Resources Books

Spirituality And Health: Multidisciplinary Explorations, deftly co-edited and complied by Augustine Meier (Emeritus Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Saint Paul University, Ottawa, Ontario), Thomas St. James O'Connor (Delton J. Glebe Chair, Pastoral Counseling and Director of Pastoral Counseling Programs at Waterloo Lutheran Seminary, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario), and Peter L. VanKatwyk (Waterloo Lutheran Seminary, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario) is an in-depth collective study of the connection between a healthy well-being and a spiritually attuned existence. Acting as an exclusive documentation of the history and modern comprehensive understanding of the influential attributions one may have for the other, Spirituality And Health presents an invaluable reference for all readers seeking an understanding of their spiritual-self's contribution to their physical wellness.

Spirituality And Health: Multidisciplinary Explorations, deftly co-edited and complied by Augustine Meier (Emeritus Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Saint Paul University, Ottawa, Ontario), Thomas St. James O'Connor (Delton J. Glebe Chair, Pastoral Counseling and Director of Pastoral Counseling Programs at Waterloo Lutheran Seminary, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario), and Peter L. VanKatwyk (Waterloo Lutheran Seminary, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario) is an in-depth collective study of the connection between a healthy well-being and a spiritually attuned existence. Acting as an exclusive documentation of the history and modern comprehensive understanding of the influential attributions one may have for the other, Spirituality And Health presents an invaluable reference for all readers seeking an understanding of their spiritual-self's contribution to their physical wellness.

Spirituality And Health: Multidisciplinary Explorations, deftly co-edited and complied by Augustine Meier (Emeritus Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Saint Paul University, Ottawa, Ontario), Thomas St. James O'Connor (Delton J. Glebe Chair, Pastoral Counseling and Director of Pastoral Counseling Programs at Waterloo Lutheran Seminary, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario), and Peter L. VanKatwyk (Waterloo Lutheran Seminary, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario) is an in-depth collective study of the connection between a healthy well-being and a spiritually attuned existence. Acting as an exclusive documentation of the history and modern comprehensive understanding of the influential attributions one may have for the other, Spirituality And Health presents an invaluable reference for all readers seeking an understanding of their spiritual-self's contribution to their physical wellness.

Spirituality And Health: Multidisciplinary Explorations, deftly co-edited and complied by Augustine Meier (Emeritus Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Saint Paul University, Ottawa, Ontario), Thomas St. James O'Connor (Delton J. Glebe Chair, Pastoral Counseling and Director of Pastoral Counseling Programs at Waterloo Lutheran Seminary, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario), and Peter L. VanKatwyk (Waterloo Lutheran Seminary, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario) is an in-depth collective study of the connection between a healthy well-being and a spiritually attuned existence. Acting as an exclusive documentation of the history and modern comprehensive understanding of the influential attributions one may have for the other, Spirituality And Health presents an invaluable reference for all readers seeking an understanding of their spiritual-self's contribution to their physical wellness.

Spirituality And Health: Multidisciplinary Explorations, deftly co-edited and complied by Augustine Meier (Emeritus Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Saint Paul University, Ottawa, Ontario), Thomas St. James O'Connor (Delton J. Glebe Chair, Pastoral Counseling and Director of Pastoral Counseling Programs at Waterloo Lutheran Seminary, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario), and Peter L. VanKatwyk (Waterloo Lutheran Seminary, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario) is an in-depth collective study of the connection between a healthy well-being and a spiritually attuned existence. Acting as an exclusive documentation of the history and modern comprehensive understanding of the influential attributions one may have for the other, Spirituality And Health presents an invaluable reference for all readers seeking an understanding of their spiritual-self's contribution to their physical wellness.

Normally I'm not the world's biggest fan of Stacey, but in this book I liked her a lot. Stacey is in a bind; she feels if she decides to stay home and take care of her mother who has pnuemonia, she will disappoint her father, who invited her to a very important company dinner. She tries to do both, and even though it kind of fails, I feel she acted very responsibly.
The book itself is one of the most realistic BSC books. It focuses on some common problems for "divorced kids" and mostly highlights the fact that they constantly are choosing between their parents.

The sideplot is also great, even though it has absolutely nothing to do with the main plot. It's pretty funny, actually, and in a way is kind of like comic relief.

The book is great and realistic. You will not be disappointed.

