Research Books

Apologetics Concerning the Nature of Religion

Apologetics or is it antiapologetics, I have read Hodges arguments about cause and effect, primary and secondary causes in his work on systematic theology which was written a hundred years after this work. RC Sproulamong others discuss similar issues today with a contrary conclusion. David Hume's dialogue about the existence of God and the attributes of God does form some of the frame work for further philosophic and theological discussion. Some seems quite aimless like his discussion whether God is wholly other. Some theologians may make this statement and argument, but this certainly is not fundamentalist or scriptural perspective of God. What I found most interesting in this work is his discussion of causality. Mr. Hume's focus was on Natural theology or the idea that God could be perceived or not perceived through nature. But also included was knowing God through rationalization. To this he compared three notions:

{1} That there is a self existent Being who always existed, never created, and is the ultimate Cause of the whole universe. Something that never was caused, but is the cause of all else.

{2}That there is no ultimate cause. History is an infinite amount of causes and effects that has no starts or ends. Matter in some form has always existed and matter has always been in motion. Universe or galaxy may have a point of beginning, but not what it is composed of.

{3}At a point in time there was no matter, then at another point of time there was matter. The matter move in motion to develop things as we know it.

David Hume does not discuss the concept that simply nothing really exists. I would guess in an earlier work he had dismissed it in some form. It is my conclusion Mr. Hume found point one as absurd as point 2 or 3.

The other major focus of discussion in this work how an all knowing creator, who has all power, and has the capacity to perceive every thing that is going on can create a world that has the highest being of creation suffer pain and evil among each other. The argument is made in this work that the universe does not function in a rational manner, therefore such all knowing, all powerful and all powerful God does not seem to exist. Some reviewers consider it a complete debunk of intelligent design and it certainly a source of comfort for those who do desire.

With the possible exception of his incalculably influential A Treatise of Human Nature, this, I think, is Hume's finest work. The Dialogues is a paradigm of sustained philosophical argumentation on a single subject, and I can't think of a more inspiring work of philosophy. Another reason to read this book is that Hume is one of the few philosophical figures whose work is worth reading as literature. His prose is, of course, lovely and clear as can be; and the Dialogues is packed with the sort of evocative passages that readers of Hume except to find in his work. Furthermore, he's clearly mastered the dialogue format as a way of writing philosophy. He never turns his interlocutors into ciphers spouting the details of their respective positions. Each character has a forceful and distinct personality, and each of them comes to the debate with a well-defined position and adequate means of defending it. In short, I can't recommend this book highly enough.

Most of the Dialogues is devoted to discussion of a posteriori arguments for the existence of God. The main argument considered here is the classical argument from design, which Hume seems to understand as an analogical argument of the following sort: the complexity and order of the universe show that it is similar to artifacts created by human intelligences; similar causes have similar effects; therefore, the universe must have been created by a being with something like a human intelligence; therefore, the universe must have been created by God.

Hume's objections to this argument are legion, and many of the individual objections are both ingenious and forceful. He provides reasons for thinking that the universe isn't all that similar to artifacts created by human beings. He argues, for instance, that at least in some respects, the universe resembles animal or vegetable life more than it resembles artifacts created by human beings. Hume also provides for thinking that, even if we think the universe is similar to a human artifact, we ought to think the universe was created by a being quite unlike God. The relevant empirical evidence, he argues, provides us with no good reason to think that the universe wasn't created by multiple beings (large human artifacts are usually created by multiple beings), or that the being(s) who created it are still alive (human creators die), or that the being(s) who created it were infinite (it's not clear that creating the finite universe would have required infinite power), or that the being(s) who created it were morally perfect (the universe, with all its misery and despair, certainly isn't what one would expect from a perfect being). Furthermore, he proposes certain alternative naturalistic explanations of the existence and nature of the universe; and he claims that it's unclear why an appeal to divine creation is to be preferred to these speculative naturalistic stories of the universe's creation.

As I hope this all-too-brief synopsis suggests, Hume's cumulative case against the argument from design is quite impressive. It is, of course, possible to avoid some of these criticisms in various ways, and his speculative naturalistic explanations leave quite a bit to be desired. But the total case is a philosophical demolition par excellence. Indeed, I'm pretty sure that Hume has shown that the argument from design is more or less worthless as support for anything resembling traditional theism. So, if you're enamored of that argument, I suggest you pick up book and wrestle with the criticisms found here.

Now, this isn't all Hume discusses in the Dialogues. There's a section discussing a priori arguments for the existence of God; it focuses on arguments against a version of the cosmological (i.e. first cause) argument. And Hume's arguments concerning the cosmological argument also rule out any sort of ontological argument, as he claims that no sense can be made of the idea of a necessarily existing being. The book also includes a few some brief discussion of particular issues concerning religion.

