Way Books

Is your company working hard to deliver value to customers?
Are you facing increasingly tough competition, possibly from new competitors?
And are you struggling to address cost pressures from your suppliers?

If you answered YES to one or more of these questions then you probably need some help with your pricing. Many studies show that of all marketing variables, pricing has the most impact on the bottom line. But where should you look for advice so you can make your pricing decisions with confidence? The answer: Pricing with Confidence by Reed Holden and Mark Burton. Holden and Burton have written a highly readable, practically oriented book for making pricing decisions; their 10 Rules of Pricing can vastly improve your decision-making. Think about this question: Why is pricing so hard and why do most companies mess it up? Holden and Burton pose this question in their Introduction. Could your firm be one of those they are talking about? If you believe that pricing is hard in your firm and that you don't always get it right, then pick up Pricing with Confidence; you'll be glad you did.

Noel Capon
R.C. Kopf Professor of International Marketing and Director of the Executive Program in Strategic Pricing, Columbia Business School, New York, New York.

As a forum leader for a group of CEOs of small, growing businesses, we used this book to help us in understanding whether the pricing strategies each of our businesses used were optimizing their market and sales successes. Since many of these small companies compete with some of the largest players in their respective industries, it was revealing to each of them to see their realities detailed so clearly by the authors. It has led each of them to engage in more thinking and analysis relative to a pricing strategy that matches their value offering. This is a must read for any small business up against the big guys.

Pricing with confidence

I have heard Reed Holden speak in a number of venues. I was happy to hear he was contemplating a book on the practical end of the spectrum for a selling organization. This endeavor revolves around easily understood concepts that a selling organization can apply.

Reed constantly says "Don't be a victim", apparently a phrase he learned many years ago, which ties in with the thrust of the project. Don't be satisfied with what the market place gives you. You can price your product and the services you offer at a level consistent with the value you bring. Far from just cheerleading, you must have done your homework before hand and this will give you the confidence to overcome the objections you will receive.

In the book are simple methods to organize your thoughts to understand your value, which may change with different classes of trade. You can then set your price points and defend them successfully. If you are not successful there is a unique chapter to characterize the type of buyer you are facing. Price buyers, Value buyers, Relationship buyers, and Poker Playing buyers all have different agendas and your defense of your value may be valid, but not successful with each of the above types. Just the recognition of this is valuable to the salesman and may point to different strategies or more importantly not confusing strategies.

In my organization I know the publication is making a difference when a proposed price point strategy is being justified by a thought process described in the book. The sales person in the meeting is defending his stance among his peers who can be rather harsh to test his logic.

A good read that should be placed on the shelf for extensive use as a reference book.

Buy the book. It's a good read for sales, customer service and yes, even accounting.

I liked this book a lot. I thought it was well outlined and well written. The book's overall message is that the small business owner should link prices to the value delivered. The reader should be able to optimize pricing for her services or products after considering the 10 rules of pricing presented in this book:

1. Generally, don't let the customer talk you down in price
2. Price your service or product at a level that a customer is willing to pay if they understand the value of your service or product
3. Know which of three pricing strategies you are using and stick to it
4. It's OK to negotiate price with customers, but make sure you win
5. It's OK to lower prices, but only in order to increase profits
6. Expand your offerings so you aren't locked into one price for one product
7. Great pricing will often force your competition to react to your pricing
8. Your company's sales force has to be expert at why and how you priced your services or products
9. Set prices based on value - not on cost-plus
10. Always keep in mind you are in business to make a profit without leaving money on the table

I loved the instruction that the author provides regarding how an owner of a small business has to be willing (and able) to fire unprofitable clients and customers. Business people who compete on price are playing a fool's game. Smart business owners understand that value is the basis for business exchange and that to be successful at business one must FULLY understand value. This book puts forth a pretty good effort to help the reader fully understand value, or at least how to go about fully understanding value after doing a little investigation and research of the market.

Pricing goods and/or services is far from simple. And setting an optimal price is one of the most difficult decisions to make when starting a business. Furthermore, as a business grows and matures pricing at an optimal level continues to be difficult. Prices never stay the same because demand never stays the same. To do this well one must know the market (competitors & customers), know the costs, know the perceived value, and know the actual value.

