Organizations Books

If your business is import or export this is a MUST HAVE. If you run a small business it also can be helpful.

This book takes a very realistic approach from someone who has lived the ins and outs of importing. The book is easy to read, offers orignal perspectives, and is a must read for anyone who is considering a distribution business!

This book should be essential reading for anyone thinking of starting an import company. That's because it doesn't just discuss the mechanics- the import brokers and customs requirements etc., - but how to make sure that the business can be successful and profitable.

The better books dealing with startup/product introduction outline the various possibilities and options--they leave you with many questions. John Spiers tells you exactly what to do and what not to do. Very rare. Very valuable.

I'm still a half-wit. I mean it provided plenty of big words and concepts that I never heard of before. I was expecting a book that you opened up and was just money. Do they have that book? I would so buy that. Well, I mean unless it cost more to buy the book than was printed inside of it.

Any way, it was kinda interesting.

I am impressed by the writings of Robert Louis Wilken in this history book. He tells us that the purpose of his book is "to depict the pattern of Christian thinking as it took shape in the formative centuries of the Church's history."
His purpose leads me to believe that he understands that the Bible is the central factor that appeals to all the religious writers from the very beginning to the present time. I cannot help but to be aware that the central theme for anyone will be to understand what God has helped man to write in this great book, The Bible. Readers should come to an awareness in the introduction of this book that we need to understand the history, rituals, and the text to have the proper knowledge of Christian history in order to convey facts and thoughts to all concerned people.

This book explores Christian beliefs and practices, shown in its major Latin and Greek writers, through the first seven centuries of the church's history.

Each of the twelve chapters is devoted to a particular theme, such as worship or social ethics, but the discussion is wide ranging, and themes tend to flow into one another. "Spirit" is a good word in the title since the material isn't treated in a systematic way. At the end, the reader has less an analysis and more an aroma of early Christianity.

The book isn't a critical appraisal--it's a loving appropriation. And it's clear Wilken loves his subject matter deeply. This is a beautiful book, written with depth and style.

It is hard to believe that this book is by the same man who wrote "The Christians as the Romans Saw Them". What a difference 19 years makes.

This is one of the most inspiring books I have ever read. I must have highlighted the whole book since I found almost every sentence edifying.

I had become accustomed to reading the Church Fathers from an apologetic or polemical standpoint. This book made me realize how I had overlooked the faith and piety of the Early Fathers. Prof. Wilken shows among other things how they sought to ground their all their arguments Biblically, and how little Christian doctrine actually owes to pagan thought, other than perhaps a few philosophical terms.

If you really want to understand how Christian doctrine was shaped by faith and inspiration, and not by cerebral distillations, you simply MUST read this book.

In a previous volume called The Christians as the Romans Saw Them (1984), Robert Louis Wilkin, professor of the History of Christianity at the University of Virginia, explored the broad and deep antipathy that developed in the first five centuries toward the Christian movement, at least as that was expressed by the cultured elites. He presented the views of the pagan critics with both sympathy and understanding, devoting one chapter each to the views of Pliny the Younger, the physician Galen, Celsus, the Neoplatonic philosopher Porphyry, and the Roman emperor Julian. In a short epilogue, Wilkin acknowledged that Christians responded to their critics: "There was a genuine dialogue, not simply an outpouring of abuse. The credit goes as much to the Christians as to the pagans." In this present volume Wilkin explores the emergence of what eventually became a distinctly Christian view of God, the world, the self, and human history.

Although his task requires him to consider the history of theology as it developed in the early church, and its relationship with thinkers of Judaism, Greece and Rome, Wilkin warns us not to be be overly preoccupied with intellectual ideas. The Gospel, after all, does not intend to make us smart, but to transform our hearts, minds, and our very lives. Early Christianity appealed to history, reason, ritual, experience, and most of all to the Scriptures, all with the goal of authentic faith expressing itself in true love. What we seek is not barren knowledge but the very face of God (see Psalm 105:4). In his panoramic survey Wilkin describes how we know God in worship, the sacraments and the Scriptures; the struggles to define the Trinity, the nature of Christ, and creation; the relationship of faith to reason and the church to broader society; poetry and icons; and then the nature of Christian virtue and the spiritual life. From start to finish the book is a feast of the early Christian fathers, with special emphasis on Origen, Gregory of Nyssa, Augustine, and Maximus the Confessor. These forbears are, as he says in the last sentence of the book, "still our teachers today."

