Projects Books

I would love this book even if I wasn't lucky enough to grace one of its pages (page 82 is myself and a co-worker at Yahoo! Inc. on that night). Alex, your work on this project was beyond imaginable, and the results are incredible!!

To see the world at large on this date, from every country, displayed on the pages of this book is really something wonderful. We are truly a global family, and this has never been more obvious.

I bought copies for everyone for Christmas!

This is a fabulous souvenir of the turning of the millennium. The project is fascinating and the content of the book is highly engaging.

I found myself flipping through the pages for hours.

It made me want to celebrate the millennium all over again.

Fantastic book. Really captured the spirit of entering the new century. Loved the variety of high quality pictures. Even more impressive when I learned that many of the photographers were amateurs.

Dawn of the 21st Century is a phenomenal photographic expression of the 24 hours surrounding the change of the millennium. A tremendous project undertaken by one man(Alx Klive) and his volunteers to collect and cull the best of over a quarter of a million pictures taken by thousands of photographers as the millennium dawned over a year ago. The pictures, however, remain timeless and serve to remind us what a wonderful art photography is for capturing an eternal moment. I'm proud to have been chosen as one of the Millennium Photo Project photographers and hope that you enjoy the book as much as we enjoyed producing it.

I first heard about this project through a colleague in the publishing industry. Apparently this renegade group of people (from Toronto I think) put together this whole thing completely on their own, after everyone in the publishing industry turned them down. They went ahead with it anyway and organized the whole thing on the Internet using amateur and enthusiast photographers from around the world. I was skeptical of what the final quality would be like but decided to order one to see for myself. I have to say I was blown away when the book arrived in the post. The pictures are astounding and very very different from any photography book I've ever seen before. They are incredibly 'real' - that's the best way I can think of describing it. Lots of ordinary people getting ready to go out, meeting up with old friends, celebrating at home, praying and so on. Basically the book is a visual feast that focuses heavily on the human experience. It is simply fascinating to see how different people from all different cultures and backgrounds celebrated the same event. My favourite photo is of a Masai tribesman standing on the plains of Kenya, where the human species is thought to have first evolved. It is a stunning and poignant image that should perhaps have been considered for the cover. But that is only a very minor criticism of what is overall an astounding achievement. The top art book publishers in the world (Phaidon? Taschen?) would have been immensely proud to have put a book like this together. The fact that a bunch of amateurs did it on their own makes it all the more remarkable. Whoever in the publishing industry turned this project done must have been out of their minds. Kudos to the sheer guts of the people who went ahead and did it anyway! Bravo!

I have all of Helen Gibb's books. They are beautiful to look at, as well as excellent tools for learning. Making beautiful ribbon flowers is a very satisfying hobby.

I always read the reviews before buying and almost didn't purchase this book because of the one bad review. I am so glad that I got this book. It is fabulous from beginning to end. The pictures and projects are virtually stunning. I already have Helen's book: Ribbonwork, the Complete Guide. It has a lot of illustrations while this book opens up your mind to vast possibilities. It is worth the purchase if not just to gaze in wonderment.

This little book holds many, many instructions and pictures to show you how to make a wide variety of ribbons. It covers miniature ribbons, full size ribbons and a large offering of uses. The photos inside the book are informative and beautiful. There are many photos of historical uses of ribbon.

This book is terrific. It gives you very clear instructions on how to make gorgeous flowers. I saw Ms. Gibb on Carol Duval's show and wanted to learn the technique and I am so glad that I ordered her books.

I am an accomplished ribbon artist for several years now. I have books by several artists and my very favorite artist is Helen Gibb. I have learned so much from her. This bookElegant Ribbonwork is
absolutely luscious, with loads of new projects.. I can't wait to read it through and then start playing with my ribbons (I've already flipped through all the pictures - Hope I didn't drool on any of the pages).

Bravo, Helen!

Having worked on the Apollo launches at Kennedy, I was most interested in reading this book, as most of my interest to date has been with the history of the space program, not lunar geology which I admit I knew nothing about.

