Personal Pages Books

Nell Mohney is one of the best inspirational speakers on the circuit. Her humor is infectious and her advice is always relevant. In her latest book, she does a great job of keeping the reader focused on what's important: living the abundant life. I love the personal stories and the practical points. I'm ready for her next book!

While there a number of How-to-Improve-Your-Self-Esteem books out there, very few of them deal with this topic from a Christian perspective. This alone makes this book a valuable find. While some of the advice is a little cliche, other parts offer quite a bit of insight. Through reading this book and through prayer, Bible study, etc. I've come to learn that the Lord DOES care about the self-esteem of his saints. After all, if you don't love yourself, how can you possibly share His love with anyone else? Also, if you're so busy being bogged down in your own feelings of pity, self-doubt, etc., you're not free to be about the business of building up His kingdom. If you're a Christian with low self-esteem, I recommend this book as a starting point to building your self-worth. Remember--you are promised an abundant life--and that's start's RIGHT NOW! God bless!

This is a keeper. A must read, over and over. Keep it handy. Commit it to memory. Very powerful and simplistic revelations jump out of the pages. Her ability to touch the core of your being is amazing. You'll truly be blessed during reading and after finishing this book.

Rita Winters' insightful, clear perspective on a modern life really struck a chord with me. So many of us have been down a similar path without the opportunity to reflect or means of integrating the results into our lives. Her writing is easy to pick up and has much to give the reader.

I found Ms. Winters journal compelling. I, like many women, am entirely too busy serving others, both at my job and in my family. As I read Winters' experience in the desert, I found myself feeling a depth of solitude that was rich and unusual. I felt humbled by the reading, in a healthy way. This humility stemmed from an appreciation of the spirituality that silence and a desert surrounding can offer, as well as the incredible breadth of Winters' reading in the two-week period. I felt that I could clearly visualize the setting, as I walked through her experiences. The contrast with the business of life in her "other world" was so vivid. And Winters' interaction with Fr. John Kane was so very refreshing, both in his profound spirituality and his support of her work and human frailties. Finally, the prayers are so insightful for so many of us who struggle with finding God's approval and voice in our way-too- busy daily lives. It is a marvelous opportunity to reflect on what each of us is truly committed to on this earth.

Unreligious types, like me, will like this book because it's an intelligent, capable, competent, worldly, successful person's quest. Winters is not looking for miracles or excuses for why something hasn't worked out. She has made choices, as we all do, and assumes responsibility for them, right or wrong. There is none of this "hand over your life to (diety or organization of your choice) and everything will be
okay." If only it were that easy!
Her prayers articulate what must be universal wishes and anxieties, even for those of us who don't formally pray. They are so honest, unpretentious and revealing--I often felt as if I had "walked in at the wrong time." But they are so relevant, "useful" even, they are a source of solace all by themselves.
Winters' guilt and confusion about choices she's made have a universal (the details don't matter) resonance, as do her regrets about actions that might not always be ideal for her children but she took them anyway.
I don't know if it was her intention, but Winters' fluid writing, and ability to communicate her experience at the retreat, is often hypnotic. For those of us who would never think of going to a silent, religious retreat in the desert, this book saves us from missing out--the author made me feel the peace that she herself was seeking. That is a gift, in every sense.

Great. The info guides and motivate me! I follow Suze Orman's advice for all my financial and spiritual needs.

I have almost finished this 2001 desktop calendar. And I have learned a lot. Suze Orman's tips are sometimes related directly to money, but just as often to your attitude towards money. Both are important! She does help you look at things differently and having this calender on my desk all year has kept my finances (and my control over them!) at the top of my to-do list.

I just bought the 2002 version of this desk calendar and after flipping through the pages, I can tell that it was money well spent! I've had other money-oriented desk calendars before but Suze's surpasses them all in terms of variety (she discusses debt, mortgages, the stock market, retirement, wills, insurance, mutual funds--everything!) and general usefulness (there are no "take a break from money" days, and she gives her financial advice even on the weekend days, something many of the other calendars I had did not do). Her added psychological anaylsis of why people make money mistakes in the first place is very interesting, too. I plan on buying next year's calendar.

supposing that this book is accurate in what it explains (as a novice to investing I can't say whether it is) it was an awesome book to read because of its conciseness (something lacking in most books) and its clarity as to what means what. I don't plan to invest in individual stocks, bonds, futures, options anytime in the near future but at least I know what the hell those things are.

