Ward Books

I am referring to Book 2 of the Matthew series, revised edition 2002. The five stars are given to that book only.

Whether you believe in or agree with what it says, this book is a well-written "mini-encyclopedia" of new age "philosophy", or should I say "ideas"? Though few books can rival with the Seth Material in this field in depth, this one did offer an even wider, panoramic perspective in a succinct way. There is a synthesis of western spiritualism, Indian philosophy, quantum philosophy, and UFO religions. Sure, there are many repeats, nothing very original. But this book has its own coherence.

Furthermore, the author is one of the few channelers that gives comments on contemporary politics (see Book 3 of the series and take a look at the author's website - www.matthewbooks.com). This helps add some exciting feel to the series. However, one may find those "stories" on politics quite elusive and there are lots of conspiracy theories, a characteristic commonly shared by all sorts of UFO religions. They say, there are always some powerful gangs out there having their own hidden agenda with the ultimate aim to dominate the whole world, if not to destroy it. Could any one gang do that and why is the domination of the world so attractive? What sort of domination it is? Don't they have better things to do? Of course, you are not always sure whether the stories are symbolic or not. The Bush we see on the television screen is a clone, again they say (see the author's website). You may also sense that the Matthew Material as a whole is on a delicate balance between provocation of fear and promotion of message of love. Ying and yang, may be.

Anyway, since I am an "easterner" - a "Chinese" in Hong Kong - to be more specific, I would like to learn more about the role the eastern people, the Chinese in particular, play in the big scheme as portrayed by Matthew, and how different races of people interact in the so-called "Heaven". Do people of a particular race flock together in a particular "village" there? I love stories of these kinds, say the "true" history of the people(s)(and the living things) on earth, and of our cosmic families in "all" the galaxies and universes. More details please. However, you may also have noted that there are so many different versions of "true" history out there, one canceling the other out. I also wonder why there are so few, if any at all, channelers giving these sorts of material in the eastern world.

At last, like so many authors of this kind of books, the author is so sincere, who is a lovely mother who has lost a lovely son. As for the content, yes, you and me must discern. Anyhow, anyone interested in new age philosophy should not miss this book, really.

One more thing, interested people may also like to look at the horoscope of Matthew whose birthday is available at the author's website, which did have a distinctly prominent philosophic, religious, mysterious, and "life and death" tone compatible to the style of the book. Yes, the more books I read in this field (around two hundred or more in the past twenty-plus years), the more I find the earth an interestingly strange or even bizarre place to live in.

This book is on a lot of ET stuff.

So, if you are in to that, as I am, this book would most surely be a good read for you.

Like all her books, they contain an immense amount of info, on all kinds of topics.

I hope this helps.

Forever Love, Rich Macy

This book is another winner! I couldn't put it down and ended up reading it in two evenings. Keep 'em coming Marsha!!

When James Owen's fiancee up and marries his brother, James's rage drives him from his home. He sets out for Colorado, looking to work in the mines. He makes the mistake, however, of stopping in Pueblo City where trouble finds him. Set upon, shot, then jailed, an old family "friend" bails him out. The help is not free, and James must work himself clear of these entanglements.
On his way over the mountains at last, he finds the body of wealthy Mexican. A letter explains that the dead man was going to Leones to acquire a bride. James has found an expensive bride gift on the body and determines he must take it, along with an explanation, to the woman.
At the same time, events have sent Amparo Garces y Martinez on a journey from Santa Fe into Colorado where an arranged marriage awaits her. Arriving at the mission, she waits there for her husband to claim her. However, it is James Owen who arrives. In a moment of chivalry, James marries the girl with the intention of taking her back to Santa Fe. Naturally, his plans go awry. First, although he fights his feelings, he falls in love with her. Second, Amparo willingly, joyously, returns his love, and somewhere between here and there, James decides they should go home to his family.
While on the trail, upon reaching Trinidad, they are swept up in a fight between Mexican and white battling factions. Barricaded in the town mercantile, they hope to avoid the trouble--but trouble comes to them. Caught in a crossfire, Amparo is shot, and now James takes up a trail of vengeance against the killers of his lost love.
Ride To Raton is the action packed story of a conflicted man who strives always to do the right thing. The story will catch at your heart and stay with you long after you put the book down. Highly recommended for all fans of western lore.

