Resources Books

I read the reviews then bought Mr. Modem's book. Paul Harvey was right. This IS the book that takes the gobbledygook out of computers. I'm 72 years old. This book was fun, easy-to-read, and helped me greatly. I would recommend it to anybody. Thank you, Mr. Modem. Please write more books.

Mr. Modem's book is filled with wonderful information for surfers of all ages! It's a terrific resource and so much fun to read. I couldn't believe I found myself laughing outloud while reading a computer book.

When my dad got his new computer a couple of months ago and wanted to start surfing the Internet, I let him borrow my copy and now I can't get it back from him. He's learned so much and is now a real pro.

My personal favorite chapter is the one on web sites. This is by far the best collection of web site URL's I've ever come across. I also learned so much in the chapter on search engines which has really helped me find what I'm looking for on the web much quicker.

Thanks, Mr. Modem, for writing such an educational AND entertaining book!

If you or anyone you care about is reluctant or afraid to get connected to the Internet because it seems complicated and time-consuming or because you think you can't teach an old pup new tricks, you should get connected to "Mr. Modem's Internet Guide for Seniors" first. Clear, concise, and all-encompassing, this guide anticipates a learner's questions, allays technical fears, and proceeds in an orderly way to cover what it takes to get up and running on the Internet. Best of all, Mr. Modem keeps it simple, safe, satisfying, and fun for those who did not get to attend Internet classes in a previous life. You can move through the chapters at your own pace and, in some cases, in your own sequence.

Although I have been surfing the Internet for a while, I found many useful tips, new links, and great sites in this guide. If I could have only one Internet guide in my life, Mr. Modem's guide would be that one.

Good work, Mr. Modem!

I bought this book as a holiday gift for my dad (who has always been a bit stymied by his desktop computer) -- he dove right into it & didn't speak to any of us for a couple of hours, so judging by that reaction, I'd have to guess that it was pretty readable for your average intelligent-but-techno-naive senior. Mr. Modem covers a lot of ground (how to get online with an ISP, how to use a search engine, etc.) without going too deeply into any particular topic. Instead, the book gives lots of URLs and places for the neo-surfer to try out his new skills. Hey, maybe Dad will even get the hang of Amazon.com soon ;-)

This is a great book for people intimidated by the Internet. Information is presented in a fun and friendly fashion. Nice work, Mr. Modem!

Geoff Surratt and team provide an amazing resource for any church considering a multi-site strategy. This book is extremely informative, asks probing questions to help you think through why you want to go multi-site, how to do it, etc. They provide great tools to help you create timelines and budgets. It has been a fabulous resource to help my church start moving aggressively toward our vision to go multi-site. Before reading the book, I didn't know where to start. Since reading the book I feel like I have a much better understanding of the challenges and opportunities and I have a better idea of how to get our church moving towards this goal.

A wonderful book that gets you thinking about a vital growth barrier- your facility. There is no one way to go multi-site, and I really like how this book shares the various different ways of expanding our church without either building a larger facility or starting another church altogether. A great win-win! We will definately be going multi-site and my leadership will be reading this book as a next step.

This book is right on and I believe completely that this is the way the Lord is moving His Church. In a time of mega churches, it takes mega dollars to make them happen. I see the multi-site church revolution as being a way where God takes awesome churches, doing awesome things and allowing them to grow horizontally vs. vertically for a fraction of the dollars. Our church is moving in this direction and it is so much more strategic than to build a bigger building. Thanks for the inspiration! Todd - Horizons Community Church, Ham Lake, MN.

I love this book. Here is why!

* It's original. I have not found another book that discusses this model of reproduction.

* It is full of relevant information. These guys have done their homework. They have researched the issue thoroughly.

* It's short. 200 pages.

* It's full of stories. The book is full of stories of real life churches and leaders who have listened to God and are pioneering this model. I learn a lot from stories.

* It focuses on application. At the end of every chapter there are workouts that will help you apply what you've read. There are assessments, checklists, charts, and graphs to help you wherever you are at in the process.

* It is written for all kinds of churches. Churches of any size and any age. It's written for rural, suburban and/or urban churches. This book does NOT say that multi-site is the ONLY model and it does NOT say there is only ONE WAY to do multi-site. It is full of principles that can be applied whatever your situation.

