Roberts Books

If you're looking to learn about Nazi Germany this book is a great introduction. Clear and easy to read without being dumbed down. Treats the subject very thoroughly, for example starting with German history in the 1800s and relating how this helped lead to the Nazis. A lot of information is covered but the treatment is lively and not dry. For the non-expert, this is highly recommended.

this is an excellent introduction to nazi germany for the novice. there are so many books on the subject that someone who wants to start learning this can be overwhelmed. well, you don't need to be! start here! this book starts off as to how germany became a country and little wars here and there. next, it carries you into world war one. then, you really get into the nazi germany information. the book carries you into world war 2 and to the downfall of the nazis. finally, it closes with the nurenberg trials. these chapters and in manageable chunks. there, you'll get a basic, overall theme of the beginnings of germany and nazi germany. plus, you get maps! unlike the idiots guide to world war 1, which is another excellent overview of that war. that is recommended as well.

Excellent and fair treatment. Shows how Hitler persecuted, imprisoned, tortured and killed not only Jews, but also Christians.

Hitler despised Christianity and Christian morals--far preferring the warlike Islam, Japan's emperor worship, and pre-Christian germanic paganism. Although he himself did not believe in any religion, he wished to utilize religion in his pograms and even tried to create a new cult with himself as the object of worship.

Atheist/Socialist/Humanist/Darwinist leaders were responsible for more deaths during the past century than all of the so-called "religious wars" of all previous centuries combined.

This book is excellent for someone who might be interested in Nazi history, but is unsure of where to start. First of all, I have to say that I like the "Complete Idiot's Guide" books, they are always very entertaining and extreamly informitive for what ever subject you may be interested. As for this one, "Nazi Germany", it actually starts at the ed of the Napoleonic Wars in the late Eighteenth and early Ninteenth Centerys. It progreeses the Germanic people's almost accidental rise to nationhood, and the series of events that led to WWI, and how all of those events helped make national atmosphere ripe for Hitler and his new regime, the Nazis. It also covers the Nazi party in it's early years as a beer hall movement; then how through a series of manipulation and just strange coincidence it rose to the National Party. And then how it became a dictatorship. The book also details how the Third Reich fell through the arrogence and insainity of it's leaders (and not just Hitler). It also chronicals the sad progression of the Holocaust from simple expusion of Jews to full scale genocide. This is a great start to studying the Nazis; but it is just that, a start. This book is just a thorough once over and is not the end all statement in Nazi history. But it dose serve it's purpose, and I like it.

This is a very complete summary for anyone interested in pursuing a study in Nazi Germany. It covers a lot of ground with a small number of pages. Important dates and events are all summarized as well as major characters in history. The only problem with this book is that the levels of detail regarding really important scenes in history are only touched on briefly. However, this is understandable since the author had to cover numerous events with a small number of pages. The book serves as a solid work that gives you a complete but general idea as to what happened in Nazi Germany. Serious historians or readers are encouraged to pick up books and other references that focus on specific aspects of history mentioned briefly here. You will know after reading this book whether or not you would like to pursue your studies in this field and what specific areas you may want to focus your studies on.

This book is a wonderful read for those single and not...I must say it provides great insight into the male psyche and it made me laugh many times...Whether you are looking for some insight or a connection to your experience, this book is a wonderful read!

In this book, the perceptive author humorously offers insights into the male soul in the matters of love, dating and relationships in the modern world. This is not some pop-psychobabble about interpersonal relationships. It is a funny, well-written guide to love in the nineties written by someone who appears to have actually experienced it, not studied about it in a classroom. I would recommend it to men who want to learn more about themselves, and women who want to appreciate what drives a man to act as he does.

I enjoyed this book immensely. I laughed, giggled, and thought hummmm as I scanned through the pages. Actually, the author does a spectacular job at conveying what most men are thinking, but are afraid to say. I have read a billion relationship books, and this book, by far, has been the most helpful on my quest to find and/or create the perfect relationship. Let her read it, and you'll spend your time answering helpful and insightful questions; instead of making uncomfortable and unwanted suggestions. Read this book, and your love affair may last forever.

