Green Books

This book is for ALL ages! Children will LOVE it because Dudley is small like them and "has a plan." Adults will LOVE the book because it is literally the "underdog" story -- and we've all either been or known a "Dudley" at some point in our lives -- Dudley makes us smile and cheer him on. Dog Lovers will LOVE the book because Dudley "RULES!" It reminds me of "The Little Engine That Could" story -- both books have WONDERFUL "attitude" morals and are character-building. The photographs and story-line of "Dudley" are equally brilliant. Dudley is a story to read and re-read at all stages of your life

We got the Dudley book from the library. It's cute because Dudley is cute and the story cute. It's about a tiny terrier and all the big dogs look down on her, but then she trains to be a fast, sportsy dog! Dudley reminds me of Cookie, our dog. Our dog is a terrier mix and she is fast too! I suggest you buy or if you don't want to spend money, get it from the library! Signed, StoryMaker.

We got the Dudley book from the library. It's cute because Dudley is cute and the story cute. It's about a tiny terrier and all the big dogs look down on her, but then she trains to be a fast, sportsy dog! Dudley reminds me of Cookie, our dog. Our dog is a terrier mix and she is fast too! I suggest you buy or if you don't want to spend money, get it from the library! Signed, StoryMaker.

We got the Dudley book from the library. It's cute because Dudley is cute and the story cute. It's about a tiny terrier and all the big dogs look down on her, but then she trains to be a fast, sportsy dog! Dudley reminds me of Cookie, our dog. Our dog is a terrier mix and she is fast too! I suggest you buy or if you don't want to spend money, get it from the library! Signed, StoryMaker.

Beautiful story for teens and adults! Although I love fantasy fiction, I'm hard to please, but this had me on the edge of my seat and having a hard time putting it down. The characters become increasingly rich through the story. A few aspects of the story weren't entirey satisfying, seeming a little surreal and never entirely resolved, but the vast majority of the book was beautifully and intricately-woven storytelling with several layers of plot and characters you genuinely care about. I highly recommend this novel and eagerly await R.N. Green's next release!

This book is a small masterpiece. The cover is amateurish, the title, bad (though it does fit the book's dazzling climax and theme) but the story itself is in the tradition of Oz, Narnia, Tolkien and Alice in Wonderland only better because the backstory of the boy and his sister listening to their father's nightly bedtime tale interplays so imaginatively with the plight of its fictional prince and princess in a land where things are more troubled than what they seem.

Oh, did I mention there's a hapless wizard whose trademark is a rat that lives in his hair and the accidentally-discovered potion that transforms rats into humans--like its literary predecessor in Jekyll and Hyde--sometimes cannot be controlled? Typhus: "He'd felt fear many times. It was part of being a rat. But this nameless dread, this trembling unease he'd felt ever since becoming human, he'd thought there was no word for it. But then the word for it had just popped right into his head. Evil."

However, it is not the rat but Charles and his nightly-tale equivalent, Prince Cha Cha, who are somehow attracted to and deadened by evil. The real boy is suffering from depression and his slightly-older sister, Tanya, is not expected to live much longer. There is a haunting, recurring scene of this young girl sitting alone on the edge of her bed in the dark holding a steak knife with which to prick her palm should she start to fall asleep, the knocking and scratching of some unseen terror coming from within her closet. There is not a misstep in this excellent book. It expertly serves up a startling surprise about the real identity of Griselle, the court advisor, and the horrific, unsettling anti-climax will make you as eager as I am for the second book of this projected trilogy.

The problem with the classics is that movies have given us a definitive visual interpretation. The joy of this book is that those images, whether dark or fanciful, have full play in the theater of our imaginations. Listen to this premonition-dream Charles has early in the novel: "He looked at his sister who stared into his eyes. Then she turned and pointed at her kite. It now seemed impossibly small, just the tiniest white dot against the blue. Then Charles saw that she was letting the last of the kite string slip through her fingers."

