New Books

Form any startup, the founding team must commit to a getting it right - for it is not easy to getting your market and product right - what you need is likely what I needed for my latest startup - Pay Parade [...] - author and entrepreneur Paul Hawken provides an insightful tale of how to farm your newly seeded company - whereas I thought of this book to help me with marketing, I ended up learning that it often takes more of a cultivated farming sensibility than any hard marketing science. Go ahead and treat yourself to a gift that keeps on giving - purchase yourself a copy of Growing Your Business.

What a spectacular little business bible for a world that has forgotten that business and people are one and the same. Read this book.

This book was my constant companion when I first started my company 12 years ago. I underlined, starred and highlighted countless passages and dog-eared the corners of numerous pages. The underlying philosophies still guide me--be in it for the long haul, create legendary service, you can never rush the rules of the field, and focus, focus, focus. This is especially true in light of the Internet where everything happens at lightning speed. But business is still about people and relationships. Nurture them. Whenever I meet someone about to start a business, I send them a copy of this book. It's the best advice I can give them: read it.

"growing a business" comes across as an early attempt to form his message ... mr. hawken really seems to hit his stride with the opus, "the ecology of commerce"

1. Tire of spending too much time looking for natural foods, Hawken starts Boston's first natural food store. In the first year, the company was grossing $300 and it was fun. "As the years rolled by, the company made money, lost it, hired hundreds of employees, bought railroad cars, opened stores and warehouses on both coasts, set up wholesale and manufacturing facilities, flirted with bankruptcy, and engendered a host of lean and hungry competitors-some of them friends and former associates."
2. The more exposure I gained to the "official" world of business, the more I began to doubt that I was in business at all. I seemed to be doing something different.
3. I believe that for a new and growing business, too much money is a greater problem than too little.
4. Being a good human being is good business.
5. There is no institute in American life that is freer to do what is wants to do than a business, and that includes creating its own jobs. The self-owned and operated business is the freest life in the world.
6. I believe most if not all, the successful business operate with values that go beyond opportunism.
7. Entrepreneurial ideas spring from a deep immersion in some occupation, hobby, or other pursuit, spurred by something missing in the world. The entrepreneur is often the first one to spot the opening, and if things work out that person will have a successful business.
8. To find the beginning, reduce your business idea to its apparent essence. Then reduce it again.
9. If a business is to grow you have to own it-the acts, habits, functions, jobs, and grunt labor.
10. A time will come when the primal fears emerge: What have I done? Isn't someone else doing it, too, and better? You will feel a strange loneliness.
11. Fear of failure may or may not be helpful but it is rationale. Every businessman, no matter how intelligent and resourceful, can and will fall prey to delusion and misjudgment.
12. As a businessperson you will encounter some of the strangest behavior you've ever seen. You will be incredulous to see people you thought you knew and trusted-good people, really become remarkable manipulators of truth and reality. Business is people. Expect the unexpected.
13. You have to gone into business to discover, change, serve, inform, transform, improve, and delight someone. You won't sell to this person otherwise. The entrepreneur asks, "Why not".
14. Business is about practice. It is not about theories or the testing of revolutionary ideas.
15. The major problem affecting business is a lack of imagination, not capital.
16. If money could solve problems, there would be no small business because the big business with plenty of money would run everything.
17. When your business encounters problems and messes stay with them. Find something valuable down in the dreck. One of the greatest errors of much business literature today is its attempt to instill certainty with checklists, must-dos, the motherhoods, ten principles, axiom galore, and other assorted truisms.
18. A good business has interesting problems, a bad business has boring ones. Good management is the art of making the problems so interesting and their solutions so constructive that everyone wants to get work and deal with them. Good problems energize.
19. From 1978 to 1986, GM grew sales from $63 billion to $102 billion but the company's share of domestic car market fell from 48 percent to 39 percent. Price increases, inflation, and acquisitions were the source of GMs growth. The point, every company dies.
20. Information is nothing more than how to make or accomplish something in the best way: more useful, longer lasting, easier to repair, lighter, stronger, and less energy consuming.
21. Global paradox, every small business has the potential advantage because big business, government, labor unions, schools, often don't deliver the goods.
22. If we are in economy that is organized increasingly around the amount of information that I in products, rather than around the amount of stuff, then the ability to create difference in manufacturing and delivery of goods and service will be the key to success.
23. Imagination and creativity are more useful than aggressiveness.
24. Big business are not more efficient, productive, or innovative than small businesses.
25. To consume means to use up, to waste, to destroy. Real income has fallen. As consumers, we can not afford to waste, so we buy products that are better and last longer. It is our demand for a better designed and operated world that is behind the tumultuous change we see in the marketplace today.
26. The American consumer is inherently dissatisfied. My business has started from my being a customer and not liking what I could buy. I suspect your business will begin that way too.
27. Good business ideas provide people with something that was right there-or not right there-all the time, but no one recognized it. When you recognize and provide it, they'll buy it.
28. Buy as directly as possible, sell directly as possible, and reduce overhead as much as possible.
29. After you have a business idea, I recommend that you subject it to the scrutiny of a business plan. A business plan broadly describes the nature of the business, the type of product being manufactured or service offered, and the advantage or benefits the product offers. A business plan is a test of the depth and thoroughness with which you have thought out your idea. The temptation is to fudge your plan toward what you believe the reader wants to read, rather than what you want to do. A well-developed business plan must be true to your own vision and purpose in order to be a useful tool.
30. Businesses lull themselves into failure, and this often reflects their inability to learn what the immediate business environment is saying.
31. Every business plan paints a rosy future, but few people going into business closely examine the possibility and the results of this hoped-for triumph.
32. When writing a business plan image that you are writing to a friend whose opinion and intelligence you admire, but who knows nothing about your current venture.
33. For a new company, a good marketing plan is simple, to the point, and easy to follow.
34. A consistent mistake companies make is not including their employees as owners.
35. Equity, whether in the form of incentive-type options, ESOPs, grants, loans, or pooled interests, should have the single purpose of creating a sense of shared conditions: we are in this together and will act accordingly.
36. If you are offered cash, loans, or advice, accept only the latter.
37. Friends are the first source of money for most small businesses.
38. SBA is the lender of last resort.
39. We keep our investors informed, not with the volume of information we produce, but with its accuracy.
40. Money goes to the least embarrassing situation.
41. Generosity, ampleness, and abundance draw money to ideas, people, and businesses.
42. A seasoned businessperson never presumes to know the truth of today. An experienced businessperson always asks questions. A green one will always have the answers.
43. Many people in business with little or no education or training nevertheless succeed-in good part because they have an intuitive sense of these numbers.
44. The more experience you have in business, the more money you can spend on a new business. Profit is the cost of doing business.
45. To grow, your business you must earn the permission of the marketplace.