Getting a handle on all this is not particularly easy. This is especially true because customers are often times very hard to figure out. Some are price buyers, some are value buyers, some are relationship buyers, and some are poker-playing buyers. Knowing these four types of buyers is a heads up for the small business person. But he or she still has to read the customer and figure out which one of these four the customer is before negotiations can be performed in favor of the seller. Read this book and start on your path of being a better pricer of your services or goods. 5 stars!

It's a great help to homeschoolers. I'd recommend it to anyone interested in children's education. It came highly recommended to me by other homeschool parents.

I totally enjoyed this book. As a homeschooling mother with five young children, I found this book uplifting and empowering. After reading it, I felt relieved to know that "Real learning" can and does take place in the home - even our home which is sometimes a bit chaotic!
This is a book I will refer to again and again.
Elizabeth Foss not only privides workable ideas for education in the home but words of wisdom from other mothers.

This mom of six children has tried numerous different approaches to homeschooling, and found a relaxed approach that focuses on the development of the whole child, not just his mind. In spite of this, the results are excellent in terms of education alone. She has many helpful and practical ideas, not just about lessons, but about ordering family life to encourage peaceful learning. I am going to give several copies to friends of mine who are about to start homeschooling, and make copies of her reading lists in the back.

Great ideas for the Charlotte Mason homeschooling family. More importantly...great ideas for meshing Mason's method and Catholic ideals. Wish this had been one of the first homeschooling books I read before starting homeschooling.

Indispensable for the home educating family regardless of the method you currently use in your home.

I had been diagnosed with ulcerative colitis about a year before finding this wonderful book. At that point I was barely able to leave the house due to the awful symptoms of this disease. A week and a half after changing my diet as suggested I was able to go camping with no problems! The changes in diet outlined in this book are easy to try and don't cost extra. Just try it for two weeks, it could make a difference in your life, too.

This book provides some good information with some simple options at a cheaper price. I've tried the tips and i already feel better. This book might not be for all, but it's a quick read and worth a try if you're not feeling well.

This is the best, most complete overview of the mechanics of fructose intolerance and how it affects bowel health that I have found in years of reading, but there are disappointing gaps in the author's practical advice, and some downright bizarre statements about weight loss. If you have found that the conventional high-fiber diet for IBS is not helping (or even making your IBS worse), read this book. This may be the key to your problems. Unfortunately, after convincingly establishing that fructose intolerance is at the root of much bowel distress, the author gives only spotty practical advice about what to eat and what to avoid. For example, he repeatedly warns against eating "wheat fiber," but says nothing whatsoever about oat or rice fiber. Are they safer? Just as bad? He mentions "waffle syrup made of corn" several times as a source of fructose. Is he implying that pure maple syrup is safe? Maple syrup is very high in fructose I believe, but anyone reading this book might assume that as long as the syrup is not derived from corn it is harmless. And his weight loss advice is just strange. He rails against ketogenic diets as unhealthy and counterproductive to weight loss, then gives you his version to try! While the bulk of his argument is a revision of the unexamined conventional wisdom on "healthy" eating that he believes is all wrong for IBS sufferers, his weight loss advice is a hodge-podge of exactly the same kind of lazy conventional wisdom. I suspect this reflects the fact that serious bowel disorders (his area of expertise) are more likely to result in weight loss and emaciation than obesity, so his weight loss diet is kind of a careless afterthought.

In the end, I recommend this book for its detailed discussion of fructose intolerance and its role in bowel disease, but if you decide to take the low-fructose approach to healing, look for another list of "eat this, avoid that" foods. As for weight loss, any low carb approach will be low fructose. Find the one you can live with.

I have been taking medication for proctitis for some time now. My symptoms would not go away. I had asked my doctor which foods to avoid and basically he said to avoid anything that doesn't seem to work for me. I finally went on line for some reading material and found this book. After a week on this diet, I started seeing results. I am now symptom free and it has only been 3 weeks. The great thing about this diet is that I don't have to make special recipes. I just have to avoid specific things. It is very easy to follow. Thank you as this book has gave me my life back again.