If you are even thinking about doing church in multiple locations it would be beneficial to invest a few dollars and read this book.

The book is good, but comes across as a "how-to" manual, rather than as an opportunity to give testimony of the Lord's faithfulness. I'm sorry if that sounds cynical, but I'm not convinced that as Christians, passionate for the Lord's glory, we need that kind of approach as we seek new ways of creatively sharing the good news about Jesus.

If you're interested in looking at the data behind women and careers, this is the book for you. Hewlett has summarized a number of really interesting data. For example, 37% of women take time off at some point in their careers. 30% of women take advantage of part-time or other flexible programs. Hewlett's data illustrates a number of important reasons companies should care about gender diversity. After building the business case for women, she talks about how companies have created programs to make it work. One of the nice elements of this book is that she illustrates the data with personal stories. One of my favorite quotes underscores the importance of finding meaning in your job. A working mom comments, "when I walk out the door in the morning leaving my 2-yaer-old with the nanny, there's usually a bit of a scene. Tommy clings, pouts, and whips up the guilt. Now, I know it's not serious--most of the time he likes his nanny. But it sure makes me think about why I go to work--and why I put in a ten hour day. It's as though every day I make the following calculation: do the satisfactions I derive from my job (efficacy, recognition--a sense of stretching my mind) justify leaving Tommy? Some days it's a close run. One thing I do know. It couldn't just be the money. I need a whole lot of things to be happening for me to work."

Economist Sylvia Ann Hewlett does an excellent job of outlining both subtle and bold barriers that relegate many talented women (and minorities) to the lower end of promotions and pay scales. Using ample documentation, she outlines the financial costs that corporations suffer when they operate with outdated career models designed for white male professionals. Hewlett also lines up practical solutions with real-life examples from top corporations. Though the book is marred by repetition and various examples are recycled in different chapters, overall, we consider this essential reading for senior corporate officials and staff members.

This book honestly and openly explores what I believe thousands of professional women are facing today - the deep challenge of creating a successful professional life of meaning, fulfillment, and balance, in today's current dominant work model. As one who works with hundreds of professional women each year, I see over and over the ill-effects of professional women striving to fit into a model that no longer reflects our needs, priorities, and values. Hewlett's book goes a long way toward presenting beneficial new thinking and programs that, when adopted, will certainly bring about beneficial and urgently-needed change.

Despite all the print about the "Mommy Wars" and whether women should or shouldn't be in the workplace, the fact is that half the U.S. workforce is currently made up of women - and the workplace will have to change to accommodate them. Sylvia Hewlett's "Off-Ramps and On-Ramps" adds new, crucial information to this discussion. She provides data about women in the work force and provides models of flexible workplace structures now being used in corporations. The book gives a convincing business case for work force diversity and for the restructuring of our career model.
Hewlett's book is a must read for anyone concerned about the work force of the twenty first century.

I actually hesitated to read Off-Ramps and On-Ramps, as it looked like a boring textbook at first glance. But, as I got into it, it was quite a provocative read and even brought up some interesting points that applied to both men and women. Here are a few highlights that struck my fancy:

Chapter 1 - Why Mess with the Male Competitive Model. Good way to start a book. I think we'll be hearing more about this as generation y gets further into the workplace. While a hardcore minority will stick to the traditional Gordon Gecko "greed is good" model, we'll see countless others rebel against the values of the generations before them (as all generations before rebelled against their parent's values).

Chapter 2 - Looks at how large a factor elder-care already plays in women's lives. In fact, it's larger than child-care as this affects all women. This is only going to increase as Boomers start being the ones needing care.

Chapter 3 - Extreme Jobs, Extreme Demands. Thought this chapter could make a whole book. It's a great overview of how corporate America has changed. I have a friend whose parents were both big executives at major companies, yet all the time growing up, she swears that both made it home for dinner almost every single night. This is practically unheard of even for middle management these days.

The latter half of the book gives examples of companies who are launching innovative programs to resolve the situation. This makes it a must-read for any management team who is struggling to keep women, OR, better yet, recognizes what a great asset they have and wants to boost them up even more! However, it still begs the question of what to do for the majority of women who do not work for the handful of Fortune 500 companies who get it, and have the funds to produce such innovative programs.