This book left me feeling very torn. On the one hand, it was really a great read. On the other hand, it seemed that there was an underlying agenda that the author refused to admit (or realize). At times, it seemed a little like Bart Ehrman's book--only half the story gets told to bend the conclusion. Of course, Wilken admits that he is not telling the whole story, but he leads the reader to believe that he is being fair. Allow me a few examples. Wilken admits that Augustine is the giant of early Christian thought, and quotes him in every chapter, and on almost every subject. However, when he begins to talk about free-will, there is no talk of Augustine, and Wilken says that all the early fathers believed in free-will. While Augustine may have been in the minority, the average reader (to whom the book is written, as purported by Wilken) would have no other idea. Also, Wilken talks about the monothelite controversy. Usually, he deals with all the bishops and emporers on both sides of a debate. However, in this discussion, he fails to mention Honorius, prelate of Rome. This would be unknown to the average reader, but seems (to me) that it would be important enough to mention. There are a few other, mostly minor, examples of things like this. It all seems to be an apologetic for Roman Catholicism. While that's fine to write an apologetic for your church, telling half the story is deceitful.

That being said, the book is a good read. It flows well, and is enjoyable. Technical terms (usually Greek or Latin words) are explained and used in useful ways. The book contains a good amount of information, yet is presented in an understandable way and is made easy to remember. It isn't just another book on early church history--it traces other things like poetry, etc. Another underlying theme is that knowledge of God is not true knowledge until it is experienced. It seems simple enough, but Wilken explains it quite well. And to this end, I agree with another reviewer, that there is a devotional, not just academic, use for this book.

The negative side of this review shouldn't deter anyone from reading it. This book is a great read, but it needs to be read with discernment (of course, everything does).

I could barely put this book down! I am a pastor, and it has really excited me about bringing people to Jesus. I ordered multiple copies, and it has been making its way through our church. No one keeps the book for more than a week, and when they bring it back for the next person to read "It," it quickly becomes apparent that they have caught "It" and there's no going back! It is transforming the culture of our church from one that was okay with the status quo to a people who are excited about seeing people come to Christ. We have a vision and we will not let anything stand in our way!

I highly recomend this book to anyone in church leadership. I picked it up at a conference and loved it so much that our church staff if now doing it as a group book study. Craig Groeschel is a kingdom oriented leader that we can all learn from.

This is the #1 Leadership book on my shelf at the moment. Fresh, real, and to the point. I encourage every leader to pick this book up for a inspiring challenge to their personal relationship with Christ and their organization's comittment to pursuing God's presence.

This book is a great resource and should be a must read for all pastors. I would encourage the pastoral staff to read it together and go through the study questions. It can really challenge the team to go to the next level!

"It" is what we all long for, "It" is what we need, "It" is what we want, "It" is what everyone is looking for. Craig Groeschel has illustrated in his book how life should be so much better if we only had what it takes, "It". So many organizations exist for the mediocre, just making things comfortable for the usual crowd. In order to have "it" we must first be willing to live outside our comfort zone full of passion for what we believe to be true. If you want your organization to have success, If you want to live an abundant life, If you want to live life with purpose, Craig's book provides some basic principals that if embraced will leave you excited and wanting to achieve greatness.

This is one of the best books I have ever read on leadership. The author outlines a realistic approach with proven techniques. I've grown tired of all the silly communication methods and manipulations, found in the flood of many books on the market, on how to motivate those under your supervision. Paul Howe knows how to lead. If you are truly interested in leadership, this book is highly recommended. On the other hand, if you are looking for quick fixes and feel good techniques, you should move on to a management in corporate America style book. There are many to choose from.

Outstanding book by a true professional. MSG Howe is the real deal and an outstanding authority in his field. Would recommend this for any law enforcement or military professional.

Very good book, well structured, pleasant to read. The examples are clear, and the theories easy to apply, even if you aren't L.E. or military.

This is the best book on military leadership and training I have ever read and I have read a few on this subject. All of my team leaders are reading it now after hearing nothing but great reviews from myself. I think all NCO's in the Army, reguardless of MOS, should read this book.