"The Duty of Love" unflinchingly explores the full range, not only of love and hate, but also of what it means to live and die. Share this journey with someone special. When earlier in the book, Tanya comes to an acceptance of her fatal disease she describes life this way: "That no matter what happens it would never happen again, at least not quite in the same way." Each day is an adventure in "The Duty of Love," each day "it's own lesson in something grand and wonderful and mysterious." But at the end of the novel, when things change for Tanya, she learns life is not a fairy tale, and this book becomes unforgettable.

This is a very well written book and perfect for children and adults alike. I personally greatly enjoyed reading this book. It has a very good message that says that love is stronger than anything life can throw at you. A must read!

When I picked up Duty of Love and read the back cover, I thought it would be similar to the special bit of whimsy Diana Wynne Jones put together in "Howl's Moving Castle". As I started the first chapter, I was guessing that maybe Ronald Neal Green was trying his hand at the interesting story formula employed by William Goldman for "The Princess Bride", a story within a story told to a young child, where various life lessons (and possibly lots of hilarious moments) ensue. By the end of chapter one I knew I had this story pegged all wrong, but I knew I was in for a page-turner that would draw me in and not let go till I finished it.

Ronald Neal Green took great care in keeping the different relationships between his characters tangible and possible, so the reader could resonate with them despite the extraordinary situations the characters had. Compared to most readers, all the characters had extraordinary situations: few of us of course are princes or princesses, wizards or rats who become human---but very few of us as well are dying at the age of 10, nor do we regularly encounter creatures in our closets ominous enough that we sleep with a bat or a steak knife within easy reach. And yet all characters felt real and were well-developed, both as individual characters and in the dynamic they had with the others in the story. Real enough that I found it easy to invest heavily on both sets of siblings (the brother and sister IN the story as well as the two LISTENING TO the story). Maybe it's because I have a little brother, but I think it's probably more because the siblings didn't feel smarmy---to readers who get along with their siblings (and even those who don't, or are an only child), the children's relationships are both believable and endearing. That feeling of realness, together with the author peppering the tale with a sprinkling of the strange, the macabre, and some well-placed twists that added zing, compelled me to commit and see the whole story through.

I started reading The Duty of Love in the subway, on my way to work---I finished it 4 a.m. the next day. I am a slow reader, and there are many urgent and important things to do at work and at home, but it was just as urgent and important to know what happened next and how everyone in the story fared. This is a page-turner partly because it's a thriller, but more so because the reader will care for the protagonists, and will be fueled to read on by the hope that things worked out for them. With each new development, twist, or preparation to face a daunting obstacle, you will want to read "a few pages more" to see if everyone made it out OK. Before you know it you'll reach the end, take a deep breath to steady yourself, and realize what a wonderful tale Ronald Neal Green has spun for you.

Ken, a retired System Analyst, 12/13/2007

I normally avoid fantasy tales but Mr. Green's book captured my attention within the first few pages. The tale of two children and their perilous journey into the depths of good and evil grips the mind. The psychological mind games reveals our own limited understanding of what may be the truth. Many will find themselves with the same puzzlement which Stanley Kubrick projected in his film 2001. And finally, you will cherish the charm and humor contained within. Good for children and adults. I will read it again!

Dennis Dahlin has compiled a delightful and unique guide of interesting places to stay with an environmental or 'earth-friendly' element. The book is a dynamic resource with an update page available on their website. The book is enhanced with beautiful sketches primarily drawn by the author. Other environmental travel guides are in the works. We enjoyed the relaxing read and look forward to exploring the many inns he has discovered and shared with us. .....

The charm and character of the inns listed in this book make me want to take a trip from the tip of the NorthEast down, stopping at every inn. Hand-drawn sketches are marvelous! And, the info on ecofriendly places to visit is richly detailed. I've almost visited all the inns here in Northern CA--This book opens new pathways across the country, while treading lightly on the earth. A treasure.

