News and Media Books

If you ever thought that there was more to the UFO phenomenon than meets the eye - youre right! For me, this is THE book on UFOs. Brewer deals w/some raw and previously somewhat 'unmentionable' topics about the phenomenon that have rarely ever been discussed. In fact, he's the only author that I am aware of that's been brave enough to deal with some of the topics in this book. Regardless of where youre at spiritually, philisophically, paranormally (is that a word?), or scientifically, Brewer concisely provides some insights that will probably challenge your perspective on this topic. Of all the books I have ever read on UFOs, and ive read about 8, this one is hands down my All Time favorite and one that i strongly suggest to anyone who's actually been a part of close encounter! And its one of the few books that's scholarly but not egg headed. Nor is it the typical sensationalistic tabloidish type material that is so reflective of most books on this topic!! Its a great balance. its raw and its real research from a real eye-witness who's not afraid to discuss the more perplexing issues of the phenomenon that are typically avoided. We need more authors like this. I guess you could say I am a bit of a fan now.

If youre only going to read one book on the topic of UFOs...make it this one! Brewer, author of "Postmodernism: What You Should Know & Do About It" provides a concise, objective, scientific, theological and fun analysis of this phenomenon. He was also an eye-witness to the "Phoenix Lights" incident and so approaches the topic with a genuine objectivity.

Este libro me ha parido muy interesante y conmovedor. Mientras vas leyendo el libro te intrigas mas en lo que esta pasando con los personajes. Lydia es una joven que sufrio mucho por muchos años al igual que Ross y se conocen de una manera muy extraña llena de odio, tristesa y ternura. Me encanto el libro y lo recomiendo a todo el mundo. Para mi fue tan bueno que no queria soltarlo hasta terminar el gran final que es lo que mas intriga de todo.

El libro mantiene al lector necesitado de continuar leyendo para saber lo que ocurrirá luego. Cada capítulo termina estratégicamente dejando a su vez intriga por lo que continúa en la lectura. Me mantuvo cautiva y sedienta de leer más aún en el final. Para quien no le gusta leer, ésta lectura con su rico vocabulario y descripción hará viajar sus mentes y querrán que el libro no acabe nunca.

This book allows the reader to make comparisons to past and present teams and players, in a way that is easy and fun to read.
Whether you agree or disagree with these lists, this book is sure to generate some good conversation and debate among Giants fans, past and present. No Giants fan should be without this book!

This is an incredible book! Definitely a must have for any Giants fan! Get an inside look at the talent that made the Giants organization what it is today. This book reminds us fans of all the reasons we still follow this amazing team. Go Giants!!

This is a beatiful book carefully put together about a cherished topic...values within a famliy. It is a handbook for raising good kids. Our family atmosphere has changed since using such techniques as CAF (consider all factors), calling my children "My bright one", and standing firmly on the foundation of loving DISCIPLINE. You'd be crazy not to get this book!

Having recently loved the book, MARVA COLLINS' WAY by
Marva Collins and Civia Tamarkin, I was naturally excited to
find something else authored by this inspirational woman . . . in case you're not familiar with the name, she started her own
school in Chicago and made a difference in the lives of her
students.

Her VALUES: LIGHTING THE CANDLE OF EXCELLENCE,
A PRACTICAL GUIDE FOR THE FAMILY certainly did not
disappoint . . . it is a short but powerful collection of
essays about how all of us--not just teachers--can help to
raise good kids . . . get this valuable handbook if you're
a parent or grandparent, educator, or just plain interested
in helping children succeed in life.

Among the many memorable passages:
Think how many times a child will draw a picture and the
parent will say, "What is it?" The very words, "What is it?"
already say to your child, "Your picture is not very good
because I did not know what it was." Say instead, "What
a wonderful picture! Tell me about it."

How often do we begin to reprimand with the word Don't.
"Don't do this; don't do that." Try instead, "I think you are
making the wrong choice, bright one. Can you think of
a better choice?"

"Everybody hates me" is another statement used frequently
by the child who has learned to become a "victim." To this
question you might respond, "Everybody means everyone
in the whole world. This means people in China, Africa,
Switzerland, and places you have never visited, so how
could these people hate you?" Encourage your child to
conclude that not "everybody" hates him or her. Then say,
"Let's talk about the people you think hate you right now.
Can you think of anything that you may have done to
make you feel that these people hate you?"

