Big Books

I'm starting my own business and this book gives a great primer on what I need to do. I'm thankful that I read this book before I started because it gave me a broader picture of what I should be doing to structure my business.

This book will help any small business owner achieve a semi or mostly absentee business. After all that is the goal. Right? Read this easy, clear book to help you get to that level. Spending time as you wish is preferable to working like a dog.

This is another great example of relevent business advice being delivered in a clear way. The authors ability to structure ideas and present the case for becoming an absentee owner chalenges the reader to follow the path to poolside living.

Matters Of Consequence: Creating A Meaningful Life And A World That Works by Copthrorne Macdonald is a kind of intellectual "self-help" guide to achieving a better understanding and control personal reality. From the arts of predicting and influencing the future; to learning to better understand human mentality; to the complexities of the question of cosmic purpose, and more, Matters Of Consequence is a thoughtful, holistic, far-reaching, "reader friendly" guide to framing self awareness amid the bulwark of personal responsibility. Densely informative, Matters Of consequence is also available in a hard cover edition and would make an excellent addition to any personal or community library Philosophy or Human Ecology collection.

`Matters of Consequence' is a wonderful guide to answering the age-old questions that confront all human beings: What should I do with my life? How should I spend my time? The book provides great resources and wise advice for discovering a larger purpose and meaning in life that will lead to positive and productive engagement with the world.

A central message of the book is that direction and purpose will come naturally to a person who acquires what the author calls `deep understanding'. To achieve deep understanding, two key ingredients are necessary. The first is knowledge of humanity's place in the cosmos and of the complex processes that impact on humanity and will determine our future. The second is self-knowledge and spiritual development. The author argues convincingly that it is only when this second essential ingredient is added that individuals will know how to respond appropriately to the great challenges facing humanity and will find the motivation and energy to do something positive about them. Knowledge alone, no mater how comprehensive and intelligent, is not enough.

Importantly, the book makes out a strong case for a spirituality that is fully and deeply engaged with the world and that will drive social and political activism. It convincingly rejects a sterile and sequestered spirituality that is disengaged from the human condition and disinterested in political and social issues.

In large part `Matters of Consequence' is a manual for achieving `deep understanding'. It provides an integrated and cutting edge survey of all the key areas of knowledge that must be mastered for a proper understanding of the human condition - the book includes wonderful syntheses of cosmological, evolutionary, socio-cultural, economic and environmental knowledge. It then integrates these with approaches to developing introspectively-acquired self-knowledge and creating a life of purpose, meaning and significance. The book concludes with a thorough examination of the key challenges facing humanity over the next 50 years and how deep understanding can be put to use to respond to these. It identifies the personal and societal transformations that we must implement. A series of detailed Appendices identify further resources that we can use as we engage with these challenges.

Despite the complexity and breadth of the issues and knowledge that the book covers, I found it effortless to read. It is written extremely clearly and simply.

I do not know anyone who would fail to learn something of significance from reading `Matters of Consequence', and who would not enjoy doing so. This is an important and timely book.

Matters of Consequence marks Copthorne Macdonald as one of the few authors who attends to deep matters in the domains of science, humanism, and spirituality, and does so in a way that can be understood by any reader. He offers solid, viable, visionary solutions to the serious brokenness of the human condition.

People, today, seem to be divided into a few "camps," so to speak. Those who choose to live in the past have little to offer, and we can only hope that those individuals interested in consumption, power, and money will shift their perspectives as the seriousness of the human situation becomes ever more obvious. There are those who are interested only in their own personal growth and spiritual development. If they stay with it, they will mature and care for what is outside of themselves as well as what is within.

There are "progressives" who spend all their time exposing failures and wrongdoings of the moment, but never extrapolate from that to the creation of solutions. Career activists are valuable, to be sure, but some of them seem to have based their lives solely upon campaigning AGAINST something - never seeming to move forward to creation of something better.

Then we have the very few who think and feel holistically. These are the people who have real wisdom to offer. Paul Ray, author of the Cultural Creatives study, frankly states that Matters of Consequence is the one book he always hoped he would find.

It really is the most comprehensive piece of writing I have ever read - particularly between the covers of one book. Wisdom resides on every page, and his deep research, and the breadth and scope of his knowledge and vision are astonishing.

Given the truly desperate situation facing humanity today, if you read only one book this year, I honestly hope, for all our sakes, that you consider making it this one.

I bought this book because I was lost and I needed some direction. The Meaning of Life has clarifyed so many things for me. Tom Gregory earnestly bares his soul into this magnificent piece of literature. The book is written in a fun style: full of lists, charts, personal allegories, quotes, and fundamental truths. The book is accessible to anyone, regardless of background or age. Tom Gregory has changed my life forever. His words have helped me to become in tune with the consciousness of love that manifests itself as our world, our lives. We are all perfect, unique beings of the Earth. Tom Gregory has made it easier for me to realize that. He covers a plethora of subjects. I am so very grateful that someone has brought these words alive. This is a novel that has changed the world.

