Practice Management Books

This is the excellent book on Landscape Ecology. Instead of being an edited collection of research articles, this volume's chapters follow logically and treat the material comphrensively, while giving references at every turn to researchers books or articles. Monica, whose research publications are extensive, writes this introductory book well.

The images in this book are, however, in black and white. There is an accompanying CD of color plates, but they are no bigger then those in the text and are fairly useless. I was hoping she would have some data for her book's examples and perhaps even a whole project we might use in one of the current software tools.

Still this can't take away from the fact that this is the book I've been searching for. But a very "first" primer in this subject is a chapter written by Monica - "What is Landscape Ecology" for an 1998 Oxford "Ecology" text. You can download this for free. See item 76 of the publications page on Monica website ([...]).

One of the most comprehensive landscape ecology materials existing on the market nowadays. Ideal for landscape ecology beginners or for for anybody who wonders what fragmentation, ecological processes and patterns are.

This is an excellent book that intrigues the informed while explaining complex information in such a way that novice readers can follow along.

If the credentials of the authors didn't convince of the quality of this book, I'm not sure I can. I will say that I have read and re-read the book several times, and that it's a vital resource in our laboratory. From the various issues of scaling to what analyses do what, this book is an excellent resource of theories and technologies involved in Landscape Ecology.

I use this book as the recommended text for both undergraduate and graduate courses in landscape ecology. It has a useful synthesis of recent trends in the field and particularly good chapters on scale, landscape metrics and disturbance. The accompanying CD has jpeg versions of most of the figures, which is handy for preparing lectures, although the quality of some of the digital images from CD (especially graphs and line charts) isn't so great. The literature review is thorough without being overwhelming, so it's a good entry point into the professional literature in most areas of landscape ecology. My main criticism is that the writing style is somewhat dense; I didn't find it easy to read from cover to cover. People looking for a cursory introduction to the field may do better to start with an alternative text. As a teaching and reference text for landscape ecology, however, I think this book is the best available.

Jim Shaffer's book, The Leadership Solution, is a MUST READING both for all corporate communications executives and staff and CEOs. Nobody does a better job in the age of "High Tech" to remind us to use the "High Touch." If we take the points that Jim cites, then we will find that attrition will be decreased.

Jim reminds us throughout that employee communications and touch will make the difference in performance and thus, stock price and a competitive and "best in class" company.

Shaffer lays out clearly the VISION aand STRATEGY. We all need to follow his course of what he states. "A vision is a target, a picture of the future. A strategy is a roadmap, how you're going to achieve the vision."

Tools are excellent. Follow the Readiness questionnaire to improving performance. See if we can all master the 6 course process to connect people or employees or associates to the business strategy. Shaffer identifies the 20 things to generate commitment. He cites the "3 people principles" that guide Best Practices and the Best Performance.

With all the focus on Mergers and Acquisitions, we find that Shaffer's 9 Guildelines for negotiating through the M&A are excellent.

Shaffer's examples of CEOs help build the case. His messages will help any communications chief help your CEO.

Shaffer demonstrates vividly how and why the communication function is being reinvented. The last chapter embodies the message strongly. It means what we all learn that communications much be align to assist the company's strategic goals. Shaffer does it.

Read and underline; share with your colleagues.

This is an amazingly useful book for anyone who wants to learn how to motivate people. I love the stories from best practice companies -- Jim has been there, and it's easy for the reader to learn from his vast experience and thoughtful observations. This book should be required reading for M.B.A. and Executive Education programs. The practical tools and techniques are invaluable for leaders who want to mazimize productivity. Five stars on my list -- I've already recommended it to several hundred people.

Just when you thought you couldn't handle one more piece of Information Age data, Jim Shaffer mercifully reveals the secrets to managing message bombardment, recognizing and maximizing all forms of communication, and connecting people with purpose to run any business better. With insights from many of the world's top CEOs, two "case studies," plain old good writing and a spot-on sailing metaphor to top it off, Shaffer proves what the best leaders have known (or at least have sensed) for some time: "informed people outperform uninformed people..." Better still, Shaffer steers a clear course -- with plenty of helpful examples -- through the sea of ambiguity that is business today, mapping the route for leaders who need to connect their employees to their business strategies. He calls it "connecting the dots." Business schools everywhere should use it and call it "Leadership 101." This is a terrific book for great leaders seeking to gain further marketplace advantage, leaders in training seeking instruction for "putting it all together" and the managers who serve them. The chapter on "earthshaking" events would be especially helpful for any one managing through a merger, acquisition, turnaround and the like.