Bartula has found a way to take the most widely written subjects in America and make them interesting again. The book effectively serves up a creative and exciting outlook that will open your eyes and ears to some age old subjects. Then it goes one step further and makes you feel okay about about how, what, and why a guy does what he does in the eternal search for a good mate. He has several real life "tricks of the trade" that bubble out of the book page after page. A must read for any sex, age, or marital status.

Wow! Finally some insight into what most men REALLY think. Kudos to the author for finally giving women some type window into the male psyche. Being single, I would recommend it to anyone in the same boat and hope that, they too, can use some of the tips in their ventures!

The author has given a great expose' on the problems of abuse that exist in corporate America. The expectation that corporate boards are serving as a watch dog in their duties is a myth that is propigated by the illusion of proxy voting and "independant" directors. I would love to hear more about solutions that are available to small shareholders to counter this movement. A listing of websites and ideas on how shareholders can consult other experts on issues of the day when corporate boards are meeting is important and could have helped in this book as well. Still a great read for all shareholders to understand the landscape of corporate governance. dls

Corpocracy both delights and informs in a way only Bob Monks can. His lifework has been delineating the underlying dynamics of corporate power to devise a system that combines wealth creation with societal interest. No one else can write as well about "How CEOs and the Business Roundtable Hijacked the World's Greatest Wealth Machine" because no one else has been as engaged as Bob Monks from so many angles. His insights into pivotal points of view and decisions are enlightening.

For example, he points to the role of Douglas Ginsburg, a leader in the field of law and economics, in instilling a belief that it is okay for corporations to violate environmental laws, as long as they account for possible sanctions in their budget. Under Ginsburg's view, according to Monks, people aren't motivated by moral or social obligation but by simple desire and cost-benefit analysis.

Then there is Bob's analysis of Lewis Powell's court decisions. His finding of a constitutionally protected right to "corporate speech" provided the judicial framework for management "to commit untold corporate resources to influence public opinion and public votes - resources so huge and unmatchable that individual contributions are now all but meaningless in state and nationals elections."

And, of course, the Business Roundtable holds a special place in Bob's heart. The "BRT has come to function in significant part as an agent for the CEOs...who have established themselves as a new and separate class in the governance of American corporations, answerable to virtually no one, accountable only to themselves."

Monks appears to be a believer in the forces of markets but regulated to ensure a level playing field. Without that, the overall effect has been to turn the stock market into "a gigantic, round-the-clock casino that runs the biggest game the world has ever seen." Market values and goals have become national goals. Corpocracy is another top-notch effort from the individual who continues to have greater lasting impact on the field than anyone else. Still, I would have placed a different emphasis in the "How to Get it Back" portion of the book.

Monks may be A Traitor to His Class, but he is also a gentleman, reluctant to force change. In his flights of fantasy, Bob dreams of a president who will use his/her powers to end conflicts of interest and compel good governance in contractors. "The framework is in place. The laws exist," he insists. Yet, two pages later he notes the need for legal changes. He reminds us the First Amendment "was not meant to protect the Church from government intrusion, but rather to protect the government... We need similar protection today from the dominant institution of our own time, the corporation."

How can we get shareowners to think of themselves as long-term owners rather than as betters at what Bob calls the biggest casino the world has ever seen? If they know they are owners, what tools can we make available so that voting is not only easier but also more intelligent?

While Bob's focus has been on institutional investors, retail investors also deserve attention. There are dozens of efforts underway. Here are four worthy of further attention:

* Facilitate the ability of proxy assignments, so that retail investors can vote by brand...like CalPERS, Domini, TIAA-CREF, or Fidelity.
* Andy Eggers' Proxy Democracy system would allow retail investors to discover how trusted institutions are voting.
* Glyn Holton's idea of a proxy exchange would allow retail investors to assign proxies to an intermediary that would find like-minded voters.
* Collectively Paid Proxy Research, based on the ideas Mark Latham laid out in Proxy Voting Brand Competition builds off Monks' ISS idea but eliminates the "free rider" issue.