"The Meaning of Life" is enlightening and a great reference guide to answer many of life's questions. It is a combination between the bible (without the guilt) and a new age guide. I love this book beause it just makes so much sense.

This is a wise and compassionate guidebook that addresses a wide variety of spiritual questions, that anyone, whatever their spiritual path or religion, will find of value. With a spirit of tolerance, clear-cut solid advice, and a subtle dose of whimsey, Tom Gregory shows us not only how to infuse life with meaning, but how to create a better world.

This is the only book that the author ever wrote, and she wrote it at the end of her life. It is a shame that she did not write any more books because this is a truly amazing and inspirational book. The author has the heart of a young girl, the wisdom of age, and she is very very honest. Her life was not easy but she persevered and kept at it and always tried to make the best of things. She is fantastically courageous and timid at the same time. Her book reminded me to live life to the fullest - right now - and that it is never too late to do something you have always dreamed of doing - whether it is moving to the other side of the world or take up watercolor painting. Her story shows how one's decisions impact one's life for a long time, and how to find the road that one wants to travel - or travel the road one has already chosen.

I loved this book. Having lived in England myself, although forty years later than the author, I was reminded how scary and yet oh so wonderfully freeing it is to leave familiarity for the sake of adventure and commitment. Irene's reflective writing and sense of place is often dream like. I felt I was along for the ride and her wisdom and reflection of life lessons were inspiring. Often telling some of our own stories, she writes with an open and encouraging heart.
So take a journey from England to the mountains and plains of Montana with a magnificent woman. It's the perfect book to curl up next to a fire with this winter.

One of those can't put it down type of books of the highest caliber! Intimate story of this extraordinarily good woman doing extraordinary things in extraordinary ways. Poignant writing kept me reading well past my bedtime! I loved this book and appreciate the author sharing startling truths and providing her view of the greatest generation.

My daughter received this book as a gift and loves it. As an adult I love to read it to her. We never get tired of the silliness or message.A must have on my childrens book list.

I own this book because it's the perfect way for telling the truth and why we shouldn't lie. I strongly recommend this book for kids, but I also suggest it for teens because I myself lied and I won't do it again. There are three reasons why I like it:


1. It kind of has a replica of certain detective agencies and the desk, desk lamp, and the trench coat Larry is wearing are some examples

2. It's silly and it can keep you laughing for hours like the way Larry drives the police car and Bob does some things that makes kids laugh like hitting his head on the roof of the car. There's also another funny moment: when Larry blew his nose in his notepad! Ha, ha, ha!

3. It teaches kids an important lesson about telling the truth so that Junior Asparagus (and kids and especially teens) can never lie again. Not ever.


This book is perfect for kids aged four to eight, but even the entire family can enjoy it, too!

As a teacher of first grade, I can honestly say that this book is a wonderful tool for teaching children about the messes that lies create in our lives. This book is extremely silly so the subject of lying is more approachable by children. My four-year-old niece pretends to read this story to me every day and we just love it!

Then this book may just have the solution for your problem. Metrofarm is a one stop guide on the business aspects of owning your own micro-acrage farm, it deals in great depth with the very real financial and organizational aspects of running your farm as a business and not just a hobby.

Don't know anything about accounting, this book gives you a good look at the types of accounting best suited to agricultural pursuits as well as sound advice, "hire an accountant". There is so much to this book that I can't possibly cover all of it in a few paragraphs... suffice it to say that I've found it to be a helpful and well researched one-stop guide to answering questions about micro-farming.

There is a tremendous amount of useful information in MetroFarm. Would we buy MetroFarm if we were thinking about becoming market gardeners? Yes, we would! Greg and Pat Williams, Hortideas Magazine

I had the good fortune of listening to Michael Olson's radio show about three years ago. After listening to several shows I went to his website and saw this great book for sale. Anyway, to make a long story short, I purchased the book and it changed my way of thinking. This book is full of insights and information!! Not only are the "farming" concepts important, but also the "business insights" are more informative and helpful than must books that specialize in business concepts or rules. Get this book! You will not be disappointed. The book is informative, has some fascinating success stories and is just enjoyable to read.

My 2 1/2 yr old son discovered this book in the bookstore yesterday and read it over and over for at least half an hour. He likes that he can identify all the objects himself, and since he knows his numbers from (1-10) he can read it independently. We had to pry him away from this book - and he asked me to goto the bookstore to read it today as well. I think we'll be getting this for Christmas.

This book is first a counting book (from one to ten) with the typical pictures that Dick Bruna is known for: bright basic colours and very recognizable objects for kids. Rather than just counting dots or something, you're counting animals, sailboats, plates, glasses of juice, cars, crayons, and balloons. I use this book to talk about colours, shapes, and sounds. I like the fact that it is a boardbook, nice and stury for handling by toddlers.