Where, in the end, does Hume come down on the issue of theism? It's hard to tell, as it's not clear that any of the particular characters speaks for him. Philo, the character who often appears to be speaking for him, never denies the existence of a deity; he simply denies the ability of human reason to discover anything substantial about what such a being is like. That Hume agrees with this is, I think, the most we can glean from this text about Hume's own religious views. It seems clear that he has no sympathy for organized religion, or for any religious views that purport to describe the nature of God, His intentions, or how and why He created the universe as He did. And the only positive religious claim that is given respectful treatment here is the bare claim that we have reason to think that the cause of the universe as a whole is somewhat similar to a human intelligence.

But does acceptance of this minimal thesis amount to his being a theist? Again, it's very hard to tell. First, of course, one might wonder whether this fairly vague positive view is enough to amount to some form of theism. But let's put that issue to one side. Even if it is enough to support some form of theism, it's often difficult to tell whether Hume means to be advocating such a position here. The problem is that it often seems Hume's explicit advocation of this position amounts to little more than a description of what he thinks is an inevitable human tendency to think this way. Given how our minds actually work, he seems to think, we're bound to think something like this about the origin of the universe. Yet it's somewhat unclear that he thinks forming beliefs in this way is reliable. It may simply be that we have a brute instinct to think in a way that insures we'll see the world as resulting from some human-like intelligence, and it's at least not clear that that isn't a debunking account of the plausibility of theism. (For more support that this is a debunking explanation, see his The Natural History of Religion, where the explanations of various religious beliefs certainly seem to be one's that suggest those beliefs simply aren't plausible.)

David Hume made a reputation by writing on reason and its limits. The main thrust of the Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion is to question whether theological arguments for God that assign Him positive attributes (omniscient, omnipotent, omnibenevolent, etc.) go beyond reason's limits in assigning these attributes. We watch Cleanthes (believer in theological arguments), Demea (believer more on faith) and Philo (disbeliever in theology's efficacy) hash out whether reason and experience alone give us reason to say anything whatever about God.

Hume explores all of the major arguments for God's existence. First, the a posteriori argument is explored; the argument that just as seeing a house gives us reason to assume an architect and builder, seeing the world should give us reason to infer a designer. Hume (through the skeptical voice of Philo) sees much wrong with this argument. Why? Because the reason we infer a builder for a house is because experience has shown us that houses have builders, thus when we see a house, we assume that, like other houses we've seen, this one too has a builder. But experience does not tell us that where there is a world, there is a designer. The leap is extra-experiential. Further, even if we DID infer a designer, why infer just one? Houses have construction crews of multiple people; if we analogize between the house and the world, then why not infer that the world, too, might have infinite creators? (And why infer that the world's creator is omnipotent, if all that is needed to create something is to be more powerful than the thing created - no more, no less?)

Next, we go through the a priori argument - the argument from first cause. Hume (Philo) is quick to point out the obvious flaw with this. If everything needs a cause, then what caused God? If God is said to be eternally existing, then why couldn't the natural world - rather than God - be thought eternal instead? And further, why is a infinite chain of causes and effects so unimaginable, anyhow? (Isn't it just as sensical as an eternal God itself not caused?)

Lastly, Philo brings up the argument from evil. In a nutshell, Philo suggests that while theology sees all the perfections of the world, proclaiming them clear evidence of remarkable design, theologians dismiss or downplay the imperfections. If God is said to all-good Himself, then why did he create humans with such flaws? (one assumes that an all-powerful, all-good God could have avoided those errors).

Still, the main thrust of this book is that Philo, far from challenging whether God exists, challenges theologies capacity to assign ANY characteristics to God by reason and experience alone. Hume does a good job not only in outlaying arguments as to why reason is not capable of knowing a thing about God, but also in making believable dialogues (compared to Plato, whose characters are all made to be one-dimensional foils for "Socrates.") As in so many other areas, Hume was a pioneer in the realm of the philosophy of God. This book furnishes strong proof of that!

David Hume, a philosopher of the period often classified as British Empiricism, is the intellectual associate of philosophers John Locke and George Berkeley. Born in Edinburgh in 1711, he attended the University of Edinburgh but did not graduate. He went to France during his 20s, and spent time there working on what would become his most famous work, 'An Enquiry into Human Understanding', first published under the title 'Treatise of Human Nature'. However, Hume was a prolific writer, and dealt with many areas of philosophy, including politics and ethics, epistemology, and metaphysics. He wrote in the area of history as well, and had a politic career as British ambassador to France and a post as a minister in the government for a few years. His final work, 'Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion', was published posthumously in 1779, although work had begun on it as early as the 1750s.