This book is clearly written and user friendly. Biafore gives links to information sources, making it easy for the reader to get more information on each of the hacks. These links alone are worth the price of the book.

I've been trading for over twenty years, including a period as a floor trader on the Chicago Board of Trade. Even with that experience there are tips and tricks in this book I found useful to the point where I employ them daily. To be complete as a reviewer I will say there is a lot of pretty basic stuff from my point of view, but still well worth reviewing since some of it I had forgotten.

Well written, easy reading, well organized

Online Investing Hacks is an excellent introduction to the world of investment. Though the title does contain the word 'Online', I would say that the general information the book provides on investing is not limited to the online realm.

Overall, I was very happy with the book, and found it incredibly useful. Though I do have several investments (401K, some stock, mutual funds etc) I would hardly consider myself an authority on the subject. This book provided very detailed explanations and tips on various forms of investment, from CD's to Index funds, and everything in between. While the experienced investor might not glean much from reading this book, anyone just getting started will find it an excellent reference, and resource.

The format of the book is similar to the other books in the 100 * Hacks series published by O'Reilly. There are exactly 100 hacks, or topics, which are spread across 9 chapters. Each one is an individual entity and can be read and understood without reliance on any of the other hacks.

One minor annoyance I had with the book is that it is geared toward those of you who, for some reason or another, run Microsoft's Windows OS, or have access to Microsoft Excel. Luckily, of the Excel examples that I played with, Open Office's Calc program handled them with minimal tweaking.

I can easily recommend this book to anyone who wants to invest, but is unsure of what to invest in, or needs some tips on making the most of preexisting investments. Those of you who enjoy research and building your own stats and graphs will also find parts of this book rather intriguing, as it covers data acquisition and manipulation with Excel in great detail. It will make an excellent addition to my reference shelf, and I have a feeling it will be well thumbed through in a very short time.

It seems like everyone is involved in investing in some form or another. While I always felt like I should be investing too, it was never clear to me how to begin this process. After all, it's my money. How can I be sure I'm investing in something that will provide some sort of reasonable return? This book is an excellent resource in answering some of those questions and putting the new investor on the right track.

This book is written in the same format as the other "hacks" series by O'Reilly. This format is very easy to read, and the format makes it very easy to find answers. Rather then having to read the book from cover to cover, the reader can pick out topics they are dealing with, read the answer, and move on. Since many of the people interesting in a book of this nature will likely have little time, the book's format works to its advantage.

The book begins with some basic introduction to the stock market and tips for selecting appropriate stocks or mutual funds. The whole middle section of the book deals with data analysis. The author discusses how to understand a company's balance sheet (e.g. what that P/E ratio means), how to spot companies in financial trouble, how to pick a good stock, and even how to trade. There is also a good discussion on minimizing the effect of taxes on your little return on investment.

The author even goes further and gets into a discussion on financial planning. In addition to discussing debt reduction, the author also talks about IRA plans and different strategies for saving for your child's education expenses. I think my favorite part of this book was the discussion on different education savings plans. The author discusses the ins and outs (as well as tax consequences) of each of the plans, and provides some examples illustrating the fact that it's better to start saving earlier than later.

This is an excellent book, not just for its investing advice, but also for its sound financial planning. This is a great book for anyone who is interested in increasing their wealth, saving for a rainy day, or simply saving for future financial goals.

Online Investing Hacks by Bonnie Biafore (O'Reilly) is one of those books that can pay for itself in short order, as well as over and over.

Chapter list: Screening Investments; Hacking Excel for Financial Analysis; Collecting Financial Data; Analyzing Company Fundamentals; Technical Analysis; Executing Trades; Investing in Mutual Funds; Managing Your Portfolio; Financial Planning; Index

I worked at Enron from 1998 through 2001, and spent plenty of time during that dot.com era following my stock portfolio. I watched my Enron stock value go from incredible value to a point where it cost more to sell the stock than it was worth. I won a few bets (face it, that's what they were) on a few dot.coms and lost many more. What could have been an incredible nest egg, isn't. This book would have been a lifesaver if I had read and paid attention to it a few years ago. Biafore shows you how you can analyze and invest wisely using a variety of tools available to everyone.