We started reading this book to my son when he was just a few weeks old. From the very beginning he was entranced by the simple illustrations and the soothing text. Accompanying each illustration is a brief description. "One Big Ball"; "Two Elephants Over Here"; "Three Glasses of Juice" and so on... It's so simple that when my son would fuss on the changing table, I would just have to start reciting the book from memory and he would calm down... He's now 13 months, and still likes to read this book. The pages are very sturdy with built in tabs, so that the littlest hands can turn them. I highly recommend this book.

Monaco is THE great novel of the 21st century to this point. If you are serious about literature, you need this volume on your bookshelf.

Just like the French Riviera in the 1930s, the setting of this new and perfectly summery novel, Monaco is warm and breezy, lush and tropical, and full of celebrities, royalty, and dreamers, and author Morse brings them all brilliantly to life.

When Dash Bradford turns a brief business trip to Monaco into a more permanent stay in order to help auto parts tycoon Jacques Tourangeau put a car in the Grand Prix--and win the heart of Tourangeau's beautiful young daughter, Margaux--the idealistic American suddenly has everything he has ever dreamed of. But when Dash finds himself up against power-hungry Nazi Germany, he soon realizes that his dreams come with a very high cost, and that pursuing them may mean risking the loss of all he holds dear.

Featuring race scenes that pulsate with all the energy and excitement of a Grand Prix course; a whimsical, romantic, and heartbreakingly beautiful love story; and an exploration into the philosophical questions upon which man has dwelled throughout history, Monaco truly has something for everyone, and Morse brings it all together with skill. With careful attention to detail, he expertly conveys the vibrant coastal setting, the lavish parties, and the gripping Grand Prix races, and his engaging dialogue draws the reader into engaging discussions of faith, tradition, family, enterprise, art, justice, love, and much, much more.

Monaco has the retro feel of a vintage travel poster, the classic action of an old Hollywood film, and the soul of a Russian novel. At the heart of this book is the belief that perfection is possible, and that life and love are worth striving against all odds for. Romantic, hopeful, and full of energy, Monaco provides a welcome alternative to the bitterly discouraging works that tend to populate the contemporary fiction shelves.

Reading Monaco is like treating yourself to a breath of fresh, warm, life-affirming Rivieran air.

Everyone has their own way of judging a novel. Some people know it's a good book if they just can't put it down (and stay up half the night to finish it). Some people know it's a good book if they want to read it a second time. The way I know it's a good book is if I never want it to end. And with Monaco, this occurred to me just about three chapters into the 3rd Part. By that time, I had gotten to know the characters well enough that I really began to feel what they were feeling (the warm summer weather as well as their fears and hopes) and that put me in a place that I just never wanted to leave. Monaco is a summery book, which is my favorite season, and combines all of the best, most magical aspects of the season--the sun tans, the long days and the warm nights. And there is a great sense of traveling about the novel--you travel to Monaco first of all, but there is so much travel throughout--sailing, canyons, hiking, Paris, Germany, and Africa even! The magical feeling of Monaco generates a very vivid connection between the characters that really resonated with me so that I actually LOLed a few times and cried a number of times, which is, by the way, another way that I know if a book is good. If you can't help from crying while reading on the plane, it's a great book. No matter how you judge a novel, Monaco probably has it. Magical, beautiful, action-packed...a classic by any standard.

On the surface, `Monaco' is a story about an American industrialist who undertakes to build a race car and compete in the Grand Prix. The real story is about idealism and its struggle to survive in modern times. It is a dramatic narrative that delves into the greatest social, cultural and political challenges of our age. And it is also the most romantic book I've ever read.

Dash Bradford is the American idealist par excellence. He strives for perfection in all that he does, in work, in relationships, and in his love. In the opening, we see how he sticks to his principles when confronted by those who accept flaws in the company and when he is lured by an attractive, but mischievous girl. He rejects them easily because his eyes are set on perfection.

The real struggle begins when he meets someone who actually is perfect, in the form of Margaux Tourangeau. Suddenly, he has a first-hand glimpse of what he has wanted for so long. And she is all that he ever imagined she could be--intelligent, witty, talented, gorgeous, benevolent, etc., etc. It is when he meets this perfect individual that he begins to realize his own imperfections and doubt his own motives. Ultimately, he is forced to reconcile his past indiscretions or give up what he has striven for all his life.

Dash and Margaux create a relationship that is the tenderest, most romantic I have come across in all the novels I have read. It incorporates the author's theory on love (from Love Is Justice: An Exploration into Mankind's Fundamental Nature) and, through their dialogue and actions, shows how such a relationship is possible.