This review is written by a connoisseur of travel guides who has been a globe-trotter for over 50 years, and a resident of the northeast for much of her life prior to becoming an innkeeper in the Caribbean. The book is exceptionally well researched and beyond compare in its meticulously researched and presented contents. It picks and chooses the most interesting inns, richly describing each one in an enchanting and easy-to-follow format. It inspires the reader with additional information about hiking groups, farmers' markets, environmental action groups, web sites, and other items of interest rarely included in similar, but more expensive, travel guides. Reading this book is like being taken care of by the best of the best inn-keepers. The illustrations are methodically detailed and beautiful to look at, as are the photos. Buy it, you'll like it! And give it as a gift, too!

From Planeta Journal - Guide to "green" hotels in the U.S. Northeast. The author provides a selection of hotels desgined and operated in harmony with the environment. Establishments in this guide strive toward being earth-frinedly via the use of solar heating, innovative recycling programs and/or organic gardens. The author describes these hotels and inns and provides rates, credentials and - most notably - lively histories of each hotel's origins and the owner's current work. Chapters include information about nearby earth-friendly restaurants, natural food stores, farmers' markets and destinations for low-impact recreation. This is the first in a series. Highly recommended.

I am totally new to this "ism." Thus, I find this book can offer a good review about ecofeminism.

I read this book for the Jan/Feb 2004 LD Topic: "A government's obligation to protect the environment ought to have precedence over its obligation to promote economic development." I have to say I highly reccomend this book to anyone interested in the connections between the environment and feminism. I especially liked the discussion of how women and the environment are connected through language through the use of word's like "Mother Nature." That use in particular was to put it in a word pimp. Warren covers all areas of ecofeminist thought, and is extremely fair to those critical of ecofeminism. To anyone interested in learning about how our domination of the environment undergirds our domination of other groups this book is perfect. As I said before, this work by a "street philosopher," is simply pimp. Highest recomendations!

ECOFEMINIST PHILOSOPHY
A WESTERN PERSPECTIVE ON WHAT IT IS AND WHY IT MATTERS

By Karen J. Warren
Rowman and Littlefield, 230 pages
A Review by Wendell G. Bradley

Warren calls herself a �street philosopher�. And, true to her calling, this professor of philosophy at Macalester College reaches the ordinary reader on important issues.

Ordinary philosophy is already superseded in chapter one entitled: �Nature is a Feminist Issue�. Women, world-wide, are shown to experience environmental harm disproportionately. And, they are organizing, as women, against related dominations.

For Warren, dominations tend to follow whenever (allegedly) ethically relevant hierarchies designate their �others� as inferiors. Subordinations, however, have to be first justified by �a logic of domination�. Humans, for example, might be deemed superior to nature because they have the ability to manipulate it. But, without a logic of domination, �superiority� could just as well lead to stewardship.

Patriarchy provides our current logic of domination. Under its conceptual framework, men become associated with reason and volition (read: intelligence and public roles). The result is a prevailing male-other bias that links women and nature--women too naturally something, to be allowed this or that. Accordingly, Warren recognizes both gender and ecology as good points of departure for an environmental ethic, hence ecofeminism.

Warren begins her �quilting� of an ecofeminist philosophy in chapter three. Here, she masterfully interrogates and reconceptualizes the reductive and essentialist rationality of today�s male-other bias. Various belief examinations arise from the �cognitive dissonances� she brings to light in an examined patriarchy. At a minimum our loss of ecological integrity has required justification via a logic of domination. Our human spirit, however, can become caring enough to resist oppressions and destructions, especially in one�s home place.

Accordingly, Warren introduces a �care-sensitive� ethic. It is characterized by a �loving eye� that focuses on a contextual orientation, a more optimistic understanding of self, an inclusivist ethical pluralism, incorporations of emotional intelligence, and a nonprivileging social justice. Through our spiritual ability to care, these qualities combine to make nature �morally deserving�. Thus, Warren�s care-sensitive ethic makes a fundamental contribution to a possible ecological flourishing.

The idea of ecofeminism, itself, is not particularly new, but Warren�s insights, clarifications and arguments are. Her overall philosophical synthesis is both refreshing and convincing.