If you're an Excel user, you'll find it an invaluable tool for analysis. She'll show you how you can use it to create financial charts (#13), calculate compound annual rates of growth (#26), and use rational values to buy and sell wisely (#36). #39 - Spot Hanky Panky with Cash Flow Analysis (using Enron as an example) would have literally saved me hundreds of thousands of dollars had I known about it. Even if you don't care about the investing tips, the hack on downloading data via Excel web queries (#7) was something I didn't know how to do (or that you could even do it!). The book has a little something for everyone.

As with all Hacks titles, you probably won't be interested in every single item. Some may not be applicable to your situation or may be too complex for what you care to handle. But all it would take is one hack to work out and change your investing for this book to pay huge dividends. If you do your own investing, you owe it to yourself to get this book.

This is a good book for beginners on Peoplesoft. Some of the core concepts are well explained. I am told there are not many books around on peoplesoft that are good and this one ranks high..

I am a DBA and wanted to work on building a warehouse for PeopleSoft HRMS along with generating reports for the client. This book really helped me and my team to understand the hr/payroll concepts quickly. If you are a DBA/developer working in Peoplesoft environment, good to have this book in your library.

It is truly a thorough documentation of every important part of PeopleSoft HRMS. It is a handy-dandy book for anybody working in HRMS. Thanks to the author for taking time and putting thoughts to write such a gem.

I have been working with Peoplesoft product since last five years,I have seen may books in the market but this is the only book I have seen which has very usefull information which helps the begenners a lot to understand main tables and also gives overview of HRMS functionality.

I strongly recommend this book for Begenners and is useful as a reference book for any one.

This book is a treasure for anyone who needs to get quickly up-to-speed on the PeopleSoft HRMS data architecture and the most common tables against which queries and reports are executed. This alone would make the book invaluable because of the confusing PeopleSoft documentation and the thousands of tables. However, the author goes well beyond by breaking down the most important tables, grouped by function, into attributes and explaining how to create highly useful business reports from them.

In addition to the thorough coverage of the data architecture, the book also provides an excellent compendium of information and tips for using SQR to its fullest potential. Although my main interest is in the tables, I considered material on SQR to be a bonus and learned a great deal from this section.

If you are working with PeopleSoft on either the technical or functional side this book will probably be your most used reference. The author deserves the highest accolades for clear writing, technical knowledge and the ability to distill the essentials into one of the best references and tutorials I've read in a long time.

Personal Balanced Scorecard is excellently on time and on target. It is one
of the first tangible and useable means to provide for a person the
opportunity to create, follow, measure and improve his own agenda. With
PBSC, we start the long way towards a society in which the person will
become the central focus point, with a responsibility that will be larger
than ever before. In a world that will be more complex and tougher than seen
and experienced so far. PBSC will make the current but more so the next
generation better and stronger for the "personal age" that is about to
arrive to all of us.-- Professor Roel Pieper, Chairman Favonius Ventures and
former Vice President of Philips Electronics and Compaq Computer Corp.

In the world of organizational development and organizational change, many
theorists have provided models and guidance on attempting to change the
culture through leadership development and instilling a sense of personal
responsibility in all employees. However, no theorist has provided an
infrastructure such that the process that will change the culture is
embedded in the organization. The Personal Balanced Scorecard process is
integrally linked with organizational goals within individual performance
plans for every employee to ensure change actually occurs and far richer
outcomes are realized. It is critical in this time of globalization to take
advantage of the intelligence of every employee and find ways of engaging
them as a whole human being. We have used the PBSC ourselves and we have
used it with clients and we've seen it work.-- Regina M. Bowden Ph.D. and
Eleanor Lester ABD, Organizational Change Managers, Michigan

Personal Balanced Scorecard provides a roadmap for the organizations of the future! Hubert Rampersad is one of the great thought leaders that is both helping organizations increase effectiveness and helping people have better lives. He is helping make the world a better place, and is one of the few consultants who look at the entire picture - not just a small part. --Marshall Goldsmith, recognized by the American Management Association as one of 50 great thinkers and leaders who have impacted the field of management over the past 80 years. He has appeared in: The Wall Street Journal - as one of the top ten executive educators, Forbes - as one of five most-respected executive coaches and The Economist - as one of the most credible thought leaders in the new era of business.