I checked out this book in an attempt to learn more about the meanings of all those acronyms and abbreviations you find in the listings and tables for stocks, funds, etc. both in the paper and on the Web. It does just that plus a tad more. It dedicates a section to indexes (DJIA, NASDAQ, etc.) and where they come from, what do they "say," etc. Finally it wraps up with a section dedicated to covering some basic economy concepts that affect investing: inflation, recession, fed rates, etc. It's pretty comprehensive for such a small book. Check it out if you want to get a primer. Don't go to it for answers on what or where to invest, because it's not meant for that.

I have always wanted to learn how to write essays and this book is very good as a foundation type of book for essay writing. I recommend it highly.

The author walks the reader through 8 basic types of essays, and provides writing exercises for each of those types. Where this book is most helpful, however, is in the critiquing of the essays written by one of the author's students. Ms. Bender shows you her process of critique in the samples of the student's first draft and second draft.

First, she singles out those "velcro words" (the nouns and phrases in the first draft essay that stick with her) -- and she encourages you to take your own note of your "velcro words". She then walks through her feelings as she reads the essay -- where she is intrigued, for example, or confused by the images the student uses. Finally, she shares this information with the student so that the student can choose to elaborate or minimize certain parts of the essay in a second draft, thus producing tighter writing and more polished images.

I find Bender's process of critique quite useful and relatively painless.

Mr Lukeman's advice is incredible in this age where all rules, mores and sexes are blended. After this book in which he defends classic methods, I felt good again about returning to Melville and Dostoevsky, not to mention one of my all time favorites, Conrad, for reading and observation of their techniques. Thank you Mr Lukeman for writing this book. I read it twice, then made notes. For aspiring writers, if you want to sell a book, first get this one; if you want to write for the internet, you would'nt be interested.

This book was a bit of a slog for me, and much of the advice Mr. Lukeman provides seems somewhat outdated, especially in this era of the internet when so many agents and editors blog and there are so many more resources for writers on the net. There was one particularly wretched piece of advice about sending your query letters out express which made me wince. I can think of 5 agents off the top of my head who say NEVER do this. EVER.

Mr. Lukeman also belabors his points in his end of chapter "examples", bludgeoning the reader over the head with points which he had already expressed well enough previous. His "bad" writing samples are so awful they entertain instead of illuminate. Here is an example from the dialogue section on melodramatic dialogue:

"Oh, Henry! You know I've loved you so!"
"Oh, Magaret! If only words could express my love for you!...
"Oh, darling! What would I be without you? My love, my sweetness!"
"The world would stop in its tracks without you, my Magarita!"

A few of the exercises he assigns at the end of each section are helpful if for no other reason than to make a writer really focus on the words and take a look at what they've written. I liked the exercise at the end of the "Sound" section where he assigns the writer to rewrite one of their paragraphs "and reformat it on the page as if it were a poem" (51). This helped me smooth out flow and melody in my manuscript immensely and it was fun too.

I'd say if you're looking for really germaine advice about getting published you might want to start reading agent blogs instead of this book. Kristin Nelson. Nathan Bransford and the Bookends Literary Agency blogs are good places to start your publishing education. I wouldn't say this book is unless you lack even the most basic of writing skills and publishing smarts.

If you never want to do another rewrite DON't BUY THIS BOOK - if you want to get published and be professional - buy 2 copies! Great book, enough said.

In the First Five Pages, Noah Lukeman reveals the quickest ways a manuscript is tossed into the rejection pile. Think your numerous alliterations are clever? Manuscript readers don't. Believe you're subtlety slipping in backstory when your characters discuss their pasts? Nope, it's annoying and contrived. Subscribe to the belief that the more drama, the better? Please unsubscribe.