I just wanted some good vegetarian dish ideas. This book impressed the heck out of me when it showed you how to make your own tofu, soy milk and other vegetarian stuff. Though I am not a vegetarian, I am amazed with the details on how to make some of the stuff. Oh yeah, and the recipes seem to be easy enough to follow! :)

I am new to vegetarian eating. I have been looking for ways to make some of the foundation items in a veggie lifestyle. this book tells you how to make tofu, soymilk, seitan (or gluten), etc. I was grateful to read how to make them. I know many people would just prefer to buy the ingredients at the store, but there are some of us out there that want to learn how to make the items. It will involve more of my time to make the food, but it will cost much less than to buy it from the store.

I definitely don't use all the recipes in here and frankly some are just weird like Roberta's Really Good Soup (even though it's kinda good). It's a great reference guide for tofu and certain vegan substitutes. Try the French toast recipe or the chocolate tofu pie! Super-Good!

A good book to add to the shelf. Needs some updating to reflect the vast variety of vegan items now available in supermarkets.

There are two main categories of vegan food, I think -- well, surely there are more, but there's two common in western pop culture. There's the vegan food you like to eat with your non-vegetarian friends, to change their minds: veggie burgers that look like meat, salad dressings where you'd never suspect the cream was tofu, and classy, restaurant-ready fare that seems so 'normal' your friends say things like "I guess the days of lentil loaf and bean sprouts are over!" And then there's this stuff.

And this is the truly good stuff. The people on The Farm, I don't know how they did it... a great mail-order business, Ina May's pioneering work in midwifery (Ina May's Guide to Childbirth), and a cookbook that helped push forward the vegan movement way back in 1975. These people had a huge cultural effect for one little hippy commune. Anyway, on to the food:

If you read the New Farm Vegetarian Cookbook from cover to cover (which, unlike most cookbooks, you can) you'll learn how to:
- prepare beans
- make TVP meatballs
- make tortillas, bake bread, pizza dough
- sprout seeds
- make knishes
- make gluten
- prepare soymilk
- skim yuba from cooking soymilk
- make tempeh from scratch (fascinating; looks very difficult)

The food prep instructions and recipes in the New Farm Vegetarian Cookbook make up a vegan 101 I wouldn't have been willing to read and absorb until fairly recently. It'll be popular with you if you're (1) already health-minded, (2) value non-processed foods enough to do the work, (3) organized food-wise, and willing to do things like leave the beans to soak the night before. There are some quick recipes, but if you're more of a ten-minute cook I'd recommend instead you get How It All Vegan! or (even simpler) the Soy, Not Oi! cook-zine.

Recipes in the Farm book include Soysage, Tofu Onion Quiche, Gluten Roast, Tempeh Sauerbraten, Millet And Peas, Granola and many other hippie classics plus lots of other great soups, spreads, main dishes, desserts, breads, and a small section about pregnancy and having kids as a vegan.

I just made their macaroni and 'cheese' made with nutritional yeast (Nutritional Yeast, Shaker (Red Star), 5 oz._; a product I've never used much of before but which features in this book prominently. It was much, much better than the OK (but more convenient) boxed stuff Roads End Organics sells: Road's End Organics Dairy-Free Pasta Shells & Chreese, Cheddar Style, 6.5-Ounce Boxes (Pack of 12). I was glad the recipe worked out because I'd been kind of daunted by nutritional yeast for awhile.

After the utility of this book I think I most appreciate the earnestness. Lentil loaf is good. Do not be ashamed! The Farm cooks also understand you don't want to support the corporate food giants, get your B12 from a pill or fortified anything, or buy a soy product you can't describe the manufacture of. If How It All Vegan is high school, the Farm Cookbook is college. The photograps of commune cooks stirring the baked beans in their mumus are also great.