I went through many books on Maui before I picked this one up. Lucky me! This turned out to be the best ten bucks invested in my trip to Hawaii. This book is small enough to carry in your pocket, yet is chock full of detail. I was impressed when I took a trip to the southern edge of Maui solely relying on this book. Every shop, corner, and area of Maui matches the description in this book. It is very accurate and upto date. The tips included by the authors were very helpful. When we wanted to mail coconuts from Maui and were really lost, this book helped. A few hints for Maui travelers: some USPS offices in Maui have officers dressed in Hawaiian attire, so do not be confused and doubt if it really is a post office guy when you see him dressed like a Hawaiian beach bum! If you go to the southern edge of the island, you can actually buy coconuts at the post office and mail 'em too. Permanent markers that you use to address coconuts are awfully hard to find, so pack a Sharpie with your stuff! Overall, if there is just one travel guide you'd buy, pick this one. The book's binding is very good, and it held up after all the beating around and abuse that was showered on my copy. Don't let the small size fool you--this one is very detailed, and more importantly, very accurate (verified by us in Jan 2000). Highly recommended.

This little book really helped me get the most out of my Maui trip. It's restaurant and activity recommendations were right on the mark. It gives you a great overview without being overwhelming.

I'm sold on Rough Guides. This book is like having a history book to go along with info about so many popular and not so popular places that after reading the description about them, you want to visit. Every time I open it, I learn something new and it makes me want to visit so many places in the USA.

Can't go wrong with a rough guide - I just wish they could fit more in!

There's a danger to publishing a resource book. By the time it hits print, how many of those resources will no longer be available? Like venerable rubber stamp authorities Miller and Thompson, David Ward doesn't just offer us a catalog of catalogs, though images from dozens of rubber stamp companies make up the bulk of this book as well as a listing of stamp stores, manufacturers and suppliers. What makes this book valuable are the articles about tools and techniques, articles that will never go out of date. Sure you can get the same information in other stamping books, or probably learn them online or at your local stamping store, but the combination of articles, project ideas (with color plates of finished projects, none of which use outrageously difficult techniques or expensive materials)and a vast resource base which includes many well-established companies which will probably be around for the next X-number of years, makes this book a must-have addition to the collection of dedicated stampers. This is an idea book, a book to sit and daydream with, as well as a practical guide to the who, what and where of the art/craft of stamping.

If you are looking for a basic, comprehensive source of information and insider stamping tips you need this book. Included in it are pages of images from a various stamp companies, store locations, how to tips, product sources - the list goes on! A great buy for the novice a MUST for the stamp entusiast!

This book was released after headline-making board room issues exploded in the business news several years ago. Ward provides essentials worth our attention in our still quickly-evolving board environment. Note that the book is useful for non-profit boards also as they face increasing mandates to ensure a business-like approach to their planning and execution.

Three subjects in the book were especially important to me based on my work with board development: 1) Finding talent for boards, 2) Training boards, 3) Efficiency of boards.

Ward notes the need to find the specific skills needed for the board. Finding high quality board talent is, to me, going to be increasingly difficult as the generational transition occurs. I have seen boards that have not aggressively chosen and trained new blood, and so they are not training the next generation of senior leaders in organizations. In so many boards, old "names" are recruited rather than skills. It is important that a thorough analysis of organizational needs be done prior to board recruiting, then the right match be made for the knowledge, not the family name.

Training is an issue I have seen gain some attention in nonprofit boards, and I hope that trend continues. Ward provides good direction on creating the foundation for training directors. Training board directors never stops and I have found that some of the best training comes not from "presentation style" materials, but providing challenging technical and market issues to the board members and devoting time for real discussion in the board and subcommittee meetings. Ward hits the points well.