When, on some future date, the Mount Rushmore of Corporate Governance is carved into some mountainside, Bob Monks' profile should be chiseled into the stoneface in a position roughly corresponding to that of Washington's or Jefferson's. Present at the creation, Bob Monks has had a career in corporate governance that spans the transition from the early era when governance activists were seen as gadflies, tilting at windmills, to the current era when Institutional Shareholder Services (his creation) wields enormous power. Been there, done that - you name it and Bob Monks has done it because he has done everything in corporate governance.

So what does Bob Monks have to tell us at a time when the conventional wisdom is that corporate governance activists have triumphed and managerial discretion has been constrained? As usual, his views are counter-intuitive: Corporations are today beyond shareholder control and dominate the political process, emasculating meaningful regulation. Many of his assessments are tart, pungent and disenchanted: "the SEC has become an advertisement for the mandatory sunset of government agencies" (p. 167); today, "we are . . . under the thumb of a corporate oligarchy, bent on plundering and unchecked by any effective ownership," (p. 191); "without effective regulation . . . and without institutional pressure to reform, most corporations - and the largest among them - will loot their own resources to enrich the very few at their helm" (p.186). Basically, he views corporations as self-perpetuating hierarchies in which boards are manipulated by senior executives.

These assessments will seem unduly harsh to many of us, but this is a work of advocacy. Like Emile Zola writing "J'Accuse" in defense of Captain Dreyfus, Monks is not worried about overstatement. Still, if Bob Monks is not always fair, he is often fascinating. The strength of this book is not the nuanced subtlety of its judgments, but its description of life on the cutting edge of corporate governance - how it is actually practiced.

Prescriptively, Bob Monks focuses more on shareholders than boards. He seems most annoyed with his own alma mater, Harvard, and similar foundations for their passivity as investors, and he is similarly critical of "socially responsible investors" who have strong prophylactic rules for what corporations may not do, but exercise little oversight over how they do what they may do.

Monk's greatest concern is the sheer power of the "corpocracy." The danger is clear and present in his view that corporations, organized through groups such as The Business Roundtable, can dominate the political process and thwart the democratic majority. This book was written before the SEC in late 2007 rejected proposals for greater shareholder access to the proxy statement - a decision which he would no doubt cite as proof of his hypothesis. In truth, fear of corporate power is a recurrent theme in the classic literature of corporate governance. As he well knows, seventy five years ago, Adolf Berle and Gardiner Means concluded their book, The Modern Corporate and Private Property, with a warning that the power of the corporation was coming to rival that of the state. But then came the New Deal, and a wave of regulation.

Writing at the end of the Bush Administration, Bob Monks is similarly positioned to Berle and Means, who wrote in 1932; each warned about excessive corporate power after an era of rampant deregulation. But will the world look the same in five more years? Who knows? Ironically, the latest development may be the appearance of major corporations in China, Russia and elsewhere that are clearly puppets of the state. Sovereign wealth funds similarly show that globally the balance of power between the state and the private corporation may be shifting towards the state.

Still, if Bob Monks has not charted the future in all its complexity, he describes the excesses of the present with passion and anger. "Corpocracy" is a call to arms to investors to forego passivity and protect themselves. In essence, he is saying: "Shareholders, arise; you have nothing to lose but your chains."

Robert Monks begins by informing readers that he is a strong supporter of for-profit corporate enterprise. He then goes on to recite how the leaders of these enterprises have recently run amok in the U.S.

"Efficiency," without regard for externalities (eg. pollution, off-shoring American jobs), using "GWAP" reporting (Gee, Whatever Accounting Principles), surrounded by board member, accounting firm, pay, board-evaluation consultant, and stock analyst conflicts of interest, fortified by think-tanks funded by corporations, and beyond accountability via ending the "one share, one vote" rule - their top leaders enjoy scandalous pay and retirement packages, without regard to organizational performance.