One more point -- if you were to wholeheartedly adopt these recipes and food lifestyle as the book lays out, you would save a lot of money. (You can tell the Farm folks cooked for economy when they warn you to watch out for added mercury if you buy your soybeans at an animal-feed supply store.) The way most vegans and vegetarians in the west eat today doesn't represent much in the way of savings, because our processed foods, even if they're made of cheap ingredients, cost quite a bit. (Think of Yves slices, or commercial fake parmesan.) These people made awesome food at home from the cheapest, most straightforward and whole foods available. That's cool. Thank you hippies.

My daughter is supposed to be reading chapter books but she can't get into them so doesn't finish them. On our last library visit, I asked for help from the librarian. She said, "She just hasn't found the right book yet." This was one of the 'books' she suggested because it was audio. "Judy Blume is great and this should help spark her interest." So we got it. Well, not only did it spark her interest, it sparked mine as well! We enjoyed listening to it together in the car and even at home. One of the things I enjoy most about it is it stays centered around Sheila's thoughts/point of view and it is very entertaining and funny. The slumber party on disc three made us laugh hysterically. I never thought I'd ever try audio books but this was a great idea and now my daughter is checking out chapter books and reading them, thanks to this!

BOTTOM LINE: If you have a reluctant reader, get this fun, entertaining audio book and see if it doesn't spark your child's interest in reading!

I read this book to my second grade class, and they thoroughly enjoyed it. I have always preferred Beverly Cleary, but this book may be winning me back to the ranks of Blume.

Sheila is a very funny protaganist. Her constant desire to be popular, adored and liked by everyone fit in perfect with the children. That's exactly the way the kids here at this school work. The book was very funny, I loved the sleepover where the girls secretly shared their opinions of each other. The class laughed and laughed.

I loved that not every question was answered. The book left you to figure out the next chapter. Very nice story, perfect for "summer" reading.

I loved this book as a kid and I still love it now!! It was great to read it again and share in this girl's view of the world and the things that scare her and how she overcomes them!!

This was my all time favorite book as a kid. I still will recall parts of it in relation to my life now (im 39) . My daughter is finally eight and I cant wait for her to read it. Love this book, I could not have made it through childhood without Judy Blume and this book.,

My fourth grade teacher read this book to my class over a course of several Friday afternoons. It was the second Judy Blume book she read to us, the first being, "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing". I was introduced to Sheila Tubman in "Tales", and then we got a chance to really get to know her.

Sheila sounds a lot like me at ten, trying to figure out where I fit in and trying to appear "perfect". Unlike Sheila however, I loved dogs, loved to swim, and I had to kill spiders for my sister, who was deathly afraid of them. I thought Blume dealt with Sheila's story with a lot of love and humor and sensitivity. By the end of the story, Sheila soon learns that when she really puts her mind to facing her fears, they're not as bad as it seems. This is an important lesson for us all and the younger you can get it, the better off you'll be.

Since the fourth grade, which was over twenty years ago, I have read many of Judy Blume's books and have enjoyed all of them immensely. I'd recommend this book for boys and girls alike. If anything, it'll make you grab your side and laugh. :)

This book takes the simple and sheds light. It takes religion to complicate things - This is a good reminder that we are here for relationship not religion, and of the beauty and simplicity of the gospel! Great book, Thanks Dr. Munroe!

For the first time in my life as a believer I am understanding what God intended for us. The Scriptures have been clear but my thinking was incorrect, off -track, muddled by cultural circumstances. Dr. Munroe takes you step by step into the Word of God and emphasizes what JESUS said, did and wants for us. My thinking is changed, my perspective is different. I am applying the Word of God to my life and it works. Every believer needs to read this book... with the Word. Wish I had learned about kingdom principles as a chld as my entire life would have taken a different path. From this point onward I am thinking and living Kingdom of God!!

There are times as a Christian that we need a little more insight. This book by Myles Munroe helps you to understand more clearly some of Gods Word and plans for our life as Christians. This book will help you put some Godly plans into action.

This is a perfect book for a Christian Library. The concept is based on God Kingdom. This book is perfect to use in Sunday School classes or just for personal study. I enjoy reading it and I'm still using it as a reference.

This book is a must read for everyone who wants to know the true and the ministry and purpose of Jesus Christ mission on earth. This teaching on the Kingdom needs to be taught in the churches around the world. I'm including schools, governments, and companies big and small to get the understanding. I will be buying this and the other teaching books and CD's on the Kingdom to invest in my bishop pastor friends and family.
Really understand what Matt6:33 Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness get the book...

Ms Muir is a great storyteller. I was interested in the topic and prepared to slog through boring text to learn something, but this was AMAZING. Read like a novel. She sees inter-relationships and draws conclusions which taught me a lot. Now I want to read everything she's written. I was sorry when I finished this book.

It is hard to imagine how Reflections in Bullough's Pond could have been better written. Diana Muir gives an account of the interplay between New England's economic history and its environment in a lapidary prose which never leaves the reader behind. By the end of the book we are enlightened about the ebb and flow of these matters over the five hundred-odd years from early European settlement to modern times without ever being overwhelmed, for Ms Muir always wears her erudition lightly.

She breaks new ground in her treatment of the environment as both an economic resource and as a complex-often vulnerable-amalgam of ecosystems. Her thesis is that we are living on capital, be it fossil fuel, topsoil or forest-she is particularly compelling on the vulnerable biochemistry of these last. Unusually, however, Ms Muir is scrupulous in her use of statistics and fastidious in her argument. She never seeks to undermine the legitimacy of the economic impulse, though she does not flinch from her conclusion: an argument for restraint in economic activity and population.

