Conferences Books

This is the perfect book for any SEC fan. I couldn't put it down and I plan to give it as a gift to all of my friends.

Written by Sam King
Advocate Sportswriter
10/29/2002

GOOD READ: "SEC Sports Quotes," a book of quotes compiled by Chris Warner, is a good read for sports fans in general and LSU fans in particular. LSU Athletic Director Skip Bertman, often quoted in the book, might say it would also be a good book in Starkville -- if it was all pictures. Bertman, who joked about Starkville and Mississippi State in his years as a baseball coach, is quoted often in the book. A couple: "Starkville is an Indian word for trailer park. "In Starkville, there is only one beauty parlor and they only give estimates." Present Tigers baseball coach Smoke Laval gets in his shot. "Who's the loneliest man in Starkville? The Tooth Fairy." Actually, Bertman loves Starkville and may soon have LSU fans parking their motor homes there and being bused to games in Tiger Stadium. - Sam King, The Advocate

Written by Greg Langley
Book Editor, Baton Rouge Advocate
02/12/2003

Sports zingers Sports fans may enjoy local author Chris Warner's latest effort, a compilation of quotes from Southeastern Conference sports notables, SEC Sports Quotes (CEW Enterprises, [$$$]paperback). The book is a reminder that some of the best wits in America have been, and are, coaches and players. Take LSU athletic director Skip Bertman's observations on Starkville, Miss., the hometown of rival Mississippi State. "In Starkville there is only one beauty parlor, and they only give estimates," Bertman zings. And: "Starkville is an Indian word for trailer park." And: "NASA is moving the space program to Starkville because it has no atmosphere." Current LSU baseball coach Smoke Laval pokes a little fun at Mississippi State too: "Who's the loneliest man in Starkville? The Tooth Fairy." Of course the current master of the one-liner is South Carolina coach Lou Holtz, who said, "The man who complains about the way the ball bounces is likely the one who dropped it." He also said, "The only time you can start at the top is when you're digging a hole." But the one man most associated with football in the Southeast was Bear Bryant, former Alabama head football coach. There are plenty of gems from Bryant in this collection, but none more revealing than "Be good, or be gone." This is an enjoyable collection that will provide fodder for many an after-dinner speaker. Some of these quotes may even end up in Sunday sermons, but most of them will be repeated on Saturdays in football season. Greg Langley, The Baton Rouge Advocate, 2002

Written by Greg Langley
Book Editor, Baton Rouge Advocate

Sports zingers - Sports fans may enjoy Baton Rouge author Chris Warner's latest effort, a compilation of quotes from Southeastern Conference sports notables, SEC Sports Quotes (CEW Enterprises, $...paperback). The book is a reminder that some of the best wits in America have been, and are, coaches and players. Take LSU athletic director Skip Bertman's observations on Starkville, Miss., the hometown of rival Mississippi State. "In Starkville there is only one beauty parlor, and they only give estimates," Bertman zings. And: "Starkville is an Indian word for trailer park." And: "NASA is moving the space program to Starkville because it has no atmosphere." Current LSU baseball coach Smoke Laval pokes a little fun at Mississippi State too: "Who's the loneliest man in Starkville? The Tooth Fairy." Of course the current master of the one-liner is South Carolina coach Lou Holtz, who said, "The man who complains about the way the ball bounces is likely the one who dropped it." He also said, "The only time you can start at the top is when you're digging a hole." But the one man most associated with football in the Southeast was Bear Bryant, former Alabama head football coach. There are plenty of gems from Bryant in this collection, but none more revealing than "Be good, or be gone." This is an enjoyable collection that will provide fodder for many an after-dinner speaker. Some of these quotes may even end up in Sunday sermons, but most of them will be repeated on Saturdays in football season. Greg Langley, The Baton Rouge Advocate, 2002

I am a big SEC fan but I never knew that some of this stuff was said. Skip Bertman is really hard on Starkville in this book, but it's a real entertaining and easy read, especially if you are on a trip. I bought it in an airport bookstore and I finished it on a flight from Atlanta to New Orleans. This book should be a must-have for any SEC fan. I HIGHLY recommend it as a coffee table gift.