Wendell G. Bradley, is a retired professor of Human Ecology and author of �The Gift of Morality� . He lives in Colorado.

ECOFEMINIST PHILOSOPHY
A WESTERN PERSPECTIVE ON WHAT IT IS AND WHY IT MATTERS
By Karen J. Warren

A Review by Wendell G. Bradley

Warren calls herself a `street philosopher'. And, true to her calling, this professor of philosophy at Macalester College reaches the ordinary reader on important issues.

Ordinary philosophy is already superseded in chapter one entitled: `Nature is a Feminist Issue'. Women, world-wide, are shown to experience environmental harm disproportionately. And, they are organizing, as women, against related dominations.

For Warren, dominations tend to follow whenever (allegedly) ethically relevant hierarchies designate their `others' as inferiors. Subordinations, however, have to be first justified by `a logic of domination'. Humans, for example, might be deemed superior to nature because they have the ability to manipulate it. But, without a logic of domination, `superiority' could just as well lead to stewardship.

Patriarchy provides our current logic of domination. Under its conceptual framework, men become associated with reason and volition (read: intelligence and public roles). The result is a prevailing male-other bias that links women and nature--women too naturally something, to be allowed this or that. Accordingly, Warren recognizes both gender and ecology as good points of departure for an environmental ethic, hence ecofeminism.

Warren begins her `quilting' of an ecofeminist philosophy in chapter three. Here, she masterfully interrogates and reconceptualizes the reductive and essentialist rationality of today's male-other bias. Various belief examinations arise from the `cognitive dissonances' she brings to light in an examined patriarchy. At a minimum our loss of ecological integrity has required justification via a logic of domination. Our human spirit, however, can become caring enough to resist oppressions and destructions, especially in one's home place.

Accordingly, Warren introduces a `care-sensitive' ethic. It is characterized by a `loving eye' that focuses on a contextual orientation, a more optimistic understanding of self, an inclusivist ethical pluralism, incorporations of emotional intelligence, and a nonprivileging social justice. Through our spiritual ability to care, these qualities combine to make nature `morally deserving'. Thus, Warren's care-sensitive ethic makes a fundamental contribution to a possible ecological flourishing.

The idea of ecofeminism, itself, is not particularly new, but Warren's insights, clarifications and arguments are. Her overall philosophical synthesis is both refreshing and convincing.

Wendell G. Bradley, is a retired professor of Human Ecology and author of `The Gift of Morality'.

This was a great book. I received the books within a few days even though I had selected ground shipping. I would recommend to anyone with an interest in "green" building and design.

Everyday sightings in nature can be the basis for the designs we "create." This is especially true in the field of architecture and I am enjoying the book.

This book is a good intro to the "why" of ecological design. It gives its informatiion in a non-technical way and explains the reasons we should approch design this way. I recommend it for all those involved with land and building design and development.

A new benchmark in ecological awareness. Sym van der Ryn has long been practicing ecological design, and draws on his wealth of experience to give readers many valuable insights into this growing practice. Van der Ryn warns readers to separate the wheat from the chaff as there are many persons claiming to be toeing the line when it comes to sustainable design, but few are actually doing it. What is needed is a whole new approach to eco-friendly architecture and planning development, not just more band-aids.

The book takes a fairly general approach but there are numerous references for those really interested in pursuing the subject in more depth. He outlines his principles of ecological design which begins with gaining a better awareness of your locality, by looking into the ecological history of your community. Who knows your street may be where a stream once flowed, and that your storm drain in all likelihood flows into your water source, so be careful what you dump into it!

Van der Ryn avoids the cliches and pieces together a compelling set of anecdotes and observations which will open you up the broad field of possibilities. The book is well researched and written, with the valuable assistance of Stuart Cowan, a former student of van der Ryn. It is imperative that we gain a better appreciation of our natural environment before adding any more to our built environment. Sustainable design is our only future.