Personal Balanced Scorecard offers individuals a sense of hope and a pathway
to get there. Ultimately, all change is individual and personal and this
book offers a practical guide for helping people turn personal missions into
personal improvement actions. The frameworks and questions focus attention
on the right issues in the right way. --Dave Ulrich, author HR Value
Proposition, partner The RBL Group, and Professor Ross School of Business,
University of Michigan, USA.

Personal Balanced Scorecard is an outstanding contribution to the field of
self- mastery and personal transformation. Written from a pragmatic
viewpoint, this book is likely to help set your agenda for a radical shift
from systems-driven change to selfled change. I often ask, if livelihood is
for life, what is life for? Dr. Hubert Rampersad's work explores that
question deeply and comes up with startling answers. ---Professor Debashis
Chatterjee, Head, Centre for Leadership and Human Values, Indian Institute
of Management, Lucknow, India and author of Leading Consciously.

This is an excellent first book on the subject of private mortgage lending.

If you have no idea if what private mortgage lending is about, it has enough detail for you to understand what the business is about and how to get started.

In my opinion, it does not spend enough time explaining the "Gotchas". It has plenty of information to get you started but not enough to keep you out of trouble.

If you are interested in engaging in this business as a lender, by all means buy this book first, but when you have read it two or three times, be aware that you need to know a lot more about troubled borrowers, real estate inspections and appraisals, real estate title problems, bankruptcy, and local forclosure laws and procedures before you start lending your own money.

This is a very helpful book on the topic of hard money loans. It also touches on investing in discount notes. Even an experienced investor will find some helpful nuggets of information in this book. This book not only showed me the way to safely invest & build personal wealth, but it gave me insight as a mortgage broker looking to place my clients with hard money loans. I called and spoke with co-author Matt Tabacchi recently, and he is still in business with 4 branch offices...I may even place some of my money with him to lend in Florida.

Clark's book covers the basics that any investor will need to know, including why to choose private mortgage investing (and what your other options are) and how to go about doing it. It covers all of the different aspects of mortgages such as fees, interest rates, and even has handy tables to help you out. The appendices are the best feature as they have all the forms you will need as well as a comprehensive glossary (very useful!). This book covers everything you need to know to succeed, but were too scared to ask about. It even has case studies and examples explained with real numbers that help tie the whole thing together. I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to start earning money with private mortgage investments.

Clark and Tabacchi have created a masterpiece of an educational and supportive tool that should become a desk reference for any investor from amateur through industry mogul. By providing the reader with an organized and easy to understand manual on the otherwise opaque investing industry, Clark & Tabacchi display their expertise in this subject matter by guiding the beginning investor through the processes of choice from traditional savings through stocks and bonds on to the lucrative market of Mortgage Investing.
The explanation of the reasoning behind the private mortgage industry that tells you why you would want to find yourself in this industry gets the juices flowing and interests peaked. Your journey includes a thorough exposure to strategies of Mortgage Investing, this resource is a must have companion.

This book is straightforward and gives you a tremendous amount of information about investing in private mortgages. Unlike a lot of books of the investment genre, it does not try to sell you on services provided by the authors. In fact, I wish the book had a bit more reference material for making contacts to get started with this type of investing.

A very exact and daily account of the EIGHT years of our war for independence. I have seen Morristown and Jockey Hollow and bought this book there and so can place myself into the actual scene of some of this story.
A great book that answers the question of why people fight for freedom in spite of opposition and nay sayers. Perhaps the military understand best what is at stake because it is so clear and simple when you are doing the fighting and encountering the foe and friend alike, the hunger and fatigue. It is a wonder we won the war but thankfully there were a lot of private Yankee Doodles out there who knew the score.
I am glad they did not change the language and left it as it was written with minimal footnotes. Much more enriching that way. Buy it and you'll love it.
M Smith

Written a lifetime later by a man who had spent his teenage years fighting the British from New England to Virginia, this is the most fascinating and well-written account of the Revolution I've read. Mr. Martin's narrative voice is so matter-of-fact and wryly humorous that it's hard to believe it's coming to you from the distant past.