Mr. Harland does a very good job in bringing the surface explorations to life, and if I didn't know better, I would have thought he was a third astronaut taking notes while the other 2 went about their tasks. It is that detailed, yet still fascinating to read.

He has also done an excellent job in reproducing the photos. The quality is better than I have ever seen. He even went to great pains to remove all the crosshairs. A previous reviewer complained about the small photos, but the 40th Anniversary Edition is chock full of full page photos, many in color.

Also included are specs of all the manned missions and descriptions of all the other unmanned recon missions that went before.

If you want details of the entire missions, look elsewhere, but if you want to know what happened after touchdown, this is the book.

OK, I admit it:I'm an Apollo nut, and author of two space book titles myself.But this book is the best thing written on the lunar missions since Andy Chaikin's "A Man on the Moon." With intense detail and great narrative of the geological science behind the missions, as well as records of the collected samples, it's the best thing I have seen on the moonwalks.

Note: This is a very enjoyable read, but not a casual one. You should be prepared to invest some time into the process. Otherwise you will not reap the full benefit of this very enjoyable book.

At last,a book about the Apollo missions that does not dwell on Buzz's drinking, one-small-steps or the "unfolding human near-tragedy" that was Apollo 13. These are all great topics but they have been done to death. What Harland has done is chronicle the real reason - well, it later became the real reason - that Nasa went to the Moon. Once the euphoria ofbeating the Russians had worn off, six missions were sent to explore the surface of another planet. One failed, but the 10 men who followed in Aldrin's and Armstrong's footsteps managed to revolutionise our knowledge about the big white disc in the sky. Most of what they did was geology - so there are plenty of rocks here. If you don't know your pyroxenes from your olivines you might struggle a bit, but there is a helpful glossary. You are struck by just how damn hard these men worked in the precious hours and days they had on the lunar surface. there is human drama in this book, but it is in the imagined sweat and tears that must have been exuded to get these results. Finally, you are left reeling by the tragedy of "what might have been". Apollos 18-thru-20 were cancelled, and the Saturn 5s that were to carry further lunar missions now sit rusting in a Nasa carpark. As Harland points out, "they got bored with exploring another planet".

If you are interested in the Moon, or simply in why humanity goes into space, read this book.

David Harland's book is one of the finest I have ever seen on the Apollo program or on Solar System exploration in general. Getting beyond the techincal aspects of spaceflight, the spacecraft or the astronauts' personalities which have been done by other authors, this book brings out the excitement of exploration and the discovery of the unknown that the Apollo astronauts participated in. Many people have been exposed to a taste of this in the episode about Apollo 15 in Tom Hanks' excellent television series "From the Earth to the Moon" which showed how, under excellent teachers, the astronauts, coming from a background of engineering and aeronautics, became true scientists and explorers.

It is true that a lot of geological concepts are thrown at the reader from the beginning and those (like myself) who have no previous background in geology might be intimidated but I find that a careful reading of the excellent glossary contained in the book should give enough background to make the science generally accessible. Harland makes clear why the various landing sites were chosen and what the geological issues were that were to be investigated. Traverse maps showing the various geological features to be explored are included for each mission. The many photographs presented illustrate the main discoveries and their significance. Of special note are the panoramas personally assembled by Harland (which are also available on the internet's Apollo Lunar Surface Journal) which give a stunning view of the Lunar environment as the astronauts saw it.

Finally, I strongly urge someone who finds himself becoming more interested in the subject of Lunar geology to also read Don Wilhelm's "To a Rocky Moon" which presents the historical development of our ideas about the Moon up through the famous Kona Conference in 1984 which determined that the Moon was probably created due to a giant body impacting with the fledgling Earth and also Paul Spudis' "The Once and Future Moon" which gives a summary of our state of knowledge up to the mid-1990's and directions for future exploration.