What a book! Written in 1943, the author did not even know the outcome of the war. But the story, set in England at the time the country anticipated a German invasion and before the United States had joined the Allied Forces, begins with 12-year-old Max from Germany being taken away from Norway to England by Dym, a British airman. Dym immediately recognizes Max as his brother, Tony, who was kidnapped as a toddler. Tony, however, wants nothing to do with Dym, or anything or anyone associated with Dym.

I wondered throughout the beginning of the book why the plot began with the definitive information that these two were brothers. It seemed as if the story might be more suspenseful if we were to wonder at least for a little while if Max was really Tony. But the wonderful drama unfolds with Tony trying routinely to escape the family which wasn't certain they wanted to love this child because of his hatred of all but Germany, Germans and Hitler.

Tony creates havoc for his long-suffering brother Dym, who continues to believe in Tony and continues to hunt him down, rescuing him from near death too often. Throughout all the 'escapes', the members of the family continue to go off to war, help with war efforts, protect themselves from the inevitable bombs, air attacks and mines while dealing with this strong-headed child who does not want to be a part of this family. This is an amazing look into life during the war from one who was living it while the story was being written.

The mentality of the Nazi youth is defined in a chilling exchange between Tony and his sister, Euphemia. He tells her that 'whatever serves Germany is right', and 'nothing that serves Germany is ever wrong.'

The ending takes a page-turner twist and has a most uplifting and hopeful conclusion. I could not help but think of the author as an incredibly optimistic woman whom I would have loved to have as a neighbor during the war.

The book is full of life with characters displaying a deep faith, lasting love for each other, and profound hope for the future and belief in what is right. The author avoids sentimentality and romance which makes this a refreshing book for all young teens, yet adults will find it most enjoyable as well. This is an excellent novel for middle school students interested in war history and it would be a very useful adjunct for educators.

I recommend this book without reservation. The author's long life coincided almost exactly with the 20th century, and this reissue, written during and set in the England of World War II, still speaks to us today.

A 12-year-old German boy, Max Eckermann, is taken to England against his will by patriots fleeing occupied Norway. Before the first chapter has ended, an English airman, Dymory Ingleford, has identified Max as his brother Tony, who was kidnapped as a toddler by a childless German woman.

Placed with Dym's family, Max's stubborn loyalty to his German citizenship pits him against his loving, but unsympathetic hosts. While the conflict centers on Max and Dym, Savery brings us back over and over to ordinary English citizens cheerfully doing their bit during the darkest hours of the war. Rationing, refugee housing, and wide-spread destruction, not to mention intermittant air attacks, remind us when this is taking place

In choosing to personify the "German evil" as "blind obedience to ones nationality" rather than by, say, the horrors of the holocaust (not fully realised when Savery wrote), the book allows us to remain sympathetic with Max, while still retaining bite and relevancy.

Be warned that Savery is a Christian writer. Her faith is not obtrusive; nevertheless, it is there.

If you like excitement, you have to read this book! It was the best book I have EVER read. (I read It all the time)
There are so meny good characters that will thrill you with all they do.

Set in World War II, this book is mainly about these two brothers.
One who grew up in Germany, who is the lost brother Tony (he's twelve). And the other who grew up in England, who is the older brother Dym.
Dym is one of the best character's I have ever met in any of the books I've read! Noble, great, strong, just WONDERFUL! (claps)

Tony is thrown into this busy household of his lost family, and he doesn't like it. He thinks that they are mistaken, and he insists that he IS German. He tries to escape meny times, but every time his brother Dym brings him back. (smile)

This book doesn't only show the struggle between the brothers, but it shows the struggle between good and evil. It explains the mind-set of Germany, and the mind-set of England. It shows that black can never be white.
There are some speech's in this book that are just SO great. You just HAVE to read them!

This is a book for ages 11 and up, all the way up :)
If you haven't read this book, you need to.