The story is constructed in a classical way for the most part and contains large sections of dialogue aimed at drawing out ideas in an intellectual (as opposed to visceral) way. There is an unmistakable 1930s feel, the banter between the characters often reminding me of the rapid-style exchanges in classic film noir. And you can just hear the big band music playing throughout. The prose is descriptive, at times lyrical, and occasionally wordy like an 18th or 19th-century novel might get. One can tell that Mr. Morse has a gift for word craft, though, and the reader will want to savor some of the more sublime passages.

`Monaco' is made up of 100 chapters (as many laps as there were in the 1937 Monaco Grand Prix), framed by three quasi-chapters that summarize and consolidate the themes at the beginning, middle and end of the book ("Overture," "Entr'Acte," and "Denouement"). These three sections, fashioned after the classic epic Hollywood format, remind me of film-in-prose with their whimsical, poetic flow. While they may turn off the mainstream reader, they do offer a very unique aspect to an overall exceptional work.

But its ideas, not its style, are what make this book so wonderful. Whether you are a fan of the classical or not, you will appreciate the thoughts and concepts that unfold as Dash and Margaux make their way into the maturing world of modernism. In the end, we know that modernism wins out, but perhaps, through novels like this, the romantic and classical can stay with us.

IT SEEMS LIKE MOST AUTHORS ONLY HAVE ONE OR TWO REALLY GREAT BOOKS, BUT NOT WITH JULIA DONALDSON. WE FIRST READ THE GRUFFALO (AN ABSOLUTE MUST HAVE FOR ANY CHILD) & I REALLY DIDN'T EXPECT ANYTHING GREAT FROM HER OTHER BOOKS, BUT THOUGHT WE'D TRY THEM ANYWAY & AM SO GLAD WE DID. THIS IS ANOTHER GREAT BOOK! I CAN'T BELIEVE THERE'S ONLY ONE REVIEW ON THIS.

A BABY MONKEY LOST HIS MOM & A BUTTERFLY IS TRYING TO HELP. THE BUTTERFLY KEEPS LEADING MONKEY TO THE WRONG CREATURE. IT SEEMS PRETTY OBVIOUS THE BUTTERFLY SHOULD HAVE A CLUE AS TO WHAT THE MONKEY'S MOM LOOKS LIKE, BUT THEN THE BUTTERFLY IS SHOWN WITH CATERPILLARS & SAYS HER BABIES DON'T LOOK LIKE HER. THIS IS ANOTHER CLEAVER & WONDERFLY ILLUSTRATED BOOK BY DONALDSON & AXEL. WE LOVE IT!

This is a great book for children and their parents! Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler have created another wonderful children's book. Like their well-known favorite The Gruffalo, this book has colorful, detailed pictures and a catchy rhythm. It's a real pleasure to read, and it will help little ones learn their animals!

I had to read this book over and over again to my little son. It's such a cute story with great pictures and excellent rhymes. If you like it I think you have to read "Room on the broom".

... Ms. Rustand has written a generous, exciting romance with believable characters you can't help caring about. A reader looking for an emotional, satisfying novel with which to while away an autumn evening won't do better than A MONTANA FAMILY, regardless of which state is on the cover.

I loved the characters, the plot, and the lovely setting. Don't miss this memorable romance.

It took sixteen years for Dr Jolie Maxell to move back to Paradise Corners, Montana. Her family's appeal to move closer and the death of a patient caused her to reevaluate her priorities and stimulated the change of location. As she watched her patient Wendell Hill die with no money but a plethora of mourners, Jolie had realized there would be few to mourn her if she passed. Such a realization caused her to seek her family, despite the many years of troubling relationships. What she found was animosity on the part of her hometown, suspicion and rumors abounding. Her brother's in huge trouble and her father's trying to ignore a serious heart condition. She also found the dream she thought would never be hers.

Building contractor Matt Dawson came to Paradise Corners seeking relief from a questionable Chicago neighborhood for his children. Four years ago his wife passed away from cancer. She'd been his love, his inspiration and his dream come true, and her passing left both him and the children bereft. Having had one beautiful relationship, Matt doesn't expect another to come his way, although the children could really use a mother. But when his daughter becomes ill, Matt finds himself relying on Jolie for more than just medical care.

A multi layered plot lends A MONTANTA FAMILY by Roxanne Rustand complexity and charm. The secondary characters, including a sheep guarding llama and puppy afraid of dust bunnies, bring a bit of humor to a tale filled with deep, intense emotion. The secondary human characters neatly tie the novel to the other parts of the miniseries without bogging down the pace of the plot, allowing the novel to read well as a stand alone, or part of more complex work. Further, the hero and heroine are well-balanced, believable characters living with ordinary challenges and extraordinary circumstances. The hero's daughter's diabetes also lends realism, both propelling the plot and creating an interesting secondary plot line. Very highly recommended.