A very important book ! If the greatest mind in the history of Western Civilation (i.e. St Thomas Aquinas) read it every day and always had it with him what more needs to be said ?

. . .is known for its critical editions of Patristic and Early Medieval writings. Again the series trumps with the addition of this title.

"The Conferences" of John Cassian are perhaps some of the most powerful commentaries on the eremetical, monastic, and spiritual ways of life ever written -- and they are all too often left unappreciated in today's world. This was not always the case. The great saints, monastics and mystics of the medieval period read and respected this work extremely highly.

The "Conferences", set up as though Cassian was in dialogue with the great hermits of his day (and in some cases, perhaps he actually was) deal with the various issues, choices, and crises which beset all Christians -- not merely those to whom the grace of the religious life has been given.

This is a book to be digested slowly, one "conference" at a time and to be meditated upon -- not to be rushed through.

Highly recommended.

Of all my books, this is my most important - the one I keep by my bed just to open up and read. It is filled with post-it tabs.

I agree with all said in other reviews. But for me, it is not the sort of book one reads cover to cover. It is a source for spiritual nourishment, guidance and encouragement on an as needed basis.

This is the complete text of all 24 of John Cassian's Conferences, some of which are translated for the very first time. This text could be, and indeed was, considered the advanced text on living the Christian life. While the stories of the desert fathers may sound daunting, their thoughts, as transmitted (and certainly adapted) by John Cassian are surprisingly honest, refreshing, and inspirational. These were people who truly sought, and knew God. As Cassian writes in the preface, we can criticize them as being too extreme, but the evidence of their lives testifies on their behalf. Virtually every aspect of life is covered here in some way, as Cassian relates his "conferences" with various monks in the deserts of Egypt. This book is so refreshing and stirring, especially given the "junk food" spirituality that most modern Christian publishers pump out. This way is not simple or quick, but it does point to a fuller life. All those who say they follow Christ should give this a read.

(...)

The Conferences is the Christianity I always thought should exist but could never find amongst the writings and preachings of Western Christianity. It's a practical approach to the type of self improvement implicit in the sayings of Jesus. It is so much more useful to my own peace of mind and spiritual improvement than anything I've ever heard from a modern Christian pulpit that I can only lament not finding it many years ago.

"I Believe In Love" . . . reading the writings and words and thoughts of Saint Therese herself is one of the most spiritually transforming experiences anyone can have . . . after reading her and letting her speak to our hearts and souls, a book like this one offered as a "life retreat and guide" by Pere Jean du Coeur de Jeses D'Elbee helps us to allow her "little way" to find spiritual resonance in our lives. No one will actually "say it better" than did Saint Therese herself, but meditation on her understanding of God and herself . . . of God and "us" . . . and how that relationship might be lived, can open our minds to see OUR OWN LIVES from her perspective and vantage point.

Saint Therese discovered after a longing search her "vocation" - "to be love in the heart of the Church". So she believed in Love . . . God is love . . . and Therese would become also "love in the heart of the Church" . . . so she learned to believe in both God and herself -- or more appropriately to believe in herself abandoned to God . . . abandoned to love . . . abandoned to TRUST in that love. . . and so to become changed and transformed herself by that love into that love. (She made the leap of faith to abandon her doubts and entrust them to the confidence that is trust in "love" -- trust in love.

This small volume presents to us Saint Therese's spiritual learned lessons so that we can ourselves benefit from them in the present contect of our lives, wherever we happen to find ourselves, whatever our situation, whatever our condition.

"Love in the heart of the Church" is what The Little Flower wanted to become . . . and this author places her "Little Way" right there: in the heart of the Church . . . in the heart of the Gospel . . . and allows her to have her place in our own hearts as well.

I Beleive in Love is a wonderful find for the soul aspiring to reach heaven. It explains things about certain struggles in the spiritual life that is seldom found except in good spiritual direction. Abandonment, Detachment and complete Trust are the essence of union with His will. Very uplifting and challenging, yet extremely simple and so full love! It is more than worth the price and trouble to find it.

One of the previous Amazon reviewers of this book wrote the following:

"And I may add that for the anxious or depressed- this book is a sure remedy."