There seems to be no shortage of leadership books available to our self-help addicted society. How many people do you know who brag about having read "The Art of War"? This is not one of these types of books. I mention "The Art of War" because I find it helpful to draw parallels between life and battle. I find that if I approach my life's commitments and challenges like all-out warfare, I tend to get after it with aggression and a hunger for success.
If you feel the same, this book might be for you. In truth, this book is geared mostly for soldiers and police specifically combatants of the special ops variety and swat officers. In short it is by and for modern Spartan warriors.
You will have to work to draw your own connections between how you run your organization, business, or life, but if you are not inspired by some of the greatest men to walk among us, you are dead inside.
If you are in charge of or lead anything and you are interested in developing your leadership skills, you will find it here. If you think that leadership in the world's harshest conditions when the bullets are flying and men are dying doesn't apply to how you run your small business, ask yourself this, "Is there a difference between kinds of leadership, or is good leadership in concept more or less the same everywhere?" The only real difference is that if you are a shooter, your failures in leadership can cost lives, in business it is only money.
If you are considering this book, take the journey and trust the author to share his ideals and wisdom with you.
This book feels aggressive and extreme in it's intent to convey to the reader not just leadership skills, but in philosophy towards life.
We all want to be like the guy in the movies who remains calm and wins in the chaos of extreme conditions, this book shows you how. If you could do this imagine how you could attack your own life.

I loved the movie, and when I saw that the book has been reprinted I ordered it when I got the 25th anniversary DVD.

Here's the good... The artwork is excellent, and I especially like the 2 page photo of Jen & Kira in the first few pages of the book. The great thing about the book is the reflection of Brian when he was asked to work on this movie in a brief intro at the beginning of the book. What I also really like about the book is that it requires a bit of understanding how its written.

It's written from the point of view of Augara which makes it a fun read but its not a simple mindless read. The book explains a lot about the world itself, a little Gelfling history and the arrival of the Mystics and Skeksis. The book focuses on the world itself less so than on Jen and Kira.

If you like the movie, you will probably like this book. Highly recommended.

Combining the talents of Jim Henson's storytelling with Brian Froud's exquisite art, The Dark Crystal is an amazing film. The World of the Dark Crystal is a must-have companion piece to the film. On its pages are inscribed in detail the epic story's conceptualization and the process of designing its beautifully imagined characters and creatures. The book contains rare artwork by the ingenious fantasy artist Brian Froud who designed the complex and immense world of the Dark Crystal, a world whose people feel culturally authentic and utterly believable, a world where the landscapes feel familiar and yet completely alien at the same time. It is this fabricated universe, this artificial sense of reality that makes the Dark Crystal such an enduring classic.

Never before had movie audiences been transported to an entirely new world, a world without any human contact, a world divided by two opposing principals, a world that was so fragile and yet so savage. In The Dark Crystal, we see the evolution of imagination and a physical, tangible representation of duality. We see the importance of balancing logic and faith, science and spirituality, self-preservation and sacrifice. The triadic images found in Brian Froud's artwork express the importance of social, spiritual, and psychological equilibrium. This is a spiritual philosophy shared by many cultures and religions including Druidism, Buddhism and even in Christianity. This is also reflected in the design of the characters and the sets that at times resemble, in physical appearance as well as in architectural design, those of different ethnicities but both Froud and Henson avoid racial profiling. Instead they've created a rich and majestic vision of a world that never existed and still it is so believable that we feel as if we are seeing the documentation of a recently discovered alien culture.

Along with Froud's artwork, the book includes informative descriptions of the characters, creatures, and flora and fauna of this fantastical world. There is also a new introduction by Froud and a facsimile booklet featuring original concept drawings that were used as a tool in marketing the film to studios. In conclusion, The World of the Dark Crystal is a wonderful addition to any fantasy fan's collection, an inspirational look into the mind of an artist, and an essential collector's item for all those who love the film.

Also recommended:
Faeries (25th Anniversary Edition)
Good Faeries Bad Faeries
Goblins!
The Goblins of Labyrinth: 20th Anniversary Edition
The Runes of Elfland

This book does a great job of enhancing the experience of watching The Dark Crystal. Objects that are only seen for an instant or merely in the background are explained in detail in this beautiful collection. My only complaint? There's lots of white space on some of the pages, which makes it feel like less of a guide to an ancient world and more like a textbook.

Even so, highly recommended for fans of the movie, faerie stuff in general, or just great artwork.

Brian Froud, the creator of the Dark Crystal, is a Genius.

This book is a small Bible.

Well written, and with images so refined it makes you wonder if it is all "human" made.

All your questions about the Dark Crystal will be answered.
The information contained in the book seems almost sacred,
as for the capacity for the human mind to understand it all,
that is yet to be proven...

This book is an amazing tome for anyone who grew up in adoration of The Dark Crystal. Brian Froud's illustrations and concepts are gorgeous and so incredibly creative. This book is delivered as a history of the World in which the film takes place. It is narrated by Aughra, "...the first and last," who witnessed thousands of years of creation and destruction. She monitors the cyclical suns, a spectator of the conjunctions that bring the wise urSkeks, and their division a thousand years later into the cruel Skeksis and the mystical urRu. Aughra alone knows the long history of the crystal and throughout the pages, describes life throughout the ages. There are so many subtleties that the book describes that I can't wait to watch the film again, knowing the significance of the shapes of rocks, the intricate details of the clothes the characters wear, and the elaborate symbolism peppered throughout. The art is gorgeous and the insights into the World of the Dark Crystal shed a new light on the film and its philosophy. Bravo!