I was diagnosed 17 years ago with UC at the age of 21. I've read many books and tried every diet, not to mention been to most types of alternative practitioners, & a slew of western doctors in various states, with no positive results. I recently got this book and for the first time I saw immediate & positive change. This book tells you what to avoid, and WHY. After fighting this disease for many years, I have never felt better. And after reading this book never have I had such a clear understanding of how the body's digestion works, and I certainly have never felt this good in almost 2 decades.

What a beautiful book! Tammy Faye Messner tells it like it is without hesistation. It's a real opener and makes you question the validity of other ministries and their leaders. Tammy Faye truly was a woman of God and I'm sure she's "dancing with angels" right now...and singing at the top of her lungs too!

great lady. very honest in her book. i just love her and if you do too, you'll love all of her books.

What a life! Tammy certainly tells it her way! All of it! From growing up in International Falls, Minnesota to being the queen of the largest Christian television network to being the scorn of millions in and out of the Christian community. And all the steps inbetween. She candidly shares every detail (including some of her sex life!) of her rise and fall from power and her struggle to pick up the pieces of her life. Every struggle, every behind-the-scenes moment, every misconception and every mistake NOT widely known about!

Tammy definately had a life worth reading about. She sheds revealing backstage light on some of the biggest names in Christianity today - Paul and Jan Crouch, Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, etc. etc. etc. All with a genuine spirit of forgiveness.

Tammy is definately a beautiful soul and a beautiful person who deserves to be heard. In the book she says, "I believe that truth is truth. What happened happened and is now history. I just want history to be told correctly for my children's sake and for the sake of my grandchildren and generations to come." I think that we all should hear the truth from this woman whose ENTIRE life was devoted to openly sharing with people.

Whether you agree with her religion or not (for the record I don't but I still enjoyed every word and think she's fabulous) her general love for everybody, including those that hurt and betrayed her in a colossal manner, shines!

Don't judge a book by it's cover or a televangelist by her makeup!!!

Sidestep the profiteers trying to make a fast buck from Tammy Faye's recent death by selling this book for up to $2,000. I recently ordered an AUTOGRAPHED copy of the book from Tammy Faye's website for $25 plus shipping.

I love Tammy Faye and thank God for not only who she is, but for her love for a lost world. I'm so glad and encouraged personally that she has the guts to not only be herself, but also how she chooses to look or wear her makeup. Whoever wrote or said for her to get rid of her makeup is an IDIOT. I can't stand people like that.

I just finished my second marathon season, and am ready to take a step up in the laziest manner possible. ha ha! My previous diet was vegetarian, no dairy, but fish and eggs were included because I didn't feel like I was getting the right fats and protein. What I like about this book is that Brendan gives you the info to dive right into a vegan diet, but he also gives you the basics for someone that wants to slowly ease in, with regards to effort. I have started by adding to my intake every day: a veggie rich salad, a smoothie, and an energy bar. They were pretty simple, and did not involve spending $237 at whole foods (beside, I found a great co-op which is way cheaper). I pick a few things, and then shop only for the ingredient they require. I have tried sprouting quinoa and buckwheat, and the quinoa has become a new favorite in salads and energy bars. I'm also a big fan of BOKU Superfood powder, which has a lot of the ingredients he talks about like Chlorella, Sea Vegetables, and other good stuff. I don't spend much time cooking during the week, so I prep all my veggies, salad items, and energy bars on Sundays, and then everything is really fast during the week. I'm not much of a dinner person either... I often go out with friends and follow his eating out tips, and or myself eating a bowl of cooked psuedograins for dinner, and that's enough. After a few weeks, I'm down from 130lbs to about 127, and my body fat has decreased about 2% as well. Weightloss is appealing, but its not really my priority, mind you. Its all easy enough, becomes easier after you try recipes a few times, and you feel very good since you're getting proper nutrition for once without crazy supplements! This is a lifestyle change and something I feel like I can do on an ongoing basis.

I have MS and it is important to me to be able to sustain energy with nutrients maximized; following this path has made this possible. I recommend following this triathletes wisdom and guidance. Minimizing to eliminating sugar, salt, fats and processed foods is a win/win combination that is no fail.

