Supplies Books

This is an excellent guide to the styles, manufacturers and street price of cribbage boards. Great photographs. Very helpful in identifying antique boards. Only negative...I wish it had an index!

This book covers the subject of cribbage in a depth not usually achieved.It has great pictures and is very informative. Whether you play cribbage and wanted to know the history or you are a collecter of cribbage boards then this is a definative guide to changing styles. A must have by anyones standards

of Hermione Lee's biography of Virginia Woolf. Lee's bio is probably the gold standard, but James King's biography of VW is a great follow-on. King was willing to write much more graphically about VW's sexual frustrations, flings, and no-holds-barred quotes of VW regarding the same.

The price for this box may seem high--until you realize that it includes a DVD, 2 CDs, and booklets for a leadership team, and you further realize that the material can be used again and again. The CDs contain a variety of leadership helps to engage in a stewardship program that is repeatable. Churches begin by looking at their current ministries--what is happening in the congregation. Then they look at the larger community and their ministries within the community. Then they look at their congregation's mission beyond the community and into all the world. And people want to give more of their money, their talents, their time, their service after they understand what the church is doing in such ministry and mission. The resource can be used again and again because the church's own ministry and mission will change from year to year.

Our church finance committee especially enjoyed the DVD because Jack Phillips seems like a very approachable person, one who understands the connections between awareness and giving.

The CDs contain Bible studies for children, youth, and adults; promotional materials; stewardship information; sample letters for a committee to send; suggestions for worship; suggestions for sermons; ways to implement this approach to stewardship. An absolutely excellent resource.

For a while I resisted reading this book, thinking that it could not possibly be as good as its hype. Well, I was wrong. This is simply one terrific book that will keep the reader riveted to its pages until the very last one is turned. It is a very well-written, intricately plotted thriller in which a great number of esoteric historical facts and interesting theories of a religious nature are woven. Those who read it should, first and foremost, keep in mind that this book is simply a work of fiction.

All hell breaks loose when Jacques Sauniere, the elderly and revered curator of the Louvre, is murdered inside the museum. The crime scene and the body itself are laden with symbols and cryptic messages pointing to renowned Harvard symbologist, Robert Langdon. He is invited to the crime scene by the wily Captain Bezu Fache, of the Central Directorate Judicial Police, the French equivalent of our Federal Bureau of Investigation, ostensibly to assist the police. Little does Langdon know that he is, in fact, the prime suspect.

When he meets police cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, they join forces. They are then led on a merry chase by a series of riddles and ciphers that are ground in a historical context. They are always just one step of the French police, who seem determined to charge Langdon with the murder of Jacques Sauniere. During their voyage of discovery, Langdon and Sophie come across a secret society, the Priory of Sion, that has a startling list of former members, which list includes Leonardo Da Vinci, as well as the late Jacques Sauniere. There is also some interesting historical detail about the ancient Knights Templar, as well as Opus Dei, a conservative religious organization currently in existence.

Langdon and Sophie peel back layers of historical clues that point to a secret of such magnitude that some would kill for it. As Langdon and Sophie surreptitiously travel from France to England and seem to be headed closer to the heart of the mystery that they are trying to unravel, an unknown nemesis is closer to them than they would dare imagine. This unknown adversary is marshaling resources in order to obtain the long hidden secret that Langdon and Sophie appear to be on the brink of discovering. It is one that has the potential to have earth shattering implications.

This is a fast-paced, plot driven, rather than character driven, thriller. It hurls itself into the reader's consciousness at break-neck speed, and before the reader realizes it, the book holds the reader in its thrall: hook, line, and sinker. For those readers who love historical detail and unusual facts and coincidences, this is definitely a fascinating book that will hold their interest. It is a page-turning thriller in which nearly every chapter leaves the reader on the brink of a precipice. The book is written in clear, effortless prose, which makes the most esoteric historical details surprisingly easy to understand. Simple in its presentation but intricate in its plotting, it is no surprise that this book has become a runaway, international bestseller. Bravo!

No matter what your outlook -- fundamentalist Christian, atheist, Buddhist, pagan, whatever -- you'll almost certainly find something to disagree with in "The Da Vinci Code Adventure." Yet you ought to read this book anyway. The authors take the novel position that although Dan Brown got a number of things wrong, you should you read his book but reason out the truth for yourself. They write from a Christian (though not precisely fundamentalist) perspective; yet it's a perspective that says God gave us minds and we should use them.

Lead author Mike Gunn will provoke you and sometimes ruffle your feathers if you don't share his point of view, but you can't deny that he scores points. Co-author Greg Wright adds wit and insight gained from drawing many connections throughout popular culture (you'll appreciate his analysis of "Indiana Jones," the Masons, and the Knights Templar). And co-author Jenn Wright brings in the beautifully articulated perspective of a personal, nonjudgemental, deeply humanistic Christianity.

Many people read "The Da Vinci Code" as popcorn for the mind and move onto the next bestseller. But if you want to use it as a springboard to thinking deeply about ideas (some you'll agree with, some you won't), you ought to purchase this book along with Dan Brown's.

I'm going to Paris this summer and want to go to many of the places featured in the book. This journey is the perfect companion.

These were very helpful to everyone who saw the movie. Thank you!

From the Dallas Morning News:

In the giggle-inducing tradition of Harvard Lampoon's Bored of the Rings, this is a parody, down to the name of the author.

It nails the factors that make the original so annoying and yet so successful: lots of meaningless physical details, ancient conspirators (including a few that even Dan Brown missed), leaden dialogue, improbable plot twists and a couple of puzzles that are pretty clever.

There's no actual "spoiling" of this plot, so you won't mind knowing that The Da Vinci Mole includes Karl Rove, aliens, Scientology, codes found in Jackson Pollock paintings and a bit of gratuitous sex.

The book also pulls off a brilliant emperor-has-no-clothes dismissal of the original:

"But what if we spend many days and risk countless dangers tracking down this secret, only to have it turn out to be a secret that your grandfather never wants revealed anyway and so our efforts would be pointless?"

"That would be absurd, Hank," Saphie replied. "That would make no sense at all."

Perfect.

Dan Brown is a revolutionary! I have read previous critics of him. They are flawed and brain washed and not very perceptive in their study of the early Christian movement. The earliest text of antiquity of Christ is not even in the Bible. It is instead the Gospel of Thomas that makes Jesus the Christ a beacon of wisdom! If a person wants to sink a blind faith in a document that is mythic without looking at the spiritual interpretations of it, might as well join a cult! I personally find Dan's interpretation not always accurate, but at least he realizes that the true interpretation that we have in the Bible is not accurate either! If you doubt that statement. I ask? How did Judus face his demise? The gospels say he hung himself out of remorse. The book of Acts says he fell in the plot he bought out of his iniquity and all his insides came out. So much for biblical accuracy. Dan Brown is not out to destroy Christianity! He is just a realist trying to understand a very complex world. Glory to God and Jesus as he really was, not like the mythology we all grew up with.

I really appreciate this series of books and Dancing will make my students very happy. Dancing is a big part of many cultures and students from around the world will be able to identify their dances. Really nice.