That leads to efficiency. Ward notes techniques such as "consent agendas" as tools to move past the routine and into fuller dialogue for boards. I'd suggest lingering on Ward's list of "syndromes" on audit committees to stimulate your thinking about the ways that old methods can stifle progress. This list has applicability across board practices. Ward also notes techniques to handle nonproductive directors.

This is a terrific introduction to board room work.

When we hear about the scandals in companies like American Enron, Italian Parmalat and so on, we get a little bit of insight into what (also) happens around the mahogany roundtable in the obscure boardroom. We are witness to dictatorial executives, antiquated decision processes, incompetent amateurs, and sometimes even corrupt lawbreakers.

Often the focus is on the catastrophic mistakes in management, auditing, and/or disclosures. But the sad truth is that many of these mistakes could have been found and fixed in the boards. The board's role is to supervise and govern. If the board does not have the resources themselves, they must make sure that an impartial third-party service provider does it.

This book explores why corporate boards fail and also give ideas on how to fix them. The author reveals ten specific failings of the typical boardroom model and proven advice to get boards back on track. Some of the boardroom ills he diagnoses include:

WEAK BOARD LEADERSHIP
Problem: The board oversees (at the same time it is led by) the CEO. Too many boards accept that the CEO runs the board meetings - without being sufficiently challenged by the chairman or the others. In Europe, we divide the roles of the chairman and the CEO. But that doesn't mean that we don't have our share of scandals, since a strong CEO also can dictate solutions in practice by forcing rubberstamp decision processes in the boardroom
Solution: Make some of the board meetings (or part of them) without the executive officers. Keep the meeting's chairman role and the CEO role separate.

POOR DATA (and even worse delivery).
Problem: Some boards receive too little or too much information - or just plain bad information.
Solution: Too much data: Require a one-page-summary from the CEO summarizing the top three to five issues of the information pack. Too little data: Require more and better information before a decision is made.

INCOMPETENT BOARD MEMBERS
Problem: Inadequate time, resources, and expertise for the job.
Solution: Better board member recruiting process as well as annual performance evaluation of individual board members.

DIRECTOR ISOLATION: Don't-ask-don't-tell model.
Problem: Outside board members are often amazingly out of touch with the staff, shareholders, and the firm for which they bear ultimate legal responsibility. This is a key weakness.
Solution: Professional directors build their own informal networks with e.g. finance, investor relations, sales, marketing, production, or research. If the director then also talks to a few of the firm's external stakeholders such as shareholders, customers, and suppliers, then it will provide an even stronger background to base any board decisions.
I have personally experienced board members who on their own have spent full days visiting head offices and production facilities and included individual talks with non-executive managers. It's very inspiring for the managers. It also gives the board member a much better feel for the views and competences of the broader management team.

Management in corporations has over the last 50 years become more professional and universal due to formal education. However, governance of the same corporations is still stuck at the level of anecdotes and myths. This book helps to unveil many of the important issues of making corporate governance work in practice.

Ralph Ward is the author of several fine books on improving corporate boards and publishes an online newsletter. You may want to check his (unsophisticated) website on www.BoardroomInsider.com.

One of the best things of this book may be that Ward is letting many experienced board members comment on the issues and provide their advice for the reader. It makes the book much more extensive in scope and exciting to read.

Having just started on being a board member myself, I already recognise many of the issues that this book raises. Having spent 15 years in businesses on preparing board material, I unfortunately also feel guilty of some of his very relevant points on (too much) information.

Peter Leerskov,
MSc in International Business (Marketing & Management) and Graduate Diploma in E-business

please give me any imformation about technology, apparatus and process of gelatin such as degreasing, liming, drying and etc .

I have only a copy of the index and very good references of expertises in gelatin formulations.