There is as much social history as military here, as Mr. Martin describes his inoculation with smallpox, his shock at being introduced to a white Connecticut farmwoman's black husband, and the ubiquity of alcohol.

One is struck, in Mr. Martin's account, by how seldom the British /Hessians and American/French ever bothered to shoot each other. There seems to have been a consciousness of the enemy as a human being which made shooting him difficult. This could be hindsight on Mr. Martin's part, but it does jibe with the fact that the total combat death toll for the war (excluding disease and starvation) was around 5,000 on both sides.

Mr. Martin himself seems to have spent much of the war starving. He was only paid twice-- once when he signed up in 1776, and once in 1781 by French officers who dipped into their own pockets to give him a month's salary. Nor was he ever paid anything after the war by a grateful nation. Then again, given that American troops were fed by commandeering groceries, liquor and livestock from local farms, much of the nation may not have been that grateful.

You might be, though, after reading this book. I was. And it's good to remember that fighting for our nation's freedom, once upon a time, meant fighting on our own land instead of other people's.

A fascinating low-level perspective from the eyes of a soldier. Mr. Martin has a terrific sense of humor and shows how much in common modern day people have with our Revolutionary ancestors. The Editor George Scheer provides a high level view of the same events through footnotes. The dialog can take a little getting use to but the reader will find themselves comfortable with it in short order.

I was looking for a soldier's account of the Revolutionary War and came across this rare memoir in the Jamestown, Virgina Nationa Park Service bookstore. I sure was glad I did.
I have read many soldier's memiors from from all periods of time but never during the Revolutionary War. We have heard about the sufferings of our country's first soldiers but Martin tells us like it was as he lived it. There is not a lot of battle descriptions but he is a master story teller who will take you back in time to the days of the colonies and George Washington's army during America's struggle for independence.
If you love good personal history narratives and want to learn about the Revolutionary War then get this book. This would be an excellent book for classroom study or home school.

Private Yankee Doodle, the diary of Joseph Plumb Martin, is an excellent account of the Revolutionary War told from the soldier's view.

Martin campaigned almost continuously from the beginning of the War through Yorktown (with the exception of the first winter after his initial three month service). He lived much of what have become the hallowed tales of our epic struggle for nationhood. He was at the Battles of Brooklyn, Harlem Heights and White Plains, endured Valley Forge (though for most of that winter stationed away from the camp as a forager), Monmouth, the other terrible winter encampments and Yorktown to name a few. Through it all, Martin marched, froze, starved and suffered for his service. It is remarkable that he kept at it for most of the war. (One reads of the constant lack of food (often for two or days) and is amazed that more soldiers didn't simply just quit.) It is more remarkable that he kept at it in fairly good humor - though he did parade with the Connecticut troops who conducted a minor mutiny over the lack of provisions. (An incident that Washington reported to Congress as more worrisome to the cause than the British force occupying New York.)

Martin is a good storyteller and raconteur. The reader will not find detailed accounts of battle here. In fact, battle is mentioned rather matter-of-factly. What is delightful to find is an account of the day in and day out hardships of life in Washington's army. Stories abound of camp life, foraging, marching, guard duty, scrapes with Torries, the hunt for clothing and the other ever-present challenges that soldiers had to endure and perform to simply survive between battles.

This is a wonderful book that I highly recommend.

If you are still debating, which of the two 1998 Hollywood flicks, "Deep Impact" or "Armageddon", is the better comet catastrophe movie, you will get delivered from this nagging question by reading this 1995 book: none of the above. I am amazed that Hollywood DIDN'T exploit the in reality much more gloomy scenarios of a comet impact's chain reactions leading to the effacement of the human habitat by multiple means.

