Gregory Books

Gus Gregory (the author) moved to a small Iowa town of Missouri Valley pop 3,000. Over his 8 years living there he helped the community raise the funds and build a $900,000 Community Senior Center. They also raised another $500,000 in a restricted endowment to help with the ongoing costs of the center. The center is a gathering place for the surrounding communities and served over 27,000 meals last year. In this book he shows small organizations how to organize and raise the funds needed for these types of efforts. The money is there, it just takes the know how to raise it.

Probably one of the best non-fiction accounts of not only a couple of interesting murder plots, but it throws in many of the totally wierd Mormon historical accounts of their religon. Fantastic reading, even if you are a Mormon.

"Morning Gravity" is the first novel by Gregory Maddigan and I am hoping it is only the beginning of this writer's career. A "coming of age" novel with strongly defined characters, Maddigan captures the essence of growing up in a Catholic high school with a wonderful blend of humor and pathos. Gordon Clearman, the main character, is a teen-ager with a twist; he is torn between the adolescent world around him and his thoughts of the priesthood.

His characters are genuine and for the adult reader they evoke memories of one's own adolescence. The conflicts Gordon and his friends experience ring true for us all. Maddigan's use of language and the integration of literary references leaves the reader nodding his/her head in personal reflection.

"Morning Gravity" is an outstanding novel and I recommend it most highly.

"MOTES IN GOD'S EYE" was easy to assimilate; it didn't depend on technical concepts like "GODS & SCIENCE" did (G&S was the first in this "series on science in modern culture," see my review). MOTES discussed the downside of political economics and degradation of character in the scientific community, focusing on prizes and pitfalls of American science. The lead-in title was, "YES, WE'RE WONDERFUL, BUT ..."

Furthermore, Hegel appears to have been right in what he said in his PREFACE TO THE PHENOMENOLOGY OF MIND (see my parenthetical paragraph concluding my review of "GODS & SCIENCE"). At least Hegel (the philosopher after whom I named a beloved Irish Setter) might have been right as far as pushing the point in his PREFACE that introductory statements make very little (basically no) sense until the whole of a work is read, and THEREFORE writing or reading a preface may be a moot point.

In MOTES, several excellent summary statements were offered, and segment titles were perfectly composed. However, in accordance with Hegel's point in his Preface, most of those statements and headings went over my head. When I reread them after having read the whole article, I wondered from whence they had come; they (then) did the "ka-ching" so nicely! The introductory statements had not "entered my mind" with conscious comprehension until I had finished running my eyes (somewhat open and focused) over the whole.

Be SURE to note (and REREAD after finishing the article) the paragraph immediately above the second title in MOTES: "LET THERE BE LIGHT; AND GOD LET NEWTON BE."

Getting closer to the points in this essay, I should confess that prior to reading MOTES I hadn't been aware that my Rose Tints had colored my assumptions about personality and purity among scientists. Ugh. Scientists are HUMAN? I "tot" that the "Good Guys" with whom I agreed (as opposed to the pseudos which whom I disagreed) were akin to the "Gods" they disallowed!!??

According to MOTES, a few plum picks of scientific integrity have existed and do still, but they may be in the minority. As I began reading this Short I was reminded of another, "NARCISSUS REDUX IN O.R. # 8," by Robin Cook. Parallel exposures convince that brilliant minds backed up by mountains of education are not immune to human foibles and pitiful egos.

Learned a LOT I didn't know in this Short, and much of it was heartbreaking. I'm thankful, however, for the extraction of my delusions of the long-white-beard-and-red-fuzzy-hat guy. This particular loss of idealistic innocence was welcome, essential, and interesting. One of the most surprising cancellations of illusion by MOTES was that several major scientific documents expostulating breakthroughs were written by scientists in their 20's. That youthful timing included Einstein and Darwin. I had always equated E=MC2 with photos of the wise and ancient Einstein with wild white hair crowning a Mona Lisa smirk. I thought the white hair had done it! You know, like the Samson deal?

Darwin started his science career as a Creationist? Where did he go Wrong, you might ask. Or, where did he go Right others might wonder.

Enjoyed the organizational style in this Short, with the applied pithy humor similar to "GODS AND SCIENCE." In this case the reader was led (by a nose ring) through a prostitute's pimp, likening that relationship to the means of funding (and sometimes debilitating) scientific research.

This piece was as frightening as it was fascinating, as it unapologetically offered information which should have been made public (and was made so here). I was impressed with the candid exposure of the pair of scientists authoring this piece, as they noted how they fit into the drama described.

Highlighting the general focus of this piece:

>> We all learned that science could be profound, powerful, persuasive, and yet fundamentally wrong.... Scientists are as selfish as anyone else, and not the least bit shy about wh..ing after corporate funding or Department of Defense contract work. This is a simple reflection of the fact that scientists are also human beings, subject to pressures, incentives, and - surprisingly often - ludicrous political or religious delusions. <<

In spite of those confessions of "guilt"; in spite of the disdainful disclosures in this Short, I believe that there's more glory to come; that continued discovery and healthy growth will endure, at times surging forth in the clean pride of true brilliance, from "We-the-people-of-the-human-race."

For proof, look at our Frontal Lobe function, that awesome advantage described in GODS AND SCIENCE, about which I'm getting hints of an as yet un-described connection to something Hegel may have written... Woof!! Are the Frontal Lobes the largely unconscious processing, sequencing governor for the successfully coming-to-full-consciousness of the human mind?