Nor does she lose sight of the propensity of ecosystems to renew themselves, albeit often in new forms: she is pleased-almost amused-by the return of the beaver and the moose, while regretting the extinction of the elm and the emergence of local spruce monocultures. Indeed Ms Muir expresses herself more forcefully on the loss of flora than fauna. Perhaps this is because the long life cycles of the former make it harder to take an optimistic view of their capacity to renew themselves. Alternatively it may be because the collapse of agriculture in New England following the opening up of the West, has stimulated the return to southern New England of so many species formerly evicted to Canada.

Reflections in Bullough's Pond is no naïve elegy for a Paradise Lost; it never loses sight of a human interplay with the landscape which long antedates industrialisation, not to say European settlement. In a particularly ingenious section of the book, Ms Muir reminds us that in the middle of the nineteenth century, the courts and legislatures altered common law doctrines of liability to free up industrial activity. This reflected the climate of the times. Ms Muir argues that the climate of our own times may well give rise to more extensive liability concepts to restrain the corporations, notions very much with the tail wind of popular and professional thinking.

Given the book's generosity and elegance, it seems curmudgeonly to cavil at any part of it. But a couple of issues do arise. First forests. Since the invention of agriculture, we have cleared them for the simple reason that we have better uses for the land. This has been going on in the Old World for millennia. Of course there have been local environmental disasters, eg in North Africa and Mesopotamia, but nothing sufficiently general to justify veneration of forests as a precautionary measure. This is an artefact of late-twentieth century sentiment in the New World. There such virgin forests as have not lost within living memory are being destroyed even now, thus the local salience of the issue. Over the past fifteen years their defenders have sought to enlist support by arguing that they served one or another vital purpose: producing oxygen, acting as feedstock for drugs, now Ms Muir points to their role in topsoil. The first two arguments are infrequently heard these days. As to the last, let me point out that where I grew up in the eastern part of England, the ground was cleared eight or nine hundred years ago, but the topsoil remains sufficiently fertile for the local farmers to get out record yields.

I was also left uncertain as to the course Ms Muir might prescribe for the several billion who have never seen Bullough's Pond, and whose habitats have been profoundly altered by economic activity for millenia rather than centuries. The residents of Asia's great river valleys cleared the forests long before Columbus saw the New World. They have to eat-with luck raise themselves above thoughts of the next meal. Ms Muir has practical suggestions as to how the courts might restrain US corporations, but nothing on how to restrain the aspirations of those who dream of a fraction of American prosperity. I suspect she is wise enough to know that there is nothing to be done on this score. In a rare nod towards the nether reaches of environmental alarmism, she hints that she expects nature to impose population restraint, if we do not. I am more sanguine. In whatever might come to pass as in what has come before, we will wade through. As we must.

Other reviewers have discussed the virtues of the book, so I will only add that the lessons to be learned from this well written and fascinating study are relevant to the entire planet, not just New England. As such, the book is highly recommended to anyone anywhere who is interested in mankind's relationship to the environment and its effects on culture and economics.

This is one of the best books I have ever read- period! At the core of the book is Ms. Muir's message that we are part of nature, not separate from or above nature, and we have a great responsibility to maintain the integrity of the environment. Granted, this message is not new. Where this book is very different is how Ms. Muir leads up to this message. She shows how the New England landscape changed from one where farming dominated to one that was a mixture of many different types of mills and factories. You learn the consequences of everything that was done along the way: the consequences to fish and birds of damming rivers; the consequences to forests and to the air we breath of heavy logging; the consequences of catching too many of one type of fish, etc. What is great about this book is that Ms. Muir does not deal in hazy generalities. She takes you step by step and shows you specifically how certain actions cause certain changes in the environment, often unforseen. There is nothing simplistic in her observations and she knows there are no easy answers. She lays out the data for you and you can come to your own conclusions. But what really takes this book to another level is the fascinating biographical information that Ms. Muir provides concerning the many, many New Englanders that invented the machines of the Industrial Revolution and kept the economy vibrant as the importance of agriculture diminished. The way this book is put together is very unusual, due to the combination of all of the above factors and in the space of 248 pages you will learn a great deal of information. The research Ms. Muir must have done in writing this book is staggering and her knowledge across many different areas is amazing. Don't miss reading this book.

Using a pond near her home in Newton, MA as a backdrop, Diana Muir weaves a compelling view of New England history, which she argues is a series of ecological crises.

From pre-Columbian times, Muir says, New England was populated by individuals struggling on a land that was not conducive to making a living. Radical solutions to unsolvable problems were their only escape. In the 1790s, when farming was the only occupation, a growing population and a soil spent by generations of misuse, resulted in a dearth of farmable land. With no prospects and no future, individuals like Eli Whitney and Thomas Blanchard, were forced to look for creative solutions to society's problems and set in motion an industrial revolution.

I was particularly intrigued by the story of Frederick Tudor, the man who in 1806 introduced ice to Martinique. It is one thing to sell ice to people who because of their location, understand the concept. It is quite another, to sell ice to people who have never experienced it, to say nothing about the practical necessities of ice houses to warehouse the product.