In a mere coincidence, I bought this book when I just had completed the Golden Bridge Yogi cleanse, an alkaline based vegan cleanse, with a real sense of where my diet should be at. I was vegan based during my marathon trainings in the past, but had developed Hashimoto's disease a year after my last marathon, which made me quit soy products, thinking I had to go back to dairy for protein sources, only to not feel good about it physically and mentally. In addition, the skin on my arms and face getting rough, my energy levels not improving either.
So I read about Brendan Brazier, a vegan triathlete, and wanted to give his plan a try. I love his ideas and I love the fact that his food lists are based on alkaline levels, explains how eating this way can improve muscle recovery, help endurance, and just generally make you feel really good, and it is true. I LOVE the pizza recipes and have been sprouting like crazy. My husband loves them as well. This book is great for any vegan who wants to be back to basics, and develop a real love of raw food eating with some low temp baking options.

"The cornerstone of the Thrive Diet is high net-gain foods. It's that simple. By eating more high net-gain foods, your energy will rise, body fat will decrease, mental clarity will be enhanced, and cravings for refined foods will fade." ~ Brendan Brazier from "The Thrive Diet"

We all want to Thrive in our lives, don't we? It's kinda hard to live at our highest potential if we're having a hard time getting out of bed, eh?

As an active, athletic vegan, I've worked hard to make sure I'm as healthy as I can be. That's why I was thrilled when I first met Brendan Brazier (we actually met at John Mackey, the CEO of Whole Foods' ranch). Brendan's a professional Ironman triathlete and is one of only a few professional athletes in the world whose diet is 100 percent plant-based.

Yep. Ironman. And no meat. No dairy. No refined foods. Nothing but plants.

I'll repeat: Brendan only eats plant-based foods and he's a professional athlete in what must be THE most grueling sport out there. (For those curious souls, an Ironman consists of a 2.4 mile swim followed by a 112 mile bike ride and wrapped up with a 26.2 mile marathon. The best athletes in the world do it in under 9 hours. Brendan's among that group.)

"He does THAT and he only eats plants, you say?!?"

Yep.

"But where does he get his protein?!?!"

From plants. Tragically, plants don't have quite the same marketing spend as the meat and dairy industries so you don't hear quite as much about their nutritional value but you'll learn how to best THRIVE on the food nature intended us to eat in Brendan's brilliant book, "The Thrive Diet."

Sounds a bit over the top, but I'm an actress in Hollywood with an athletic build. I've always found it hard to stay really lean, even though I'm a hard-core athlete, and that makes it hard to compete with the waifs. I bought Brendan's book two months ago and for the first time I am shredded without starving myself. I feel better than I ever have in my entire life and I honestly can't believe it.

I love the diet, love the food, love the philosophy. (I'm also an environmentalist)

I read the book cover-to-cover, excited by the philosophy but dismayed by the foreign foods that I needed to learn to locate, sprout and soak in order to start. This was just initial panic. I got over it.

I started with the smoothies and energy bars. I bought the Vega Complete Whole Food Optimizer he recommends and I found that making the smoothies was super-fast (throw my fruit, water, optimizer in a blender and go) and that while the energy bars took a little time, I could make a 2-month supply at a time, and then have a quick, easy snack always ready. I like them best frozen, so I'm not worried about spoilage. That was week one.

Week two I did my big shop (it was a bit pricey to start, but it's been very cheap ever since) which took a little to psych up for, washed and sanitized my fruits and veggies, and started sprouting. As soon as my sprouts were ready (a few days later) I took a full day and made pizza, burgers, crackers, sauces, salad dressings, etc. I basically made a little of everything. The joy was that I then could eat all week without doing anything but opening up the fridge. Since then, I've run out of things one by one, but since I've done it before, I had all of the ingredients on hand and it was no big deal to replenish; getting started was the hard part. I was glad I just bit the bullet and did it all at once.

Sprouting and soaking have become part of my routine and I actually find it kind of fun. It's very fast and I get the "farmer's joy" of seeing the first shoots every few days.

I keep Brendan's book on the table and I read part of it every day while I eat. I'll probably keep doing that until I feel like I have fully absorbed it and can really remember what nutrients are in which food.