I first read "Enemy Brothers" when I was in primary school, and it made the era of World War 2 come alive, with its interplay between world events and every day family drama in rural England during the horrendous period of the Blitz. In search of a wonderful book with which to gift a special young reader, I have looked for it online a number of times in recent years, but have been unwilling to pay a premium for an older copy. So it is especially gratifying to find it available in new paperback form at a reasonable price. Readers, and those who care for young readers, who like or love this book, might also enjoy books by
- - Geoffrey Trease (most especially "Cue for Treason", about a young boy in 16th century England who falls in with a band of travelling players and must use his heart and his wits to save himself and country)
- - Elizabeth Pope (most especially "The Shirwood Ring", a lovely, funny, romantic novel about an orphaned teen-aged girl who, living with an elderly relative in the region of New York State above New York City, meets various ghosts from the Revolutionary War era)
- - Marguerite Vance (including her biographies of Elizabth I of England, Jane Grey, and Martha Washington, which make history come alive in an especially wonderful way for young girls)and
- - Maude Hart Lovelace (all of the Betsy-Tacy books, notwithstanding their being, or being perceived as, politically incorrect, for their portrayal of young teen-aged women growing up in the Mid-West at the turn of the 19th/20th centuries.)

Every environmental professional who has to lead (which is all of us, at some point) should read this well-crafted little book. The premise, that others can learn from the contemporary practical experience of Dr. Gordon and Dr. Berry, as well as of their colleagues, is sound. The book explains the essential skills for current practice, why these skills are important, and how to develop them. Recent real-world examples and theory alternate, helping to keep your attention. As a 25-year environmental consultant who also teaches ocassional courses at the graduate-school level I'll be recommending this book to colleagues and students, and even a few clients.

John Gordon and Joyce Berry recognized the difficulties natural resource leaders are experiencing in guiding their organizations to successful, long-term solutions for difficult environmental issues. Both had experienced these difficulties in their respective professional careers. At the same time they saw a few natural resource leaders being very successful. As a result they surveyed these people as a way to identify the attributes that helped these individuals be successful in a highly political atmosphere. What they found was a new style of leadership.

In their book "Environmental Leadership=Essential Leadership", Gordon and Berry share the results of their survey and synthesize the results into tools for leaders. This book provides great guidance to leaders at all levels in their career. It captures the lessons I had learned the hard way during my 17 years as the Oregon State Forester (director of the Oregon Department of Forestry). I wish I had had this tool when I started my career as a leader.

I am impressed with the practicality of this book. The authors discuss not only theory, but provide examples and illustrate how to apply the concepts. I especially liked Chapters 6 and 7. However, this is not only a book on leadership, but also problem solving. I especially liked the focus on multiple leaders within an organization or agency as opposed to a single leader. Many discussions on leadership fail to recognize that institutional leaders (or merely holding a leadership job title) does not make someone a good or effective leader.

Notes for reviewers, "Environmental Leadership Equals Essential Leadership: Redefining Who Leads and How"
J. Gordon and J. Berry, 2006
Yale University Press

Gordon and Berry wrote the book. Dr. Christensen kindly wrote the Foreword. The rating is included because it is mandatory in this Amazon format and because we think it is a good book. But clearly we shouldn't be rating our own book so please ignore it. We provide these notes because we have been asked by reviewers to provide more than is included in the press release that accompanies the book and this is an efficient way to do it.

Approximately a decade after the publication of their first leadership book, "Environmental Leadership: Developing Effective Skills and Styles", Gordon and Berry reassess environmental leadership and outline their current view of its nature and principles. Their major conclusion is that all leadership is becoming like environmental leadership because the problems leaders face increasingly are or resemble environmental problems. Environmental problems typically take a long time to solve, are complex, have an emotion charged atmosphere, have a weak or scattered science base, and require integration across fields of knowledge and political and geographic boundaries.