Hume was very concerned about rationality. Hume was never publicly and explicitly an atheist, but his rational mind, concerned about sensory and intelligible evidence, led him to question and doubt most major systems of religion, including the more general philosophical sense of religion and proofs of the existence of God. The primary arguments in his 'Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion' deal with the Argument from Design, and the Cosmological Argument. There is an assumed distinction here between natural religion and revealed religion, an especially important distinction in the Enlightenment and post-Enlightenment philosophical structure.

- Natural Religion and Revealed Religion -
Natural religion is the idea that we come to know and understand God (and, consequently, what God wants or expects of us, if anything) simply from nature and our sensory perceptions, as well as our interpretations (emotion and rational) of this kind of understanding. From very early in his writing career, Hume attacked the idea of natural religion and most of its conclusions, drawing a sharp line between what we can actually know and what ends up being fanciful extrapolations based on other-than-rational ideas and evidence. Revealed religion is primary what most religions base themselves upon - the burning bush to Moses, the resurrection and post-resurrection appearances to the Apostles, the Buddha's enlightenment under the tree - these are examples of revelation. While Hume does take on the idea of revealed religion in his other works, this particular text does not concern itself with that topic, and stays in the domain of addressing natural religion.

- The Argument from Design -
Arguments from Design have always had a strong appeal to believers within religious frameworks; they have often been used as tools of evangelism, as attempts to show that beyond the revealed doctrines, the very nature of things points to a creator. In very short order, the Argument from Design in Hume's newly-industrial time might have read like this:

- Machines are designed by beings with intelligence.
- The world and the universe it is in resembles a machine.
- Therefore, the world must have been created by means of intelligent design.

This is an argument by analogy, and is convincing to some, but often more convincing to those already inclined to believe in the existence of God.

- The Cosmological Argument -
The Cosmological Argument is at once both more subtle and more simple. The most simple way of stating it would be that God is the 'first cause' of everything. If everything has to have a cause (even the whole universe), then that first cause must be God. In the twentieth century era of thinking of a universe that began with a Big Bang, it seemed to some that the Cosmological Argument was confirmed.

Hume would have been familiar with Leibniz's more subtle form of the Cosmological Argument, which argues for a world of infinite contingent causes. However, there has to be something outside of this system of infinite causes that produced the series - thus, even in a universe with no set beginning or ending, there would still need to be an overarching cause.

- Hume's Arguments -
Hume argues on many levels. His first criticism of the Argument from Design is that this analogy (as are most arguments from analogy) is faulty and not exact; we have no idea if the universe is like a machine. Even if it was, machines are often designed and built by several designers - why argue for one God rather than several? How do we know that matter and the universe don't have their own, internal self-organising principles?

With regard to the Cosmological Argument, the argument is a little more strained. Hume argues that, in any series of causality, once one knows about each cause, it makes no sense to inquire beyond the sequence of causes to some other effect. This is a very Empirical argument, to be sure, and while perhaps not entirely satisfying, it still has merit in philosophy to this day.

- Hume's Structure -
This is a dialogue, set up in the classical way of people talking with each other about the subjects. Hume draws primarily from Cicero, whose work 'On the Nature of the Gods' uses characters of the same names. However, whereas Cicero was concerned about the nature of the Gods (their attributes, powers, etc.) and not their existence, it is the very existence of God that occupies Hume's thoughts.

Hume, despite many years of work on this text, probably never quite thought it was finished. He left the work to Adam Smith (the noted economist, and friend of Hume in Edinburgh), who also thought the arguments against the existence of God were too strong, and likely too damaging to Hume's overall reputation. The tug-of-war over the publication makes for interesting reading in and of itself.

These are important arguments, worthy of discussion and dialogue in philosophy classes, theology classes, and among others who ponder the existence of God.

This short and artfully written book was published after Hume's death. Hume did not wish to experience the controversy engendered by the arguments advanced in the book. It is likely as well that Hume was concerned also with offending some of the moderate Presbyterian clergy who were his personal friends and had been his partisans in other controversies. This book is primarily an attack on the idea that the exercise of reason and logic provides support for religion, and particularly that application of reason leads to strong evidence for the existence of a beneficient God. This line of thought had become particularly popular among liberal theologians in the first half of the 18th century and was a widely held notion among Enlightenment intellectuals across Europe and North America. This idea is still widely held today and can be seen in the writings of the so-called 'intelligent design' advocates of creationism. Hume's criticisms, then, are not only of historic interest but continue to have relevance to our contemporary lives.