That is absolutely correct, for the following reason: Anxiety and depression are actually maladies of the heart with SPIRITUAL origins, not "diseases" of the emotions, or "chemical imbalances," as secular psychology and psychiatry would falsely have one believe. These impoverished worldy outlooks cannot diagnose the origins of these maladies accurately, nor can they offer a cure. Quite the contrary, they pose serious obstacles to realizing the only true cure, which consists in the complete abandonment of oneself to the love of Christ, as revealed on the Cross.

Since the cause of these maladies is ultimately spiritual in nature, so too must be the cure, and I BELIEVE IN LOVE is a very good articulation of what this cure involves. The cure essentially consists in the unreserved abandonment of oneself, and of all one's earthly hopes, to God. It is important here to be clear as to what this means: It is NOT the case that one is called to suppress these eartly hopes unnaturally, or to live under the false pretense that these eartly hopes do not really exist. Rather, the book insists that one make them all conditional - EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM, including both the deepest longings of the heart for earthly goods, as well as the most basic physical needs of earthly life. One must be fully willing to make the realization of ALL of them entirey subject to the Loving Providence of God.

This attitude goes hand in hand with a view of suffering and death that is bereft of fear, and that regards both merely as the passageway to eternal happiness in the presence of God. This notion, while profoundly true, is something very radical and alien in today's cultural milieu, which is fundamentally oriented towards avoiding the subject of death entirely, and towards encouraging people to distract themselves from their suffering through the indulgence in and consumption of needless and empty material frivolities.

In view of these considerations, those who aspire to embrace the outlook articulated in this book must be aware that it takes a great deal of courage to do so. There are many elements of what the book counsels that would be met with antagonism and hostility by the false paradigms of secular psychology and psychiatry, and would be seen by them as "masochistic," "psycho-pathological," and the like. Since this type of erroneous thinking pervades our culture to the point of being almost as ubiquitous as the air we breathe, even in many ostensibly Christian settings, these types of false accusations against the true Christian Way that is articulated in this book must be aggressively resisted. As I say, carrying this out takes a considerable amount of courage, especially when one is in a weakened condition due to the very types of anxiety and depression that secular psychology and psychiatry falsely claim to diagnose accurately.

This book helped me to take my spiritual life to a whole new level. It allowed me to leave behind all feelings of guilt or inadequacy, and enter into a relationship with God that helped me to attain true joy.

I can now add a third book to my list of all time favorites for their profound influence on my life. "I Believe in Love" ranks right up there with The Bible and Fulton Sheen's "Life of Christ". What I have been taught for nearly 5 decades of my life has finally become real in my heart and soul. In this Jubilee Year with its emphasis on the Eucharist, the chapter on that topic can stand alone and is worth the price of the book in itself. And I may add that for the anxious or depressed- this book is a sure remedy.

We were so pleased to be able to purchase A Passover Haggadah by Herbert Bronstein on amazon.com. The original haggadahs we owned were bought over 25 years ago and had, quite literally, fallen apart. Our family has used these haggadahs at every Passover seder since that time and we would have been distraught if we could not continue the tradition.

Luckily, my wife found these on your website and our family was delighted we could continue our seders with our beloved haggadahs.

Gender neutral language. Based in Right-to-Left format. Lots of English leader-and-group responsive readings. Contains Hebrew sections with English translations, and also transliterations for the primary blessings. The Four Questions are not transliterated, but are in English and Hebrew. The Four Children are children, not SONS. Dayenu is in Hebrew and English, no transliteration. There is a full Grace After Meals in Hebrew and Hallel is in Hebrew and English. Contains 25 pages of music.

The art work in this Haggadah is enough to justify its purchase. The Hebrew is translated thoroughly and I assume faithfully (but how would I know). I have always found it very satisfactory for my seders that include adults and children of diverse faiths and non-faiths. If I were to improve it, I would place some of the songs that are at the back of the book at the portion of the service where it is appropriate to sing them (Dayenu, for instance).

This book is great. The language is poetic and powerful. It is even gender-inclusive and socially conscious without seeming new-agey. The illustrations are beautiful and dreamy. This haggadah is very versatile and provides a lot of choices for planning your Seder.

