Florida Books

We took this book on our return trip to Disney. We hadn't been there in 6 yrs and didn't want to miss anything that was added since our last trip. This book was great! It had information on everything from how to get there, where to stay,getting familiar with the area, dining out, all about Disney, exploring the rest of Orlando, and Orlando nightlife. It finishes up with 2 top ten lists, "Top ten cheap alternatives to the parks." and "Top ten fitness activities". It had an adult review and a child's review of everything. It had several game plans for seeing everything you want to see, including how to take advantage of fastpasses and what were the peak times in each part of the parks, restaurant reviews and prices, everything. It wasn't just a book about Disney. When we say it had everything, we mean it! We highly recommend this book for getting the most out of your vacation to Florida.

Living only two hours away from Disney, we visit the Orlando area attractions several times a year, so this book is the perfect companion for getting the most out of each trip. Not only does it include the most up-to-date information on the Magic Kingdom, it also covers Animal Kingdom, Universal Studios, Epcot -- even the non-Disney parks and nightlife and dining. (After all, the trip isn't just for the kids!) The writing is easy to read, entertaining and clear, too. A definite must for anyone planning a daytrip, a weeklong vacation or a monthlong holiday.

Jim and Cynthia did an absolutely fantastic job on this publication. I have read many reviews and help books and this one is, hands down, the best one ever. The writing style is phonomenal as well as it provides much insight on Florida, Disney, attractions......anything you want to know is in this book in a very in-depth, easy-to-follow, and fun manner.

An asset to any traveller, Disney fanatic, travel researcher...this book has endless uses.

I would highly recommend this book to everyone and everyone whether you are travelling or not.

Fantastic! 10/10

I bought this to help find places my husband and I can go for short 2-3 day holidays. This book has a lot of information about barriers that most able-bodied people take for granted - ie, gravel walkways vs hard surface, etc. It's divided by regions so you can easily find whatever is available in any given area - for example: Horse& buggy rides with lock-downs for wheelchairs, ramps into pools, accessible rental condos, fishing trips, accessible canoeing, water parks with ramps etc. This will be put to very good use this year!! No excuses now!

I was a little reluctant at first to purchase this book because of the price and being disappointed in another access guide I had purchased. Also, I don't use a wheelchair on a regular basis. After reading a review, I decided to give it a try and I am so glad I did. Its detailed descriptions of the tourist attractions made it easy for me to decide if the attraction would meet my needs. I never realized how many activities were available for those who use wheelchairs. It opened my eyes to so many things I had not even thought about doing. And the accommodations listed are not just motels! The list includes campgrounds, cabins, B & B's, houses, condos, even houseboats and an RV. There is also an appendix chock full of helpful resources. Thank you Wheelchairs on the Go. This book is a real gift to the disabled community and a bargain at twice the price!

Wheelchairs on the Go: Accessible Fun in Florida (by Michelle Stigleman & Deborah Van Brunt, 424 pages, ISBN: 9664356-5-6 , USA: $24.95) is a comprehensive guide for any resident or traveler with ambulatory difficulties who would like to have fun in Florida. Michelle and Deborah have covered hundreds of locations and listed the available aids and pitfalls for challenged travelers. You can look up any city or any activity and learn how to adjust or plan your travels, or whether it is not advisable for those with limitations. The authors list so many aids and so many fun activities that anyone who has hesitated to travel because of physical disabilities will want to make Florida a top destination. Every kind of fun activity and attraction is covered, describing the potential barriers and how to overcome them. An EXCELLENT guide book for those who need it, including people who use canes and walkers, or simply can't walk very far. Additions and updates to the book will be posted

Lots of people have ideas and books about what the 21st century church should be like. Because of this, I didn't have high expectations by the title of this book. However, I was soon surprised and excited. The author/pastor is authentic from the start about his testimony and then leads into why & how they started their church, "Without Walls." Many testimonies are shared throughout the pages of people whose lives have been radically changed and who now serve in their church. Great ideas are given as to how to start creative outreaches, helping reach the forgotten in our society. I highly recommend this book! Be prepared to be challenged in your ideas about people and outreach.

