Boyd Books

This book nicely introduces readers to the topic of sanctification. We need to confess & renounce our old lifestyles, habits and hangups to live in peace and calm with God.

This book is very small, but has a hard cover. It is just right to tuck in another gift as an extra surprise. Even though I have read this book before, it still has the power to touch me and help me take inventory of my walk with God. Sometimes we do tend to leave Christ out of certain areas of our lives, and this book opens your eyes to see these areas, but it is done in a very loving way. I was going to order some more copies as gifts, but have not been able to find this particular edition on Amazon again. Perhaps, I will take another look to see if I have missed it.

I realize that this booklet has been highly reviewed by others, and I can understand why. "My Heart-Christ's Home" is essentially an extended analogy between our lives and our homes. Munger translates the common evangelical idea of inviting Jesus to live in our hearts into a situation in which Jesus is invited to physically live in our house. He walks through the house and describes how Jesus would interact with each part.

It's an interesting analogy, relatively well-executed. My critique is that it definitely enters the world of cheesiness a few times, going overboard with the "Christ as my buddy-buddy" idea. Though personalizing Jesus is helpful, there is something hokey about a picture of Jesus in bathroom slippers sitting in my living room reading the newspaper and sipping a cup of coffee. Maybe this is just a reflection of the pamphlet showing its age.

I was also overwhelmed by the brevity of this "book." It can easily be read in one sitting, which is convenient. However, I would have preferred something more substantive. Ultimately, this booklet is solid and worthwhile, if somewhat incomplete.

My Heart-Christ's Home is a clear, easy-to-read book that talks about how you should refine and shape your heart for Christ's home. Pastor Munger uses his home and Christ as his guest for an example . If you are struggling with finding room for Christ in your heart, I highly recommend this book. It teaches you how to "clean your heart" and only set it aside for God.

My Heart, CHrist's Home is an excellent booklet, so easy to read and so convicting. It helped me get my focus back on track.

I HAVEN'T FINISHED THE BOOK YET. CAN YOU GET BACK TO ME IN A FEW WEEKS?

For many years Doctors have ignored the role that one's faith, regardless of what religion or church, plays in our ability to live with pain and illness. Why don't more Doctors recognize that prayer or some kind of spirituality can be as essential to our wellbeing as taking our medicine as prescribed?
This book has so many interviews with people who are living with long-term illness and who use their faith (Christian, Moslem, Jewish, Buddhism etc) to sustain them in addition to their sense of humor and a supportive network of family and friends.
Thank you for beautifully illustrating that faith, family and friends really do help.

Every once in a while, if we are lucky, something comes along that reminds us of the quiet courage of regular people. We remember the dignity and bravery of individuals who through their suffering have taught us so much about what it means to be alive and to be human. One of my colleagues has recently published a book that celebrates the lives of many such courageous people who have much to teach us about living joyously.

Jeffrey Boyd, M.D., M.P.H., has published Being Sick Well, a collection of interviews with people who suffer with long-term, life-changing illnesses. Through their intimate conversations with Jeff, who is an ordained Episcopal minister and Chairman of Behavioral Health at Waterbury Hospital, they share the depths of their suffering, the strength of their faith, and the ways that they have chosen to cope with their illnesses. While they endure unimaginable suffering, they have chosen not to give up. In fact, one of the gifts that they give us is their strategies for living satisfying lives.

Several of the people interviewed for Being Sick Well are from our communities: Fr. John Cockayne of Thomaston, Charlene Stephens and Bette Fern of Woodbury; Mary of Cheshire; Eileen Clark of Middlebury; Shiquirye Silvia Krosts of Waterbury; Sue Luchs of Milford; and Placido Mastroianni of New Haven. At some point during their diagnoses--or in Charlene's case in the diagnosis of her child--they decided that life still had its blessings. In many cases, they chose to use their illnesses to help others. Some have turned to humor or spiritual resources to maintain useful, meaningful lives.

Jeff's book combines his thorough research into the emerging epidemic of chronic illness with an interesting view of how the successes of medical science have failed to make us better. When doctors say that they will "cure" cancer, they mean that their goal is to turn cancer into a manageable chronic illness. We might live longer with cancer; however, this doesn't necessarily mean that we will be healthy.