Last night I did I bathing suit scene in my acting class and didn't think twice about stripping down in front of everyone. That's a first.

I cannot tell you how wonderful it feels to look in the mirror and feel great about my body, without having to punish myself to get the look I want. When I told my husband he said, "I never thought I'd hear you say those words." Yeah, neither did I.

This is again a Jeffrey Liker book (although probably mostly written by Michael Hoseus). And that means that you can learn, but also that you will suffer. Because you have to understand the 'living' meaning behind the words. And that is not gooing to be easy ...
Learning items are for example:
- what is lean culture and what is the impact on business
- how to hire/select/train people and what to train
- people and organisation as work teams, team leader. But also visual management and the role of management
- HR processes including Hoshin Kanri
and so on.

This book again cannot bring you anything unless
- you have read The Toyota Way, The Toyota Way Fieldbook, Learning to see, Kaizen (Imai) and ...
- and most important, you have to be active in finding your own lean path in your organisation for at least a couple of years.

If you only read this book in your chair within practical experience, it is all time lost.
If you read it, because you are struggling within your organisation with very real issues, then this book will become alive. This is a book (as The Toyota Way is) that will be a good friend on your journey to Lean (but this friend will also ask attention and you will have to invest time for him!).

Jeff Liker has done an absolutely wonderful job of explaining the Toyota way and the cultural aspects. I worked at Nummi early on as the Program Manager for the 1989 Prism and Corolla. I could see and feel the Toyota Way but myself and my peers could not articulate it as well as Jeff has.

This is a very good book for understanding. It gives you the vision and what your organization could be. Toyota has an advantage over most compnaies because their new places do not have a legacy culture that needs to change. That is a much bigger challenge than Toyota has. You need the vision and understanding of "Why they do it" and it can fule your improvement. Hat's off to Jeff and mike.

John Casey

While more 'quality' orientated this book should be read by every safety manager too as it has application outside the production line.

Lean is not sustainable without the culture to support it. This culture is a complex amalgam of leadership values, open communication, training and development, and measures to build trust. People are the key and, indeed, the early name for the Toyota Production System was the "Respect for Humanity" system. "Toyota Culture" describes how a supportive and continuously improving culture has been developed at Toyota's American plants. The book goes into considerable detail of the "People Value Stream" at Toyota and how it is sustained and developed. It is a long book packed with insights and case studies, but there are no quick fixes here - no "do this and you'll be sorted in a year" magic pills. It's a slow process of building trust and working together. That's what lean is all about and this book is essential reading for any manager aiming to build a continuously improving lean organisation for the long term. It is true that there are no quick fixes but surely the results, and the joy of working in such an organisation, make the effort worthwhile.

Toyota Culture is the 5th book in "the Liker Toyota series". After Toyota Way, Toyota Way Fieldbook, Toyota Product Development and Toyota Talent, you would expect that there is less news to write about Toyota. Well, not true. Toyota Talent is the thickest book in the series with it's almost 600 pages of Toyota info.

Toyota Culture mainly covers HR practices and related policies. It describes this as "the people value stream". How does Toyota hire and train people (the detailed training processes are described in Toyota Talent). How do they grow inside the company. How does Toyota work with the local communities.

The book is separated in five parts:
- What is Toyota Culture?
- The Quality People Value Stream
- People Supporting Process
- Organizational Supporting Processes
- Learning from Toyota

The first part is some-of an introduction. It explores what "company culture" means by referring to the work of Ed Schein. Then it introduces "the people value-stream" which the rest of the book is organized around. Part 2 is about the value stream itself while part 3 and 4 are the supporting processes of the people value stream.

Part 2 talks about how Toyota does hiring and how they grow the people within the company. It starts with the hiring and from there onto the training part (which had some duplication with Toyota Talent) and then moved into problem solving, one of the essential parts of the Toyota culture. It ends with how Toyota builds its image and works with the local communities to improve the life of its employees.

The third part starts by looking at the Toyota organizational structure, work teams and the team leader role. From there it moves to safe workplaces and how the standard problem solving is also applied to workplace safety problems. The last 2 chapters are about visual management and servant leadership. How management acts as servants and teachers to the workers, enabling the value-added work.