The actual title of this book is "Without Walls: God's Blueprint for the 21st Century Church". This book on restoration and evangelism ministries in Tampa, Florida is a great example of what can be done if people will get their focus on the comission of Christ. Recommended reading for any church seriously trying to reach its community with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

A church without walls. What a concept! This book reminds me of a church 2000 years ago that operated without walls. This is not to imply that a church should not own or rent a building (there are other books that do say this), but that church ministry must not take place ONLY within the walls of your facilities. In this awesome story about Randy White, he shares his victories (awesome!) and his failures. He even candidly discusses his marriage failure, in which he never passes the blame on anyone else exept himself. (That greatly impressed me.) I have given this book to several of our key leaders in our church and every one of them has been greatly impacted. The challenge has been accepted...the challenge to step outside our 4 walls and enter into the world...the world of hurting people...and touch their lives. We touch them in practical ways. We touch them in relevant ways. We touch them in spiritual ways. Being a church without walls is a messy mission. It's not neat and tidy like we'd all like. We must count the cost. But the fruit of seeing lives changed...of witnessing hurting people receive their healing...oh man, is it worth the price! Get this book. Give it to your church leaders. Just maybe your church will end up "without walls."

Objectively chronicling one of the most affluent zip codes in America per capita, this eponymous book by South Florida's foremost historian is the only history extant. Once again Bramson has rescued "the old Florida" story from oblivion. The photographs, several from the author's nonpareil personal collection, are a lagniappe. This book is up to the author's past high standards for accuracy and readibility. Once again, Bramson scores a solid 5 stars.

SETH DID A TREMENDOUS JOB OF SERVING UP THE HISTORY AND FLAVOR OF FOUR NEIGHBORING COMMUNITIES.

This book is a terrific guide to the real Florida. The directions (both to the trailheads and on the trails) are easy to follow and accurate. The descriptions include interesting bits about flora, fauna, and geography as well as the occasional snippet of Florida history. It's an outstanding book for someone wondering how to get into the woods in central Florida; even those who hike central Florida regularly will find some new gems to explore. This is a great guidebook!

This is a hiking guide that has it all. Not only does it give clear directions on how to find the trails and precise information such as length and degree of difficulty, it includes lyrical narratives of the beautiful and interesting sights you will see as you hike.
For those who think of Central Florida as a land of theme parks and T-shirt shops, this book will open their eyes to the natural beauty that still exists, just minutes away from the tourist attractions.

This book is excellent. It really accomplishes its learning objectives. Great demonstration problems. Overall a better book than many of the new books out there.

I speak from my own experience with the 3rd edition of Accounting Principles: this text comes from masters of teaching. Rather than begin with definitions, the authors first submerse you into the course of thought by describing a business problem, then deploy accounting concepts designed to solve it. They grudge no efforts making sure that you understand them correctly-and you do, because the partition between the teacher and the student is removed. Highly recommended.

Al-Ashmawy begins by explaining how the Ancient Egyptian religion was essentially monotheistic (even before Akhenaten) though there were many aspects of God. An Egyptian religious text that he quoted sounded almost exactly like it could have been an Islamic writing. He then goes on with a long list of similarities between the Ancient Egyptian religion, Judaism, and Christianity. His purpose in this discussion is to point out that since all these religions have a common thread these religions should be able to peacefully coexist. "One religion, many paths." It not a true Islamic belief to reject everyone that is not of the same exact faith, even though over the millennia religion has been one of the greatest causes for war and schism.

Muhammad Said Al-Ashmawy is a former chief justice at the high court at Cairo. Even though I'm sure that some would attack his views as "modernist", he is a true Muslim and extensively cites the Qur'an to justify what he is saying.

After going of the basics of Islamic history, he calls for the politics of a land to be more or less separated from the religion. There should be a civil code based on the religion and with the politics working within this code. Just because the Umma was controlled by the Caliphate in history does not mean it is the only kind of Islamic government. He shows that the Qur'an does not prohibit democracy. This is how he describes a government that will serve Islam: "This government will care about education, culture, science, art, history, literature and civilization. It will encourage cooperation, understanding, planning, constructive labor and self-sacrifice. It will understand Islam as mercy rather than a sword, amity rather than enmity. It will offer Islam to all humankind as a way to God, a method for progress and a path for mercy. This the new and true Islamic government."

