Powell Books

I picked up this book at a relative's house because I was intrigued by the title and subject matter, and because I was familiar with the author's previous book, "Literacy as a Moral Imperative". I intended to simply browse for a short period, but found myself thoroughly absorbed by its content. Before I knew it, I had read almost 100 pages. The author addresses her readers through a series of informal letters. In this user-friendly format, a lot of information is presented without feeling overly heavy or taxing. I am not an educator, but I imagine that this book would be quite effective in stimulating healthy, frank discussions about uncomfortable subjects such as racism, sexism, classism, and homophobia. Buy this book, and accept Dr. Powell's challenge to speak out against oppression in its many subtle, destructive, and ugly forms.

My parents owned a copy of this science fiction novel. I read it many years ago, sometime in the last half of the 20th century, and some of my memory of it is clouded.

This relatively small book is an imaginative story of Camelot's Merlin, the magician. In this fiction Merlin has invented time travel (my memory is unclear as to whether he might have also discovered the secret of immortality)and is alive in the current era (current era for this story is circa 1927 when it was written.) The era, the "roaring 20s," after WW I and before the Great Depression, does not feature in the story except that the modern 21st century reader will be amazed at how much technology this author accidentally forecast with much specific detail, at least 30 years in advance.

In the era of the Model-T, the incognito Merlin owns a car that resembles the VW bug. People are amazed that there is no engine under the hood. The young man who Merlin befriends, the book's protagonist, gets to visit the future. He finds the music of the era to be deafening and makes him physically ill, as he was used to the age of jazz. Although the futuristic music is not named, from its description it is easy to imagine it to be hard core rock and roll with super huge amplifiers. Also, in the future portion of the book, a major concern is sun spots or storms on the sun. This is prescient of the concern about sun spots of our satellite communication industry, which much of todays commerce relies on.

I hope some publisher reissues this amazing little book.

The best thing about this book is the way it prioritizes stress reduction strategies, and how it breaks up dealing with stress into two approaches, preventing stress (via changing your thinking and so on), and miminizing it once you're feeling it.

I bought the book for my 15 year old daughter and it was extremely helpful to her during a particularly traumatic time in her life when other approaches just weren't working.

I have noticed her going back to it now and again. This is a book that speaks to teens on a teen level, in an honest, no-nonsense way about 'real' things. A book like this is a real treasure and I would recommend it to any teen (or parent).

Talking From 9 to 5 is an excellent piece of writing, dealing with differing conversational styles between women and men, and the effect such styles have on women trying to get ahead (or at the very least survive) in the business world. I found everything Dr. Tannen said to be honest, accurate, and relevant in today's business climate. I am going to recommend this book to my friends and colleagues, both male and female.

I identified with most of the women's situations illustrated by Dr. Tannen. The author put the problems and situations squarely on the table, but there are no easy answers or quick fixes. Being aware of the effects of our conversational styles, though, will hopefully help us all, both male and female, in being flexible, gaining a deeper understanding of the problems inherent in two conversational styles, and keep us from jumping to conclusions based on the different approaches of women and men.

This handbook contains activities that promote the psychosocial care for children and adolescents in a variety of health care settings. . . . activities grouped to address specific psychosocial goals. . . .

This information will help professionals select the most appropriate activities for meeting specific treatment goals and enable the user to effectively use time and materials to meet the psychosocial needs of individuals or groups.

Things I Should Have Said to My Father is an overall and interesting observation into a powerful and emulating figure in our lives....our father. Unfortunately, fathers are not always all that powerful and some are not figures we should emulate.

What makes this a pleasurable read is that it is about sons, famous or those of the famous who shared outright interviews with the author or, excerpts taken from biographies, autobiographies, magazine articles, books, etc. Credit and permission are granted for reprints, etc. A complete index refers to the snippets, some lengthy, some short. There is no information on the author who compiled it, none!

The book is composed of remembrances of fathers from their sons. Sons who spoke of legacies, lessons learned, gratitude, regrets, silences, absences, clashes love and a unique subject called "what happened to his dreams".

Published in 1994, many of the names are recognizable and maybe not all for the younger set. Reading about these very famous fathers and sons, puts those like Presidents, authors, musicians, athletes, etc. on the same level as you and I, our experiences with or without a father.

Some memorable snippets:
Marvin Gaye, in one section called "missed opportunities", said he had wished he would make peace with his father. Unfortunately, later, his father murdered him.

Bill Moyers tells how his father grieved for 25 years over Moyers' brother. The grief became masked as a medical problem that could have been fixed.

Sean Lennon reflects on his father, John Lennon, and the "whole five years" he had with him. They were buddies.

Mister Rogers said: Dad and I have things to teach and learn from each other in eternity. That should be just about enough time.

Bruce Springsteen in a chapter called "What Happened to His Dreams" is puzzled as he looks at a picture of his father and wonders how his father turned so bitter.

Winston Churchill said it best: When you are living under the shadow of a great oak tree, the small sapling, so close to the parent tree, does not perhaps receive enough sunshine.

Excellent reading for those who are fathers, mothers and raising children. ....MzRizz

Firstly let me say well done Amazon for making this set available.

The programs are of the highest quality, but what sets this series apart is the way that the programs keep an even pace. Each decade has its own casette and therefore each time period is covered in the same depth. The series carefully doesn't get bogged down in either of the World Wars, in fact by deliberately not concentrating on these, it is able to bring other events to life that I wasn't aware of, and show you that life (politics, strikes, etc) went on even when there was a war on. The later programs covering the 1970s and 1980s were particularly interesting to me given that I can actually remember the events happening.

If you but this I'm sure that you won't be disappointed.

I bought one copy in August in Virginia. I wish I would have purchased a dozen. It is a beautifully written book about the precious gift of a child

This book is a nice collection of meditations about faith, prayer, attitudes, and emotions. If you want to read something that will tell you whether or not you will like John Powell's writings, this is the perfect book. It contains many of the ideas that you will find in his other books. It also contains some new stuff for those of you who have read many of Powell's books.

I would recommend any of Powell's books. While they are not all-inclusive guides to being a Christian, they are very helpful in daily living.

OK pretty close to it--I'm his sister so I cant really get away with that, but I ought to know--he can be dry and a bit
windy at times, but he's spirited like a right jolly old elf with
a fine mastery of American Civil War history. It didnt hurt
growing up with a brother like Chippie (we nick named him) to teach you to appreciate the morals and structures that
our nation was based upon as well as to develop your sense of curiousity about war and to appreciate the men who gave their lives for this nation. All of his books are great! and Chip,if you're checking this out, I didnt REALLY intentionally mean to embarrass you! :) love, Melanie