The fourth part looks at organizational supporting processes and especially HR processes. Toyota still want people to have a job for life, even though this is not common outside Japan. It talks about how Toyota deals with ups and downs in resourcing and moves to HR policies and rewarding policies (an very interesting chapter!). Chapter 15 is a short introduction to Hoshin Kanri.

The last part is about learning from Toyota, the "what can you do" part which many books end with. The first two chapters describes a couple of Toyota Way implementations within Toyota itself, to try to learn from that. The last chapter (probably the best) looks at lean implementations and wonders why they fail. It tries to find general change recommendations to try to learn from Toyota while creating your own company culture.

Parts of the book were extremely good and, at other times, parts of the book were somewhat long and boring. I'd give it 4.5 stars if I had that possibility and decided to go to 5 stars since I felt the last chapter was really very good.

A couple of things that I didn't like. Most of the book talks about Toyota in the US and seldom talks about the Toyota culture in Japan. It's obvious the authors are most familiar with the Toyota US situation. Also, most of the book still has a manufacturing focus. There is very little about other functions (e.g. product development) within the book itself. The culture in the different functions is probably similar, but will also have differences. Things like organizational structures and teamwork will be different in the different functions and thats not covered.

All in all, another great Toyota book. Highly recommended for people who are interested in how Toyota works and why. I wouldn't recommend it as your first Toyota book, I'd probably then start with the Toyota Way book and move to this one after that.

Yep, that person above is me and I hate it. I hate the limitations my chronic illness puts on me and hate how I constantly have to adapt exercise programs for my different abilities each day. When a 5th degree black belt mentioned he was interested in working with me and had worked with people in similar situations--I was both scared and intrigued. What if I couldn't cut it! I had been in SO MANY gym classes where the high impact and intensity of the work out locked me out of the workout. This book gave me a new window to view body movement and encouraged me to try.
That alone is such a blessing. Because discouragement is our most potent enemy-- BK Loren delivers a stunning death blow to that block. Fell comfortable giving this book to anyone and make sure and keep a copy for yourself. Excuse me, I have a 4:30pm martial arts class I'm on my way too.

Whether you practice martial arts or not (I don't), this book will fascinate from beginning to end. It is a story of strength, beauty, joy, and healing. It's a gift, and I'm lucky to have come across it. I recommend it very, very highly.

This is a great book with a misleading cover and an indescript title. IT IS NOT ABOUT MARTIAL ARTS. If you want to read a poetic memoir that is written like a dream, read this book. If you want to learn about strength and struggle, read this book. But if its martial arts you're after, find a different book or better yet, get out of your chair and go get yourself a good teacher.

I am not a marital artist, and from the moment I picked up this book, I COULD NOT SET IT DOWN! This book is a WONDERFUL read. I recommend it to anyone that enjoys reading someone's story in a way that makes you reflect on yourself and see things in a new way. BK Loren is inpsiring and touches you in a way that authors rarely do. I HIGHLY recommend this book. This book should be in several categories including inspiration and self help. BK Loren is a wonderful author. I CAN NOT WAIT her next piece of literature is available.

"The Way of the River" is a compelling, beautifully written book that goes far beyond the subject of enlightenment through the study of martial arts. Ms. Loren has the uncanny ability to draw the reader completely into her autobiographical anecdotes, to the point that I absolutely shared her hopes, fears, triumphs and losses keenly. It is a page turner, and I learned a great deal from reading it.

Martial artists and students will benefit from her insightful perspective on life and perhaps confirm or renew the spirital and philisophical core of their chosen disciplines. Non-martial artists will be equally captured by her flawless prose, lovingly-crafted descriptions, and beatifully-paced chapters. Ms. Loren has a bright future as a writer, and she will definitely join Mark Salzman's company as an author who secures mainstream popularity outside the martial arts genre.