Our extended family has tried out other haggadot, but we always come back to this one. The gender-sensitive language is done very well -- it doesn't stick out at all. The book is a work of art!

Hadassah Magazine Review-January 2002

Wannsee House and the Holocaust
by Steven Lehrer (McFarland, 196 pp. $32.50)

For most of the years after January 20, 1942, the three-story villa at Am Grossen Wannsee 56-58, on the shore of Berlin's popular recreation lake, was a footnote in the accounts of the Holocaust. Finally it merits its own book.

Steven Lehrer, a radiation therapist, has documented the history of the infamous site where the Third Reich officially implemented the Final Solution. His book is a companion piece to his forthcoming Hitler Sites (McFarland), which is a historical guide to 150 places in Germany, Austria and France associated with the life of Adolf Hitler.

Wannsee House traces the villa's background from its construction in 1914 by a prosperous Berlin merchant and its sale in 1921 to a right-wing industrialist to its purchase by Gestapo chief Reinhard Heydrich with plundered Jewish money as a vacation spa for Nazi security police. Ultimately, it was the location for the conference at which genocide was plotted.

"'God will give him blood to drink!' was the curse of a man hanged for witchcraft that fell upon the inhabitants of Nathaniel Hawthorne's House of The Seven Gables," Dr. Lehrer writes in his introduction. "The Wannsee Villa bears a certain eerie resemblance to Hawthorne's fictional creation, its inhabitants cursed by the evil period of German history to which the house stood witness."

The book, organized as a series of tightly written vignettes, emphasizes that the Wannsee Conference was not the administrative genesis of the Nazis' plans to annihilate European Jewry. Rather, it coordinated and consolidated what was already under way. "By the time of the Wannsee Conference...the Einsatz groups, operating behind the army frontlines, had murdered more than half a million people. Thus there was no need of a decision at the conference to commit mass murder. The Wannsee Conference facilitated the killing."

After World War II, the house became a center for political seminars, then a youth hostel. Fifty years later the building was inaugurated as a historical memorial. In its halls are photographs of Nazi persecution; one room is dedicated to Auschwitz.
The German decision to make the Wannsee house a shrine to victims is another part of the society's effort to remember its past. This book ensures that Wannsee will not be forgotten. --Steve Lipman.

Acknowledgments; List of Illustrations; Introduction;

I. The Wannsee Villa and Fritz Haber

II. Friedrich Minoux Buys the Wannsee Villa and Enters Politics

III. Aryanization, Friedrich Minoux, and the Plundering of the German Jews

IV. Friedrich Minoux Defrauds the Berlin Gas Company

V. Reinhard Heydrich and the Nordhav Foundation

VI. Planning to Murder the Jews of Europe

VII. Ordinary Germans, the Catholic Church, and the Holocaust

VIII. The Wannsee Villa After the Wannsee Conference

Appendix A. A Jew Defined; Appendix B. Letters; Appendix C. The Wannsee Protocol; Appendix D. Biographies of Wannsee Conference Participants; Appendix E. Eichmann's Testimony in Jerusalem About the Conference; Appendix F. Notes on the Film "The Wannsee Conference";

Chapter Notes

Bibliography

Index

by Steve Lipman The New York Jewish Week July 27, 2001. The language brought Dr. Steven Lehrer to Germany nearly 30 years ago. A radiologist, he had studied German in school, had become fluent, and wanted to see the country.

"I just had a fascination with it because of what happened there," says Lehrer. It means the Holocaust.

The Upper West Side resident kept going back because of curiosity. And because of his books.

"Wannsee House and the Holocaust," which describes the background of the villa on a Berlin lake where the Final Solution was plotted by a small group of Nazi leaders in early 1942, was published recently by McFarland & Co., a small firm in North Carolina. "Hitler Sites," a historical guide to some 150 places in Germany, Austria and France associated with Adolf Hitler's life and career, will appear later this year. It's also being published by McFarland.

Lehrer, 56, who works at the VA Hospital in the Bronx and teaches at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan, calls both books the first in English on their topics.