Jeff also provides insights into the repercussions of chronic illness: how it will affect the rising costs of health care, the tough medical choices we will face, and the effect this epidemic has on so many people who have become caregivers to the chronically ill.

This book is compelling on many different levels. Jeff demonstrates the practical implications of strategies for coping through each individual's story. Diverse religious beliefs are represented, showing the critical role faith plays in one's ability to live with illness. This book addresses numerous approaches to managing illness, including taking charge of one's illness, taking the medicine as prescribed, and humbly doing the work of a caregiver. In our effort to bring comfort and meaning to those who are suffering, we will find Being Sick Well a vital resource filled with encouragement, hope, and inspiration.

I wanted to share with you about a fantastic book I just finished reading. "Being Sick Well, Joyful Living Despite Chronic Illness," is probably one of the best books I have ever read. As someone who is a care giver of a chronic illness sufferer and the Founder & President of two chronic illness support & awareness organizations, The Invisible Disabilities Advocate and Where Is God Ministries, I was moved with a wide range of emotions and challenged with new ideas and wowed by the insight of the author, Dr Jeffery Boyd.

In "Being Sick Well," Dr Boyd states "When I talked with people who had chronic illness but remained upbeat, I discovered that they developed methods to help them get through the day." These methods which Dr Boyd gleaned from case histories are mentioned throughout the book and are insightfully turned into 20 strategies for joyful living despite chronic illness. The book is full of stories of sufferers and their care givers. There are even detailed statics and conclusions surrounding the continuing rise of chronic illness in America despite the notion we are getting healthier. Dr Boyd tackles these issues surrounding chronic illness with experience, intelligence and compassion.

Far from being dry, I cried and cheered and laughed. The stories are moving and what they teach in regards to "Being Sick Well" are practical and inspiring. Since my organizations do not target any specific chronic illnesses or disease, I wondered how they could have an greater impact on our world. Most people are drawn to a particular organization that deals with one specific disease or chronic illness such as the Arthitis Foundation or the MS Society. Dr Boyd addresses this issue by stating the following:

What is lacking is a sense of common cause among the different disease constituencies. If the families afflicted with diseases X, Y, and Z would cooperate instead of competing with one another, there would emerge an advocacy group representing a majority of the public, and suddenly the healthcare finance system would be forced to change so as to recognize and treat chronic illness. That would make life with chronic disease much more tolerable for everyone.

I was not only moved by his book, but I was also encourged and energized to rise to the challenge he set forth. Since currently "At least 45% of all Americans have a chronic condition" there is a lot of work to be done and I thank Dr Boyd for leading the challenge in "Being Sick Well."

As a medical practitioner who treats patients with kidney disease, diabetes, and many other chronic illnesses, I have found Dr. Boyd's book tremendously helpful for me, my patients and their families. He creatively and lovingly engages a group of people who have found their own way to live well with their chronic illnesses, and then brilliantly distills their stories for us. Dr. Boyd gives both knowledge and inspiration that all of us, and those who we care for, can use to improve the way we live.
This book reminds us that as physicians we must treat illness on many different levels besides prescriptions, tests and hospital stays. I know that many of my patients could minimize their need for medications and hospitalizations if we could find a way to follow the lead of these courageous people who shared with Dr. Boyd the wisdom they have found in adapting to some of the most difficult trials any of us can face. With this book, Dr. Boyd gives us the opportunity to learn from some of the best. Not only do I encourage patients with chronic illness who want to live well, and doctors who want to help them, to read this book, but I encourage anyone who wants to find inspiration for conducting a better life to read it.