A good book about a great man. Yet, it fell short of my expectations - as I expected much more from a man who had risen to tne papacy. One might want to consider the other side of the `John Paul Coin' - Albino Luciani or John Paul I - the valiant champion of human dignity for women, orphans, the remarried, homosexuals and others whose everyday lives are scorned by doctrine. Unlike his successor who was taught from an early age not to question the authority of his ancestors, Albino received his commission to rise to the papacy and bring change to the Church at the age of twelve from his revolutionary activist papa. Two good men - yet, two very different men - two very different sides of the same coin, John Paul II the conservative side and John Paul I the liberal side. I would suggest a look-see at Lucien Gregoire's PAUPER WHO WOULD BE POPE.

OK--you have to read this book because it has radical, fresh insights into the forward-thinking mind of JPII. These Spiritual Exercises were given to university students--a ministry wherein JPII had much pastoral expertise. Amazing quotes on prayer, ecumenism, etc. SANTO SUBITO!

My husband ordered this book and said that he liked it a lot but found it hard to follow at times. He attributes this more to the interpreter. My husband said you almost need a dictionary at times to follow it.

This book presents retreat talks for university students by Karol Wojty³a while he was still a cardinal. He doesn't speak as a pope but as an ordinary person and at the same time a great spiritual master. His words are very clear and lucid, even comonsensical but at the same time his message and vision is very deep. He appeals to our deepest yearnings and spiritual intuitions. I'm not a Catholic but a Buddhist but I really recommend this book to everybody as the author's vision seems to embrace all human beings no matter what their faith is.

Knowledge is superb,and easy to learn from Pope John Paul the Second. He says that anyone can learn to pray and that everyone knows how to pray. People should not place themselves down in case they say they don't know. In a couple of minutes one can learn (to Pray to Jesus Christ). Prayer is recommended for one daily. One needs to Pray in order to be at Peace with oneself, as well as with Christ. We follow the commandments, we pray for ourselves, for the poor,repent of our Sins, pray for the sick children, the dead, and to Jesus Christ(most Importantly)-so we can have Salvation. It is through the Son that one will get to the Father. Like i said, very valuable knowledge. Yes! This book is highly recommended.

**another book i recommend to you is "How to avoid Hell" by Friar Schouppe."

Jennifer Leigh Sauer has created a masterwork of words and photography that transcends the local tea culture in the San Francisco Bay Area and brings tea culture to a larger audience. By focusing on the Bay Area, she brings the centuries old concept of tea culture to a larger American audience. Her personal adventure in mastering this subject has created more than a local guidebook. Ms. Sauer's loving attention to detail has produced a beautiful book.

The Way to Tea has lured me into exploring the diverse world of tea and savoring its pleasures. The book's captivating pictures and thoughtful text are steeped with the author's spirit of adventure and appreciation for the world hidden behind cups of tea. The book inspires an awakening of the senses and intellect --an alluring antidote to the world of stressful living and mindless consumption. The Way to Tea is a beautiful way to celebrate the New Year as a gift to oneself or a friend.

What a delightful and well thought out book for Tea House Lovers, The Way To Tea. think the photos are beautifully done and I love the way the book reads. It is a perfect size for living room tables and friends have already picked it up at bookstores as well.I was surprised at how many quality places there are to go in San Fran. A great book for visitors and locals alike! Have already given two as gifts... many thanks

Few photographers can match Jennifer's eye for photographing tea. Her guide to tea in San Francisco is as complete a snapshot as you will find for this city that embraces both European and Asian tea traditions. The Way of Tea is a delicious feast for the eyes!

This is an excellent book with wonderful photographs and extremely well written. After reading this book I definitely want to visit San Francisco and visit some of the tea houses. Anyone would miss a great opportunity to learn more about tea and tea houses and history of tea if they do not buy this book.

The way we pray is a personal reflection of who we are. I love how this book honors and explains diverse methods of prayer. There is no one correct way to pray. It would be dreadfully boring if there were only one correct way to do it. It makes sense to me that we could even use different methods of praying for different circumstances in our lives. This book gives lots of examples of how to connect with our God and our spirituality. I think it comes down to recognizing what resonates deeply within us. Our creativity is a blessing, a gift given to us by God. -Shouldn't we use our gifts to give honor and glory and thanks back to God?

I loved reading this book. It stirred me, reading about the different ways that people connect to God. In the chapter 'Ceremonial Costumes' it asks why some are drawn to costume or ceremonial clothing as a form of worship, and I loved the answer: 'Perhaps because it is a means of tangibly breaking out of everyday routine to mark, through texture and color, an entrance into sacred space.'