The Dialogues are constructed as a 3 cornered argument between three friends. Demea, a man upholding revealed religion against the idea that reason provides support for the existence of God. Cleanthes, an advocate of natural religion. Philo, a skeptical reasoner who attacks the positions held by Demea and Cleanthes. For those who like Hume's sprightly 18th century style, this is a fun book to read. Hume artfully divides some of his strongest arguments between Cleanthes and Philo, and gives the Dialogues the real sense of a dispute among 3 intelligent friends. Philo is generally taken to represent Hume's positions but Cleanthes articulates some strong arguments and provides some of the best criticisms of Demea's fideism. Much of the book is devoted to attacking the argument from design, which Cleanthes attempts to defend against assaults from Philo and Demea. In many ways, the argument from design is the major idea of those supporting the natural religion approach to existence of God. Hume's critique is thorough and powerful. It even includes an anticipation of Darwin's idea's of selection, though the basis for Hume's critique is primarily epistemological. In the later parts of the book, Hume attacks also the comsological argument for the existence of God, though this discussion is relatively brief and a bit confusing. Hume's analysis is consistent broadly with much of his philosophical work. In many ways, his great theme was the limitations of reason, and this book is an example of his preoccupation with the relatively limited role of reason in establishing certain facts about the universe. He finishes with short criticisms of the idea that religion is needed for a stable and well ordered society and defends the usefullness of skeptical reasoning.

It is important to view the Dialogues as part of a critique of religion that Hume sustained in several works. His Natural History of Religion, the On Miracles section of the Enquiry Concerning Human Understacing, and other essays comprise a broad criticism of religion. Other pillars of religion, such as the existence of miracles and revelation, are criticized in his other work. While Hume denied being an atheist and was apparently disturbed by the dogmatic atheism of French philosophes he met in Paris, he was certainly not religous in any conventional sense.

This is a short and very readable book but the power of its arguments are totally out of proportion to its length.

The Iran-Contra era. From start to finish, it was as though it was yesterday. James "Scotty" Scott timelessly elevates the era to a new level of intrigue, weaving politics and secret conspiracies across continents, bringing them through decades to a thrilling conclusion. One of the better suspense novels and authors I've read, actually exceeding the writings of more popular writers of intrigue and mystery today. You never know where truth leaves off and fiction enters in, which makes it a great and relevant read today - even as the era it exposes. Put this book and author at the top of your list! Scotty, I understand you have another in the wings. Bring it on!

Don Carmichael, author, Warriors of Peace

Well, I have just added another person to my list of must read auhtors. This is definitel my kind of book to read! Loaded with intrigue, thrills and action galore! Mr. Scott has written a real winner here and I highly recommend that others take it up as well!

This book should come with a seatbelt. You will be holding on as the action races ahead, hoping you can last longer than some of the characters. Scott, a retired Army officer, served during the period this action takes place. While a work of fiction, his knowledge of places and events makes it all seem plausible and exciting. It is very fast paced,and just when readers think they might have it all figured out, bang, there's a new twist. If your bookshelf is filled with international intrigue and adventure, then you will want to add this one.

I have never read a book twice - until I got my hands on this masterfully written book. Not only could I not put it down the first time, but the second time was the same. I was so amazed at the multi-dimensional plots presented by James Scott during the first read that I did not fully absorb the vivid description of characters and locations. It was obvious that Scott "had been there" in all of the locations provided as backdrops to the story line. Also evident was his deep understanding of the human mind and its motivators. Greed, lust, and the role of power propel the reader in a breathless page-turning experience. I don't know which I look forward to the most - the movie version or the next Scott novel.

I purchased the book when I met the author, Mr. Scott (who promised me I'd like the story) as we talked at the Ft McPherson Mini-Mall. I must admit I was not disappointed. As a civil servant who works with military and civilians, I've seen some of the same types of characters reflected in the story. Mr. Scott captures their ambition mixed with greed which leads to this wonderful web of spiders and flies. Having been a Northern Virginia resident for many years, I found myself running through the streets of Crystal City and Alexandria along with lead character Ed Holloway who tries desparately to keep his weakneses in check while setting record straight. The Iran-Contradictions is certainly on par with products by Dan Brown or Robert Ludlum. I liked it so much I chose it a my selection for my book club members to read. A great debut Mr. Scott.

The book presents a lot of novel methods, in particular those related to biophysical nanotechnology and microwave technologies, that cannot be found in other textbooks.

This is an outstanding overview of the entire field of biophysics methods. The textbook presents the most important biophysics topics including fascinating biophysical nanotechnology and proteomics methods. The author uses lots of figures and does a marvelous job describing complex issues in fairly easy to comprehend terms. It is fun to read this book.