Too often I have purchased poetry books for my kids only to have them store the book on their shelf and never read it again. Beyond Old MacDonald by Charley Hoce is a poem book of a different animal. Hoce's word play brings giggles to both children and parents. The many levels of the poems, as seen in "When My Cow Goes Dancing" - "She always wears a muumuu/Since it makes her calves look small," leave smiles on the faces of anyone reading them. With the obvious fun Hoce has with language coupled with Fernandes' perfectly delightful illustrations, Beyond Old MacDonald invites us to read his poems again and again ... and the kids really do it.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading these poems. Charley Hoce is a master of word play. His poems are creative, witty and will make both children and adults laugh out loud. Each poem reveals a quirk of the English language. Children will be challenged to think about the English language in different ways in order to "get" the meaning of the poems. The wordplay guide located at the back of the book is a great resource for teaching and demonstrating different literary elements such as puns, personification, homophones, idioms etc. This guide outlines each poem found in the book and the element it utilizes. Fernandes' watercolor colorful illustrations are full of energy and brought each poem to life. Her illustrations also reflected multicultural characters that I found refreshing. Even children too young to "get" the poem would enjoy looking at the colorful and funny pictures. This book of children's poetry respectfully deserves a spot on the shelves of public and school libraries. It definitely has a spot on my son's bookcase.

Beyond Old MacDonald is a wonderful, joyful collection of poetry about farm animals. Children giggle delightfully when reading them or when being read to. The wordplays make the poems very useful in the classroom. A Wordplay Guide is included.

I sat down with my 7-year old as we took turns reading the clever, witty little poem puns. I found myself laughing at the end of each pun, & my daughter occasionally stopping a moment, thinking, & finally laughing herself as she "got" the punchline. But, most of the puns she got right away. And if the 30 poems aren't reason enough to purchase this book, on the last page of the book the author/teacher includes a Word Play Guide to point out the language skill each of the poems employ (pun, idiom, personification, etc.). Making it an excellent teaching tool.

With 22 years experience as a classroom teacher Charley Hoce well knows what appeals to youngsters. As he says, "Children love puns, homophones, idioms, and anything that turns convention upside down." He has incorporated all of these into a jolly rhyming book based on the well known ditty "Old MacDonald Had A Farm." It might be especially fun to sing the song with youngsters before reading the rhymes.

Just watch children's eye light up when they see, "My horse he cannot whinny. My horse he cannot neigh. My horse has caught a nasty cold. My horse is hoarse today."

Artist Eugenie Fernandes has crafted boldly colored whimsical illustrations that enhance each verse. Intended for young readers from 4 - 7 "Beyond Old MacDonald" is thoroughly entertaining with a little education thrown in, such as language skills that children may need to practice.

- Gail Cooke

This unique approach for children to learn could be used in American schools. Instead of the memorization of facts and only one way to do things, this approach has the child, parent, and teacher working together. The child has many experiences and the teacher helps them understand and learn from them. The teacher is keeping the parents informed about their child's daily experiences.

Excellent book for those among us who are working to integrate the Reggio approach into our U.S. early childhood classrooms.

Anyone who has kids, or works with them, should read this book! Reggio is just the smartest and most human approach in raising the children.

This has been the most helpful book as I introduce myself to the Reggio Emilia approach. The author shares her experience as an intern in Reggio in a very readable mix of first person observation, interview, and philosophy. But maybe more important, she then takes us the next step as she returns to the States and colloborates with a center to incorporate the Reggio philosophy. The challenges and suggestions are very realistic and helpful.

It's in narrative form, so it really makes you feel like you are there! It goes through her time spent in Reggio basically day by day, step by step through different projects and talks she has with educators in Reggio, and really gives you a feel of what the whole approach encompasses! Highly reccomended!

This was a great story. It was fun reading it to my kids in CA, after living most of my life in Malden MA. We loved the part about Filene's Basement (and I'm sad won't get to take them to see the real thing because it will be gone in the summer of '07) and shopping at all of the markets in the North End. It was amazing how many of my stories as a kid came out of reading that one book.

This book is just terrific. I grew up in Somerville, MA and took the bus and train into Boston very often. It brought back so many memories of growing up. I used to go to Filene's Basement all the time with my mother, as well as, Bailey's, Haymarket, etc. My son just loves the book, almost as much as me.

The author relives fond childhood memories of travelling into Boston with her mother and sister to visit Boston's Italian North End, riding the bus and visiting Filene's Basement, an ice cream shop, produce market, butcher and baker. especially fun for kids familiar with Boston, this book would also be of interest to those who ride the bus, like shopping or hold an interest in Italy.

This book is great. We live in Seattle and are going back to Boston for a visit. My 3 year old son wants to go on a bus like the 2 girls in the book. He is so excited to come back to Boston for his 10th time. We read the book every night before bed. Great photos.