Stacey's parents are depending on her again! It's either she stays in Stoneybrook to take care of her mom with a desease or she will go to New York to celebrate his father's promotion job.

stacey has to choose between attending a promotion dinner for her dad in new york and staying home in stoneybrook with her mother who had pneumonia in this book. Stacey felt like she had to choose between her parents, and I know how she feels because my own parents are divorced too though just half an hour away from one another. Stacey seems a little too mature for thirteen in this book, it showed her maturity in handling the situation and standing up to her dad when she decided to go for the dinner but not stay the whole weekend. I guess being a single child and parents splitting up makes one grow up way too fast at times, it was a great read. I enjoyed reading about the shopping trip with the BSC at the beginning of the book too when stacey was choosing an outfit for the dinner.

I liked the book Stacey's Choice because Stacy was very mature and responsible. I liked the way she took care of her mom when she was sick and made the sistting chart for when she was in school. I think the neighbors were very nice to watch Stacy's mother. But in all the drama with her mom Stacy forgot she had to go to New York for a dinner in her dads honor. Stacy needed to choose between her sick mother or her vice president dad. I think her choice was very responsible.

Stacey has a choice. 1. She will go to New York and celebrate his father's promotion day, 2. She will stay in Stoneybrook and take care of her mother with a disease.

The author has done a very good job creating an engaging story that offers fathers and sons an entertaining framework for discussing what character and integrity mean in day to day life. Perhaps the best testimonial I can offer is that when I gave the book to my son he was very excited. He has read five chapters in two nights and loves it!

A brilliant blend of sci-fi and character boot camp! This powerfully woven story provides a starting point to tackle central issues with your son.Teknon is a real hero wrestling with the pertinent issues of the 2000's. Therefore "Champion Warrior" puts muscle into your desire to provide a strategy for mentoring your son. Practical,concise and achievable,mission possible!

It is a remarkable, high adventure story of a young man's initiation into courageous manhood, which includes high risk exposure to dark and evil characters and episodes. Brent Sapp has created a plot line which is compelling, convicting, and as large as the moral challenge that faces us in this complicated world. Young men profoundly need "rites of passage" to initiate them into the world of mature manhood. Teknon and the CHAMPION WARRIORS is both a challenge and an invitation to young men and their families to contract for the launching of a CHAMPION. Dr. Donald Joy, author and Director of the Center for the Study of the Family

It is a remarkable, high adventure story of a young man's initiation into courageous manhood, which includes high risk exposure to dark and evil characters and episodes. Brent Sapp has created a plot line which is compelling, convicting, and as large as the moral challenge that faces us in this complicated world. Young men profoundly need "rites of passage" to initiate them into the world of mature manhood. Teknon and the CHAMPION WARRIORS is both a challenge and an invitation to young men and their families to contract for the launching of a CHAMPION.

Dr. Donald Joy, author and Director Center for the Study of the Family

This book is more than an engaging science fiction novel: it's a way of having some heart-to-heart discussions with your son about critical issues like honor, overcoming anger and fear, respect of women, and life purpose. Along with the two accompanying guides, you have a ready-made three to six month curriculum for manhood disguised as something cool. I'm going through it with my twelve year old and highly recommend it.

If you are one of those parents (like me) who is tired of buying expensive plastic toys that require batteries and teach a single "skill", this book is for you. The author has a lot of excellent ideas of how to promote creativity and learning in your toddler with activities that employ simple, household items (like paper towel rolls) and inexpensive, basic toys (like balls and sand pails). Studies have shown that children learn better from these types of activities (where they are active) than the flashing, beeping toys (where they mostly watch and press buttons) and I love the idea of using simple items that are not bad for the environment as toys. We have had a lot of fun trying these out with our toddler, although, of course, not all of the activities are appropriate for all ages. On that note-- my only warning is that some of the activities use small pieces or items dangerous to a very young toddler, so parents will have to use common sense.

I wish I could give this book six stars instead of five! I have a 22-month-old daughter and wanted to find new, creative ways to interact with her while also teaching her important skills. I discovered this book while browsing on Amazon one day and was thrilled at the various, numerous ideas it offers! Best of all, you don't have to buy special materials to do most of these activities; they require simple objects you probably already have in your home. For instance, Miller provides recipes for homemade fingerpaint, shares instructions on how to make shape-matching games, and tells how to create a picture file to expand a child's understanding of categories. This book is a must-read for parents who want to stimulate their toddler's mind!