This is a fantastic textbook on biophysics methods and techniques. I found it particularly useful for those who are theoreticians and computer modelers. As a theoretical biophysicist, I work on protein folding, protein structure prediction and ligand-receptor binding studies, and I was constantly looking for a book which contains all important and up-to-date experimental methods and techniques to better understand our experimental colleagues' work. Now I found it! If you are also looking for a book for introductory as well as advanced topics in biophysics methods, this book might be the one you are looking for. It essentially covers all the new and important subjects of this field. I found the chapters about proteomics, ion mobility spectrometry, and mass spectrometry, particularly interesting. I will try to include some of the material in the course "Biophysical Chemistry"(a graduate level course) that I am co-teaching, and I will strongly recommend this book to those who are interested in biophysics.

This book presents a review of various biophysical methods, most of them developed or significantly revised in recent years, for the use of studying biomolecules. The author illustrates each technique with lots of figures (makes me to remember the old phrase "one figure is worth more than thousand words") and also provides a good bibliography for each technique. The book also assembles the information that is hard to find from a single source. I enjoyed reading the book and recommend it for beginners as well as advanced users.

I highly evaluate this book as an important contribution to biophysics. There are many students interested in this book.

This book is vastly superior to any other I have read on the subject of measurements. One gets the impression that Will Kaydos definitely knows whereof he speaks. Early in the book, Kaydos provides a measurement model that is applicable to any kind of process and at any level - organisational, process, functional or individual. Several realistic examples permeate the book and two detailed case studies in the appendices add immensely to the value the reader can derive from it.

This is one of a handful of books on performance metrics I recommend to peers and clients. The author starts with one of the most cogent set of reasons for measuring performance that I've read. These reasons are compelling, reinforced with realistic examples, and clearly articulated. He then briefly discusses the art and science of measurement, and associated standards, techniques and methods. I especially liked his "Measuring the Unmeasurable" advice, which knocks down mental barriers and shows how you can, indeed, measure indicators that you may think are unmeasurable.

The approach he sets out is systematic and encompasses performance measurement in not only manufacturing, but in services and sales. In fact, Appendix C, "Implementing a Formal Selling Process", shows just how wide the scope of this book is. I've worked in technical pre-sales support and was thoroughly impressed with his approach.

Among the aspects of this book I especially like are the techniques he explains, the way you are lead through the development of an effective measurement system by identifying what to measure, implementing the system, analysis and interpretation, and actionable use of performance measures. Moreover, the way the author knits together a system based on multiple perspectives, taking into account strategic, customer, departmental and company-wide views is insightful. I also like the chapter on ensuring measures are showing an accurate picture, and the benchmarking information in Appendix A, "What Some Leading Companies are Measuring".

In my opinion this is a "must-have" book for anyone involved in operations, process improvement, or who has P&L responsibilities and wants to manage by fact - the right facts.

Will Kaydos did actually a very good work. This book addresses to top management officers who wish to change to a more customer orientated approach and implement Performance Measurement in every aspect of their business. Well structured and easy to read with significant information on effective management. There are no equations or weird stuff in this book, because the author wishes to explain the core of this subject: how to implement performance measurement everywhere. This is a great book for industrial engineers, CEO's, Sales Managers, HR managers, Quality assurance officers and anyone involving with performance.

A terrific business improvement reference applicable to a wide range of business and their operations. Consultants and managers will especially value Kaydos' insights into the role of metrics in supporting culture change. The case studies are well chosen with clearly presented implementation examples and informative detail.

"Operational Performance Measurement" is a must read if you are committed to improving your business or the business of your clients.

The book features procedures for identifying what to measure and specific steps readers can take to determine what to measure. It's a useful guide for figuring out what to measure for a specific organizational need, but requires some knowledge of measurement terminology. While I found it a useful guide as a performance and scorecard consultant, some of my clients found it a bit daunting. Good models and examples throughout.

Product Strategy for High technology Companies by Robert Cooper. I purchased the book with the intention of getting my professional certification in product management. The is extremely helpful in the area of product planning and development. It links the technology strategy of a company to its product platform development strategy down to its product line planning strategy. I like the way the book is structured, building up from vision to techniques. His case studies / examples (though not in depth)are very good in illustrating what he was trying to say.

the Core Strategic Vision approach for determining strategy is interesting, and is a good framework to develop a realistic vision.
The boundaries test to determine whether your vision will deliver what you expect (it forces you to expect something!) is something companies can't forget.
And the vision of a set of product's as not only one offering, but as one containing a platform and its pre-planned offerings, with pricing strategy, is essential to get profits for a long time.
It is full with examples, specially from the software arena. Recommended.

This book offers a study of the strategic options for high tech firms. The coverage is wide and detailed. This is a great book.

A big number of business examples, and good explanation of concepts. A deeper vision could be found in another books about this subject, so in my oppinion this book could be a good starting point, not recomended for advanced IT product managers.