I felt like I was reliving my childhood! I grew up in Boston and remember the excitement of having special days in town with my mother. We would end our wonderful day by stopping by Bailey's for a sundae. She would recall her special days with her mother and doing the same things that we did!

- The authors of the early chapters talk to you as if you're in highschool.
- Since most chapters are written by different authors, most material is redundant.
- Instead of getting to the point, they try to soften the material with anecdotes and jokes that are mostly immaterial and detract from the information I seek.
- Lists a whole bunch of contracts that are apparently required for a startup, then suggest talking to a lawyer, such as Buy/Sell char Contact. Then why did I buy this book?

+ Great reference for taxing, IP, and some contracts.

Skip all the other chapters and just look at taxing, Intellectual Property stuff, and contracts. That's where the value of the book is.

For anyone interested in understanding the business of video game development this book should be on the top of your list of things to read first. Written for the person trying to get into game development or the person in game development looking to start out on their own. It combines both the business and the legal fundamentals that you need to know to get started in video game development. Includes analysis of publishing agreements and EULA's that are extremely helpful to any game developer. Also includes things you need to know to protect your intellectual property rights and what kinds of things in video games can be protected. The book is not overly complicated and in fact it is written to be easy and fun to read. The authors are all experts in the fields of business and law of video games and you can tell they had a good time writing this book. One of the most interesting chapters includes helpful suggestions from leaders in the video game industry on things that they wish they would have known starting out as game developers. Overall this book is a must for game developers and fun reading for anyone that is interested in understanding the business of games.

This book was invaluable to me in learning about doing business in the video game industry and the concerns that a game development team will face.

While many books which discuss the video game industry will waver in their accuracy on any given subtopic due to the limited expertise of the speaker, this volume avoids that problem by having each chapter written by a different author, each with particular knowledge and experience with their chapter's subject. The Primer is written by more than a dozen experts, including game developers, business persons and law professors, each talking in plain English about the problems and solutions to difficulties and issues that will arise over the course of developing a game and starting a development company.

As a student, I have read a lot of textbooks in the last few years and being interested in the game industry I regularly read magazines and articles on game development. This book is neither of those. It is informative and helpful without being long-winded or wordy, serious in its expertise and insight but fun in its approach and writing. In short, it is the type of reading you will enjoy doing while learning the things you want and need to know about business and legal issues which arise in game development.

This is an enormously helpful book. It is one of the best intellectual property law and game development book on the market that I've read. It is an enjoyable as well as practical text.

Superb book. Enormously Practical text. The best intellectual property law and game development book on the market. A very healthy read. may change your whole perspective on business, games and life.

This book had a lot of really wonderful ideas, however, most of the crafts are for older children and my party was for 6 year olds and younger. I made the fairy braclets for the girls myself as it was a little time consuming. For kids 8+ this is a wonderful book with some really cute ideas.

for all who love fairies or crafts, this is a perfect book. Great ideas, wonderful processes and beautiful products!

I bought two copies, one for my 9 yr old daughter and one for her friend. They love it and have had the most fun with these creations. I do recommend a little adult help and guidance with the different crafts.

We used this little book as the basis for a flower fairy birthday party for a six year old, and it was a huge success, and considerably less expensive than renting Little Gym or another insitutional party place.

We made several decorations and the gorgeous flower fairy wands.

All of the projects would probably require adult assistance for a child under 10, but they are really lovely and worth any effort.

I bought this book, along with Sweet Pea's Garden: Special Things to Make and Do ~ A Flower Fairies Friends Book & How to Host a Flower Fairy Tea Party, to help me with my daughter's fairy birthday party. The crafts are exquisite as well as resonably easy to do. Most items can be easily found around the house or your nearest craft store. I love the crafts in both this and Sweet Pea's Garden. Both books are easy to do although I think Sweet Pea works best for our smaller fairies while this book would be perfect for an upscale girls tea party. I loved the little stories and the illustrations that were woven through the book. The only thing that dissapointed me was that there weren't any recipes. If there had been three or four little recipes that would have rounded out the book perfectly. I fell in love with the little cake in the picture of the table setting at the beginning of chapter three. The crafts included invitations, bookmarks, wings, skirts, fairy dolls with a fairy land playground, jewelry, etc. My favorite crafts were the playground and the blooming tableware. Both were made to decorate my daughters table and they were absolutely beautiful. This made for a magical day. Oh, and there are instructions for a Violet Choker by Heidi Boyd at the DIY website.