In the last decade no one has been more productive than British writer David M. Harland at turning out histories of spaceflight written for a popular audience. All have similar features, a mastery of the secondary literature, especially that available through the NASA History Series, a digestion of a wealth of scientific and technical information, and an engaging writing style that focuses on narrative rather than analysis. "Exploring the Moon: The Apollo Expeditions" is very much in sync with Harland's earlier works and serves as a useful introduction to the subject. Not a scholarly work--there are no footnotes--but it does have an extensive bibliography. His emphasis in this book is on the work of the six crews of astronauts that landed on the Moon, although there is an opening chapter on the robotic precursors and concluding chapters on Apollo in context and exploration of the Moon in the 1990s.

The heart of this book are the six chapters dealing with the lunar surface activities of Apollo 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17. Harland expends the majority of the books space on the last three of this, and appropriately so because they represented the most significant scientific return of the program. NASA took a building block approach to exploration, something that seems obviously rational now but was not so well accepted at the time, with time on the surface and complexity of the mission advancing with every flight. The last three missions, of course, were extraordinary in collecting superb scientific data about the Moon, its origins, and the evolution of the solar system. Collectively, experiments carried out as a result of Apollo yielded more than 10,000 scientific papers and a major reinterpretation of the origins and evolution of the Moon.

"Exploring the Moon: The Apollo Expeditions" is a solid discussion, if uninspired history of lunar surface activity. Readers should read it in conjunction with two other major sources. The first is NASA's official history of the Apollo lunar surface activities entitled "Where No Man Has Gone Before: A History of Apollo Lunar Exploration Missions," by W. David Compton (Washington, DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration SP-4214, 1989). Is conveniently available on-line for those who do not need a physical copy at http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4214/cover.html. Second, anyone who hopes to understand these missions must read the "Apollo Lunar Surface Journal," the brainchild of Eric Jones. Jones has placed on-line more detailed information about the astronauts on the lunar surface than anyone previously. This is available for all to review at http://history.nasa.gov/alsj/.

This is a story that is more frightening than anything Stephen King has ever writter. It's a realistic 'The Bad News Bears' that will make any reader with an ounce of empathy feel like crying. The harrowing life that the children of the Cabrini projects must endure in their day-to-day existence is a bleak background of violence, drugs, and society gone wrong. The fact that Little League baseball can serve as a beacon for these kids is almost as amazing that a society like ours can let projects like the one depicted in this book exist.

A powerful, important novel, and one that should be read by anyone interested in learning about the differences that exist in our society.

Coyle gave a great story. He was very descriptive. His writing had the affect to make me able to visualize every character and setting. I've spent time in the projects on many occasions' with friends who stay there and I see these things all the time, except children are growing more love for basketball and football. Yet they still show the heart on the court and gridiron as they did in this story in the diamond.

This book is such a great find. Unlike the movie, this is the non-fiction account of a group of volunteer's attempts to organize a little league team in Chigago's Cabrini Green project, possibly the most infamous in the country. Don't expect any Keanu Reeves ex-gambler coaches to show up. Do expect great candor from the kids and an unmistakable affection from the author (who never appears in the book) for the players. Despite all the news stories you'll ever hear about urban decay, public housing and gang violence, it will never have the impact that some of these stories do (3 players lose their fathers during the season, one's is incarcerated, others can identify a gun's calibre by sound.) This story isn't unremittingly grim though and never is it preachy. Coyle's gift is to just let the children and the coaches speak as the story of the Kikuyus journey to the championships unfolds. There are so many sweet funny moments in this book: Louis' Star Search audition, the trip to the Iowa baseball camp (where hillbillies are more terrifying that gang bangers), Jalen's "Rude Dude" bat. Despite the fact that there are no sudden changes of heart, the players never quite permanently comes together as a team, and the league's two founders end up as mortal enemies, this is nonetheless an uplifting story. Some of the kids have potential, some don't, the odds are against most. Maybe a summer of baseball can't save them but as one of the League's founders poignantly notes, "If we save one, then this League is a success."