In the third portion of the book Al-Ashmawi goes into detail on specific laws that the Qur'an provides. He mentions repeatedly that Shari'a means "path, method, or way" and that what is called Islamic Law today is something that evolved out of Islamic jurisprudence. There are only four ayahs in the Qur'an prescribing particular punishments for crimes. He goes through and explains all the basic legal tenets and their stipulations for being used (punishments, zakat, hijab, jihad, etc). He is not trying to change the Qur'an, only to look at it from a 20th century perspective instead of a 7th century perspective. He willingly admits that not all that was done in Islamic history was perfectly done, and that the key to the future is not necessarily to look to the past. In a very well written conclusion he explains the difference between fanatical, extremist, militant beliefs and the liberal, intellectual, enlightened approach.

"This movement believes that everyone has the right to free speech and to express ideas and opinions the way he or she chooses. If these opinions prove to be correct, they will benefit the community; if not, they should be debated decently and not suppressed by any means.

"Finally this movement believes that men and women have equal rights--the right to free speech, the right to work, and to drive a car. Women should never be under the custody of anyone. If humanity has obligations to God, it also has rights. Humanity's first and major right is to be free, with free mind and free conscience, rather than enslaved by anyone, any political power, any religious group or any false media.

"To the liberal, intellectual, enlightened movement, jihad is self control. If jihad applies to war, it should only be applied for self-defense. To the liberal, intellectual, enlightened movement, each human being is a word of God and is entitled to every human right. To this movement, justice precedes punishment, the spirit is more important than the text and humanity is one community."

If you are familiar with the writings of Rifa‘a Rafi‘ al-Tahtawi, Muhammad ‘Abduh, Ahmad Lutfi al-Sayyid, Taha Husayn, ‘Ali ‘Abd al-Raziq, Muhammad Husayn Haykal, Kasim Amin, Tawfik Al-Hakim, Nagib Mahfuz and all the liberal intellectuals of Modern Egypt, you would definitely add the former chief justice of Egypt Supreme Court Said Al-Ashmawy to this great enlightenment movement - "tanwir". It is not fair to summarize this book or any of Ashmawy's like "History of Kilafa", "Gawhar Al-Islam", "Roots of Islamic law" or "Al-Sharia Al-Islamia", "Ma'alim Al-Islam" and "Political Islam"; you need to read them carefully. His books are meant to shock you if your Islamic teachings are limited to school books, Badawin TV shows or Friday prayer speeches. This writer has a message and he is risking his life for his ideas after a thorough research in International Law, Egyptian Constitution, Islamic Studies and Literature, Greek and Egyptian Ancient History and Philosophy. For the last 15 years, he has a body guard assigned by the Egyptian government ;

So what is he trying to say? After reading his books, here are some of the issues he addresses:

Islam is practiced now in Egypt more than anytime in our 1400 years History since the Kilafa of Siedna Ali and Egyptian Law applies over 95% of Islamic law while omitting women slavery, marital abuse, polygamy and raising the age of marriage, allowing women to work, travel and drive a car etc..

History of Higab and the emancipation of Egyptian women by 1919, How the Egyptian Constitution is Islamic and respects Sharia? Who is the source of our new Badawin? Who is the source of our "Dual Character" of modernism and the oil-financed "neo-Wahabism"? The history of political Islam in this century and how the British tried to lead King Foaud and King Farouk (al-malik al-saleh) to be the Muslims' Kalifa ? Islam is mainly a religion of mercy and morality and has nothing to do with terrorism and social unrest? The righteous, balanced interpretation of the Quran in relation to our national identity, respect to other religions and human rights. Your identity is your nationality -so declares Islam -and so states the UN Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 and how Islam differs from the Zionist-racist ideology of mixing religion and politics?