To answer the question, "How has environmental leadership changed as its context has changed?" they did a survey of people they identified as practicing environmental leaders (listed in the book with their affiliations at the time of the survey). They expected that given the many contextual changes since the first book (e.g. globalization, increased terrorism, greater concern about global warming and a host of other environmental issues) a much changed picture of environmental leadership might emerge from the survey answers. Several interesting near consensus views did in fact emerge:
* Leadership is getting harder because the world is more complicated
* Gender differences in leadership skills and styles continue to exist
* "Command and control" leadership is sometimes necessary
* Leadership can and does occur in the absence of formal authority or "leadership position"
* Leadership is becoming more process oriented as complexity increases

The major characteristics and methods of environmental leadership, however, had not changed materially and the authors use their own experience as well as the survey results and the leadership literature to provide the leader with a leadership learning model. This model is based on the "leadership tree" concept, in which each individual constructs a leadership learning plan based on an inventory of their "tree" components: roots=ethics and values; trunk=skills, style and knowledge; branches and leaves=problem choice and application of skills, styles and knowledge; fruit=solutions, relationships and accomplishments. In their view, leadership is a learned set of skills. Further, they think in today's world, every person should study leadership as a basic component of their professional and organizational persona. Each member of any group will face the necessity, sooner or later, to be an effective leader and follower because, given the complexity of environmental problems, their skills or style will demand that they lead. Almost all environmental problems are "multidisciplinary" and each group member will need the capacity to lead when their area is to the fore.

The major themes of the book, encapsulated in 9 chapters, each with a summary of its essential elements at the end, include:

* There is no single model or theory of leadership now available that adequately describes environmental leadership. Each leader needs to develop a diverse tool kit of skills based on their own fundamental values that will serve a variety of circumstances.
* The creation of useful visions of the future (those that identify achievable goals and solvable problems and what to do about them) is the first step in essential leadership. These guiding visions should be bold but practical.
* Environmental leaders primarily are people who solve environmental problems; thus problem definition and solution are the key leadership activities once a useable vision is created.
* Solvable problems can be defined by specifying five components: a decision maker or class of decision makers, the objective or objectives of the decision maker, alternative ways of achieving the objectives, doubt about which objective to choose, and the context in which the decision takes place.
* The complex nature of environmental problems focuses on collaborative effort, so diversity and inclusiveness are always elements in their solution.

The book examines the path from "old leadership" to "essential leadership" (from hierarchical to inclusive and collaborative, from closely held information to widely distributed information, from geographic isolation to global participation) and examines how essential leadership can be installed in organizations and how to tell if it is working. Gordon and Berry examine selected books on business and political leadership and find common themes with environmental leadership in terms of the nature of vision, the need for inclusion and the need to fight "leadership inflation" (the emotive, soft approach to leadership that casts us all as potential Lincolns or Churchills).

They end the book with their view of the future of leadership and some things they think they have personally learned as leaders.

The book is intended to be used in leadership courses in universities, particularly in but not limited to environmental and natural resource programs,and for professional career development. The authors have used the principles in the book in courses taught over fifteen years to graduate, undergraduate and outreach students at Yale's School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and Colorado State University's Warner College of Natural Resources. The book will be supported by a web site, www.leaderesources.com.

This is a wonderful calendar; high quality photos, convenient format, interesting birds. The photos show (expectedly) how strange and bizarre some chicken breeds are, and (unexpectedly) how ornate and almost beautifully detailed their plumage can be. Perfect for the kitchen.

I buy a rooster/chicken calendar for my mom every Christmas. The photos are amazing - you never knew a chicken could look like this. I'm sure she'll be delighted.

I've loved my 2007 version of this calendar! I'll definitely order 2008. Only the fanciest, froofiest chickens need apply. Every month there is a main chicken, and a smaller sub-chicken (on the lower page). The proper breed names are given for each. This is handy for we laypersons who are not poultry scholars, but appreciate the plumage.

I keep this calendar at my office. At the beginning of each month my co-workers breathlessly await the unveiling of the newest chicken.

This calendar has some extraordinary pictures, many suitable for framing.
They give you plenty of room to write whatever appointments/info you may need on appropriate dates and looks great posted on the wall.