The best news is that while Cabrini itself is being razed, the Near North League continues. It's a shame this book is out of print. It is definitely worth seeking out.

In my top 3 books, sometimes my favorite. I would like to know where the author was and want to find out what happened to each and every member the team. I know i can't write, but the author and I, think alike and you will enjoy seeing life through these kids eyes.

... should make this book available again now that the movie HARDBALL has hit the screens. I read this book about three years ago or so when it first came out and thought it was a great read. I gave it to a fellow baseball fan, who is a supervising probation officer in our county. For those who feel that youth baseball (and youth sports) can often be more than just a game, this book is for you. Watching the movie last week brought back thoughts of this book. The movie does some Hollywood license on the story line (they win the title in the film) but essentially is well done and gives the essential message the author sought to convey.

This book and the film should be required viewing for suburban Little League teams which have as "must have" items the latest version $250 bats, batting gloves and all the new fangled gear that passes for "essential" baseball equipment these days.

In the film one of the kids is asked by the coach character as the kid returns to his housing project home full of problems and malingerers "What do you do for fun?" The kid responds: "I plaky baseball for you....." Ain't baseball great. This book plus the a little too sappy film shows us all why.

Having purchased close to a thousand copies of this book is an indicator of how much I value it's contents. I regularly teach project risk management and this is the text provided to supplement the course. It is an easy read and provides practical, implementable guidance.

The Risk Questionaaire provided is a valuable framework that can be easily tailored to your organization.

This book should be a part of every project managers library.

Dr. James T. Brown PMP PE CSP
Author - The Handbook of Program Management

While I'm using this as required reading for a grad school class on Risk Management, I'd read this even if it wasn't required. Engaging for a not-so-easy subject to talk about, along with good and relevant examples. Talking about big and small projects, you get a feeling as you read that this book is for you, not just "big time companies" with mega projects.

The book is very well-written and easy to read. I work in a high-tech start-up company and this book was quite applicable to some of the tasks we do.

This risk management book provides a good overview of the risk management process from start to finish, and provides examples from technical projects. The text guides the reader through the three steps of risk identification, assessment, and management, and discusses the difference between macro-management of risk at a corporate or portfolio level, and micro-management of risk at the project level.

The book stresses the need for an understanding of each facet of the project in order to identify areas of risk. There is a very strong emphasis on scheduling, with many good suggestions regarding risk reduction, and the timing of risky activities during the course of the project. The information provided is largely qualitative, with some brief discussion about quantitative analysis, methods, and risk assessment tools. Some of the quantitative methods described are specifically for IT projects, with criteria such as technology, architecture, and system complexity. The material in the book relies heavily on the PMI Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, 2000 edition (PMBOK).

The bulk of the book focuses on good risk management techniques, decision-making, and project planning. Management tools, such as root cause analysis, diagnostic project metrics, and financial metrics, are described in detail. The author provides the reader with a broad scope of information regarding risk management, and the book is an excellent resource for those who seek an introduction or refreshment of good project management and risk management concepts.

This book provides an overview on how to manage certain types of project risks (some risks are not covered, e.g. financial) and, implicitly, only IT projects and not other types of projects (e.g. construction). Like many books on this topic, the treatment is uneven. The strengths are its logical structure and clear exposition. I knocked off 2 stars because a) there is a disconnect between the text (mostly IT-related) and case study (building of Panama Canal), and b) neglect of contractual issues, the key instrument of risk management. This is the book for you to read if you have no idea about project risk management.

The author covers in detail step by step projects and the types of woods used and patterns are wonderful! I would recommend this book to anyone interested in doing Intarsia.

I have been doing Intarsia for nearly 10 yrs now. I had ordered a couple of patterns from Kathy in the past. It had been awhile since I had been on Kathy's website and then one day I was looking for new patterns. Wow did her work ever take off to another level. She had just been featured with her animal jungle scene in a wood magazine. I was blown away by that work of art. Well her book had just been published as well, so I had to purchase this book. Whatever tips I could get from this book I knew I needed. I only hope that someday my work can be as good as Kathy's is. Great deal on this book, you get a lot of very cool patterns. Plus all of the tips to go along with it.

