and anyone serious about bridging the gaps across cultures. The bibliography alone is worth the price of the book. The life changing messages within its pages are priceless

The Student Bible Atlas is a great reference source for your personal Bible Study. Maps are clear, concise, colorful and easy to understand. I've owned it for several years and often refer to it when studying history and the Bible.

I have been looking for just this kind of atlas for my 5th and 6th grade Sunday School class. The main thing I like about it is that it uses the same map of Israel and shows it at the various periods. Most atlases and Sunday School curricula show various maps instead of one map that changes over time. I liked the comparison maps of the empires. The comments and illustrations with each map are also useful.

This is definitely a worthy purchase if you have a child and as well if you (admit it) still get mixed up a bit with Middle East geography, especially when it comes to what an area was called years ago and what its present-day name is. When you read a passage to your child, show him with this each time where that scripture was taking place at that time period (the atlas shows name changes and political boundaries in different time segments). You both will have a much better understanding of what was taking place where and when.

My daughter and I love this atlas! Very easy to use, even for a child..it is full of colorful maps and easy to read details. We use it for both school and personal bible study.

This is a "Must Have" Coloring book for Church Preschool Teacher's, Sunday school teachers or to jsut use with your own children! My favorite part about these pictures are the stories on the back. This allows children to not only hear that story from you but they can also have their parents read the story too. This can also be used as a witnessing tool to parents! This is a WONDERFUL coloring book!

If you're looking for a personal guide to help your own child, or sunday class, this is a great tool chronologically written in understandable language true to the word of God. Each page is interesting, and each story has accurate, yet concise detail. The perforated pages make for easy photocopying with permission granted for each. This has been a great addition to our Pre-school Sunday Class.

This coloring book is wonderful. The pages are reproducable and they cover a Bible verse, and have a short abbreviated story on the back of each picture to be colored. When I was a Sunday School teacher and didn't have time in class for the kids to do a craft, this was a great fill in. It is also good to give to kids to bring home and color, if it pertains to the actual lesson in your curriculum. It contains pictures from almost every applicable story in the Bible that can be presented to kids.

I really enjoy this book of coloring pages and Bible stories that I can reproduce for my children's church class. The coloring pages are simple, and the Bible story is easy to understand.

This is a good book to have in your library when working with the children. It gives you good ideas, very informative and shows you how to get started.

This book has great ideas and lots of neat object lessons. Very excited to start using them!!

I love this book. It has great object lessons. I use it for time fillers during Sunday School. It is a wonderful add on to your curriculum.

This book is fantastic! I teach a group of about40-50 kids, and they love the lessons that are in this book.I had spent a lot of time searching for a book that would hold the attention of a group that big, and this is the first one in 3 years that has worked this well the entire year!

This is a simple, no-frills book, but is great for reading aloud to pre-schoolers. The active dialogue between the frog and the various animals, is ideal for young children, with their typically short-attention spans. The book also introduces rather unusual animals to children, such as the possum and the emu. In short, a hilarious book, with an interesting twist at the end, and great value for money.

The book that I read was a fiction book. It is called The Big Wide Mouthed Frog. This book was by Ana Martin Larranaga. The main character is the crocodile and the frog.
When i read this book I found that the main event was about the frog and him going to different animals and saying who are you and what do you eat? Also when I was reading I found that when you read the end you will get scared. I promise.
Last but not least I would recommend this book to Alexandra because she likes frogs and she also likes to read funny stories.

This book is a book that will make the whole family laugh histerically! My husband is not a book reader and HE read the book outloud and we laughed and laughed. We read the book 10 times before we got to our destination and we laughed with tears streaming down our faces! The illustrations and how you read the book also make the book a hoot! I want more books like this one!

My son is 21 months and he also loved the easy rhymes and fun words in this book. It's good for many giggles. I read it out loud to him 100 times and we both enjoy it.

However, the binding on this particular paperback fell apart within two days. Our day care has a copy that is from a different publisher (perhaps a previous edition) and it hasn't fallen apart. I was very disappointed because a book for toddlers needs to have some strength. A board book would be excellent.