His father's real estate speculation losses left Tudor with nothing but ambition and a house with a pond in Saugus, MA. He succeeded after two difficult decades. There was always a wrinkle to be solved before a fortune could be built. Iceboxes had to be designed and then marketed in southern ports to people who had to be taught how to preserve it.

This phenomenon explains why there so many Crystal and Silver Lakes dot the New England landscape, relics of an enterprising age. Savvy ice dealers understood that attractive names sell products. For a brief period even Muir's Bullough's Pond was briefly renamed Silver Lake.

Diana Muir e-mailed me twice during the past two years introducing her book to me. Having read her book, I am grateful for her persistence. If you enjoy reading unique looks at our history, I implore not to wait for her to contact you. Read her book; you will not regret it.

With pretense that would make P.T. Barnum blush, L. Ron Hubbard presents 22 famous names as sources of inspiration of this book. Its first few pages reveal only one debt of inspiration, to the late English Magician, self-proclaimed "Beast 666," Aleister Crowley.

In this text Hubbard denounces belief in God as a symptom of insanity, and presents Crowley's intriguing Cosmology as his own.

Imitating - but poorly - Crowley's "O.T.O.", he would, in a few years, initiate his own secret "O.T. levels," and use '8-8008' to entice the unsuspecting into believing his empty promises of creating a race of World-ruling 'Supermen'.

This is an advanced Scientology text; I don't recommend it for someone knew to the subject.

This book contains scales and data for use with other Scientology materials. While it is vital to advanced Scientology study, for the new Scientologist, I recommend "Scientology: The Fundamentals of Thought" or "Scientology: A New Slant on Life" first.

For anyone familiar with the subject of Scientology, this book is a must read!

This is not for someone that doesn't understand Scientology and propably wouldn't understand the theory behind this book either. But if you are looking for the answers to life and how you fit into things as such - not just assumptions and guess work - then this is the book for you.

It takes the dream like state of guessing and thinking that all those guys at the "top" or "authorities on the subject" should only know, to here it is - you have responsibility for what is put here and now and in how we live. You can either believe it's so or carry on in your dream states.

Really it is an eye opener for those who can clear up all the concepts and demonstrate for themselves how they apply to self!

What are the qualities and attributes and capabilities of the Human Spirit? What exactly is the Physical Universe? You were immensely powerful once, so what happened? How can you rise to greater heights of awareness and ability and once again become the YOU that you actually are? This book by L. Ron Hubbard embraces the essence of Scientology. You need this information.

Scientology 8-8008 was originally written by Hubbard in London in October 1952 as the textbook for an upcoming series of lectures which he delivered to students in Philadelphia in December of that year.

The title of this book, "Scientology 8-8008" is actually a formulaic/symbolic statement of the Goal of Scientology. Translated it means: "The attainment of Infinity by reducing the apparent infinity of the Physical Universe to "0" and then taking the apparent "0" value of one's own universe and increasing it to Infinity". (An "8" laid on its side is the symbol for infinity).

Scientology 8-8008 is the best book you will ever read on Spirituality and your Native Abilities. It really does contain the Truth that will set you Free.

I have read this book a number of times since the 1960s. It contains more distilled truth about life and the spiritual nature and capabilities of people than you will find anywhere. You read it carefully, cosidering each line, and WOA! it dawns on you that what Mr. Hubbard says is TRUE with a capital T. But you have to have the courage to really look at what he says and the smarts to really grock exactly what he did say. Everyone you meet treats you like a hunk of meat. Like people all in cars with no consideration there even is a driver. This book adresses the driver! YOU, not the meat. You will be well rewarded with knowledge of your true potential and how to achieve it if you read this book.

This is a Phenomenal book! It's a great book for all women of color to read. Each chapter alerted all of my emotions and thoughts. I am learning everyday how to attack any negative energy surrounding me and follow the gift of intution. Learning to love yourself in the midst of everything.

Yes, I already gave it five stars, because I read one of her other books "Tapping The Power Within...." When I was about 14 or 15 years old, I was in a afterschool class, and the instructor gave us each a copy of "Acts of Faith." The title of the book was very powerful to me, and I tried to read it then, but I was not ready. See, thats the thing about most self help books like these, you must be READY to read them. I actually got "Tapping the Power Within..." last month from my counselor, thats when I realized I still had two of her other books. My aunt also bought me one of her books when I was of the age 14, because I was going through a tough time. The book was called "Don't Give it Away." Which I am now in my THIRD YEAR OF COLLEGE... YAYY ME, and I passed the book down to my sister. (Also, I wanted to leave this portion of my message for a poster on here named Tigress "JD": Do not feel stupid for buying a collection of her books. Actually, I had just did the same thing. I am about to buy more of her books).Its quite hard choosing which books to read. I am currently reading the "Acts fo Faith" day by day, and I have finished reading "Tapping The Power Within" Which is helping me a lot. The following books I already have purchased was already shipped to me is "Faith in the Valley," "Living Through the Meantime," (which I started to read, but I was not sure if I was ready, after reading a couple of pages through)"One Day My Soul Just Opened Up (which I am debating with "Living Through the Meantime"), and "Yesterday I Cried." So I have about seven of her books. I am going to purchase more right now. I hope you all remain strong, and I hope the books will help you all a lot. (sorry for all the typos its 3:12am in the morning in NYC and I could not help it, but to get back online and purchase some more books, plus I cannot fall asleep).