Kathy Wise breaks down the sometimes difficult art of intarsia into easy-to-follow steps so that any beginner (with a little knowledge of power tools) can achieve satisfactory results. Each step is explained in detail and there are many photographs in the "Get Started" section that show clearly what to do next to create your own piece of wood art.
Kathy's included patterns range from simple to a level that can be appreciated by any experienced intarsian.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in this very intriguing style of woodworking.

This wonderful Book has really great patterns and the basic information in the front is very complete. I would and will recommend it to any beginners or woodworkers that want to improve their skill at Intarsia. The 21 patterns are well worth the price of the book. Kathy's designs are bringing intarsia to a new level of art, way beyond the craft stage. It is absolutely the BEST book on Intarsia available in the marketplace today, can't wait for her next book!

Refreshing! A friendly guide into the world of intarsia... not at all intimadating or patronizing. Kathy's book gives me confidence to try projects that I otherwise may have thought too advanced for my skill level and as a result of this... My skill level is advancing too!!! Thank you Kathy! Please write more books!!!

This book arrived in top condition and in time. In a college book store this book cost a lot more, so I am very pleased to be able to buy it from this seller.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the descriptive way the author wrote. I have been through Colorado and have seen the beauty she described. Also enjoyed the story because there wasn't a lot of violence and if there was any sex, it was only in our imagination which is the greatest kind. I was amazed at how the lady rode for miles in rugged wilderness without seeming to get lost. The fact that she could subsist on meager food was also interesting.

For many years I saw this book in National Park bookstores and passed it by thinking it would be an example of the overwritten, rather tedious journals of other Victorian travelers. When I finally found it at a used bookstore and rather reluctantly bought it, I was surprised to find out how exciting and relevant her story was.

Because I live in Colorado, I recoginize and travel through many of the places she describes. Just this weekend as we traveled along Highway 67, my husband and I remarked on the likelihood, that this was the same route she'd taken out of Colorado Springs.

Her accounts lend life to the grey, weatherbeaten cabins, abandoned roads and rusting rails that we see. Even though many parts of Europe and the US were relatively modern at the time of her adventures, it is surprising to read just how primitive and precarious was the life of many Colorado settlers.

Even if you aren't from Colorado, read this book to become aquainted with a Victorian woman who found a way to live life fully. Read it to learn about life in the west. Read it just because it's a good read.

Did you ever read any of the BEANY MALONE novels by Lenora Mattingly Weber? In them I first read about Isabella Bird and her remarkable life in the American West. Beany's older brother, Johnny Malone, is a teenager when the series begins, a young Denver boy with a remarkable passion for unearthing the memoirs and daguerrotypes of Colorado pioneers and taking notes on the old-timers who settled the state. Their colorful lives make his ordinary life seem rather pastel, so he often sinks into a nostalgia of the past, while his family members tease him about the dreamy look in his eyes. He helps a veteran journalist, Emerson Worth, complete his magnum opus, OUR CITY HAS DEEP ROOTS. And among the pioneers Johnny obsessed about was none other than Isabella Bird, so when I found this book on a recent trip to Boulder, I added it to my rucksack.

If you are reading on horseback, as Isabella Bird did, this is perhaps the ideal book to carry with you. She was a woman used to the English-style horse with its Ascot breeding and high carriage. What she found in Colorado were, naturally, the horses of the West, more perfectly adapted to the mile-high atmospheres, but slung somewhat lower than anything she's been used to and slightly swaybacked. Bird adapted quickly, and the fun of her autobiography is to see her taking in her stride a series of calamities and hardships that would have Job complaining bitterly! No matter if it's an insect infestation or tumbling right through a sheet of ice into zero degree river chills, for Isabella Bird it's all part of a day's fun. Travel writing in the 19th century was, of course, the leading genre of prose. From no other source were English-speaking readers able to find out more about other people's lives, and the curiosity was immense.