This book's value ultimately lies with Lukeman's editing credentials. He organizes this book according to what an editor first looks for when reading a manuscript. He tackles preliminary problems (adjectives, adverbs, comparisons, etc.) that can get your manuscript axed right away, and then focuses on bigger picture items (hooks, tone, setting, etc). At the end of each chapter, Lukeman provides helpful exercises to help you practice what you've just learned.

His book isn't without flaws. His own writing needs a little polish (he *loves* using passive voice). I also disagreed with his frequent recommendation that writers should choose "unusual" words. He later interchanges unusual with precise (which is much more appropriate), but he should have added a caveat telling writers not to go overboard. I can picture amateur writers using this advice and swapping boxers for pugilists (not a good idea). Finally, his examples of what not to do are way over the top. Lukeman admits this, and to be fair, his examples clearly illustrate his points. But he should have added mediocre examples, writing that will *just* tip the writer into the rejection pile.

However, Lukeman provides great advice with regard to dialogue, and I especially liked his chapters on subtlety. He provides much more good advice than bad, especially in his later chapters. It's funny in a way that his own book starts off rocky, but it's worth finishing it. Overall, first-time writers will get the most benefit out of the First Five Pages. More experienced writers (especially those who have been published) can do without it.

I have to agree with the February 2001 review by "A Customer": This book doesn't teach much about writing. I would go farther and say that some of what it says is either wrong or at least very unhelpful.

One can. of course, empathize with literary agents and editors who are deluged with manuscripts and must move as quickly as possible to extract a few needles of quality from the haystack of junk. There is value in this book in terms of bringing a writer -- particularly an unpublished one -- some sense of reality as to what he or she faces in the competition for attention. There is also value in making people sensitive to some of the most common "red flags" that will kill their chances for consideration.

But I found this book maddening, for a couple of reasons. First, Lukeman himself has much to learn as a writer. He writes in an overly elegant, self-absorbed style that should have earned the red pen of any competent editor. It becomes a little difficult to accept his wisdom about how things should be written when his own product is deficient. He constantly switches from the first person (both "I" and "we") to the second and third person, for example, often within the very same paragraph. What grated most on me, however, was his addiction to purple in his prose: "If you look back at your dialogue and realize you have scenes that are unsalvageable (like the last example), don't collapse in despondency." (p. 90). Collapse in despondency? Puh-leeze.

The second problem, to me far more serious, is that many of his exercises and proposed solutions to the problems he identifies are either useless or wrongheaded. For example, to solve the problem of pointless and mundane dialogue ("Hi there, how are you?" "I'm fine, and you?" "Nice weather we're having, huh?") he doesn't send people to reputable sources of help for writing effective dialogue; rather, he suggests that a writer should "train [his] ear." He writes: "Begin to pay attention to how dialogue is used in everyday life by different types of people. Eavesdrop on people -- in the subway, in a diner, walking on the street, in a store; especially try to eavesdrop on people who might be similar to your characters." (p. 89).

This suggestion is a recipe for disaster. Writing effective dialogue requires far more sophistication than the aimless guesswork that Lukeman suggests here. It would be far better for an aspiring writer with problems in this area to spend time with Gloria Kempton's Dialogue or Tom Chiarella's Writing Dialogue, to name just two helpful resources.

My suggestion, then, is that this book might be worth a look for the insights it provides into the most common mistakes that inexperienced writers may make in writing and submitting their manuscripts, but not for much help in solving these problems (except for those that can easily be avoided, like improper formatting of manuscripts). Rather, a writer who wants to create a commercially viable work should take advantage of some of the excellent resources available that really get into the hard issues that a writer must confront.

Some of the most valuable books I have benefited from include:

Beginnings, Middles & Ends: How to Get Your Stories Off to a Roaring Start, Keep Them Tight and Crisp Throughout, and End Them With a Wallop by Nancy Kress;

Plot & Structure: Techniques And Exercises For Crafting A Plot That Grips Readers From Start To Finish by James Bell; and

Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint: Techniques and Exercises for Crafting Dynamic Characters and Effective Viewpoints, also by Nancy Kress.