Really great ideas in this book for fun creative play. Some of the supplies mentioned are a little dated, but just reading it helps spark new ideas for things to do! I like that it helps me find ways to recycle things around the house--constant supply of new and interesting free toys!

We purchased this book to get ideas for fun and educational things to do with our 2 year old twins. In addition to finding a number of activities to engage our children, we were pleasantly surprised to find that the first few chapters of the book covered developmental and behavioral issues. The book is well organized into categories of play that reflect the natural interests of a toddler. The author is educated in child development and seems to have deep experience with the ins and outs of toddler play. Great book.

I found this gem at the library, now I'm going to buy a copy for myself! There are so many great ideas in here! I've read other books on the subject but haven't been very impressed. These ideas are practical, inexpensive, and clever. It includes recipes for things like playdough, and instructions for making your own affordable alternatives. Karen Miller had spent over twenty years in the business when this was written and it really shows in this wonderful, thoughtful book.

I believe the one thing the reader should know is that this book offers us an opportunity to fundamentally change the way we process conflict within ourselves which ultimately transforms the way we experience others in relationship and community for which we were created. This single internal transformation strengthens every relationship, whether at work or play. Armed with this new truth and skill, readers will experience a real transformation within themselves and will find that it is viral as it permeates everything and everyone it touches around them. This book practically defines the way in which we execute the Christian life as described in Ephesians 4:25-32. It challenges us to deeply examine the truth inside and out and provides a framework ensuring that we do not sin against one another as we effectively remove all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander and malice. This book illuminates the building blocks to building each other up since we are members of one another.

This book is a must for all pastors and leaders to "face their own stuff" as they lead in ministry. It will challenge and bless you.

I wish I had read this book 30 years ago when I first entered ministry. I am now recommending it to all my friends. I hate conflict and have always tried to avoid it. Now I know that conflict when handled well becomes a constructive force for ministry. Our entire staff has benefited from studying it together. It is one of the few books that I continue to read over and over again as I try to absorb the content. It's value reaches way beyond the church to anyone in leadership. It is full of the truth. NOT easy to swallow but spot on.

Internally, I don't handle conflict or criticism well. This book helped me understand why and the internal changes that I need to make even before I work on the tension that might exist between me and others. With its narrative teaching style, "Thriving through Ministry Conflict" is fun to read and easy to learn from. This a great resource that I have already given to friends.

As a pastor with 20 years experience in the church and a seminary professor in practical theology, I know of no other resource that is so immediately and practically accessible for coaching ministers through the toughest aspects of our calling. It captures succinctly and deftly so many of the issues surrounding pastoral conflict (and beyond conflict to change-leadership, too). I am having my entire pastoral staff read it, my wife who is a therapist with minister clients is reading it and it is being passed along to other colleagues.

This is the first book I read about 16 personality types. Easy to read and it makes sense.

Written by certified human resource professional and award-winning author and consultant Donna Dunning, TLC At Work invests heavily in the concepts of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator personality inventory and Dunning's twenty years of experience. "TLC" stands for "Training, Leading, and Coaching", in this excellent guide especially for human resource professionals and people seeking to improve their performance at work. Chapters address how to build relationships and establish credibility, rapport, and trust, how to facilitate development, enhancing the five basic workplace competencies of self-responsibility, communication, mindfulness, productivity, and proactivity, and more. Of especial interest is the recommendations for using coaching to help people who think and react in very different ways learn to balance and effectively fine-tune their gut responses to a given situation. A highly recommended and superbly useful guidebook; though intended for business use, its principles are also directly applicable to volunteers coordinating or managing smaller projects such as a community theater production or a charity drive.

One of the most powerful definitive works on what one needs to do when mentoring or helping others. Training, Leading and Coaching at Work answers the often raised questions about mentoring - a good idea in theory, but what do I actually do?

TLC at Work provides real situations and real responses that all can learn and put into immediate use in the workplace. This book should be required reading for all University Students no matter what field of study they are in. Used as a reference guide, it will help the professors understand the students and will help the students advance more quickly in their careers. A must read! TLC at Work will lead to people describing their workplace as one that supports a TLC attitude to the staff.

A nice blend of theory and practice. Filled with practical down to earth tools that can be implemented easily. Myers-Briggs afficinados will find it immediately useful and so will those without a background in type because it's written so that a deep understanding of type is not required for value to be found.