I checked this book out from the library to read to my four-year-old daughter. We liked it so much we want a copy of our own. This is a story that rings true with my emotions as I recall my own childhood fears. Vera looks forward with eagerness to her first day of school, then becomes fearful when she approaches the schoolyard and finds it full of children. Children everywhere will identify with her sorrow when the day doesn't go as planned, and will also feel relief when everything turns out all right in the end.

Almost all children wait and wait and wait until THEY are old enough to go to school. This is grown-up stuff, they think. Those feelings, though, can become overwhelmed by realizing that perhaps, just perhaps, they are not the most grown-up person at the school.

This story helps children and parents alike to understand the feelings, perceptions, and realities of the first day of school.

Voices of the New Arab Public: Iraq, Al-Jazeera, and Middle East Politics Today boldly reveals that the era of monolithic Arab opinion are over. Examining how Al-Jazeera and other satellite television stations have revolutionized Arab journalism and politics by breaking state control over information, Voices of the New Arab Public particularly focuses upon the Al-Jazeera era in context of the challenges facing modern Iraq. Political science professor Marc Lynch offers a fascinating study of the history, present day, and future of new voices flourishing in the middle east.

'To see ourselves as others see us' (from Robert Burns) is not something that we are usually granted. In today's world Al-Jazeera is presenting us with that opportunity.

The Arab world is for the most part characterised by leadership that is less than ideal. In most Arab countries the news is heavily censored, controled or owned by a state that just wants its own views to be shown. These media had relatively little to tell us as they were simply parroting the governments view. ==In recent years, Al-Jazeera and other smaller satellite based news agencies have begun presenting a relatively unbiased news report that goes around the official government reporting.

This book is first a report on Al-Jazeera and the way it presents the news. Second, it offers a series of suggestions on how the United States can develop and improve its engagement with the Arab public sphere.

This is one of the few books to report on the Arab view, and further to discuss the changes in the information dissemination area. It is a book that deserves reading by anyone interested in developing a realistic view of the conflict that is emerging between the US and the Arab world.

This is to say thank you, Aya, for your thoughts, your words of wisdom, just for being.

P. introduced me to your book, WAY OF THE WARRIOR PRIESTESS....and your words set me on this incredible wonderful journey of life. As a woman of 47 years, a mother, a survivor, and above all a person with an insatiable appetite to grow and to learn, I have begun this awesome journey....

My life has been blessed, graced, and I am forever grateful to you for showing me that there is so much more than just existing.....

Aya's book is a wise and challenging work for both men and women. Her deep research into metaphysical texts (as well as everyday secret wisdom) create an inspiring guide to emancipatory guidelines for empowerment and self-realization.

I have been lucky to be mentored by someone who is mentioned in this book and inherited some of his ideas - so in some ways I was bound to love the concept of this book. I liked the examples Julia has used as they are very relevant and real, and go along well with what the book his about. I specially enjoyed he writing style.

I just finished reading "We Are The New Radicals" and if you are in your middle years and searching for a new, more meaningful beginning, I do recommend this book.

The bulk of the book is largely inspirational stories, interviews etc., drawing on examples of people from all walks of life who transformed their lives from a career to something they felt passionate about. Its more "Hero With A Thousand Faces" than "What Color Is Your Parachute". I like that about this book because this path is intuitive rather than cognitive and stories are more relevant to the process than facts and figures.

The final 25 pages of the book however do provide you with a workbook to help with the process of self-reflection if you are ready to make this kind of change in your life. Again I appreciate that because without it many readers would be left encouraged but with little direction as to where to look to find the path.

The book is written in a light, almost conversational style, including the workbook section which makes it accessible and in my opinion makes the idea seem less difficult and unusual than we might currently feel it to be.

I can speak with some authority regarding the process the book advocates as I went through my own radical transformation prior to reading it. My process was remarkably similar to the one proposed in the book and I consulted many of the same resources. I bought it to help me work with friends of mine who are feeling the urge to find more meaningful work but are not clear as to exactly what they should do. Some structure around this process really does help.