At they same time today's corporations are expanding their realms by privatizing government roads, health care, and warfare functions, in the supposed name of efficiency - while actually usually costing more, providing lower service levels, and/or even less accountability. (Helping vitiate a key Democrat-party base of government workers, and gaining increased lobbying influence are additional benefits.) Other government "benefits" today's organizations enjoy include toothless law and regulation enforcement (eg. SEC, DOL), and the ability to shed expensive pension obligations through bankruptcy or simply walking away.

Monks sees pension funds as having a key role in taming today's out of control corporations. Specifically, he touts Hermes Investment Management Company (a London pension fund for phone workers) as an example of what could be done. Monks also praises Elliott Spitzer for accomplishing far more than the SEC or DOL with fewer staff, CEOs Gary Immelt of G.E. and Frank Blake of Home Depot (replaced Robert Nardelli) as examples of principled leaders.

One final comment: Late in his book Monks almost off-handedly remarks that 10% of market value ($1 trillion) was transferred from investors to corporate principal offers. He also asserts that about 95% of all stock options go to the top 15 or so officers. I don't for a moment question his conclusions - Monks' reputation is quite solid. However, I do wish he spent more time elaborating and emphasizing these points.

Corpocracy is an ugly word, not just because of its mixed roots, but because of the governance situation in the United States which it has been coined to describe. In this compelling book, Bob Monks has summarised the means by which American business interests have conspired to suborn the state. No-one else has his authority or breadth of experience in this field of corporate governance. A corporate lawyer and banker by calling, he headed the division in charge of ERISA in the political field and he helped launch Institutional Shareholder Services and LENS to prove that active investors create value. He has distilled his remarkable range of experience into a brief and highly readable polemic. In doing so, he argues that the balance of power between corporations, those who own their shares and those charged with regulating their conduct has to be redressed.

It might, at first sight, seem that the situation which he analyses so penetratingly is peculiar to the United States and that the wider world need not actively concern itself with the author's message. This would be to underestimate the importance of this book. The lessons to be drawn from the consequences of the rise of the political power of American business, which it chronicles, are universal. In addition, given the global reach of American corporations, the need to restore their accountability to their investors within an effective regulatory framework has global implications.

Corpocracy is not a lament, though it describes much that is lamentable. It is a sober and arresting account of the manner in which the author's personal efforts to persuade the appropriate authorities, regulators and major investing institutions to do their duty, morally and juridically, has met with little effective response. The book's impact is all the greater for the restrained manner in which Bob Monks describes how those appointed to discharge their statutory and fiduciary duties repeatedly failed to do so. Inaction by the gatekeepers, left the field open to the untrammelled rapacity of imperial CEOs.

The balance of power between boards and CEOs in the United States remains a paradox, given the country's regulatory history of preventing accretions of power in relation to trusts and to banking. Nowhere else would it be possible to elect a director on a single vote, nowhere else could shareholder votes be invalidated by "ballot stuffing", nowhere else are shareholders so limited in their ability to raise issues at AGMs, which some directors may not even bother to attend. The prevailing concept of CEO/chairmen selecting their outside board members, thus compromising their independence, strengthens the hand of the CEO at the expense of that of the board.

The response to this imbalance in governance terms is the financial track record of US corporations, but at whose expense has it been achieved? Bob Monks' answer is:

"History will look back on the 1990s and early 2000s as a time when the principal officers of public American corporations transferred from shareholders to themselves approximately $1 trillion - or 10 percent of the market value of public exchanges. This must be the largest peacetime movement of wealth ever recorded, and it was accomplished through stealth that amounted to theft and in a spirit of regulatory permissiveness that certainly rises near to the level of criminal neglect." In addition, there is the extra 5 percent of profitability that the Corporate Library metric tells us is lost through bad practice, plus the opportunity cost of boards focusing on short term personal aggrandisement at the expense of sustainable profitable growth. As the one member of the SEC, who opposed the Committee's recent decision to limit the ability of shareholders to put forward resolutions, said: "Corporate governance in the United States is not well served by inattentive boards that are effectively unaccountable to shareholders."