His name on the Wannsee book identifies him only as Steven Lehrer - no Dr. "My medical degree didn't exactly relate to this [subject]," he says.

Working first at a typewriter, then later at a computer, Lehrer has written six books since 1979 on such topics as great medical discoveries, cancer treatments, and examining patients by their heart and lung sounds. He also wrote an introduction to a reissued collection of stories by American adventurer-hunter Frank Buck.

"I guess I'm interested in different things," Lehrer, a Los Angeles native, explains.

His interest in the Holocaust, in how a society where Jews apparently were fully integrated could produce the most-systematic genocide in history, sent him back to Germany some 15 times.

How? One answer, the doctor says, is the people. As a Jew - with a German-sounding name - Lehrer says he felt anti-Semitism, in Germans' eyes and in their words, wherever he traveled. "It hasn't changed at all" since World War II, he says.

First Lehrer did the "Hitler Sites" book. He visited the houses and the schools and the homeless shelters and the infamous Munich beer hall and the Berlin bunker where The Fuehrer supposedly died.

"It's difficult for people to understand how he did what he did," Lehrer says. "If you actually go and see these places" - many of them places of poverty - "you see what made him so angry and bitter. You see the level of anti-Semitism that still exists in these places."

The Wannsee book grew out of his research for the sites book. Lehrer toured Wannsee, a government-administered Holocaust memorial since 1992, five times. "Everything there was in German," discouraging foreign visitors. He couldn't find a book in English about the building and its history. So he decided to write one.

"I felt this was a place American Jews should know about," he says.

Based on research from more than a dozen German books and the on-line archives of German newspapers, he relates the history of the villa, the fates of the 15 participants in the Jan. 20, 1942 conference, and the largely unknown story of a Holocaust survivor who lobbied for the site's designation as a national monument.

The book reads like fiction.

"I like to tell a story," Lehrer says. "I've always been a great admirer of Barbara Tuchman," the late Pulitzer Prize-winning historian who related historical events through the eyes of their participants. "I've tried to use her approach."

Lehrer's next project is a study of "Jewish entertainers in the Holocaust." That means more trips back to Germany. "I have a reason," he says.

Lehrer doesn't encourage his readers to visit the places he has visited. "I think reading about it is enough."

This book about Wannsee is a welcome surprise. It begins in the 1800s, with the financial machinations of those who would ultimately build it, the skullduggery of at least one man who inhabited it (and paid the ultimate price), this appears to be a conglomeration of writings by the author...and cleverly assembled into a single tale of people, their frailties, and the Jewish home that became the ultimate scene of the so-called Wannseee Conference (20 Jan 1942) where the Final Solution was announced by SS-Obergrueppenfuehrer Reinhard Heydrich to others of the government functionaries, the Old Guard, and senior officials of the Wehrmacht. While others have focused on that event, this book provides and illuminating context (written by a man named Lehrer, "teacher" in German, ironically). Any individual interested in the Holocaust, the development of the Third Reich from the decimation of Germany following the Treaty of Versailles, will find deep earth to uncover in this beguiling and deceptively short volume. Most highly recommended!

Although Hitler's extermination of the Jews was well under way by the end of 1941, it was at the Wannsee Conference, January 20, 1942, that Reinhard Heydrich, chief of the Reich Security Service, officially announced the Nazi party's pursuit of Hitler's infamous "final solution." This conference was held at a luxurious villa known as the Wannsee House, and both the house and the conference have a complicated and fascinating history, which unfolded as economic and political events drew together wealthy German businessmen and powerful political figures in sometimes surprising ways. This book traces that history from 1914-the year that saw the foundations laid for both the house and the Holocaust-to the present. Appendices provide a wealth of historical documents including the Reich's rules "defining" Jews, letters from Reich Security Service officials providing early documentary evidence of the Holocaust, and a transcript of Adolf Eichmann's 1961 court testimony regarding the Wannsee Conference.

What a beautiful and fascinating book! For anyone at all connected with the art world or with an interest in portraiture, this book is required reading. Greenfield-Sanders is a master of his genre, and presents a true and engrossing cross section of the people who shape and have shaped our culture over the past twenty-five or so years. His vision is direct and brilliant in its simplicity, and this group of photographs will be one of the most important of its kind for the twentieth century and beyond. In short: get this book!