An excellent book on WW I. Oddly, not carried in our fabulous library system.
Title based on a quote from Hamlet and is greatly misleading.

In his novel, "Her Privates We," Frederic Manning does something almost unique in Great War literature. He gives voice to the English common soldier. This was the man the British public personified as Tommy Atkins and whom Americans in a later conflict would call GI Joe. This was the man who did the work of war with bayonet, rifle and hand grenade.

Siegfried Sassoon, Robert Graves, Wilfred Owen and Vera Brittain--among others--have given us a look inside the English middle-class perspective of the Great War. Through their poetry and prose, we can gain some understanding of what they and their educated counterparts suffered and endured.

The clerk, the taxi driver and farm laborer who went to war had no such heavy-weight advocates. Until Manning's novel first appeared in a limited edition during 1929, English private soldiers spoke primarily through letters home, not through literature. We know them best through the mute, exhausted faces that stare out at us across time from black-and-white Great-War-era photographs.

Manning, an educated Australian, worked as a minor literary figure in pre-war England. He enlisted in the King's Shropshire Light Infantry during 1915 and served as a private soldier in France through much of the 1916 Somme Campaign. Not coincidently, most of the novel's action is set within British lines during the time of that huge offensive.

Because Manning was a man who combined a writer's skills with a soldier's experience, his work gives us a rare and vivid glimpse of what trench life and fighting felt like from the viewpoint of the English private and non-commissioned officer. The book reflects the emotional and physical costs of battle. It also gives us some knowledge of the ways men related to each other and to their superiors. Any American who soldiered during the 20th Century will almost certainly find echoes of his own service experience within Manning's story.

In its 1929 printing "Her Privates We" was called "The Middle Parts of Fortune." The first mass publication the next year was ruthlessly edited to reflect 1930s sensibilities. The current paper-bound version of "Her Privates We," offered through Amazon, is completely uncut.

The Book's title derives from some obscene banter in Shakespeare's Hamlet, during which two characters describe themselves as the private parts of Fortune. Private parts, private soldiers, you get the picture. After listening to them, Hamlet concludes that Fortune is a strumpet. This would seem an equally valid conclusion for those of any rank or station caught within the titanic social and military struggle that played out during the 1914-1918 war.

Of course, I say this work is elegant, true, vivid and memorable as a work, not the events it depicts. In parts of the world that used to make up the Commonwealth and serviced by Penguin books, the title may be THE MIDDLE PARTS OF FORTUNE. Having had 25 years in the military I can only say I read this book from cover to cover, and relished every word in it. Artistically, as an artifact, it has a satisfying structure and conventional narrative. Like the characters in it, especially Private Bourne, it manages a superb tone, neither hiding the horror, the detail, but never sentimentalizing the common bravery of the ordinary man whilst despising the shirker. I could go on but I just draw to your attention on P58 the brilliant detail of having to carry an awkward box three miles by hand: - ....he was glad to dump the box he and Lance-Corporal Johnson had carried the three miles from Philosophe on the floor of the Quartermaster's office. It had those handles which hang down when not in use, but turn over and force one's knuckles against the ends of the box when it is lifted. By reversing the grip, one may save one's knuckles, but only at the expense of twisting one's elbow, and the muscles of the forearm. Having tried both ways, they passed their handkerchiefs through the handles, and knotted the corners, so that it was slung between them, but the handkerchief being of different sizes, the weight was not equally distributed. The quartermaster's store was a large shed of galvanized iron, which may have been a garage originally. He was not there, but the carpenter, who was making wooden crosses, of which a pile stood in one corner, thought he might be back at the transport lines; on the other hand he might be back at any moment, so they waited for as long as it took to smoke a cigarette, watching the carpenter, who, having finished putting a cross together, was painting it with a cheap-looking white paint. -That's the motto of the regiment,- said the carpenter, taking up one on which their badge and motto had been painted carefully. - It's in Latin, but it means WHERE GLORY LEADS.
Bourne looked at it with a sardonic grin. - That is just one paragraph of 247 pages of fine prose, and itself could be a study as a sample of quite brilliant writing.
A classic of the 20th century.