Inevitably one of the headline manifestations of this lack of accountability has been the grossness of the rewards, which some of these principal officers have arrogated to themselves, for failure as well as success. There are attempts to justify these excesses by analogy with the earnings of stars of sport, stage and screen or by claiming that they are market determined. The analogy with the stars is manifestly spurious. The stars earn what their individual talent commands in the hotly contested market for entertainment. The profits of a corporation are earned collectively and represent the sum of the efforts of everyone in an enterprise. The issue therefore is how they should be distributed in a form that would be generally perceived to be fair and in accordance with the concept of natural justice.

A corporation's pay structure should meet the test of equity, rewarding those working for it, from top to bottom, in relation to their contribution to its performance. Ignoring equity in rewards sows the seeds of social division and dissension with its longer term consequences. What seems to have set the bounds to the multiple by which the earnings of the principal officers of companies exceed those of the average employee in most countries is a sense of social cohesion. The multiple varies by country and through time, but it represents a social constraint or discipline, which carries with it economic advantages not to be ignored.

The fact that shareholders are outraged by the grosser excesses of the pay packages of the principal officers of some corporations is no more than a symptom of the lack of accountability of US boards to those who own their stock, hence the theme of the book. It is a cause which Bob Monks has espoused and pursued with a determination and energy that is wholly admirable and selfless. In spite of setbacks, he believes that this essential accountability can be restored. He sees no cause for new laws, agencies or fiscal measures, though the existing statutory and regulatory framework should be effectively enforced. He argues that it is the major investing institutions that carry the obligation to themselves and to society to restore trust in the capitalistic system.

They have the power to reform the governance of corporations and they have a straightforward economic incentive to do so. The obligation, however, of the great foundations, among the investing institutions, to play their part in bringing about reform goes beyond the calculus of financial gain. It lies at the heart of their creation. They directly assist their chosen causes, but that is within the wider context of a market system which provides them with the ability to do this. They have a responsibility to maintain the means by which they fulfil the aims for which they were founded.

The book's message is therefore optimistic, provided that it is heeded in time. Trust and accountability can be restored, but it will take courage and above all leadership to do so. What is needed is enlightened leadership by those in a position to exercise it in the investing institutions and in corporations themselves. In Bob Monks' words:

"It demands that those with a majority stake in the corpocracy - its principal owners and beneficiaries - lead the way back to the broad light of day. The hour is late. The sun won't always be waiting."

Read Corpocracy and judge for yourself!

I used to read a lot of the church growth books, but became rather disillusioned with many of them. Too much marketing strategy or this is the way we did it at First Mega Church (which means it probably won't work very well at Small Town USA Stuggling Church). This is among the better ones I have seen. It sounds like the strategies would work. Some good food for thought and some good exercises for church leaders to be involved with to discover their church's identity.

This book was the foundation on which a 'new' (or rather renewed) church is being built. I've had the privilege of working with Richard and Robert and am seeing wonderful changes in our church as a result. We've been able to put into words who we really are and be true to ourselves. As a result we have been able to attract those who have been seeking a church just like us. They have been able to find us now that we can say "This is who we are! Join together in our spiritual journeys toward God!" I look forward to both Book #2 AND Book #3...especially #3!

I've been implementing some of the procedures in Cracking Your Congregation's Code, and I've found it answers many basic needs of busy pastors and lay leaders. I know it helps answer mine. It's a practical book, that's easy to read, and easy to use. It describes how a church can transform itself. The surveys the authors provide for the four congregational systems give a church a way to quickly evaluate and strengthen their work. From my standpoint, as someone looking for how-to's, I'd say the information in chapter seven on how to create a strategic map is worth the price of the book alone.

My congregation worked with Southern and Norton over the course of several months. We found their strategy for church growth and renewal to be easy to follow, highly participatory, and full of wisdom. It has totally transformed our congregation and organizational systems!