A monumental undertaking to create so many great images. This book belongs in everyone's collection.

I'm in one of the group shots in this book, so I'm an interested party, but even if I weren't I'd have to say that these are the definitive portraits of so many of my contemporaries (both famous and not or not yet famous) that a collection of them is long overdue. The printing and binding quality of this book, and its "bonus material" (essays, chronology, etc.), also help make it a necessary addition to any self-respecting art library. Five stars.

Timothy Greenfield-Sanders is one of the great photographers of our age, and this extraordinary book of portraits places him among the true geniuses of the medium. These are more than great pictures; they expose the vibrant truth of their subjects. The portrait of William Burroughs, for example, is possibly the most brilliantly revealing study of a writer ever made. It is a shocking, even terrifying, achievement, because it reveals more of a man than one would have thought possible. This profound book is a journey in the deep forest of the human soul.

On my 2008 thru-hike attempt of the Trail (I had to go home because of my knees) I bought both the Data Book and the Thru-Hikers' Companion. I wound up taking the Companion with me and leaving the Data Book at home. There wasn't much of anything in the Data Book that wasn't in the Companion, and the latter had much more detailed and useful information.

When I do it again I'll take the Companion along with the extremely detailed section guidebooks for each section, which would have helped me out in a few circumstances this time around.

My daughter started hiking the Appalachian Trail on 3/16/08 and as a mother I was extremely worried about her hiking 2175 miles with just her dogs. But with this book, I realize what an amazing journey it will be for her. She has made an amazing number of friends along the way. I feel more secure in knowing that there are well-spaced shelters along the entire trail and help readily available if necessary.

I've been collecting these books since I hiked the trail in 2000, and this edition is every bit as useful as the others. It's small and lightweight, which means you should carry it with you the whole way. When I went thru, I only carried the pages I needed ripped out of the book to save a little weight - and now I regret that I did. You should carry the whole book, mark your mileage in the margins and whitespace, where you meet people, etc. It'll be a great memento after you're done.

The one suggestion I would have to the designers is to leave a little more margin room for writing.

The picture on the cover of this 30th edition is also one of the best in recent years. It's a picture of Whitetop Mountain in Virgina - covered in snow.

Good luck to anyone going thru this year!

-Bullfrog GA-ME 2000

The Appalachian Trail Data Book, updated annually, has proven time and time again to be the indispensable Guidebook for those contemplating spending any length of time hiking on the A.T. Among thru-hikers, (those attempting to hike the entire Trail in one continuous journey) the book's usage approaches 100%. This is excellent testament to the worth of this little volume, and it's easy to see why the book carries the imprint of the Appalachian Trail Conference, the organization charged with the care, protection, and maintenance of the Trail.

In an easy-to-read format, the Data Book contains everything the hiker needs to know in order to plan their day's travels, and in order to know what lies ahead of them. It'll tell you where shelters and established campsites are located; where principal water sources can be found; where road crossings and towns are located; and where primary stores, re-supply sources, and lodging places are located. Other works, most notably the Applachian Trail Thru-Hikers' Companion, will provide more detailed information on these matters, but it is the Data Book that is the work used most frequently on a day-to-day basis by those actually hiking the Trail. Also, the fact that editor Daniel Chazin meticulously updates and fact-checks the book each year in order to take into account changes on the Trail, ensures the hiker that this is the most accurate work of its sort on the market.

A key addition and improvement to this year's edition is keying and matching of sections of the Data Book to the official A.T. maps, i.e., the ones used by most hikers. This makes it much easier for the hiker to locate their actual position on the Trail; also, as always, the book's mileage tables are printed in order to facilitate simple reading by both Northbound AND Southbound hikers, so it can be used by everyone, regardless of the direction of their hike.

In short, if you're going to spend any serious ammount of time on the Trail, this little book will prove to be incredibly useful to you, tho one may well wish to purchase other works with "expanded" information. One should, of course, also use the best maps available, regardless of the length of your intended trip. But if you bring ONE guidebook with you on your trip, bring this one.