This book is great not only for black women, but for all women. It helps one to understand life better, and to love ones self better.

I am a big fan of motivational and self-help books. I have read many in my lifetime. Mostly good, some so-so. It is important to read a book relevant to what one is going through at that time to get the full scope of things from the book we read I believe. Iyanla's books are one of them and one of my favourite authors. The first book I got from Iyanla's collection was "Yesterday I Cried" and that had helped me through the ditch I was going through at that time. A friend of mine recommended a book of hers "One day My Soul Just Opened Up" which at that time I had already knew about her and went on to search on amazon her other publications and purchased the whole series of her books. Yeh - crazy me! But hey, she's good! I like her approach in the way she writes and conveys her message. It's real. I can relate to her. I have almost the whole collection of her books that she has published and reading them one by one as I go through my life's ups and downs. For the past few months I've been going through many valleys, I started reading "The Value In The Valley" which has given me many insights into my own valleys that I am going through and have gone through and approach life and my valleys in a different light. I have just purchased the Audio CD version of it to listen while I drive or at home. Can't wait to get it and the rest of the motivational goodies I just got from other authors. :) Thumbs up to this book as well as Iyanla's other books. Thank you Iyanla for all the insights your book has given me. :)

I saw a lot of me in reading this book. It really helped me to realize somethings about myself and why I do the things that I do. It was great. I would recommend it to anyone who needs clarity on themselves and their lives.

This is the third edition of this book that I have bought. I love the format of them. They are imformative, yet entertaining. I am a "planner", and this helps keep me organized. We had made the major decisions of where to eat & where to go when in advance. I've been a Disney fan for years as are my children now. This book gave helpful tips when it came to deciding where & when to do things. I highly recommend it & look forward to the next edition.

We used this for many months before our vacation last year. It was almost drenched with highlighter markings long before we left for Florida. When we got there, it was like our Bible as we toured the parks. It has everything you need to know for Disney and beyond. Her sense of humor is most amusing and she does let you know where to eat without losing your mind or cookies with toddler in tow. So buy it and then keep it, because you will write notes in it and after your trip it will become almost a souvenir of sorts with all your little articles and receipts etc, tucked away in side. You will look through it a year or two later and laugh at your comments about whatever you were thinking at the time. We had teenagers and toddler and everything worked out great, she has some real tips that do everyone good, not just the kids. Mom and dad won't lose their mind trying to please everyone. We are heading to Universal as well this year, so we will definitely be buying her Universal book.

Since we take so few vacations, I like to make sure they're planned well so everyone gets the most out of them. I bought 3 Disney books (Unofficial Guide by Sehlinger and Birnbaum's 2001 edition too) but this is the one I found most useful for planning a trip with a 4 & 6 year-old. The tips saved us $1000 on room costs alone! The reviews of the Disney and off-site hotels offer useful details not found on websites. The excellent ride reviews feature details to help parents determine if it's too scary for your child (tells you if dark, noisy, surprise elements, etc) - not just a generic "may scare children under age 5" warning. The book is fun & easy to read... and with her realistic advice for visiting Disney with kids, you'll have more fun and be less stressed-out on vacation than if you did it without her book.

As you see from most of the reviews of this book it is an excellent source of information. As the author notes, the level of enjoyment of your trip is directly related to the amount of research you do before your trip.

In addition to being a great source of information before we left, it was a great read on the drive to Orlando. As parents, so much time is spent on the planning that the joyful anticipation of the trip is often left to the kids. The more we read and closer we got, the more excited we got.

One personal caveat that is inferred in the book, but not stated expressly is that the Disney experience can be lost on young kids. Our six-year-old had an absolute blast, our 3 1/2-year-old was a bit tentative about the characters and some of the shows, but our two-year old was scared by the characters (I don't think he understood that they would be life-sized) and the shows created sensory overload. Several parents of young children we talked to said they would not repeat the experience with a child younger than four. We heartily second that.

I have a three year old daughter, and this book was a tremendous help in planning out trip to Disney World. It told us when and where to find the characters (a BIG item for planning the days), what rides to ride first, and most importantly, the information about FastPass. I highly recommend the book to anyone taking kids to DisneyWorld.

I have to agree with the only other two-star review of this book: I'm rather amazed by all the praise. The message the book conveys is a fantastic one, true, but that's all it is~a message. In my opinion, Where Peace Lives is a "peace class" masquerading as a story. The metaphors all exist right on the surface; there is no need to look deeper. Because of this, the characters are not real~they're just different mouthpieces for the author's "message," like puppets. And the main character (the "I" of the story) is not developed at all. We know almost nothing about her, except that she likes the taste of orange popsicles and she's felt bad because other children have made fun of her or refused to play with her. She also doesn't seem like a child, despite her juvenile speeches. Writers need to understand that talking about tasty popsicles and play-dates is not all it takes to write for children.

I realize this all sounds pretty scathing, and I need to apologize somewhat for that. It's just that I was really looking forward to reading this book because of its premise, and now that I have, I feel immensely let down. I don't mind the idea of educating children about peace~in fact, I think that's great~but I expected more of a story from a book marketed as one.