If you are responsible for training or developing other people, if you are in a leadership role or if you simply want to accelerate your career development, we recommend Donna Dunning's book as your personal study guide. The author utilizes her 20 plus years of experience in employee development to identify succinctly the five basic competencies everyone needs to succeed. Going a step deeper than the usual treatment, she recognizes that individuals who want to develop a particular competency may not understand what mastering that competency looks like. For example, what does "mindfulness" look like? Can you see mindfulness? Not really. But you can see the results of mindful behavior. Dunning focuses on identifying specific behaviors that demonstrate each competency so anyone who wants to develop a skill knows exactly what to do. Then she takes the process still further, identifying how personality types and preferences have an impact on the development of each of the five basic competencies. She shows facilitators how to work most effectively with each personality type to develop individuals to their full potential in a collaborative manner with the least amount of frustration and resistance.

« L'armée de l'air américaine essaie de rendre compte de sa performance en utilisant la méthode du Balanced Scorecard, mais j'aime la façon qu'a Hubert Rampersad de relier le Balanced Scorecard avec le tableau prospectif personnel. C'est presque comme si Kaplan et Norton rejoignaient Stephen Covey. »- Bob Marx, United States Air Force

« Hubert Rampersad utilise le tableau de bord équilibré et d'autres concepts de management pour les réunir en un cadre éthique. En unifiant changement organisationnel et éthique individuelle, il a écrit une synthèse remarquable qui répond aux défis posés par la gestion d'entreprise au XXIe siècle ». - Paul Bracken, Professeur de Gestion, Yale School of Management

«Total Performance Scorecard est une approche rigoureuse, systématique et intégrée, à la fois de la réussite individuelle et de celle de l'entreprise. Elle synthétise et prolonge les concepts de conduite du changement et de la réussite, du point de vue de la personne, du management et de l'organisation. Aux dirigeants, elle propose les outils pour établir un bilan complet de la santé de leur organisation, et à chacun un trésor de connaissances pour conduire sa réussite personnelle».Dave Ulrich, Professeur en Administration des Affaires,Université de Michigan

«Plus que jamais, les entreprises qui réussissent sont des systèmes à haute performance. Réaliser la concordance des intérêts et des objectifs de chacun avec les objectifs organisationnels, dans tous les domaines et à tous les niveaux de l'entreprise, est la condition de la performance. Total Performance Scorecard est un nouvel instrument qui produit cette cohérence. Il crée une base durable pour une action guidée par les valeurs et l'éthique. Hubert Rampersad a réussi, sur cette idée, une très belle et très convaincante performance». - Professeur Kuno Rechkemmer, directeur de DaimlerChrysler (chaire pour l'économie générale de l'entreprise) professeur à l'institut du management et des technologies de Stuttgart

«Trop souvent, on constate un décalage entre les objectifs poursuivis par l'entreprise, la manière dont l'individu fixe ses objectifs personnels et celle par laquelle il se fait évaluer. Total Performance Scorecard comble cette lacune. Il propose un système intégré qui établit le lien entre les efforts d'amélioration continue, l'apprentissage individuel et les programmes de développement. Si vous êtes à la recherche d'une boîte à outils pour améliorerles résultats de votre entreprise, voici le livre qu'il vous faut!» Philip Anderson, Professeur d'Entrepreneurship, INSEAD

Excellent book. Interesting read. Inspiring call to action.

I read a lot, but I almost never pin my husband down to read him sections of a book. When I was reading Totem Salmon, I couldn't help it. I kept saying, "Listen to this one." I owned a home in the Mattole River Watershed in the late 70's and early 80's. I was amazed at how well Freeman House captures the essence of the area and the people without caricaturing either. Over and over he writes a few sentences which really "get it right" in explaining the landscape, the weather or the people of the area. This is not an easy "how-to" book on bringing back the salmon, but it brings out why it is worth the effort for as long as it takes.

Briefly...as an environmentalist from both the non-profit, agency and barefoot,dreadlocked worlds I really appreciated this book. The author brings out the complexity and poetry of the technical, natural and spiritual mosaic involved in watershed work in the northwest (and eveywhere for that matter). For anyone who has ever (or even never) been through similar experiences that the author describes, it brings shivers up the spine with the descriptive imagery and his obvious intimacy with the Mattole. I highly recommend this book.