You're probably familiar with the game Hangman, but just in case you aren't, here's how it works with two people: an individual comes up with a word or phrase while the other must guess it. At the bottom of the page are blanks representing letters. As the player guesses the letters, they are written in the appropriate spot. However, if a wrong letter is guessed, a body part is drawn on the gallows. If an entire body is drawn before the phrase is guessed, the one doing the guessing loses.

In his clever Scratch & Solve Hangman, Mike Ward offers a neat twist on an old favorite. You know how instant lottery cards require you to scratch off the metallic finish to reveal what's underneath? That's exactly the way this book works.

For each of the 96 puzzles, there are three components:

*Silver eggs for A through Z
*A dotted-line stick figure on the gallows
*Numbered blanks at the bottom

Here's an example of how a puzzle works. For puzzle one in the Scratch & Solve Hangman #3, I guess the letter "E". When I scratch off the silver egg under "E", it shows the numbers 6 and 8. I go to the bottom of the page and fill in the letter "E" for blanks 6 and 8.

I then guess "R", which revealed a stick figure sticking his tongue out! This means that the letter "R" is NOT a part of solution. If I had revealed six of those faces--which indicates drawing in the head, arms, torso and feet of the body on the gallows--then I would have lost!

However, because I guessed the phrase (poached eggs) before I drew all six body parts, I win! (Admittedly, I had the head and both arms drawn in before I guessed it! Whew!)

This little book is very portable, providing amusement and distraction just about anywhere. Highly recommended if you love Hangman!

This is a great little hangman book that requires only one person, a pencil to write with and a fingernail to scratch with. Each puzzle is set up as a scratch off game. My daughters each have a book and they love it. They scratch off a letter they think fits the hangman's puzzle. If they scratch the right letter, a number is revealed and they write that letter in the appropriate place in the puzzle's answer line. If they scratch a letter that is not part of the answer then they reveal a picture of a hangman's noose and need to complete a portion of the hangman picture. It is so easy and very fun!

Reminds me a little of Emily Dickinson, a little of her contemporary, Thérèse de Lisieux. I was surprised to see that Jessica Powers was an elderly nun-so uninhibited in expressing how in love she was with God!

This book has poetry that describes the experiences we all have felt at some time in our Spiritual lives. As I read some of the poems it expressed what I had felt or was feeling so accurately I felt I was reading my own soul. Her poems lend themselves to be used for prayer & meditation with ease and they truly uplift the soul.

This is a good book to have in your theater library (especially for black actors/thespians). There are some great contemporary pieces and monologues (especially for Black men). I have always been supportive of The Theodore Award winning plays. The characters are real and the language is rich. The writing is great. Most of the plays are short, so these plays would be good for a burgeoning African American theater company or ensemble to produce.

Since the early part of the 20th century, Chicago has been a national leader in the production of black theater. There are currently six black companies, and black productions are regularly featured at the three Tony Award-winning regional theater companies.

Theodore Ward (1902 - 1983) mentored and encouraged many aspiring dramatists in Chicago from 1968 until his death. To honor Ward, and to aid black playwrights in the development and production of scripts, Columbia College Chicago established the Theodore Ward Prize for African American Playwriting in 1985. Only full-length plays addressing the African American are considered, and the playwright must be of African American descent. Since one of the goals is to uncover and identify new works, scripts which have received professional production are not eligible.

This anthology of prize-winning plays is the first in a series to be published every three years. Compiled and edited by Chuck Smith (currently Resident Director at Chicago's Goodman Theater, and affiliated with the prize for fifteen years) it presents seven plays spanning nearly two decades, with diverse subject matter and treatments. Christopher Moore's "The Last Season" (First Prize 1987-88) immerses us in the final days of the Negro Leagues. The most recent offering, Shepsu Aakhu's "Kiwi Black" ( First Prize 2001-02) tells the story of adolescent son coming of age under the watchful eye of a tough-love father.

But my synopses can't possibly do these scripts justice. Highly recommended for any theater library!