Rick Bateman
Founder
Social Circles Canada
socialcircles.ca

Ted Turner dreamed it. Sid Pike built it. The book's title, We Changed the World (Paragon House, 2005) -- is far from being immodest. The creation story of the CNN International satellite communications network evokes the American legends of stringing the intercontinental railway from sea to shining sea and the decade-long mission to land a man on the moon.

Sidney Pike apparently never heard of the words, "It can't be done," although there are certainly plenty of folk around shouting them in his ear. His task brings him to confront domestic and global communications bureaucracies and powerful political leaders around the world. Some suffer from such shortsightedness and ignorance that they cannot even comprehend the concept. Others comprehend it only too well, fearing the threat to their own vise-like grip on information. To accomplish the mission, he crisscrosses the globe many times, coming to feel that "home" is a Boeing 747. (He probably has enough Frequent Flyer miles to actually take up permanent residence in one.) From China to Bahrain, Argentina to Moscow, Iraq to Canada, Aruba to New Zealand, bit by bit, the International network grows, as Pike cajoles, explains, and hammers out agreements that inch the project forward. (The case of establishing the link in Guam is in itself a cheering vindication of the American yearning for the triumph of the underdog!)

In every case, Pike gives credit where it is due and pulls no punches about naming names where a hard punch in the nose is more appropriate ("Ted Turner is the worst deal maker I have ever known.") Even when the player is himself, Pike lays it down straight. On several occasions, his relation of a disagreement ends with "They fired me." His personal integrity and genuine belief in the value of this mission allow him to do no less. This sense of mission never intrudes into the narrative, but patently fuels the endeavor: a core belief in the power of free information exchange to ensure the viability of democracy. He's right, of course. For some portions of the world, the easy access to information that most of us take for granted is as dangerous to despotic power as an ICBM.

The saga is thrilling as a narrative alone, but sprinkled throughout are fascinating insights into the workings of the global communications industry, the inner wrangles of Ted Turner's corporate empire, and the arcana of trying to establish a new mindset for a twenty-first century world. Beyond that, it is both inspiration and proof-positive that "it" can, indeed, be done.
-- B. S. Horton, Ph.D., Technology Advocate. 2005.

The introduction of CNN's 24-hour cable news channel in 1980 changed the world of television, with satellite and cable providing a strong competitive alternative to tradition TV - and author Sidney pike was in the middle of the revolution, here explored in his We Changed The World: Memoirs Of A CNN Satellite Pioneer. Pike met with media and government leaders around the world trying to sell CNN programming, and was an early pioneer for the global television channels we know today. His memoir provides a first-person review of obstacles, achievements, challenges, and a rapidly-changing industry under transition to this day.

Charles Hugh Smith, Weblogs & New Media is a thought provoking and insightful analysis for anyone involved with developing and implementing a marketing strategy. As conventional media continues to dilute the overall impact of the messages that are blasted onto the airwaves - television, radio and print - it's more important than ever to understand how to market in an ever changing environment.

As an entrepreneur, what I found most interesting about the book is how it's caused me to rethink not only how and why I shape the messages that I do, but the strategies I use to increase and maintain my customer base. With blogs becoming a major "go-to" source for information, it's critical that anyone who is serious about developing a marketing campaign read this book.

Charles Hugh Smith's "Weblogs & New Media: Marketing in Crisis" is one of the most important business analyses I have ever read. It is the first to squarely face converging global crises from a business perspective: peak oil, climate change, resource depletion, and the junction of key social cycles will radically alter the business landscape in coming decades. As an entrepreneur I have been retooling my own business to meet these head on, but have felt hamstrung by marketing's insistence upon positivity even to absurdity and denial. "Weblogs & New Media" helped immensely by providing the conceptual framework I needed to move forward. Within this framework I can begin formulating strategy appropriate for the new global zeitgeist -- namely, trust as the new currency du jour. Moreover, Smith offers insights for building this trust via digital resources that business currently misunderstands and misuses, a criticism that will be familiar to Seth Godin fans but which has implications far beyond traditional marketing goals. "Weblogs & New Media" is essential reading for any entrepreneur who refuses to drink the business media kool-aid, and who wishes his or her business to remain viable even in times of crisis.