As someone who has read dozens of management and leadership books I was curious to see how Tribal Leadership - Leveraging Natural Groups to Build a Thriving Organization would be any different from the others. I was pleased to find that it is focused on leaders and the building blocks of any company, the workers. This book describes in detail how to identify where you are in one of five stages. The authors let you know what each stage looks like, sounds like, the pitfalls of and ways to move forward from each one. They do so from the basis of extensive research which is laid out at the back if you want to review it. I found the book to be funny, engaging and useful for any and all workers and levels of management. This is a must read if you want to improve your efforts in the work place and / or become a better leader to others.

Tribal Leadership is the next big idea for organizations looking to move to a higher level of productivity, passion and influence. The concepts and observations presented are easily observable in most organizations. One of the most interesting and challenging concepts seems to be that an organization can really move beyond a competitive mindset to a "greater good" mission or noble cause.

What an amazing book. Infact this is far more than a book it is a guide to creating and building great teams. If you have ever wondered why some team building events don't work this is a must read book. My sincere thanks to the team who put this together. This book will change the way Organisational Development/HR specialists and Performance Consultants go about their work. It is that influential. Like all the best material, simple to understand and powerful in the way it insightfully helps you to see things for what they are.

I have worked in organisational design/business performance and HR for over 20 years and this is one of the most imformative and best books I have ever read. It has reinforced my long held views about the need to understand the dynamics of what makes for a great team. If you also ever wondered why you felt automatically part of some teams and others almost rejected you before you even got started, then this is a 'must read' book. I have become a raving fan and will enthusiatically introduce the concepts and methods, as I have the fortune and privalage, in my day to day work, to make a difference to the lives and work of the thousands of people I come into contact with.

Mark Pym
Director of Reward Matrix & Great Teams

1. Every organization is a small town or tribe.
2. A tribe is a group of 20 to 150 people
3. Tribes get work done
4. Tribes migrate towards excellent work or minimal work
5. Tribes seek the survival of their leader
6. What moves us is the people we met along the way
7. Tribes work because the build strong relationships of trust
8. Building trust depends on engineered experiences that form a frame of reference or a context of trust.
9. Strategy in the tribe becomes everyone's problem
10. Leaders build the tribe.
11. Every tribe has a dominate culture
12. Company gossip, networks feedback, and politics matter in an insecure environment. However, the cost of the information is enormous. Energy and time that could be focused on profits.
13. Leadership in the tribe is effortless to the viewer. Leader is working to recruit the right people and build the tribe culture.
14. Tribes can be classified into five stages: Stage 1: desperately hostile interacts 2. Antagonistic 3. Competitively hoarding resource and talent 4. Team greatness 5. Infinite potential believing the tribe is going to make history.
15. Many professional people reach stage three, saying to themselves, "I'm great and your not!", but find themselves alone and without recognition, in a broken and ungrateful system.
16. People at stage 1 think they are at stage 3 and people at stage 2 think they are at stage 4.
17. Stage 4, looks good but is vulnerable to competition. Companies that are run by people who all have the same background, temperament, personality, IQ, learning style are easy targets for competitors. Disequilibria is necessary to drive innovation and creativity. An awakening must happen. An epiphany is an awakening. Epiphany could be a series of insights leading up to a deeper understanding and vision of what needs to done. When measuring an epiphany, ask yourself two questions: What am I trying to accomplish? And How do I know if we were successful.
18. Look at what people do as a result of leaders efforts. What matters is tribal success. Stage 5, is doing things together that are greater than we could have done alone. Every employee deserves a friend and better a group of friends to accomplish breakway feats.

According to the powerful perspectives offered by this unique take on organizational development, a tribe is a group between 20 and 150 people. Tribes emerge from the language people use to describe themselves. Change the language, change the tribe. Executive coaches will love this resource.

The authors make the point that our first instinct to bring about change in organizations is often to tell people what to do differently. Such a strategy often enhances compliance, but reinforces a sense of powerlessness, and impedes change.