There are many others, of course, but a writer who thoroughly applied the advice in these three -- provided he or she had the basic ability to write in proper English -- would have a significant leg up in getting into print.

As a student in college, I want to learn some advanced web programming language. I found this book is very helpful for beginner. I also get a discount from couponsky.com when buying this book. This book is not only useful for beginner's studying, you also can take it as reference after you finish the studying. I recommend this book to the beginners in ASP.

I was an ASP programmer several years ago after which I moved to a different technology. Now, I need to come to speed on .NET, but unfortunately all the ASP.NET books make innumerous references to the old ASP which I have almost forgotten.

The book helped me *VERY* quickly go through ASP 3.0 and now I feel very comfortable reading the .NET books and can now truly appreciate ASP.NET.

A GREAT reference book!

Somewhat in a rush and while trying to learn ASP I purchased this book. I thought it was aweful and it collected dust for nearly 6 months while I searched elsehwere to boot myself up on ASP. However, now that I'm fairly proficient at ASP, this book has been helpful as a reference. No so much for the actual reference value but becasue the sample code helps put things in perspective.

This is an excellent companion book to 'Professional Active Server Pages'. Like most O'Reilly Nutshell texts, this book is designed more as a reference aid, rather than a learning text. If you buy both the Professional ASP tome, and this reference guide, you've bought everything you need for ASP.

Be warned, if like I did, you think that this is the only book you'll need to be able to build ASP scripts; you're very much mistaken. Whenever I recommend this book, I always recommend it alongside VBScript in a Nutshell as you really need knowledge of an ASP supported scripting language before you can use ASP in a Nutshell to it's full potential!

This is yet another reference book that I've owned both editions of because I thought it was useful enough to update; but then, my site is developed using ASP, so I'm probably biased in this respect. Ok, so I got the 1st Edition late on in the game and was a little reluctant to part with cash for the new edition - but as IIS 5 started to become standard for Windows hosting, and I had access to it after getting Windows XP Pro... I thought it was about time I updated it.

ASP in a Nutshell is my first point of reference when I'm looking up the properties of a particular ASP object. I've also found it an invaluable guide for connecting and manipulating ASP scripts that used ADO for data storage and manipulation. For a while it was the only book I owned that covered the issue of connecting ASP scripts to databases.

Most of the installable components I'd never heard of before getting the book, just as well really because few are of much use - even if they aren't available on your system, a lot can be easily reproduced. The areas I find myself most frequently refering to are the main set of ASP objects, the FileSystem Object and the ActiveX Data Objects. These go into enough detail to keep all but the experienced programmers happy.

For those new to the Windows scene, there is a brief but detailed guide to setting up ASP to work with your IIS server; but it's hardly rocket science since a clean install of IIS will set up most (if not all) of what you need anyway! If you use ASP regularly, or you intend to, then ASP in a Nutshell should be on your desktop... but please remember it won't fulfill all your ASP development needs without another book to fill in the language gaps. What book you choose to accompany it depends on your language and experience... I personally like VBScript in a Nutshell.

This is not really a book about professional wrestling.

This is a book that is partially set in the world of professional wrestling. The subject of the book is really positive thinking.

It's out of print, and it may be hard to get, but if you are into human potential and the power of change - combining discipline with positive thinking - then this is a VERY good book.

If you know (or if you are) a wrestling fan who needs to hear this message, then this may be the PERFECT book.

Some people think that Dallas Page is a relentless self-promoter, but they're the ones who haven't been listening. He believes that anyone can do anything that they really want to - if they're willing to work hard enough for it. He uses his own life as the example.

It's worth a read.

I guess everyone and their mother decided it was time to write their gripping life story. This poorly written book is yet another discredit to the wrestling business. This is a business where so many people have given pride back to the business and then Page Falkenberg produces a book written on a third grade level full of wrongful facts.