"Cracking Your Congregation's Code" is a great contribution to the church growth movement! It not only offers a theoretical framework for congregational health and vitality, but provides easy to use surveys and inventories. Their recommendations for church growth and renewal are not "one size fits all" but are easily tailored for each congregation's unique "DNA". The end result is the development of a "strategic map" that will guide one's congregation to a new place of enthusiasm and growth!

Concise, easy to read, easy to understand. A good read for any pastor or church leader who wants to get some clarity on the strengths and uniqueness of his or her congregation. The REALLY good news is that this is NOT another "How I Did It" book. To be sure, "How I Did It" books are inspiring, and you can pick up a lot of good tips and tricks. The trouble is that most of them probably won't work in YOUR situation! What Southern & Norton have done is given us a method which will help us understand and analyze our own unique settings - to discover our own congregation's values and unique giftedness - so that we can focus on doing the things that are right for us, not for somebody else! Share this one with key leaders in your congregation!

Graham and Englund have achieved something quite remarkable in the second edition of "Creating an Environment for Successful Projects." The original book from 1997 provided a very good road map for organizations looking to improve their project and program management capabilities, and this update significantly improves on it. There are many fresh insights and specifics about what works (and what doesn't work) drawn from an extensive circle of organizations, including many that the authors consulted with personally.

Even more than in the first edition, the message is that excellence in project execution does not just happen - it requires planning, ongoing investment, and the right encouragement. I think the best parts of the book are chapters 3 through 8, because they provide the most concrete and actionable advice for managers of project leaders; they are filled with good practices on what to do and on what to avoid.

This book was reviewed in "The Journal of Product Innovation Management" May 1998, an international publication of the Product Development & Management Association (PDMA):

A book which discusses how companies can effectively create a healthier and more nurturing environment for product development, based on companies like Hewlett-Packard, DuPont, Raychem and others.

"As the title implies, this book is about managing project management, not about managing projects - an important concept... Its purpose is to get upper management to understand how and why to develop project management as an organizational competency... Relevant across industries from high tech to low, from product to service, and from consumer to industrial or business-to-business... Its key strengths are: 1) its comprehensive treatment of key issues from the role of strategic direction across the project portfolio to the need for cultivating project management learning; 2) its practical recommendations for change; and 3) its easy-to-read examples... The book is well organized with an overview chapter that includes a call to action and an overview of the remaining chapters. The next seven chapters go on to describe each of the elements of creating an environment for success projects. Laid out as pieces of a complete puzzle to signal their importance as a system" (Mark Deck, Pittiglio Rabin Todd & McGrath, May 1998)

As a project management consultant, I get asked alot 'how do I implement PM into my company'. There is no one cookie-cutter approach to this since every company is different. There is also no one book out there that adequately covers this subject. This book is the closest thing that there is. If you are looking for a good coverage of the things that you need to be aware of in implementing PM into your company, this book is a good start. It is also well suited for executives looking to implement PM into a company who are curious what PM involves - since a major problem in implementing PM into a company quite often involves executives who are unaware or unconcerned what their responsibilites are for PM. All in all, a useful book that I have used extensively for clients.

If you want to understand the underpinnings of what makes projects work or not ... this book is a "must read".

It is full of the kind of plain yet profound logic that my grandmother used to pass on to me when I was child. It just made so much practical sense ... .

One of the better books on project management, the focus is not so much on specific best practices for project managers to implement on their own within their teams, but how upper management can create an environment that is conducive to project success. This book is exceptionally good at helping to understand how management causes organizational perversity - mucking things up by applying departmental best practices that are totally inappropriate and bad practices for project teams. Great insights into how this happens without upper managers being aware they are doing the opposite of what they intend. Could be used by a Project Office to convince upper management that they might be the main problem that keeps other best practices from being effective. It also highlights those areas where you can get the most leverage, most out of your efforts to get an organization to improve its overall project management effectiveness.

Amazing how a book written in 1997 seems like it was written for current times.

I think dthe book is great. It has wonderful ideas and great teaching methods. Its a fine teaching tool and it a great project to work with.

This is an excellent book. The tools and origantially of it is amazing. If you are a teacher and are looking for a group project to do with other teachers, get this book.