In a few weeks, I'll be leaving to hike, for the seventh time, the Trail in its entirety. I would not think of setting out without a copy of the 2002 A.T. Data Book, and neither should anyone else.

This book is probably one of the most comprehensive books that I have seen thoroughly equipped event planners use for their events at Alliance Redwoods in Occidental, California. Planning a retreat is no small feat that is easy for first-timers to underestimate. This book eliminates many potential surprises and stresses of planning a retreat for a large group. I highly recommend a book like this for any first time retreat planner as I have experienced some very wonderful retreats that were planned using this book. If you have ever been stressed out or frustrated planning a large retreat, then you will be pleased to know there is a book that shows a detailed, easy to follow, step by step methodology for planning a surprise-free hassle-free Christian Conference.

This book is remarkably well written, easy to read, along with refreshing humor! Helpful to organize any size type of event and maximize the purpose of the event. An absolute must have for every church!

This book is a absolute must for anyone planning a conference or retreat. Applicable for men and women no matter what the size of the event. If you have always wanted to organize an event at your church and never knew how to get started get this book

This helpful book was a great read, and is sure to be a much-referenced item in my library... organized, specific, well-written, and all the details are already thought-out and listed in clear reference sheets for me! I found that the examples, quotes, and details were not limiting but helped me to come up with my own ideas. Although I probably won't be planning a conference for 5,000 anytime soon, this book will help me even with small weekend retreats. Can't wait to get the workbook!

A very worthwhile read. The author has used terrific and verifiable sources for this inspirational daily devotion. Perfect for those of us who don't have much time for reading; yet desire personal growth. These reflections offer depth of insight and encouragement. I highly recommend it.

This volume of readings for a year sets the tone for each week with a reading from the Torah. For each day of the week there is a selection of readings. These readings may be a single sentence, a poem, a paragraph, a teaching tale. They are a variety of traditional Judaica, philosophers, poets, Christians, Hindus, Buddhist, Taoist. They are so well selected that they create a coherent whole not a mishmash and reflect a deep, mature spirituality on the part of the collector. While the weekly cycle may target a Jewish audience, the book is so well put together that it can be recommended for individuals of any religious persuasion.

A concrete example of the variety. For week 28 (Leviticus 14:1-15:33) Sunday: Emily Dickinson, Jacob J. Halevi, Dag Hammarskjold; Monday: psalm, Talmud; Tuesday: psalm, Chasidic, Kenneth Hildebrand, Leigh Hunt; Wednesday: Talmud, Blaise Pascal, Sigrid Undset, Sir Thomas Browne; Thursday: Psalm, Yiddish proverb, Janet Harrison, Archibald Rutledge, Juvenal; Friday: Abba Kovner, Chasidic, Elinor Wylie, Helen Keller; Shabbat: Psalm, Lion Feuchtwanger, Clarence E, Pickett, Booker T. Washington, Albert Camus. Wonderful.

This is a the work of a brilliant man--a compilation of thought and stories, poems and prose from the world's great thinkers and writers. Wonderful for anyone with any interest in contemplation of the great themes of life. Truly spiritual.

I was deeply saddened to learn of the death of Chaim Stern, the editor of this book. He had a profound impact on my life. Through his prayer books and other writings, he has touched millions of people. Please, allow yourself the joy of being touched by his work, and buy this book! He is an inspired man who shares wisdom that will have a lasting impact on you. He was one of the greatest thinkers of our time. His passing is a tragic loss, since he remained so prolific. Yet, his words will live on and on. Please enjoy the richness of this book for years to come, and let his memory and influence continue forever!

This book will help you find out if you are an addict it will teach you the steps and tradition of this fine group of Narcotics annonymous

this book helped save my life, along with a Higher Power,a sponsor, and a 12 step program!!
thanks NA!! (9/17/94)

I am a drug addict and I am 16 years old. I haven't read this cover to cover but I do know that it is a wonderful book and it has helped many of my frinds. I love you Narcotics anonymous.

This book is a must have for the Addict. Recovery is possible by following simple program. This book could save your life.