The question is obvious, why does Diamond Dallas Page even have a book? I can't answer that one. If he has a book then why doesn't Marty Jannetty, Pat Tanaka, Buff Bagwell or even Scotty Riggs? Why don't they? Because with all due respect nobody would want to read a full book about these wrestlers. Certainly one shoot interview on video or 4 page one on the Internet would be enough for a fan. Just like Bill Goldberg, Page is another guy who was convinced by Eric Bischoff that they were a star and even though he is by the way one of the worst champions of all time according to the ratings, Page bought it.

This book was the fire back from WCW to the WWF at the time for having Mick Foley's book. Well if that is the case, that is a bigger joke of a fireback then the debut of the Maestro. If you are looking to buy a good wrestling autobiography, pass on this one at the bookstore. It is a terrible book!

It is a well known fact that DDP is a no talent in the wrestling business who got to the top by kissing Eric Bischoff's ass. They were next door neighbors for godsakes. DDP's book is full of crap. He never drew flies. His workrate sucked. He was over, but not to were he drew money. The book itself is bad. 400 someodd pages of his life. 200 of it on wrestling. He writes about how he was a bar manager for 200 pages. This was incredible dull. He puts himself over so much that it is tiring and he positively sucked. He was a product of the WCW Bischoff era and we now know why WCW went under. DDP you will never be in the Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame. And that's not a bad thing, that's a good thing.

good book and all, ddp's a cool guy and everything, but none of the books compete to foley's 2. but hell, ddp still made a good read. get foley's 2 first (like you haven't) then get bobby the brain's second.

All the History comes flooding back with each word. The times and places so easily parallel life and it's many hits one takes, leading to a the ultimate take-down. We all wish the best and try our best, some deal with the injuries better than others...some will always keep the bag of ice handy so the swelling doesn't show. We can all take a lesson and hope that our trials will bring us back to the same familiar places so near and dear someday. Here's to happy summers on the shore with those we'll always treasure. One Jersey girls' dream.

I've picked up 4 or 5 other books on dating (can read my other reviews for a few). Most of them focus on how to contort yourself into this or that person to lure a man into your commitment "lair"... or at least that is how it feels reading those books.

How refreshing it was to finally come across a book that suggests that the desire for a committed relationship is nothing to be ashamed of...and even better, how to spot and avoid commitmentphobes and better than nothing (BTN) relationships.... all things that drain your time and energy from finding someone you can share your life with. It also does a fabulous job helping you unearth all of the other ways you may be undermining your success in your search...such as hidden ambivalence and internal dialogues(there are no ways to meet people, there are no good ones, etc) that only serve to lower your odds.

I had to laugh when she said "don't expect dating to be fun". It IS like a job interview! Pace yourself, have a plan, and keep at it! All great advice...

This book was recommended by a psychologist I met while traveling in southeast Asia. Even though the title is a strong, the book is amazing. It is an easy read and really helps you look at yourself. This book does NOT put the blame of being single on others or your environment. Each chapter focuses your issues/hangups with relationships. You will need a small notebook or a few sheets of paper to do the exercises at the end of each chapter.

In addition to looking at your issues/hangups, it also helps you realize what you are looking for in a partner and reflecting on past relationships.

Now that I have finished reading it and have talked about it with my friends, they want to buy it too.

I enjoyed this book because it forced me to take a long, hard look at myself and what I have been doing to get in my own way. If you are serious about changing old patterns get this book.

I found this book too be a little depressing and misguiding. The author gives many examples and discussions of realtionships that went wrong which may be helpful in deciding to get out of a relationship but doesn't do much to help find a good one. The viewpoint is definitely biased towards the female side of what intimacy should be like which I feel is unfair to men and not helpful. Men are men, thank goodness. The author also prescribes to the idea that no one will love you unless you love yourself, that you have to get past your fears of intimacy before you will find the right person and that commitment phobes are people with "issues" (as opposed to being just your standard every day jerk). In general the book is unmotivating and not real world.