You'll like Isabella, and her crazy love affair with Colorado. She remains very much a lady, but will challenge your preconceived notions of what a lady is and isn't. Most of all you will thrill to follow the course of her journeys up and down the mountains through which, now, there are some better trails but still the same amazing sunrises which she describes with the thrill of one for whom every day's an adventure.

I bought this book while visiting Estes Park, CO...hungry for books about life in the West that may not be so readily available here in NJ. I found it to be one of the most enjoyable books I have ever read! Isabella's descriptions of the Rocky Mountains and the climate through which she travelled are vivid and gripping. But more than that, she gives a detailed and honest account of what life was like for settlers on the frontier. How she managed to ride thru the mountains where the only "trails" were tracks of wagons or animals, when often those were covered with the seemingly constant snow, boggles the mind. Her love for Colorado sings out in every word she writes. I too was deeply touched by its beauty, and hope to return again, this time with an enriched appreciation due to this wonderful recounting of Isabella Bird's journey.

Author Norman R. Howes tackles project management in all its intricate bureaucratic glory, and brings the process up-to-date in what is essentially a book of instructions. Helpful in designing and tracking projects, this clear, crisp manual comes with Modern Project software, the program used to carry out the project management steps delineated in the book. The book, like any owner's manual, is very list-oriented. Howes does not teach you how to manage a project, either practically or theoretically, as much as he outlines the managerial process. His step-by-step guide focuses on detailed information telling readers how to take advantage of the software as they manage projects. While we from getAbstract recommend this guide specifically to project managers - who should keep it on hand, particularly if they use the related software package or want to learn more about it - the book is also designed to be used in corporate training programs and college classes.

Great book. Clear, well thought-out, and useful. I am using the method and tools to manage a series special event projects with 19 staff and 6 other vendors. Everyone has read the book so we all have a common understanding, and everyone is using the tool to generate reports - very cool.

Doesn't cover every aspect of PM but every aspect it covers is done very well. An easy read that can change how you do things. The enclosed software reinforces your knowledge.

I concur with other reviewers that this book is
extremely valuable, insightful, and comprehensive. It
provides clarification of several Project Management
concepts that are typically glossed over and sometimes
completely ignored in other texts. Perhaps the most
important contribution the author makes is in his
explanation of the subtleties of Earned Value - the
primary measurement for a project's performance. Many
Project Managers that I have worked with do not
understand how to measure Earned Value and end up with
incorrect measurements, or simply fail to use this
critical indicator altogether. I recommend this book to
all project managers who want clarification on this and
other topics that will help them improve their own
performance as managers.

This book focuses on modern project management concepts and techniques, but covers the standard stuff like what you will find in the PMI PMBOK. The project management system that comes on the CD with the book contains tools you won't find even in expensive PM systems. There are at least a couple dozen tools on the CD and an example project you can use to try the tools out on.

Having students learn to learn is a goal identified by all teachers. John Creger's book guides the reader through a process that engages all students and through that engagement, students learn about themselves and their personal responsibilities. They learn how to learn.

From the quotes, to the text, this is a book teachers will use and share.

Mr. Creger is doing some very important work that really empowers teenagers to access and express their most authentic self. His book about the creed project can help others find ways to implement this program which should be done in every school in America. High Praise for the work and the book! A must read/implement for any High School English teachers, principals, other teachers and students.

Most kids seem to be taught only what will be asked on the local standardized test. It is rare when they are taught to actually think! Which is sad. John Creger wants to change that and not only encourage independent thought but also to get our children to ask themselves what they stand for. And imagine the self worth that students get when their peers tell them how much they have meant to them. I showed this to the chairman our our school board and she says that she is going to implement John's program in our school district. I hope she does. Kudos to John for this innovative teaching pattern.