The book starts out with the realization process of modern human society that comets are one of the biggest threats. Actually, the author thinks that comet awareness hasn't sharpened sufficiently yet and sets out to change that, successfully so for anyone who reads this book. From the discovery of solar system planetory impacts to the ongoing search for the remains of Earth' comet craters and the quest of mapping space in search for the villains of iron and ice, the author lets us know the high probability of global killers. In the process thwarting the current easy-going negligence, caused by what he terms 6-10,000 years of freak climate stability on Earth (equaling relatively comet-free times), responsible for the possibility of the emergence of human civilization and the population boom. Concluding with 10 random computer probability simulation scenarios of how the 20th century could have looked like in parallel universes. In between filling the book with the ugly comet consequences BEYOND cratering, shock wave, mega tsunami and dust-induced perennial nightly winter, I had never heard of before.

Some of my questions from reading other books got solved, most of all the so-called mystery of the Libyan desert glass (in Egypt), which is vitrified sand over a large circular area. The yellowpress book Technology of the Gods: The Incredible Sciences of the Ancients mused about ancient nuclear warfare (I am not kidding), since this isn't a crater (yet mentioning nuclear cratering in another chapter). Whereas already half a decade before, this book had explained the effects of both nuclear and cometory explosions on the ground or in the air, causing either cratering or intense burning. (It is called a meteor, if it doesn't survive Earth' atmosphere and a meteorite, if it reaches the ground.)

The book may be dusted already, after all human knowledge currently doubles every five years. It becomes evident that it was written before September 11th, 2001 and the 2004 Christmas tsunami. Yet both deep impacts on the human psyche are explained in principle in this book: Unusual events eclipsing more deadly continuities. The average earth quake saving more lives by interrupting traffic (accidents) than killing others. More US-Americans killed in post-invasion Iraq than on September 11th. A neo-colonial induced economic tsunami sweeping Africa several times a year. So even on the level of reasoning about human perceptions, this book is worth the read and even some of the obviously dusted parts are translateable to an update of mind.

Actually, there has been an 1997 paperback update of three pages: More historic evidence found including a 580 A.D. match of one of the fictitious simulations about France's Orleans. The most scary part, I may say. Also the 1996 1st time confirmation of one of the theories extrapolated in the first edition of the book a year earlier: Earth "capturing" cometary debris, i.e. forcing it into temporary orbit.

In 1999, a more unorthodox book was first published - referencing this book - suggesting that human civilization had already lived through at least two such global killers - which merged into the flood stories. It suggests, megalithic structures on the Irish/British Isles were used to train people from far away places how to detect future comets and how to rebuild civilization after the strike - with Biblical Enoch and Noah being the ones in the position to apply that training. The book avers much higher tsunamis than "Rain of Iron and Ice", but it is fascinating reading: Uriel's Machine: Uncovering the Secrets of Stonehenge, Noah's Flood and the Dawn of Civilization. In Voyages of the Pyramid Builders: The True Origins of the Pyramids from Lost Egypt to Ancient America a similar historic scenario is described for Sundaland (once dry land of today's south-east Asian island nations world of Indonesia etc.).

__________________

The need for radioastronomy to detect near Earth objects on the day-side is documented in this book. Amateur astronomers have a real opportunity to potentially save all life on Earth. Despite the efforts expended (mostly since 1994, after the impact of the fragments of Shoemaker-Levy 9 on Jupiter) the estimate is that 90 per cent of nearby asteroids are unknown. As David Morrison has warned, nothing can be told about the unknown majority, and the odds are that there will be no warning.

At least four large impacts occurred during the 20th century, the best known being the Tunguska object in 1908. I was a bit startled to learn of the small 1919 impact on Lake Michigan (p 159) having never heard anything about this from elderly folklore-prone relatives.

Perhaps most useful is Lewis' discussion of the various myths about our safety from such impacts.

See also "Night Comes to the Cretaceous" by James Lawrence Powell.

This book by John Lewis is very intriguing read. Roughly 220 pages with fifteen chapters, and easy to read. He explored the threats from space as well discussed the asteroid impacts from the past in our solar system, including that of Mars, Moon, Mercury, and even the impacts on asteroids themselves.

Out of all informative and fascinating chapters in this book, I felt the fourteenth chapter is most chilling to read because the author brings the reader to experience each scenario of impacts from A to J. Each is frightening as one begin to see, as the computer simulations show, what it would be like to be collided with the iron asteroid.