If you have ever wondered why you're single, this is the book for you. It surpassed my expectations and is something I'll be recommending to friends. The book deals with the complexities in personal relationships and causes you to analyze your own behavior and confront some of your issues. It is LESS about men and their behavior and more about you: Which is the way to find healthy love by having happiness begin with you. Some great topics it covers are: examining your hidden ambivalence, how to say no when you're in the wrong relationship, how to detect and avoid men who aren't going to commit, and the best part: how to identify and say no to "BTN's", which are better than nothing relationships. A pivatol point in the book was when she discussed how you can be with a really great guy, but there might be one thing missing. And if it's something big then you have to walk away rather than settle for someone who is "almost" Mr. Right. I think many people settle and this book will show you how not to.

I came to this book with considerable experience in ASP, and with fair experience over the past year with ASP.NET, mainly in C#. I also have some experience with Java and object-oriented programming. I wanted to learn how to create custom web controls, and this is one of the few books on the subject. The authors are members of Microsoft's ASP.NET team, so they know the inside story, and technically, they show their knowledge of the topic.

However, the book basically assumes not only that you know C# thoroughly, but also that you understand the event model that is more along the lines of desktop applications. Chapter three hits you with an abstract discussion of component and event programming that is difficult if you're not already familiar with the topic, and the book never really looks back after that. I struggled through the first thirteen chapters before giving up, not feeling like I have a grasp of how I could build controls. At this point I'll either have to painstakingly go back through much of the book again, hoping to catch on, or else find another resource.

The other problem is that when introducing a topic, the text rarely gives a good explanation of why the topic is important; instead, it jumps into details of interfaces and methods. A good example is in chapter nine, when the book turns to processing postback data. Sure, it's important that the control be able to interact with the data in a form, but what does that mean for the control? An example of how this would work and be important would be key here, but instead, the authors open the section with:

"We'll now look at the postback data processing architecture that enables a control to retrieve form data submitted by a user, update its state, and raise events in response to changes in its state. To participate in postback data processing, a control must implement the IPostBackDataHandler interface and render elements whose HTML name attributes have unique values on the page" (p. 203). The discussion continues with the technical details of implementing the interface. By the time they get to the code sample, it's tough to see how the snippets of code added to the previous example helps handle postback data.

I expect that if you are an experienced C++ and C# applications programmer, you'll find the book a great help and reference. If you're fairly new to programming, or most of your experience is with Web applications, I would look elsewhere (perhaps the O'Reilly book by Lowy, though I haven't read that one so can't endorse it either). I realize that topics like event handling are more advanced, but there should be a book that can convey it understandably to the intermediate-level Web programmer.

This is the de-facto "advanced" book on authoring ASP.NET server controls and components. I read a couple other "for dummies" books to get up to speed, but I still had quite a few unanswered, nagging questions. Well, this is the book to take your development of ASP.NET controls and components to the next level by removing the veil for some of the magic going on behind the scenes.

It may be a nice reference but in no way it is a good explanation of how to get things done! The authors wrote the book without thinking of what readers might want to see.
This is technical writing not a tutorial. I've read great tech books (like .NET Framework by Jeff Richter) where one doesn't have to read a paragraph twice. This book is not one of those.
It is also very difficult to trace how things are related to each other and where they come from.

If you are a proficient ASP developer and are familiar with advanced C# progrmming topics like events and delegates, this book gives you a thorough knowledge about server controls. After looking into many ASP.NET books, this is the first book which doesn't waste the reader's time to describe non-related topics.

I have been a C++ (Visual / MFC/ WinAPI) developer for nigh on 10 years and I think this book is extremely confusing.

I've written my own navigation control in VB and wanted to learn more, in depth, about how to create controls and implement design-time behavior. This book just kills me.

I read the first 3 chapters with a question mark imprinted on my brain. In those first 3 chapters the authors explain (I guess you could call it explain) delegates, page programming model, and event-handling and none of it sinks in. I've read the chapters 2 times and still I'm staring at a question mark.

And, after 3 chapters I expect a sample relating to a control, but here I have nothing.

And I really like Jesse Liberty's books and I see his compliment above. I guess this book is for PURE GENIUSes. So if you're a PURE GENIUS, then you may like this book. Otherwise, keep on searching. Maybe chapter 4 will be better.
I can only hope the question marks go away.