Like all of us, the main character in Where Peace Lives longed for true peace. Each night she wished for peace and then fell into a deep sleep, as if wrapped in the arms of an angel. However, when she awoke each morning, she returned to reality. It seemed to her that despite everyone wishing for peace, that end seemed impossible.

A knock at her door would change everything. There stood Luther the Bear. Luther was king of The Mountain Where Dreams Are Made. He came with news that the angel Peace had been locked in a glass box and only the three keys to peace could set her free. The two set off to The City of Right and Wrong where the debate over milk had completely divided the city. Their real journey was about to begin.

Where Peace Lives is a beautifully woven entertaining tale from which we can all gain insight. The story and the characters are inspired by and based upon the historic Buddha, Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr, Jesus, Moses, and Muhammad. I love the interfaith quality of the story showing that we may all think and believe differently but ultimately we all want to be treated fairly and live a peaceful life.

Where does peace come from? It isn't something born of war, or won through argument. Author Debbie Robins explores peace and finds three keys to it in her book, "Where Peace Lives." A book for all ages, children and adults, it is sure to become a classic along the lines of "The Little Prince." More than that, it is a delightful read, and a tool for spreading some very valuable lessons.

The narrator is worried about the world and wonders why everyone can't just get along. One night, a visitor comes and insists that the angel, Peace, needs to be set free. Peace is trapped in a glass box and three keys are needed to open the lock. They need to find the keys, and they begin by looking in the City of Right and Wrong. There, terrible things are happening. The residents are divided and each side insists that the other side is wrong. What's even worse is that the Cube of Bitterness hovers above and devours those who are the "right ones". Donkeys and elephants play tug of war, only it isn't a game. It looks like there is no hope for peace. However, Mister Buddha, a poetic cat, is sharing a potion called Acceptance, and so there is hope after all.

Mister Buddha introduces our narrator to the concept of acceptance and the fact that kindness begets kindness, and also to his best friend, Mahma. The adventure continues with a story of understanding and Oneness, and then on to the Sea of Forgiveness, where two orangutans, Chris and Mo impart more wisdom. Through a desert and to a waterfall, and up a mountaintop, the keys are sought. Will they be found in time to set Peace free?

A parable, the story can be taken at face value, with lessons still understood. Upon further reflection, deeper meanings come to light and the reader can see how important choices are. The colorful characters' teachings are inspired by and reflect those of Ghandi, Jesus, Buddha, Mohammad and Martin Luther King. With exquisite illustrations, a delightful cast of characters, and a most important plot, "Where Peace Lives" rates my highest recommendation. Additional biographical information on these key people is included at the back of the book, as well as journaling space and an exercise to "strengthen your peace muscle'. Well written and enjoyable to experience, this book is a must read for everyone you know.

In this lovely fable, Peace is an angel who appears in the narrator's dreams--and then is suddenly the object of a quest. She has been locked inside an unbreakable glass box, and three keys must be found in order to free her before the evil Cube of Bitterness devours the world.

In the search for the keys, the narrator meets and is assisted by a bear named Luther, King of the Mountain Where Dreams Are Made; Mister Budd Ha, a Siamese cat who peddles bottles of Acceptance; and several other creatures who promote peace. Philosophically, the characters are based on the peaceful teachings of Martin Luther King, Jr., the Buddha, Mahatma Gandhi, Moses, the Prophet Mohammad, and Jesus Christ. Debbie Robins portrays their ideas with both humor and understanding.

While the outcome of the story is fairly obvious, the language used to tell it is lyrical and peaceful in and of itself. The pen and ink illustrations by Victor Robert are also fantastic. I loved the Roomy Tea Garden and the tree named Bodhi. This is not just a picture book, but a book to be shared by child and parent/caregiver. It should appeal on different levels to both reader and listener. I read several sections aloud and found the words and phrases to flow in a charming way. I especially recommend it to those like their children's books to have a bit of substance.

At the end of the book, Robins also provides the reader with biographical information and philosophical summaries of those figures whose philosophies of peace she incorporates. There are also a few pages to jot down the reader's own ideas of how to bring more peace into today's world.

Armchair Interviews: An unique children's book about peace.

WHERE PEACE LIVES is a captivating adventure for children and adults alike. It teaches us that peace requires a profound internal shift in how we perceive and respond to each other. This book is essential for those of us who seek to transform ourselves and change our world. Eleanor Barr

We bought this and "New York Yankees: an Illustrared History,"for a Yankee fan. He keeps them on a table next to his favorite chair and each time we visit, there are more little bookmarks and notes. He had told us how much he was enjoying them, but the sight of that well used books showed us that we chose a perfect gift.

The Olympian

A Yankee Century" ($16, Berkley). Baseball's spring training does not truly reside in the deserts of Arizona or near the sands and swamps of Florida. It resides in the hearts and minds of children-turned-adults, who carry with them years of baseball lore and feelings (rational or not) of intense rivalry.

So the paperback version of "A Yankee Century" is just the ticket for warming up to the first crack of the bat. As one raised on the Baltimore Orioles, I can do nothing else but hate (rationally or not) the Yankees.

That said, 100 years of Yankee baseball is a walk through much of baseball history. Harvey Frommer's book covers so many of the details that fans love to savor that it's irresistible.

Frommer stays out of the statistic pit (although there are plenty of numbers), instead making a winning delivery out of stories and quotes that will help baseball fans stay sane on a rainy late-January afternoon.