I love this book: the concept of a "vector" for product
development is a terrific way to think about competition.
IMHO, this book is a must-read for all product managers,
product marketers and people involved in strategic decisions,
i.e. all senior executives.

That said, speaking as a five-time startup engineer, the advice
and examples in this book seem geared towards the core product
lines in larger companies, where you can credibly talk about
"two years from now" as opposed to wondering if you'll even be
in business, which is also the problem for new product lines at
large companies. The experience for the book comes from the
PRTM consulting firm, which was made famous for their work with
parallel product development at Intel. We hired them in the
early days at Inktomi, and found mixed success with their
process because we were terrified of immediate failure, and
they wanted to talk about version 3. Obviously, there's a
successful middle ground because Inktomi was a huge success in
the short term, but ultimately lost its strategic direction.

"Realism"- A more fitting description of this book could not have been found. The creators have developed perhaps the best resource book and teaching aid on structural anatomy I have had the pleasure to utilize.

My school added this book to their library, and it has helped me a great deal. Very detailed and clean images. I've recommended it to all my classmates.

I've used this book as a guide to human body sculpting. This book has given me a better understanding of muscle structure as I built my clay model from the skeletton, and then adding muscles. I recommend it to any artist who strive to represent the human body with accuracy, be it in 3D or 2D.

I always found it difficult to relate to the way individual muscles act alone or in groups to shape and to move the human body. Page after page this book brings a simplicity to a complicated form and trust me on this one...you will have a greater appreciation of the functional body when you aquire this atlas.

I have used my REALISM book countless times as a student of anatomy, and as a practicing massage therapist. The outstanding images in REALISM capture the detail of each bone intricately and each muscle so clearly. As a student learning origins and insertions of muscles this book was invaluable, and as I educate my clients about their own bodies; explaining where muscles are or why somethings hurting etc. I am constantly reffering back to REALISM whether it's to show someone where a muscle is on their body or to refresh my own understanding. I would recommend this book to anyone whether you are a student of anatomy, working in a field where you need to know detailed anatomy, or someone who simply wants to understand their body structure a whole lot better!

If you are interested in developing new skills in how to do the relationship dance, this is the book for you. Fearless Loving is a must read. It doesn't matter whether you're currently in relationship, whether you would like to be in a relationship, married, single, recently split up, or divorced. Rhonda has a talent for bringing together concepts and distilling them into bit size, chewable skills for taking action, which most any one of us can implement, given our commitment.

This book is a valuable tool for me, personally and for my sixteen year marriage/partnership. I'm finding new ways to really listen, communicate, to set boundaries, to clarify perceptions, to honor my feelings and to play.

Fearless Loving also offers an insightful and helpful protocol for people who are interested in a new way to date. I highly recommend this book to my friends and anyone interested in Love.

Rhonda Britten just gets it. This book is so wonderful. She can guide you along your path to loving in a way you never thought you could, but always wanted to. The most poignant truth for me is that everyone is innocent. That's so hard to think and act on, but she's so right about it. I would have everyone believe me innocent until proven guily, so it only seems fair for me to believe that about everyone else. This book will help you with understanding any type of love and how to do it best! She never coaches you to be someone you're not, and even highly discourages behaving as if you were playing a game. She teaches you how to test your prospective partner, or current partner so you can hear what they're not saying (which is more insightful than what they are saying). Rhonda will fill you full of courage and you will feel that you can love confidently without ever sacrificing who you are, or ever compromising what you need from a loving relationship.

Fearless Loving is well-written and packed full of useful tools that if followed will send you on your way to building new love relationships, enhancing the one's you already have and uncovering and discovering the ways in which we block or deny ourselves love. The author jumps into the trenches with you as she reveals her own personal experiences. This approach made it feel real and tangible. The best self-help book I've read in a long time!!

If you've ever been through divorce -- if you've ever had a failed relationship and aren't quite sure why things couldn't have worked out better -- if you're tired of playing relationship roulette -- READ THIS BOOK!! It's the guidebook for finding and keeping love that you've been looking for. And don't forget to read Fearless Living, too! It's your ticket to freedom and to the real YOU!

ok, i only first heard of Rhonda by watching the TV reality show "starting over" + then got hooked onto watching the amazing clarity with which she brought women from all walks of life to.
so my roomate bought this book to assist her from dating another jerk, and boy, is this book stellar! its not thick, not complicated, but really packs an emotional + mental punch. i have even more respect for this woman, who has been through so much + has found a way to positively help others. i've been telling all open-minded pals of mine who really do want to change any "failures" they have to read this. its really good stuff!

Very thorough and easy to read. Included all pertinent information from theorist, models of learning, taxonomies, to styles of student learning and much more. Each chapter was concise and to the point.