The authors describe five Tribal Stages (centers of gravity) that inform some groups.
1. About 2% of groups - "life sucks" Gangs of individuals who operate without social rules or values except absolute loyalty to the group.
2. 25% of groups- "my life sucks" passively antagonistic, quietly sarcastic and resigned. Seen it all before and watched it fail.
3. 49 % of tribes - "I'm great, and you're not." Knowledge is power. Winning is personal and based on "my" values.
4. 22% of group - "We're great, and they're not." "We" are greater than "me." The bigger the foe, the more powerful the tribe. Based on shared, "our" values. Leaders build the stage on which others perform.
5. 2% of groups - "life is great" Infinite potential of the group - not beat competitor, but make global impact. Based on "global" "resonant" values

Through language, leaders can move the group's center of gravity through progressive stages by focusing on the words people use and the types of relationships they form. Groups can't leap over a stage as they progress. Additionally, culling out `bad apples' is ineffective. If you fire the bottom 10% of performers, the people who remain redistribute to stages others leave.

The authors observe that people's language correlates to the specific tribal stage, nature and structure of their relationships. The book lays out strategies that coaches and leaders can employ to unlock greater productive potential.

To uncover someone's values, ask "What are you proud of?" and follow it up with three to five open-ended questions. Pride ties actions to values. For tribes at stage 2, ask "What ticks you off?" The tone of responses goes from passive to passionate as answers shift from chatter about the surface to their core values.

To progress a tribe to higher stages, the authors suggest finding values that unite and resonate with people in the group. Tribal leaders follow the core values of the tribe no matter what the cost. They keep looking for new ways to express the values. Authenticity is a key - avoid identifying values and then making decisions based on expediency. Such acting above the law disempowers the tribe.

As a coach, help clients set the noble cause by asking "For the sake of what?" Identifying values and establishing a noble cause is a process, not an event. It's more than printing values posters or inscribing a mission statement on employee badges. Instead, leaders talk about values, base decisions on them, and engage tribal members in discussions about what they mean. Most strategies are based on understanding of the external environment, not the highest aspirations of the tribe.

The authors identify five components of Tribal Strategy
1. Values - What we stand for
2. Noble cause - What we live for
3. Outcomes -What we want
4. Assets - What we have
5. Behavior - What we will do

Accountability - outcome vs. goal - a goal is off in the future, it implies a failure in the present. People are motivated by the goals in a crisis, but they lose their drive once the fire is out. An outcome is a present state of success. "We have already succeeded, and this is how it looks at this point in the process (succeeding now with an outcome)

The models and techniques offered by the authors have broad application for executive coaches and for leaders. Definitely well worth the read.

Review by Bruce Ervin Wood

Thanks a lot, we are very happy to have this book in our library!

I've been in IT for over 25 years, and in that time I've read a lot of technical books. "File System Forensic Analysis" is not only the best book I have read on computer forensics, it's probably the best technical work in ANY field I've ever read. It's thoroughly researched, clearly written, and contains virtually no fluff. The numerous rave reviews it has received are well-deserved.

My only quibble is the short, but seemingly gratuitous section on hexadecimal and decimal arithmetic. If you're ready for this book, you'll already know this stuff. But, that's only a few pages in a book that's otherwise packed with real substance.

I can't say enough good things about this book and author. The material is beautifully laid out and the writing style is fluid and effortless. The author has a real talent for using metaphors and figures to illustrate elusive concepts.

All but the very rarest file systems are covered, and numerous 'screenshots' show how to use the Linux command prompt and get your hands dirty exploring disks on your own.

While this book is a gold standard for digital forensic examiners, it would also be valuable to the computer enthusiast who's interested in things such as what happens to their hard drive when they format it, exactly what happens during the boot process, etc.

I've had 3 courses in digital forensics, and this book gives an in-depth discussion of disk level concepts (HPA, FAT, MFT, etc) that were merely glossed over in my formal studies.

Great resource on file systems and file system data structures, although I wish it covered Apple's HFS+.

Great Book. Great job Brian. A must have in your bookshelf if you are serious about computer forensics.
It only lacks two things to be perfect: a reiserfs and a HFS+ sections.

Only an error. GPT partition schema isn't used only in big servers. New Intel Macintoshes use it by default for their boot drive.

I've read Alexander Schmemann's For The Life of the World twice now; his Journal as well, put together by his wife nearly two decades after he died. There's just something special about reading the accounting of one man's view of authentic Christianity when it comes through the eyes of one who has lived inside a sacramental worldview his entire life. This is the first book I give friends who ask, "What do you mean by "sacramental Christianity?".

How can you not love the heart and mind of a priest who writes with such dear antipathy for religiosity, for a sometimes puffed up and detached clergy, or the occasional cold hearted ethnocentric laity we all encounter or embody from time to time. And all this from a man who always seems eager to judge himself first, never laying off his true love for the historic Church. He seems always able to see the goodness and hope of true Church community while working amidst the often disappointing churchiness so many of us find off putting.