The Rainbow Fairies are very colorful, but Jack Frost has sent them away and without them Fairyland will be grey forever. Rachel and Kirsty have found Fern and my daughter can't wait to find out what happens in the next book, Sky the Blue Fairy!

My daughter loves this series of books - the biggest problem we have is that she won't stop after one chapter. She's 5, so we do most of the reading, she'll read a paragraph or two, but we do that's it for now. It won't be long before she'll be re-reading them herself. She and her sister love playing fairies now, it's been great for her developing her imagination and her creative play has flourished lately.

We started with book 1 of the Rainbow Fairies and are now on the Weather Fairies Series. I highly recommend these books.

Fern the Green Fairy is book #4 in a terrific read-to-me chapter book series. I think 4- to 6-year-old girls are the target audience. In the series, two girls vacationing on "Rainspell Island" discover a black pot at the end of a rainbow. Through each book, they find a "rainbow fairy" and return her to the pot. Once all 7 are found, color will return to "Fairyland." A wonderful mix of two girls' determination and imagination.

These books are just right for my 6-year old girl. She loves the magic (the 2 human girls can turn into fairies and fly!), the puzzle of finding the color feathers, and also the friendship of the girls and fairies working together. I enjoy reading them too, that's important, they aren't boring to me!

This is a wonderful book to go through during lent, or for that matter, at any time of the year. There are 40 excerpts from the Canon of St. Andrew. Frederica Mathewes-Green links these selections with the scripture from the Bible that inspired them and includes a brief commentary on each verse.

This book makes one look at their own shortcomings and sins, but also shines the light of a loving and merciful God as the help and healer of our human spiritual ailments. I really am enjoying reading and being challenged by this book.

Eastern Christian thought, prayer and spirituality is not well enough known in "the West." The Canon of St. Andrew of Crete is a beautiful prayer, and Ms. Mathewes-Green does an excellent job in communicating these values in a way that those of us with a "Western" mindset can understand, appreciate, and find meaning in our lives. Great reading during the Lenten season.

I have read the Canon of St. Andrew several times in the past. This book is helpful in causing a deeper dig within my own heart, to grasp the faith of the Ancient Christians! I expect that this book will begin to look worn, as the years go by, as well as a few other favorites on my bookshelf!

I don't intend so much to review this book (which I found excellent), as to respond to a couple of questions posed by the reviewer below, John Zxerce.

Mr. Zxerce seems to be looking at the theology of the book through a Protestant/Reformed lens. No doubt, if this is the case some of what he sees will seem strange, even foreign, to his understanding of the Faith. An example of this is his putting forth of several implicit or explicit "either/or's." But from an Orthodox perspective these are seen more as "both/and's." Salvation is found through "a Savior to be embraced" and "an example to be followed." One aspect of soteriology doesn't preclude or negate the other. Of course, one must "embrace" the Saviour before one can follow Him, but it the Orthodox mind the two are not radically separate. Salvation is a gift of God's grace, without a doubt. But that doesn't eliminate the need to live a Christ-like life. To put it in Western terms, righteousness is both "imputed" and "infused." It's not one or the other.

The ransom/redemption texts of Scripture that Mr. Zxerce quotes will fit just as well into the Orthodox paradigm of salvation as rescue, as they do into the Western understanding of the "substitutionary atonement," which of course the Orthodox believe, albeit not in the same way. Sin and death are definitely real enemies--I'm not sure how one could come away with any other idea after reading the Canon of St. Andrew. The difference between Orthodoxy and Protestant Christianity in this regard is the manner in which the two sides see those enemies being defeated.

It is important to remember that the Western "substitutionary atonement" model of the death of Christ isn't all there is. For centuries before that model became the dominant one in the Western Church, the Eastern Fathers (and many Western ones as well) held to the view that the Orthodox hold today. For further reading on this I'd recommend Mathewes-Green's earlier book THE ILLUMINED HEART and Matthew Gallatin's THIRSTING FOR GOD. These two books also contain references that point the way to deeper, more scholarly works on the subject.