At the beginning of the 'Centering Prayer' chapter, there is a quote by Thomas Keating that says: 'We may think of prayer as thoughts or feelings expressed in words, but this is only one expression. Deep prayer is the laying aside of thoughts. It is the opening of mind and heart and body and feelings-our whole being-to God, the Ultimate Mystery, beyond word, thoughts and emotions.'

There are many prayer practices presented in the book and I loved reading about them and thinking about them. At the end of each chapter, there is a small section of suggestions for beginning the exploration, which gives you some things to think on or activities to try.

~Namaste~

I apoligize in advance for giving this book three stars, but in my collection it's a three, this is only because I prefer books with a little more meat. However, as a resource tool, and an introductory book, this is a great book. Oman Shannon covers over 50 different prayer practices, and covers them in a way that make them easy to understand and she offers suggestions at the end of each chapter on how to incorporate them into your daily life. This allows a person to start thinking about how prayer can be adapted into your own life.

I recommend this book to anyone looking for a great introduction to prayer practices, or a great personal reference tool for thier academic or personal conquests.

Yes, this book is about prayer. It is a guidebook for the spiritual person to integrate methods from many different traditions and beliefs into their spiritual development.

Several aspects of this book that really makes it especially rich include the large variety of cross cultural practices including activities and ritual which you might not have necessarily thought of before as "prayer".

Oman Shannon reminds the reader that prayer practice is best moved beyond the realm of our "juice draining" early religious training and into the world of sacred intention so that we can truly encounter the divine.

Each chapter outlines another prayer practice and includes a feature called "Suggestions for beginning the exploration." This tool is especially helpful as it continues the integration process.... I mean learning about these practices is interesting AND actually using them takes them to the next level.

I found the sections on "Chants", "Milagros", "Mastermind Groups" and "Forgiveness Practices" to be among the most beneficial... although I am sure as different scenarios appear in my life, different chapters will be applied and utilized.

Maggie Oman Shannon does such a great job of making devotion through prayer seen alluring, rewarding and even fun. I enjoyed learning about all the differnt methods of praying that I have heard about before but knew little about. Finding out about prayer bowls, tea ceromonies and prayer dancing was very interesting. Maggie shares many ways that whatever way of prayer we are interested in can become accessible to use immediately.

I enjoyed as the quotes from different traditions included and
learning about different cultures. The Way We Pray does a great job of giving the reader so many different ways to be spiritual that they can never get bored and always have more paths to explore. What an inspirational book.

Prayer may take many forms and be for an infinite variety of reasons. In The Way We Pray: Prayer Practices From Around the World, Maggie Oman Shannon provides a "compendium of prayer practices with enough context to acknowledge the cultural traditions behind them, while offering an invitation for further exploration."

Oman Shannon is a spiritual director, and founder of The New Story, an organization that helps people discover the deeper purpose to their lives. She's also a writer and editor, with a previous anthology of healing prayers to her credit.

Although many of us think of being on our knees with hands folded in front of us as the way to pray, practices as diverse as fasting, haiku, meditation, storytelling, and visual arts can all be a way of prayer. Oman Shannon quotes Catherine of Siena with the thought that "everything you do can be a prayer." What you physically do is of less importance than your sacred intentions. She says that prayer can become the "enfolding fabric in which we live our lives, and everything we do has the potential to be prayerful."

She describes over fifty ways of offering prayer. Each description details how that practice developed and how it has been used throughout time. Then Oman Shannon provides suggestions of how each method can be used in contemporary times, for contemporary difficulties. Each description is finished with a section containing several suggestions as to how individuals can explore that particular means of prayer to determine if it's something they can use.

An extensive resource section is provided to assist readers who want to investigate a particular practice in more depth.

Alan Jones, Dean of Grace Cathedral, has this to say in the Foreword: "The Way We Pray offers us a treasury of integrating spiritual practices [and] they all have the power to open us up to a deeper and more generous reality." Readers will find the Oman Shannon has provided an invaluable resource for discovering the power of prayer in the way best suited to meet their needs.