He understood. He remains one of the finest men of the cloth in recent memory, a simple family man and mentor of priests (Dean, St. Vlad's) a married Orthodox clergyman in love with life through every leaf and flower and sunrise and lit home visible through an urban subway while passing by.

Schmemann writes of the mystery of love, as one who made love to a woman. He writes of the Eucharist and the Divine Liturgy as one way too connected to the earthiness of the planet to have absentmindedly levitated behind the iconostasis as did our dear St. John Maximovich. He writes so well about worship and time and death and mission as one who arose with contentment most mornings no doubt and yet without the saccharine sweet view of a "let's hurry up and get to heaven" inch deep Christianity we too often see in America.

This man had depth of soul well reflected in the way he saw walking with God. It was always all about life for Fr. Alexander. Life given as a gift to and for the world.

Schmemann delivers an overview examining the sacraments of the church from an Orthodox perspective. He begins with the sacraments of the Orthodox Church to lead readers into the understanding that for the Christian all of life is sacramental and filled with Christ. This is the best insight from this book...that in Christ Heaven has come to be present in believers and in the world. Sacraments are not a separate, distinct event in the Christian life but are indicative of the fullness of the Christians entire life and being that are filled with Christ's Spirit.

The Life of the world is Christ's life present in the world through his Spirit dwelling in believers and moving through all things. By his death and resurrection, Jesus has reconsecrated the world for God. For the Christian, there is no such thing as the secular versus the sacred. Christ dwelling in us makes all we do and are sacred through his death and life.

Schmemann discusses the Eucharist and Baptism in depth while also discussing the sacramental view of time and mission. He elaborates on marriage and love, death and the witness of Christ in the world.

This book will help all Christians, not just Orthodox ones, better comprehend the meaning and power of sacraments and to live a sacramental life in Christ.

I was disappointed with the Appendices that were previously published articles that I did not think added to the book's message or theme.

A Must read for anyone willing to find the true Christianity. Reveals and explains the Orthodox Church the true and holy one settled by Christ and continued by the apostles and having no modern changes of faith or trends. The same true and holy faith as in the first centuries worshiped by the apostles.

This is my favorite book on Christianity. Less than 150 pages - yet it is rich in meaning and application. I have bought several copies of this book as a gift for others who might be interested in the meaning of Communion and the purpose of Worship. My original copy of this book has almost every word underlined. Fr. Schmemann's writing style is warm and very insightful. A truly great book - I'd say one of the classics of Christianity, like C.S. Lewis' "Mere Christianity," it should be in every Christian's library and read at least once a year!!

I am Catholic. I began reading Orthodox theology about five years ago, after experiencing the Orthodox liturgy in the most dramatic and sublime manner possible: at Pascha vigil. It simply blew me away. In thirty years of weekly mass attendance I had never seen anything remotely approaching what I encountered that night.

That unknown beauty both crushed and liberated me. It revolutionized my worldview.

I began reading everything I could on ecclesiology, Church history, liturgy, and Orthodox apologetics. For Orthodox thinkers I dug into Lossky, Fr. Meyendorff, Elder Ephraim, Archbishop Kalistos Ware, the Philokalia, Pere Clement, St. Gregory Palamas, the Desert Fathers, the Cappadocian Fathers, St. John Climacus, Solzenhitzen, so on & forth. It was all utterly amazing. I had had no idea.

This book though, is a standout even amongst such rarified company. Schmemann is simply stunning. From the first page he piles insight atop insight. I've given my copy of the book away, so I haven't got it in front of me. Still, from memory I can tell you that he takes and reveals to you blatantly obvious truths about the sacramental life that have been right in front of our noses all along. That all of creation is in fact Eucharistic, rent with power of the Resurrection. You will never approach the chalice with the same mind again, once you've read it.

Orthodox theology and spirituality is most often like this: limpid & fierce, uncompromising. Very bracing, in a culture as decadent and corrupt in it's thinking as ours.

Shamefully, only the very best in contemporary Catholicism - both in terms of liturgy and theology - can touch or exceed the Orthodox average.

That said, the tragedy of historical Orthodoxy is that has been unable to make an apologetic case for itself in the so called West. Ground as they were for so long under the heel of all those Arabs, Turks, Tartars and communists. Maybe those persecutions preserved the "East" from modernity, and are the reason the flame burns so clean, particularly in the Russian, Arab & OCA parishes I've visited? God scourges those he favors, after all.