The book is a first-person account telling the story of a group of people who have dedicated themselves to rehabbing a river, a watershed, and saving some special strains of wild Pacific salmon stock. They decided to use salmon-hatchery technology (and other procedures) as a way to learn from the native salmon, rather than to introduce non-native species to their river. Freeman House is a truly impressive thinker and writer. His engaging intelligence is not just wide and deep, like a rockclimber his awareness gets into some unfamiliar and little-explored crevices of life - nature and human nature. House and his cohorts are questers who may ultimately discover something as important as did William Harvey or Sir Albert Howard. I'm tempted to call the book a riveting read, but the experience is warmer than that metaphor implies. It's hopeful. A strangely wise book.

From "Totem Salmon - Life Lessons from Another Species" by Freeman House -

"My straining senses slow down the sound so that each of its parts can be heard separately. A hiss, barely perceptible, as the fish muscles itself right out of its living medium; silence like a dozen monks pausing too long between the strophes of a chant as the creature arcs through the dangerous air; a crash as of a basketball going through a plate glass window as he or she returns to the velvet embrace of the water; and then a thousand tiny bells struck once only as the shards of water fall and the surface of the stream regains its viscous integrity."

"I flick on my headlamp and the whole backwater pool seems to leap toward me. The silver streak that crosses the enclosure in an instant is a flash of lightning within my skull, one which heals the wound that has separated me from this moment -- from any moment. The encounter is so perfectly complex, timeless, and reciprocal that it takes on an objective reality of its own. I am able to walk around it as if it were a block of carved stone. If my feelings could be reduced to a chemical formula, the experience would be a clear solution made up of equal parts of dumb wonder and clean exhilaration, colored through with a sense of abiding dread. I could write a book about it."

And here it is.

The Mattole River, where this story takes place, flows from the northwestern tip of California's Mendocino County, first a dozen miles northeast and then about sixty miles northwest through remote rural Humboldt County to its mouth at Petrolia. What keeps the river from reaching the Pacific Ocean any sooner is the King Range rising precipitously from the "Lost Coast", a stretch of beach frequented only by hikers and the occasional small plane.

Getting to the Mattole from the freeway is at least an hour's drive on winding country roads. This area, like much of Humboldt County, was logged in the fifties and sixties, and in the late sixties and seventies a substantial portion of it was sold to urban refugees, "reinhabitants". Over the next three decades, quite a few of them committed to the task of restoring the watershed to health. Two of these were David Simpson and Freeman House who together conceived and founded the Mattole Watershed Salmon Support Group. "Totem Salmon" tells the story of this work.

Salmon are an indicator species. Their health, as a population, closely tracks the health of the watershed to which they return. If you want to know how well a river valley is doing in the Pacific Northwest, look at the salmon runs, if there are any left. The principal enemy of the salmon is silt, produced by erosion usually from badly built roads and culverts, and from logging. Salmon need clean gravel in the streambed for eggs to survive and hatch. Well forested valleys with little erosion provide the best stream habitat for hatching and rearing salmon.

In 1950, before logging, it is recalled by the older Mattole valley residents, that, when they were running, "you could walk across the river on the backs of the salmon". In 1980, before restoration work began, the runs were down to perhaps 200 fish. More, those fish were the last wild salmon run in the state.

Looking back after reading the book, one could see the first phrase, "I am alone...", as a key to the work. Rooted in an explicit sense of self, spiraling out through sensory subtleties of immediate nature, to the larger cultural complexities, Mr. House melds what are usually seen as distinct worlds into a coherent portrait of a personal and multi-species reality. Like the salmon traversing the several worlds of ocean, river, air and creek, the personal, philosophical, cultural, historical, administrative, ecological, and cosmic threads are finely woven into a narrative yielding a shimmering presence of spirit and nature.

The book is a deeply enjoyable memoir of a long personal relationship with salmon. Along the way we see the history of the Euro-American relationship with this species, and that of the Native-American people who were here managing these watersheds long before. We learn of the state and federal administrative context of salmon management and the history of our, first, ignorance, and then, study of the anadromous species and their rivers. In clear and moving images, and with affection and humor, we see the people on the Mattole River who have joined hands for eighteen years to rescue this last wild run of salmon from extinction. Lastly we see the hopeful results and the tenuous circumstances of their work.