Overall, I felt this book is directed towards bringing the public awareness of the threats from space as it is likely. Not everyone ever believes that Earth will get hit by comets or asteroids, and that we are safe from such threats. This book can help one to understand the grace issue of such threats, and why we would need to look up and be aware of such cosmic events will happen, and it is just the matter of when. This book will surely be added to that awareness.

In my opinion, I really recommend this book.

This book is a natural five-star. It clearly and eloquently discusses the threat from asteroids and comets. The scenario of a SMALL asteroid falling in the Philippine Sea should be eye-opening to even the most jaded. Also especially worth reading are the chapters on Mercury and on computer created scenarios of falls over a century's time. The book maintains a steady pace throughout, and is a must for anyone interested in meteoritics.

This fine book is designed primarily with one goal in mind. Aimed at a popular audience, it is written to counteract the unfortunately widespread myth that no one has ever been killed, or will ever be killed, by a falling asteroid or meteor. John Lewis reworks this statement, reminding us that the way it should be phrased is as follows: "no one as ever been killed or hurt by a meteor or asteroid in the presence of a Western, 20th/21st century journalist or meteoriticist."

This book demonstrates, through statistics and anecdotes, that it is more than just a question of occasional asteroids like the one that killed the dinosaurs, or like the ones in the asteroid movies from the summer of 1999. There is an extremely wide range of asteroids, meteors, and other random space-rocks, of all different shapes, sizes, and compositions. The ones large enough to do fairly serious damage land all over the planet, and substantially more often than many of us tend to believe.

Chapter 14 alone is worth the price of the book. In it, Dr. Lewis shows us computer simulations of several likely asteroid strikes. Let me clarify that -- he presents the results of computer simulations of 10 randomly computer-generated "centuries" on Earth, and what the statistical likelihood of pretty awful asteroid collisions are in each century. Many of the simulations are pretty terrifying. The one that opens the chapter, taking place in the Phillipines, is one of the most horrifying things you'll ever read.

Another valuable part of the book is the table in chapter 13, which lists dozens of damaging asteroid or meteor strikes throughout recorded history, all over the world. Stories like this crop up throughout the book, they aren't just in chapter 13.

The intent of this book is to raise public awareness. It succeeds dramatically. Please buy a copy, and get copies for some of your friends. Two thumbs up.

Very useful. Well written in a very readable format. The somewhat dry, sometimes self deprecating humor kept the discourse lively and never became pontifical.

Bill has written a folksy exhortation to "hang in there" to pastors thinking the church they will transform is the next one. With the usual caveats about gettin' out the door when the attacks are personal & toxic, Bill has a weight of experience and a slew of friend and colleague interviews to say that your best bet is to beat the average stay (now less than 4 years), slowly but steadily empower and train up the lay leadership, and open up the congregation to the possibility that God might just choose to work through them.

This is a great book for any Church or anyone who goes to Church. It reminds us that the color of the kitchen is not as important as the people in your neighborhood. I know of a Church that is dying because they refuse to change and they like it that way. It's sad. Dr. McConnell uses real examples of real people in real congregations and how it affects ourselves and community. A must read!

As a minster who has been in leadership with three different congregations who worked on transformation, I can attest to the veracity and relevance of Bill McConnell's book. He starts right at the heart of ther matter, spiritual awakening and growth as the first key to a transformed congregation. Throughout the book I found truth jumping off the page..."If your church is not growing it' dying"..."we don't tell the truth becasue in church we don't want people to be angry"..."somehow we've let seniority become more inportant in picking leaders than spiritual depth"...it takes purpose, willingness to change, and leadership (all three)to transform and grow a congregation" These are the gems he shares from experience and hard knocks. I am going to use the new study guides he's just completing (Mar 08) to help my church leadership grapple with its spiritual journey. Thx Bill!

What I appreciate about this book is that it is deep but not dense. It contains valuable insights about church transformation that are readily accessible to the reader. It is a perfect book for a leadership group in a local church or a group of pastors to read and discuss together. Bill gives you something to think about as well as something to act on. This book is hopeful and helpful at the same time. It gives you a sense that church transformation is challenging but not impossible. Bill is somehow simultaneously irreverent yet also caring towards the local church and that is a healthy combination.