I am studying education at the moment and this book has been an excellent source of reference. I would recommend this to other education students.

Wow, I could've used this one year ago for my first nurse clinical class! This book starts off very promising. It is going to help you grab that elusive thing all teachers want, a class that doesn't put your students in a COMA. The part on learning theory is well explained with examples that pertain to us nurses. There are some basics on the nuts and bolts of instructing a class, again geared towards nursing. Part 2 is where I realize I'm not going to be teacher of the year with this book alone. After switching to patient teaching goals for awhile then we dive into multicultural concepts. I foud the chapter on multiculturalism to be ineffectual and sparse with no real expertise. I wonder why it was included in the book, perhaps it was there to meet an imposed standard. Part 3 is redeeming with some practical and useful ways to turn the learning on in the classroom. This book is useful for a new nurse educator in that she has lots of strategies to choose from with a good base understanding. The experienced instructor caught in the habit of stuffy lecturing can learn new tricks. Overall, this is a good book for beginners and a resource to expand upon.

As a future nursing educator I found this book to be indispensable. Over the past fifteen years of my nursing career, I have been in virtually every nursing educational setting. For this reason I have collected numerous books and nursing resources on the subjects of cognitive processes, learning and teaching techniques. This book by far pulls all the information together, and it will become the most utilized of my collection. The information is laid out in a logical format that starts with the basic concepts, theories, objectives and goals of learning. She then moves on to explain how to prepare and conduct classes. She concludes with the testing and evaluation process. DeYoung takes you gradually through everything you need to know to formulate and conduct a classroom setting that is both stimulating and achieves the goal of educating nurses to become critical thinking, problem-solvers. Her work employs the latest research on learning/education and at the end of every chapter she reinforces learning through case studies, critical thinking exercises and ideas for future research. Any nursing educator within the academic setting or within the clinical area would benefit from this text. She has made the material easy to understand for the beginning educator and advanced enough for the expert. I wish I had had this resource at the start of my career. I absolutely recommend this book.

As a future nursing educator I found this book to be indispensable. Over the past fifteen years of my nursing career, I have been in virtually every nursing educational setting. For this reason I have collected numerous books and nursing resources on the subjects of cognitive processes, learning and teaching techniques. This book by far pulls all the information together, and it will become the most utilized of my collection. The information is laid out in a logical format that starts with the basic concepts, theories, objectives and goals of learning. She then moves on to explain how to prepare and conduct classes. She concludes with the testing and evaluation process. DeYoung takes you gradually through everything you need to know to formulate and conduct a classroom setting that is both stimulating and achieves the goal of educating nurses to become critical thinking, problem-solvers. Her work employs the latest research on learning/education and at the end of every chapter she reinforces learning through case studies, critical thinking exercises and ideas for future research. Any nursing educator within the academic setting or within the clinical area would benefit from this text. She has made the material easy to understand for the beginning educator and advanced enough for the expert. I wish I had had this resource at the start of my career. I absolutely recommend this book.

Let's face it. Most sales people we come in contact with drone on about what they think is gonna make you buy. Wahburn and Wallace have revealed profound conclusions of what customers want to hear, based on hundreds of research questionaires conducted with customers of highly successful companies. I've been in sales for 17 years and I gave up on reading sales books because they were not helpful. This one is different. It immediately helped me improve my presentation that I've been giving for the last 11 years. I thought it was as good as it was gonna get. Wrong. I'm making more money and saying what customers want to hear. Even better, more customers are saying what I want to hear. Buy the book. You won't regret it.

I have heard of different personality types for years, how to pick them out and what to do after you know their type, but it was always so complicated. The authors make it VERY easy to pick out the personality type, then they tell you what to do with the information. They give excellent examples from their own work with clients over the years.

This is not one of those books that is just an advertisement for their consulting or their seminars. Each of the three personality types is clearly described. A simple trick is given to remember how to pick each personality type. Then many real life examples of how to sell to that presonality type. All the authors have left for you is to modify the examples to the products you are selling, modify the presentation you already use so that it targets the three personality types in 4 or 5 areas and you will be selling in a way your client likes to buy.

What if you are doing group sales with a mixture of personality types in the same room? It is covered in this book.

This book is too good and too cheap not to get and read. The contents are too easy to not put into practice.

I am a CPA and Harvard MBA and have sold sophisticated tax shelters on a commission basis for years. This is one of the finest books on salesmanship I have ever read.

It is grounded in excellent theory, yet it presents the information in a simple manner that is easy to understand AND easy to implement.

The book focuses on two areas:

1) Know where your customer is in the buying cycle. a)Is he committed to do something yet, or not. b)Is this a repeat of a prior purchase or not? c)Is he evaluating alternatives? d)From whom will he buy the product or service selected? e)Is the price right?