The yoke is mostly cast off, though. This seems to me to be an Orthodox moment. Can they get their act together, throw the bushel basket off their lamp, and engage the world? If the Orthodox are the Catholic Church of the Creed, as virtually every Orthodox I've talked to has insisted, I demand nothing less. (Heh. Demand! Quelle cheek, huh?) Heretics are swarming the West. So where's our Tome of Leo? Where is it? Is there a bishop to equal Athanasius in the East? Or are the Orthodox going to succumb to secularism, now that they've slipped the Communist & Saracen yokes? Will rationalism, relativism, sloth, lust and avarice do them in too? Will suburbia demand organs and pews, shorter liturgies, prefab iconography, the abrogation of feasts & fasts, & the rest? Or will Slavic ferocity save them?

No matter, all irrelevant, it seems. Orthodoxy isn't even really on the cultural radar screen. The Orthodox take on Church history is just incomprehensible here, mostly because people have never heard any of it before. The categories and data are for the most part utterly foreign. Is this excusable?

Or is it simply as it was in Noah's time, foreordained that no one should care about the Ark? But didn't Noah warn the people, anyway?

Or are the Orthodox anointed with the Sign of Jonah? And is the West Nineveh?

Or are they - God forbid - simply petulant xenophobic schismatics with nothing relevant to share?

In any case, this book - as well as everything else I've read by Schmemann and other Orthodox authors - needs to become part of our common discourse.

The time is ripe. The harvest is now. We all need to be Orthodox. Just as we need to be Catholic. Not all Roman, but Orthodox Catholics.

Which isn't necessarily to say that there isn't a Petrine charism or primacy of power in the Church, as per Isaiah 22:15-25.. Nor is it to say that ultra-montagne papists don't have a hard historical lesson or fifty to learn along the lines of the Donation of Constantine affair.

Let there be polemics! Catholic Answers & Co. all need more of a challenge than shooting poor 'fundamentalist' fish in a barrel. Please! Help them! Their apologetics are sooo boring. Spot them 1 Tim. 3:15. The rest of their apologetic directed at the prots is sheer redundancy. Let's get down to nuts and bolts and excavate the meaning of that verse. It all boils down to that.

The significance of the primacy is already planted firmly on the table. John Paul did that. Benedict is now throwing up huge signals, too. No one I heard remarked on the most interesting thing about his oh so terribly scandalous Regensburg speech. That quotation was not arbitrary. A pope does not accidentally quote Orthodox (Imperial!) sources.

I just know that all can be resolved and forgiven, if we only submit to each other in love and (re)adhere to our tradition. If the Arians were vanquished, why not our schism? As Paul re-embraced Peter? Forget Vatican III. Why not Nicea III?

I'm sure the Turks will accommodate us ..

The Harvest awaits. The gates of hell shall not prevail.

SS. Cyril & Methodius, SS Benedict & Anthony, SS Augustine & Athanasius,

Pray for us.

The book defined a set of pitfalls and never went below the highest levels on how to resolve any of them. Might be a good overview book but you won't find any meat here.

Easy reading! The information was presented in a light, tongue-in-cheek manner that made for quick reading, with real world examples and common sense approaches to overcoming the challenges of managing a project. I found some of the content a little disorganized maybe because there are so many anecdotes inserted into each chapter.
All in all it as an excellent book for those who are new to project management and a much easier read than PMBoK!

I am a lawyer working in Tokyo providing CCQ and strategic communication training for businessmen and women. Kimberly's book is not only applicable to project management per se, but the principles Kimberly expounds have far broader application.

Her book has been an invaluable resource. In short, applying what she has written to my work has resulted in MUCH MUCH happier clients. The book is so easy to get your head around, and if you are looking for strategies to really get things rocking along, you'd be mad not to read it. You'd be even madder not to mold her ideas to fit your situation and then action them.

I was fortunate enough to observe one of her seminars here in Tokyo, and then join her afterwards for drinks with my manager, Ian Cross. I've read, seen and heard wads of charlatans, as we all have - however, Kimberly is the real deal. No grandeur or bollox, she genuinely cares about the success of the people she works with, and she knows her stuff.

I have bought copies to present to all my clients not only on the strength of what she has written, but also because I can vouch for who she is and what she is about.

If you are in any business which has clients, and you put these principles into action, you will be stunned at the results.

This is a great book for how to manage a project in real life. The author is witty and her material is fun to read. I recommend this book to anyone who got a failing project thrown in their lap and is expected to complete it.

In our lives, we each encounter rare works or a rarer person that enrich our soul as well as our practice. SCRAPPY PROJECT MANAGEMENT is such a work, and Kimberly Wiefling is such a person.