I feels like i am reading both "The Stranger" and "All Quiet on the Western Front." I was hoping to get something from it but i was disappointed from what i considered the best combination of both novels.

This semi-fictional story is set in a brief 6 month (or so)period in 1916 in which the British Army began to assume the major contribution to the Allied effort. By this time of WW1 the French had been somewhat degraded and pretty exhausted by the combined efforts of Verdun and the Somme. The story is set on the Somme front after the opening phases of the battle and includes the description of a long recovery period behind the lines to refit-a luxury denied many German units. The story reflects to some degree the British class system , and many of the soldiers themselves seem somewhat bewildered about the nature of war confronting them. The Germans themselves are shown as remote and treated somewhat indifferently. Despite the possibility of death each soldier seems distracted with obtaining alcohol, women and decent food in that order.

The 1 difficult aspect of the book is the phonetic nature of the spoken words. The characters are, after all, British, and Americans may have a tough time understanding what's being said. When compared with All Quiet on the Western Front, which focuses more on the futility and abstract nature of the war, Her Privates, We is more insular and personal.

This is the book to buy for little kids of all ages. The story is so sweet, the words so engaging, the illustrations and the colors so vivid and soothing at the same time. I'm delivering yet another copy to the smartest three-year-old I know in just a little while, and I can already imagine Nick holding this book and reading it to one of his kids. It's a classic, it's a work of art, it's a very wonderful teaching tool, but, best of all, it's got heart, and what more can you hope to show kids? Take a bow, Kel.

This little counting book in charming verse by Kelly Milner Halls is exactly the sort of thing to brighten up a child's day or your own. Kelly gives the little story gentle excitement which will stimulate a child and charm an adult. It is the kind of little morsel I would want to grace a coffee table forever. I also thought the illustrations unusual and darling.

Many will ask just what can one do with a counting book, but Kelly has managed to do something new while staying within comfortable and familiar bounds.

"There are far too many counting books, but this one delights and does the job. With Halls' crisp, peppy rhymes and adorable illustrations by an Atlanta artist, children will be counting before it even dawns on them." Julie Bookman, Atlanta Journal Constitution, April 1, 2000

Just add sound effects of your own (and get your child doing the same) and you'll get an idea of the delight on tap in this terrific read-aloud. Charming and childlike with the kind of warmth that'll have kids begging for re-reads.

"I Bought a Baby Chicken" is a cute story and a subtle counting book. During a family trip to the general store, the narrator sees a little chick and decides to buy it. Her sister picks up two black chicks, her dad likes three striped ones, and before you know it, the whole family - cousins, grandparents, great-grandparents - has gone cuckoo for chickens. "I guess my family's lucky that I didn't want a cow," concludes the narrator, who'd better hope her family doesn't suddenly develop a hankering for friend chicken or buffalo wings. Karen Stormer Brooks' google-eyed illustrations are as silly as the story. (by Claire Martin).

I think that this book was very entertaining! It was one of my favorite books that I ever read. I couldn't stop reading it.

I think this book is really cool. I liked how each of the characters had a personality that was original and interesting. I am 12 and I have told all my friends to read this book. You should too.

Young readers will love this book. The characters are like kids they know and the plot moves along at quick pace, making it hard to put down. It's beautifully written. I especially like how the adult characters appear larger than life to Kat early in the novel, but they become more human as she comes to understand their lives and the choices they made.

Theresa Martin Golding's Kat's Surrender is a compelling and sensitive novel written for young adults and introduces Kat O'Connor, a thirteen-year-old girl who has lost her mother to cancer. Hurt and alone, Kat befriends a homeless man with mental impairments. Trying to achieve equilibrium in her life, Kat witnesses a hit-and-run accident that puts her inner fortitude to the test in this emotional, thoughtful, and highly recommended YA novel.

This book is masterfully written to engage a youngsters interest while at the same time providing a lesson on one of life's greatest emotional events, the loss of a loved one. While the premise may sound somber, the book is really full of adventure, mystery and romance. My neice loved it and couldn't put it down. I highly recommend this book!