2) Different personality types buy in different manners. The book describes three types. a)Commander (take-charge, action-oriented leaders) b)Thinker (logical, analyze details, and like knowing the answers), and c) Visualizer (practical, intuitive, see things as they are).

A buyer is interested in certain information at each STAGE in the buying cycle. Additionally, each personality prefers to receive their information in a different manner. By recognizing the buying stage and the personality of the buyer you are trying to persuade, you can choose the most compelling arguments to make every time. This will avoid 90% of the turn-downs other salespeople get when trying to close a sale.

I have read other books classifying personalities into 9 or 16 types. Other authors define 8 or 11 stages of a sale. By using 5 stages in their DREAM sales cycle, and 3 personality types, I think Washburn and Wallace have done salespeople a GREAT service. These categories are well defined, easy to identify, and easily utilized to increase sales with their strategies.

Readers looking for more advanced strategies in these areas can try Kerry Johnson's "Sales Magic" and "Selling the Way Your Customer Buys" by Marvin Sadovsky and Jon Caswell. However, I feel Washburn & Wallace's "Why People Don't Buy Things" has the ideal mix of quality content which works, is easily digested, and implementable. I recommend it wholeheartedly.

Great book on why we sometimes let the big one slip away. Full of ideas and case studies to help anyone selling anything to better position their product/services and ultimately sell more.

I refer to this book on a regular basis to train my sales force. It reinforces what we have been working on for several years AND the results are there. Great job Harry and Kim.

The Wright brothers were an amazing team. Working part time, these two previously undistinguished bicycle dealers from Dayton, Ohio, solved a problem that had baffled, frustrated and defeated (sometimes fatally) some of the most well-educated, well-capitalized and well known scientific entrepreneurs of their and all prior time. The story of how and why they succeeded in creating and flying the first airplane is not only fascinating, but also rich in didactic value for parents, teachers and businesspeople. Author Mark Eppler does an admirable job of drawing you into the story of the Wright brothers. We relishe the problem-solving principles he defines, which are, at times, refreshingly unorthodox. He abstracts these principles well and phrases them clearly, but the best demonstration of the principles lies in his retelling of the Wright brothers' absorbing story. A very good book indeed.

The Wright brothers were an amazing team. Working part time, these two previously undistinguished bicycle dealers from Dayton, Ohio, solved a problem that had baffled, frustrated and defeated (sometimes fatally) some of the most well-educated, well-capitalized and well known scientific entrepreneurs of their and all prior time. The story of how and why they succeeded in creating and flying the first airplane is not only fascinating, but also rich in didactic value for parents, teachers and businesspeople. Author Mark Eppler does an admirable job of drawing you into the story of the Wright brothers. Relishing the problem-solving principles he defines, which are, at times, refreshingly unorthodox. He abstracts these principles well and phrases them clearly, but the best demonstration of the principles lies in his retelling of the Wright brothers' absorbing story. A very good book indeed.

I have made it a point to read all the best selling business books to keep abreast of any new concepts in selling and management. Most books are long on theory and short on application. Or worse, very entertaining, but lacking enough detail do to anything more than enjoy the read!

The Wright Way is masterfully written to offer the reader problem solving principles related to issues that companies are experiencing NOW along with an added bonus of historical context and current events that emphasize relevancy. Technology has made it possible for companies of all sizes to become global thereby increasing the challenges (problems) a business can face. Mr. Eppler presents the reader with an outline that companies can employ whether the problem be related to technology, product lines, facilites, mergers, markets or culture within the organization. The Wright Way is not only a read, but a re-read!

It is not often that you can pick up a "managment principles" book and find it to also be entertaining and inspiring. This book is. One might think, or expect, that The Wright Way would be a "gimmick book", rehashing old managment principles with a Wright brother's twist, just to capitalize on the publicity surrounding the 100th anniversary of the first heavier than air flight. Not so. The obvious exhaustive research that went into this book reflects the authors passion about "how" the Wright brothers did what the did, not just what they did. As the CEO of a $6 million not-for-profit business, the "seven principles" struck home for me. For starters, from now on I'm going to tackle the tyrant at the get go! Enjoy this eassy, fun, and useful read.

This book is a great idea! Take one of the greatest inventions of the 20th Century and breakdown the framework that lead to its creation.

The book is well researched and the author's conclusions about the Wright Brothers appear to be firmly grounded in fact and history. My only criticisim, and it is minor, is the book would have been a 5-star if the author had included more modern business management examples to support his 7 problem solving techniques. Curent business solution stories that parallell the Wright Brothers techniques would have really hammered the points home.

Overall, excellent book.