SCRAPPY PROJECT MANAGEMENT is as much about who we can be as it is a humorous and practical Baedeker to project management practice. As you are pulled into it, you gradually discover that the "project" is "you" as much as anything else.

Any well-accomplished project - and "you" work - will involve bumps, overwhelming joy, lurches, sheer terror, excitement, and likely a couple of barf bags. You must be this tall to ride but if you are, SCRAPPY PROJECT MANAGEMENT is the book for you.

In Turning Numbers into Knowledge, author Jonathan Koomey takes the reader on a fascinating tour of the processes we humans use to solve problems, demystifying the often hidden aspects of these processes, and offering a wide range of best practices for critical thinking and problem solving.

The book is so accessible both because Koomey writes so clearly and for his frequent use of interesting case studies and examples. It would be a wonderful addition to high school or college courses on policy, statistics, the scientific process, or the media, and includes exercises at the end of each mini-chapter. However, it is also a valuable read and reference for anyone who reads the newspaper (I date myself), accesses news from any source, or performs analysis of any type.

The first part of the book explores the growing role of quantitative information in our lives. Next, Koomey provides practical suggestions for finding publicly available sources of data and tools for analysis, and strategies for keeping one's work organized. Part three provides a look at how to assess the validity and accuracy of a given analysis. It includes one of my favorite sections, "How guesses become facts," as well as guidance on utilizing someone else's survey data. In part four, Koomey walks the reader through several strategies useful in creating one's own analysis, including how to develop a scenario or a model, even if one does not have all of the information that seems necessary. Finally, there is an excellent section on how to present one's work clearly for the intended audience. This section covers topics such as how to create compelling graphs, how to use numbers effectively in oral presentations, and the importance of documenting sources. The book concludes with a short section on the value of analysis as a powerful lever in creating change.

In summary, Koomey does a great job of exposing the role that the assumptions behind the numbers play and provides a practical, useful guide on how to be a better thinker, analyst, and problem solver. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys thinking!

This is an excellent book. Focused more on the overall art of problem solving as opposed to specific problem-solving techniques/algorithms, this is one of those rare books that can change the way you approach a general discipline...that of problem solving in this case.

The organization of the book, the level of detail into which each section delves and the overall pace of the writing are all well-suited for a general reading audience. For those readers interested in specific algorithms related to problem solving, Numerical Recipes 3rd Edition: The Art of Scientific Computing may represent a better choice.

I highly recommend this book to all readers interested in problem solving in general.

I bought this book due to the overwhelmingly positive reviews - thought it would really get into the meat of the issue and provide some creative insight. What a disappointment! It is very user-friendly...to the point of being almost insulting at times...very rudimentary. Provides little insight into anything new and is really just a primer. It may be good for college freshment or HS students that need an intro into problem solving via "numbers" or those seeking a quick refresher but for anyone who has ever worked with even basic research (of any type...business, science, economics) skip - it will bore you to tears. In places it is downright silly and I honestly can't understand how it obtained the reviews it did.

Every researcher's first reference book is a comprehensive treatment of the methods, designs and analysis strategies needed for their discipline. This book is a complement rather than a substitute for such a basic research reference. It covers the tactics, organizational strategies--even attitudes--that are needed on a practical level to get research done.

I suggest using this book to do a quick "needs analysis" of your research style. Turn to the Preface and read through the annotated table of contents to identify the research tactic you most need to improve. (Mine was "Establish a Filing System.") You can assimilate the corresponding chapter in a few minutes and begin improving your skills.

With 38 different chapters covering topics that range from overcoming "Beginner's Mind" to "Use the Internet" there is something for every researcher. I can envision an undergraduate research methods professor leading beginning researchers through a needs assessment discussion and assigning them to both remediate their top weakness and sharpen their top strength--knowing all the time that many will be enticed into reading most of the other chapters, too. (I can also imagine a surly senior professor hurling it at his new research assistant with "Don't bother me until you have read this!" I suppose that teaching strategy would work, too. But I won't recommend it.)

The chapters are well organized and easy to learn from. Resources include both recommended books for in-depth exploration of each topic and a large number of relevant web sites for fast-click discovery. The book's own web site is a great place to start.

A great resource to sharpen your research abilities and an enjoyable read, this book is worth its place on your bookshelf.

It is different from, and for many purposes, better than a science textbook. More than enough science books have been written, but TNIK is better because it teaches readers how to think about the data on which science is built. Its fresh approach to understanding the natural world as well as human-made systems is a noteworthy improvement over the plug-in, grind-out perspective that academic classes typically offer and that turns off students.