B.Harris, R.Kiel, and K.Kohlmeier are my current English,Science, and History teachers. When our class did the crime scene investigation we picked jobs and wrote out an application to see if we were qualified. I wanted to be a prosecuting criminolgist and I made it....this project was fun, exciting, and about the real world. I enjoyed doing this because we not only had fun but did learn something as well. Kathy Baroutgian-pupil of Wilson Middle School.

It was a pleasure not just to read but also to be in the audinance. I think all of the teacher did a great job. Not only did the kids learn but they found out how the system works. We can look forward to alot of great kids when teachers like these go out of their way not just teach but make things almost life like.

B.Harris, R.Kiel, and K.Kohlmeier are my current english, science, and history teachers. When we did the crime scene, it was a great learning experiance and a great way to find out what lawyers and jury members REALLY go through. I really enjoyed doing this project. We took fiber samples, hair fibers, fingerprints, shoeprints and analized them in science. We wrote out the reports in english, and in history we recived our jobs from Kris Kohlmeier. I was a Defense Attorney. We had about two weeks to prepare for the real trial. It was really fun, but everyone was really nervous. I thought it was fun that they filmed us and that we had a real jury. My favorite part was when we found out the final verdict(even though 2 of our 3 clients were guily). But it was still fun! Over all I had a blast doing this and I learned alot!! I am really glad my teachers wrote this book, so other teachers can read it and teach other students, and give them the same experiance that I have recived. Student from Wilson Middle School, Windsor castle Brittany Cuen

My wife's dear, saintly Mother Gladys Wolf, first inscribed her signature in our well-worn hard-back copy, barely held together from early 1950's. Everyday sometimes, I look into this older copy because both daughters also have copies from 20+ printings!

Ruth Graham has introduced the later editions for new printings!

If we could find devotional books with writings by Jeanne Guyon, St Augustine, Charles Wesley & George MacDonald & Anna Laetitia Waring, Hannah Whitehall Smith, Longfellow, Whittier and unknown writers for today's readers, we may have more deeply commited christians who find daily strength! From one who is an indebted admirer of this collection by Mary Tileston! Retired Chaplain, Fred W Hood, "Barbara377" (Fayetteville GA United States)

Thank you for the fast shipping of The Daily Strength books,they will make great gifts- Thanks, Robert

This is a book that has come in and out of my life over and over again because of its ability to quiet my anxious mind and strengthen my weak faith. It is a selection of thoughts from 17th and 18th century spiritual writers from the pietist and quietist traditions. One would never know that, however, since each page still burns with relevancy for any troubled soul. Devotionals come and go but this one has stood the test of time. For 8$, this cannot be beat. You may wonder how you ever got along without it!

Early AAs used several different "devotionals" for their morning meditations. Generally, the materials followed the same path as this fine devotional. That is, they cited a Bible verse, then come commentary, and often a prayer and other verses for study. Those who want to get the same results from "meditation" on the Bible that early AAs received would do well to obtain and use a copy of this book. It was studied and circulated by Dr. Bob among AAs and their families. It was in common usage along with The Upper Room, My Utmost for His Highest, Victorious Living, and The Runner's Bible. A well-stocked 12 Step meditation library should include Daily Strength and the others. It will enrich familiarity with the Bible and enhance the day ahead. I discuss all these in my title Dr. Bob and His Library (www.dickb.com/drbob.shtml).

The difference between this book and the devotionals written today is like the difference between a prime rib steak and a bologny sandwhich. A lousy analogy, but point made. "Daily Strength for Daily Needs" is full of reflections that must be read over and over in order to fully grasp the sentiment. Part of this is due to the excellent writing and terminology used from years ago, however it is not a difficult or frustrating book to read. There is a rich and reflective depth brought forth in a verse,a piece of poetry and then a reflection by a Christian from the 16th century to 18th century.This is the main devotional I have used for about 8 years now and it is full of underlined thoughts that have been compelling.Each year when I cycle back through it, I am always challenged afresh.I hope mine will last for 40 more years--it is rich beyond comparison.