Judge Ashmawy provides his scholarly opinion that Egypt applies 95% of Sharia or Islamic law in a democracy unlike any period in the 1400 years of Islamic History. After Al-Kilafa Al-Rashida no Kalifa was ever elected but it was a kingdom from Amaweeon (Umayyad) to Abbasid Caliphate to Fatimiats to the Ottoman Empire and all Kalifas ruled for life by divine right....

His message is: do not look backwards but look forward, learn, ask for knowledge and only reject from the world civilization the small portion that is not compatible with our culture, respect yourself and your culture but do not dwell on the past. If you think Egypt and most Muslim countries are non-Islamic or Jahilia - because they separate religion from politics , think again; these countries - including Turkey - became secular after a long bitter experience of 1400 years of tyranny.

Ashmawy reminds Muslims that we recite before reading any Surah ÈöÓúãö Çááøåö ÇáÑøóÍúãóäö ÇáÑøóÍöíãö In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. Rahma or Mercy -says Ashmawy - is repeated in the Holy Quran more than 70 times; Mercy and Morality are the message of Islam. æÇááå íÞæá : ( æãä íÞäØ ãä ÑÍãÉ ÑÈå ÅáÇ ÇáÖÇáæä ) "If they resort to peace, so shall you, and put your trust in GOD. He is the Hearer, the Omniscient." [8:61] "Praise be to God, Lord of the Universe,the Mercygiving, the Merciful" He adds you need to read the Quran and the dependable "tafseer" like: Al-Tabari, Al-Qurtoby, Al-Zamakshary. We should never be misguided by the fanatics by taking the holy verses out of context to fit in our purposes and ambitions; we need to understand the circumstances and "Asbab al-nuzul" or reasons for revelations ( Is the purpose of the holy text is to answer a question? Is it addressing a particular person? Is it Makia or Madania? Is for a particular situation like war or peace or against a particular group? etc)....

Ashmawy clarifies -with examples and references -that Extremists or "Muslim Brotherhood Gang" benefit from people's ignorance and illiteracy and so they generalize and misquote the Holy Quran. Any of their slogans, if repeated often enough, can come to be accepted as true, especially in a society where half the population is illiterate and the other half displays only a very modest standard of education and culture. The advocates of Medieval fundamentalism speak in the name of God in their pursue to overthrough all governments that do not agree with their school of thought ; they are the sole speaker and interpreter of God's words. They advocate an illusion of a glorious 1400 years that would throw the Muslim World into the darkness and tyrannies of the Middle Ages.

I hope that the majority will perceive him as a religious nationalist who aspire after " an Islamic Rebirth that does not reject the civilization of the day but stands next to it, absorbs from what modern civilization has to offer and perceives Religion as a motivational, powerful force that can contribute to growth and advancement of our people and not to darkness and dependency", "Western civilization should be perceived as a continuation to Islamic civilization" Ma'alem Al-Islam 1988. Also in Reader's Digest he wrote: " This intolerance and violence is not Islam which inspires more than a billion people. The religion the extremists preach is a cover for advancing their political agenda and their lust for power."

Scott O'Dell has 2 specialities: headstrong heroines who believe women can do anything men can do and the sea. Alexandra has both. With vivid descriptions of the coral reef and under the sea and Alexandra's adventures with dangerous crew members, logerhead turtles, jeering from the neighbors, her father's death, drug smugglers, and (WORST OF ALL) her mother's reluctance, this book is a definite must read.

This was a wonderful book I couldn't put it down as soon as started, I recommend this book especally if you live in or near Tarpon Springs,Florida.

This book is great! So much detail and it really brings you to that place and time.

This is a lovely story encompassing a timeless romance..! The author weaves heartfelt daily remembrances and romantic dreams into an engaging account that is hard to put down..! I couldn't wait to turn the page to see what would happen next! This is definitely a must-read for anyone looking to lose themselves in romance!

This book is amazing... It is full of a mothers love....
Takes you back to a time that was difficult yet love "always" prevailed...

This is a beautiful tribute, a treasury of "family values", and a kolidiscopic view of persuing the "american dream".