The Olympian, Olympia Washington

This N' That with Tony Mack:
BLACK ATHLETE SPORTS NETWORK

BOOK REVIEW: A YANKEE CENTURY\\
***************************************************************

BRISTOL, CONN---Earlier this year, you may have read a book review I wrote on the historic relationship between Branch Rickey and Jackie Robinson. That book was penned by noted baseball writer and historian Harvey Frommer.

Prof. Frommer has since come out with another historic baseball book, this time about the sport's most celebrated franchise.

Frommer, who authored "The New York Yankee Encloypedia", has now penned "A Yankee Century: A Celebration of the First 100 Years of Baseball's Greatest Team".

Not only does Frommer give an oral history of the Pinstripes, but there are several rare photos of Yankee greats past and present.

From Babe Ruth to Derek Jeter, Lou Gehrig to Reggie Jackson, and all those in between, "A Yankee Century" is keepsake dream for fans of the Bronx Bombers and a nightmare for Yankee haters all over.

Even though this review is being written by a lifelong Met fan, I found this to be a very entertaining read.

One of the things that was enjoyable about the book is how Frommer has separate "Yankee Stories" on the well-known and lesser known ex-Yankees.

A humble Chris Chambliss talks about coming over from the lowly Cleveland Indians in a 1975 and then winning the pennant with a dramatic homer in the 1976 ALCS against the Royals.

Frommer also writes about the plight of Elston Howard, the first Black to play for the Yankees. His struggles on and off the field are chronicled along with a review of his very understated career as a player and coach.

The breathtaking and sometimes tumulous career of Reggie Jackson in pinstripes is also well chronicled. "Mr. October" had one of the greatest moments in Yankee history when he hit three homers in Game 6 of the 1977 World Series.

At the time, it gave the Yanks their first World Series title in 13 seasons and he would help them go back to the next season.

Among some of the other African American players that are featured in Prof. Frommer's book are Jeter, current third base coach and ex-captain Willie Randolph, Bernie Williams, and Hall of Famer Dave Winfield.

The book also includes a comprehensive trivia quiz, quotes, anecdotes, and other entertaining features for all baseball fans, Yankee or otherwise.

If you know a true Yankee fan, it's a great addition to their library.

If you know a true Yankee hater, this will be a best way to start an arguement.

BOOK REVIEW: A YANKEE CENTURY
By Tony McClean
BLACK ATHLETE SPORTS NETWORK

BRISTOL, CONN---Earlier this year, you may have read a book review I wrote on the historic relationship between Branch Rickey and Jackie Robinson. That book was penned by noted baseball writer and historian Harvey Frommer.

Prof. Frommer has since come out with another historic baseball book, this time about the sport's most celebrated franchise.

Frommer, who authored "The New York Yankee Encloypedia", has now penned "A Yankee Century: A Celebration of the First 100 Years of Baseball's Greatest Team".

Not only does Frommer give an oral history of the Pinstripes, but there are several rare photos of Yankee greats past and present.

From Babe Ruth to Derek Jeter, Lou Gehrig to Reggie Jackson, and all those in between, "A Yankee Century" is keepsake dream for fans of the Bronx Bombers and a nightmare for Yankee haters all over.

Even though this review is being written by a lifelong Met fan, I found this to be a very entertaining read.

One of the things that was enjoyable about the book is how Frommer has separate "Yankee Stories" on the well-known and lesser known ex-Yankees.

A humble Chris Chambliss talks about coming over from the lowly Cleveland Indians in a 1975 and then winning the pennant with a dramatic homer in the 1976 ALCS against the Royals.

Frommer also writes about the plight of Elston Howard, the first Black to play for the Yankees. His struggles on and off the field are chronicled along with a review of his very understated career as a player and coach.

The breathtaking and sometimes tumulous career of Reggie Jackson in pinstripes is also well chronicled. "Mr. October" had one of the greatest moments in Yankee history when he hit three homers in Game 6 of the 1977 World Series.

At the time, it gave the Yanks their first World Series title in 13 seasons and he would help them go back to the next season.

Among some of the other African American players that are featured in Prof. Frommer's book are Jeter, current third base coach and ex-captain Willie Randolph, Bernie Williams, and Hall of Famer Dave Winfield.

The book also includes a comprehensive trivia quiz, quotes, anecdotes, and other entertaining features for all baseball fans, Yankee or otherwise.

If you know a true Yankee fan, it's a great addition to their library.

If you know a true Yankee hater, this will be a best way to start an arguement.

In the northeast, the winter of 2003-2004 will be remembered as one of the snowiest, iciest, coldest and dreariest in recent memory. A YANKEE CENTURY was the perfect cure for those miserable days. Filled with the baseball history that took place on the sun-drenched field of Yankee Stadium, Harvey Frommer has provided us Yankee [and most baseball] fans with a warm nostalgia and a good feeling for the springs and summers to come.

With equal parts statistics and anecdote, the book is a well-balanced exploration into the most successful sports franchise in history. Peppered with wonderful photos (some that I had never seen before), this 400+ page book moves swiftly. The writing is respectful without becoming sentimental. And Paul O'Neill, who I will always remember as our favorite water-cooler kicking hothead, proves to be a sensitive and articulate commentator. Congratulations to both writers.

A YANKEE CENTURY is a great exploration into the Bronx Bombers, and by extension, to the history of 20th century baseball itself.