Identity-integrity=self worth.These are a few of the words that describe the turmoil of the adolescent mind. The Personal Creed Project is the most practical way that i have encountered that encourages each teenager to embark on a path of self examination and articulation to resolve these personal conflicts.Too many high schoolers and college students look upon their educational experience as an arid wasteland as four years forced upon them by a system that ignores their personal needs and concerns. Rather than requiring students to study abstract "subjects" the Personal Creed Project makes each individual the "subject" and rewards even those who are failing academically with a sense of identity, integrity and self worth.
Isn't that is what education is all about?
Teacher Bob

by Gurupreet Khalsa, NBCT
Most of us don't spend much time analyzing our lives, examining wisdom, or articulating values, personal goals, or influences on our world view. The opportunity for high school students to spend a school year investigating the concept of wisdom and then to determine their stance in the world by analyzing and demonstrating how their views coalesce into a personal creed is one not to be missed. John Creger's book, The Personal Creed Project and a New Vision of Learning: Teaching the Universe of Meaning In & Beyond the Classroom, provides a rationale and a means for doing just that.
From the beginning of this book, I was hooked. Creger, a staunch fan of James Moffett, argues for personally rewarding learning. I'm a fan, too, of figuring out ways to make school meaningful for students and teachers in the face of "walls of measurement" inhibiting personal growth for the sake of "skills." Often, school is a fight between students yearning for freedom or purpose and systems bent on shaping them to fit a conforming model. Most classrooms ask students to leave their inner selves in their lockers.
Adolescents are all about figuring out who they are and how they fit into larger schemes of family, community, nation, world. School should be a place to explore those relationships, but sadly, teens are often left floundering on their own, stuck with popular media's ideas about the world. Thus, many students leave school with weak personal foundations on which to build. Creger claims that this lack is going to contribute to the downfall of democracy, because when people don't know what they stand for, and then stand for it, freedom suffers. With very good support, he works a theory of learning tied to the moral advancement and personal unfolding of society's members, which is the only way that a nation built on freedom can sustain. He proposes methods by which education can become "growth-centered" rather than "skills-centered."
Creger's book is as much about the need for an entirely different philosophical approach to education as it is a description of an ennobling project. He is right in thinking, along with Moffett, whom he quotes extensively, that a new perception of learning is necessary, far beyond the partial or piecemeal, reactionary or progressive fixes we have repeatedly implemented.
Historically there has been a dangerous waffling in educational reform, a tendency to retreat to the security of a policy-bound system fraught with rules and measurements, rather than embarking on an uncharted journey into the hearts and souls of America's teens with a view towards awakening their inner spirits. Creger has provided one way for teachers to begin such a journey. The constantly swinging pendulum of school "reform," he claims, can be steadied and exchanged for true forward movement by incorporating what he calls "two-legged" learning: learning that embraces both academic and personal goals, or, as he labels it, cultural and conscious learning.
There is much to love in this book. Many teachers have used quotes as journal starters; Creger takes the idea farther with "Thought Logs," tying them into wisdom through the ages. I loved the careful attention to students' (and teachers') personal growth - the ultimate aim of education. I loved the idea of classroom "meditating," establishing an ambience of calm consideration of ideas shaping us as human beings. I like Big Questions, overarching themes. I liked the "triumvirate" nature of learning - facts, meanings, values; material, mental, spiritual; beauty, truth, goodness, that Creger explores.
If I have any arguments with Creger's book, it is that it sometimes sounds a bit "preachy" - not surprising for someone so passionate about the need to make substantive changes in the ways schools address learning. Frequent italicized words make some passages sound like they are coming from the pulpit.
The missionary spirit of the book creates the excitement of a "movement" - an important factor in change. Yet with over-use of such a project, the deep impact would of course be diluted. Not that it's wrong to keep reflecting on our personal values and meanings, but, once institutionalized (as anything, which is what's wrong with most organized education), such a project loses its epiphanal nature and could become yet another scripted program in the wrong hands. What is most important is the underlying philosophy of meaningful education. It is clear that Creger has thought long and deeply about the nature of a satisfying education for the new millennium. This is a book to help us on our way.