I repeat, "Woof!!" (Hegel, can you hear me now? Woof?)

I'll be exposing the brilliant minds of dogs and horses next, focusing on who leads whom to water and bowls.

Can't keep a good pair of Rose Tints down. It's good to know where the shadows are. It's winter is now, but shade is good in summer. Hegel's Dialectical Materialism is not connected to The Communist Manifesto in the ways some thought it was ("dialectic" should not, cannot be automatically translated into economic endeavors). For more on Hegel's "Thesis, Antithesis, Synthesis," later, dude. After a while the crocodile sings. "AAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaa." Opera? Oprah? MOTES called her name.

So Mote it Be?
Linda Shelnutt

I have experience using NLP & metaprograms. I use NLP in my training of youth care workers & human services workers. I've read many books on NLP & the questions posed for determining people's metaprograms were often too general or complicated. The Motivation Profile is simple & easy to use. I have used the questions in this workbook to help me motivate my own staff.
I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to really discover what motivates someone.

This is a very useful tool for understanding oneself and others. The authors have integrated a broad background of expertise in NLP, communication and management studies, multiple intelligences... in coming up with a short and easy-to-use test that sheds light on: 1. Communication style--visual, auditory, or kinesthetic. 2. Life and work preferences--people, places, information, activities, or things. 3. Motivational style--toward-away, proactive-reactive, big picture-detail, etc. 4. Time orientation--past, present, or future. The test is most useful in one's personal and professional life. Besides the sensory preferences, the test also elcits what is known in NLP as meta-programs, higher level filters of experience that guide our motivations. (Rose-Charvet's Words That Change Minds will be an excellent follow-up on the use of meta-programs.) One can learn a fair amount of practical NLP from the guidebook. The mapping of the profile with seven intelligences and Myers-Briggs is interesting. In an updated version, there should be at least eight multiple intelligences to include the "naturalistic intelligence", evident in Darwin and possibly a ninth, "exitential", according to Gardner. Overall, this is a most valuable book. For those who wish to do the tests on computer, there is a soft-ware version too.

Ably written by Gregory L. Jantz (the founder and executive director of the mental health and chemical dependency treatment facility The Center for Counseling and Health Resources Inc.) with the assistance of Ann McMurry and featured an informative Foreword by Dr. Abram Hoffer, Moving Beyond Depression: A Whole-Person Approach To Healing is a powerful and effective self-help guide to the personal search for emotional equilibrium; rebuilding personal and familial relation-ships; identifying the physical causes of depression; renewing spiritual connections, and more. Focusing on the importance of looking at one's life as a whole in order to treat depression (including the emotional, environmental, relational, phy-sical, and spiritual factors involved in melancholia), Moving Beyond Depression is very highly recommended reading -- especially for those struggle with their own "dark nights of the soul".

I was searching the Internet for my Dill ancestors when I ran across J. Gregory Dill. I was led to Ocean Navigator magazine and enjoyed what I read of his so when I heard that he had written Myth, Fact and Navigators' Secrets I had to buy it. He says in the forward that it's appropriate to use as a bathroom reader and I would agree. However, when it arrived and I sampled it before stowing it away for later use, I found I couldn't put it down until being reminded that it was bedtime. That was 177 pages into the book. The balance of the book was soon finished without ever having seen the use for which it was intended. From Ernest Hemingway's attempt to create an anti submarine vessel from his yacht during WWII to John Paul Jones relieving Lady Selkirk of her silver on the coast of Scotland during the Revolutionary War the book fascinates one with little known stories of adventure and intrigue and written with a sense of humor.
Bob Dill

This is the best Amazon Short I have read to date. I must congratulate Amazon for the quality of this series, and the authors of this particular work for their insightful analysis.

In "NASA and the Decline of America" Gregory Benford and Michael Rose (both respected professors at the University of California, Irvine) contrast the mentality and mediocrity of present-day NASA with the NASA of the 1960s that landed man on the moon. By extension and analogue, they then eloquently compare America to the Roman Empire. I am interested in both science and history, and found their logic, reasoning, and comparisons both compelling and disturbing. The parallels between Rome and America with NASA as a microcosm for the latter could not be more perfectly developed.

The lessons in this article boil down to the necessity of personal and national (cultural) responsibility, and more importantly, accountability. Today NASA is far from "failure is not an option" (as coined during Apollo 13 by Gene Kranz, the greatest of all the NASA Flight Directors), but is rather a political football with funding and political correctness the driving factors. At least now Michael Griffin has admitted publicly (October 4, 2005) that the shuttle and ISS programs were major policy mistakes: it's about time we had some honesty from the NASA leadership on these troubling subjects. Fortunately, the authors lucidly explain why and how this mediocrity and complacency does not have to live on into perpetuity. I find their arguments about NASA, America, and Rome both enlightening and enlightened.

I anxiously await more from Benford and Rose. Heed their words: they are knowledgeable and utterly absorbing. Read this Short.

This book is a unique book that profiles successful online entrepreneurs. We could find their motivation, strong point, business model, etc. Because the market is getting cold, rational and systematic business model is becoming important. This book suggested the ways for final winner in business. This book profiles twelve entrepreneurs who have started successful online businesses and provides information on the companies they founded, why they founded them, and how they succeeded. These entrepreneurs have been winners of Ernst & Young's prestigious "Entrepreneur-of-the-Year" awards. From person-to-person interviews with each entrepreneur such as founder of eBay, priceline, etc we could find their secret, important know-hows. I strongly recommend this book.