We might expect it to be a text for salmon restoration, and while the specifics are there they are widely scattered throughout the book. More attention is given to the wider question of how we got here, and how we can get through this to a more wholesome, rooted, and appreciative life in our particular place. If it is a text -- and Mr. House would say it is not -- it is a meta-instructional one, showing a way to become a people who will do the right thing for the watershed and thus for the salmon. The personal explorations in the book demonstrate by example the message beneath the text: by immersing ourselves in the reality of our local valley we can rescue both the health of our watersheds and our sense of ourselves. In the end, we see that they are the same journey; the salmon reflect to us our understanding of self and place.

The epilogue quotes Paul Schell, Mayor of Seattle, "Ironically, as we work to save the salmon, it may turn out that the salmon save us."

This book sets out resources, ideas, and materials which could prove to be useful in identifying Civil War-era ancestors. It helped me quite a bit, although I was lucky enough to find other resources not identified in this book. Without this book the job would have been, at the very least, far more time-consuming and difficult.

A little thin, but most of what you'll need is here.

My father purchased a Civil War era pistol engraved with the name of the owner and his regiment. He turned to me and my years of genealogical research experience to help him find information on the gun's owner. I was at a loss because I had avoided the maze of military research, not knowing the how's and where's. Well, not any more! Bertram Groene's "Tracing Your Civil War Ancestor" answered years of questions I've had in a clear, concise and very readable book. Not only do I now know where to find information for my father, but I can delve into the military background of my Civil War ancestors and my Revolutionary War ancestors. Anyone who served in innumerable wars can be found using Groene's book. A must have for your library because you're bound to have a vet.

This book will be invaluable to any genealogist, even the very experienced. Groene tells you where to begin, where to write, where to go, and what to look for. Includes instructions to identify and verify Civil War-era weapons and accoutrements for interested collectors.

Packed full of information if your serious about your Civil War Ancestors this is the book to get. I found it very helpful on how to obtain information on my ancestors, most of them confederates!!! I would reccomend this book very highly.

There are thousands of volumes of information about the U.S. Civil War. There are even entire libraries specializing on the subject. So where do you begin?

Groene provides an excellent launching point by describing the most significant U.S. Civil War references, and he suggests not only where to search but how.

He goes into considerable detail on how to use the 128-volume Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies in the War of the Rebellion (OR) reference, and it 31-volume naval counterpart (ORN). He also suggests resources for regimental histories that will help you trace the histories of higher-ranking officers and get information covering everything from the regiment's mustering to the disbanding of its survivors.

There's a large section in the book devoted to identifying U.S. Civil War equipment and researching the backgrounds of its owners. Groene shares his own research experiences regarding how a name on a sword or pistol has often lead to the discovery of an interesting chain of events.

This book is ideal whether you are a genealogist, a U.S. Civil War historian or a weapons collector.

A fantastic book about the fastest growing area of DVD releases at the moment, TV series! With breakdowns of cast and guides to the best episodes and releases I only hope enough credit goes to the website [...] who helped TV Guide put this book together!

Fantastic resource for anyone who likes watching reruns and is interested in contemporary tv culture. There are loads of forgotten facts in this book for all the classic tv shows and new ones for current programs. This is an inheritently readable book that belongs next to everyone's tv!

The descriptions of the shows are priceless--they brought back so many memories! And the guide covers a lot of shows that are new or still running, like 24 and ER. I'm not even a serious DVD collector, but the book gives great trivia about all my favorite shows (when they aired, what the names of the original stars were, which episodes went down in TV history). This book is really a history of TV in America, and it covers so many different categories that it really does solve the gift problem for just about everyone on my Christmas list. They won't be able to read just one or two of the listings; once they start in, the trivia will have them hooked. It's organized like a reference book, but It reads like an entertainment magazine.

If you are a tv junkie like me, this book is a blast. It's a handy offline reference to all the shows now available on DVD, and it's filled with lots of trivia and lists. Be ready to shop because the book will make you want to buy even more DVDs for your home library...

This book isn't perfect (I'd rather have more pictures of DVD set covers than old TV Guide covers, for instance, and the descriptions are a bit dry in places), but it IS cool to have a handy-dandy reference like this to use when you can't get online to look up the info. Good to take to the store or keep next to the TV. And if you read the fine print, you'll see that this book was made with the help of data from TVshowsonDVD.com, which is the best place I've seen online for that sort of info. Cool 'dat, and maybe for the next edition of the book TV Guide will work more with that website's staff to talk more about what's new, what's not out (any hints as to why), and what's expected to come soon. You know, show more of the TV-DVD enthusiast in this book...there's a lot of us out here!