Jim Shaffer, in this work, really connected the dots for me! His premise, that it all starts with effective communications, is dead on! As a former CEO and whose time is now spent as an outside director for a number of companies and as counselor to large company CEOs, this work is both relevant for today's leaders in today's warp speed economy and timeless in its approach.

Shaffer has crafted a very readable, yet content rich handbook for anyone either presently running a company or with dreams to someday run one! (In fact, this work is an excellent handbook for CEOs wanting to develop "bench strength" on the management team. Simply use Leadership Solutions as the textbook for a company-run academy for those up and comers selected for bigger jobs in the company's future. So many books are long on theory, short on application. Shaffer's approach is exceptionally practical...and applicable. It can be reread time and again.

For over twenty years, I have been an advisor to management in the field of rewards and compensation. Traditionally, discussions of rewards at work focus on cash compensation, benefits, and, more recently, stock deals. These monetary and wealth-building vehicles help one have great experiences in life outside of work. But what about the experiences at work, where a dedicated employee might spend more than half of waking time? What makes the day-to-day work experience itself rewarding? In an age where the war for talent demands that every organization address this question successfully, Jim Shaffer provides powerful, practical answers for CEO's, executive teams, general managers, and heads of human resources.

At the heart of the day-to-day work experience is the process of communication. As Mr. Shaffer writes, "You can't not communicate. Everything you say and do communicates." Forget about bringing dogs to work and on-site concierge services. These are fluff, not substance. Mr. Shaffer gets to the substance. He demonstrates that the quality of organization communication is, by far, the greatest governor of the quality of the work experience for all employees.

Mr. Shaffer shows leaders how to develop a communication environment that shapes a highly rewarding day-to-day work experience for everyone in the organization. He shows how to build and lead ongoing organization communication processes and disciplines that align people to a common purpose and motivate them to pursue it with vigor. In the war for talent, he shows how to span the generations and ensure that one and all agree: "Our company is a great place to work! "

Do you face unprecedented challenges in attracting, retaining, aligning, motivating and rewarding top-notch staff at all levels? "The Leadership Solution" delivers distinctive know-how for building a huge advantage in getting, keeping and deploying the people you need. And, it's an enjoyable read, sprinkled with metaphors, quotes and anecdotes that produce many rewarding "Aha!" experiences.

Great book - really helped my client who had big time problems with shyness - I am a psychotherapist and this is the best I've found.

This was a very well written book, with no questions left unanswered. It helped me immensely in dealing with social anxiety and shyness, and I've incorporated alot of the suggestions into my daily life. It turned out to be more of a "self help" book than I expected in more areas than just shyness. It has helped me extremely. The author had experience in social anxiety, so she really hit home with things she expressed.

This book contains all you ever wanted to know about social anxiety, and is sure to help you understand the condition. However, I would have preferred more focus on solutions rather than so much reaching (about 300 pages). I might suggest starting with a shorter book or course (I used the program at mc2method.com which was great), and then reinforce your efforts by following up with this book. Good luck!

If you are going to buy only one book on social anxiety, this is it. This book that not only compassionately presents various perspectives on social anxiety, but it also offers a vast array of solutions. These solutions are divided into easy to follow areas of mind, body and action. Once you've figured out how social anxiety affects you most, you can choose exactly which solutions suit you best. For extra guidance, there's an excellent appendix item full of goals that you can choose from, again, divided into areas of body, mind and action. I highly recommend this book.

The book begins with the usual discussion about the symptoms of social anxiety. But then the author goes into presenting some ideas that are novel to the broader discussion of social anxiety. An example of this is how anxiety is a process rather than a fixed thing. Yes, this is a simple idea and yet it provides a new perspective on social anxiety that makes the condition less monolithic and more changeable.

The author also presents a must-read section that ties in information that has come out of recent scientific research about how the brain works.

The author's insights and information are easier to hear and therefore easier to apply in our own lives thanks to her easy and fresh writing style. She writes with a natural feel that is strikingly authentic in the face of the more dry, scholarly writing of other social anxiety books.

The second half of the book then offers solutions in the form of goal-setting, visualization, therapy options and skill-building. Her emphasis on action takes more of a coaching approach than the traditional therapy models and this keeps us from just dreaming about what we want and actually forces us to move forward.

Dear fellow mediators or anyone looking into the mediation profession:

Mosten's book, Mediation Career Guide, is just the book I was looking for to strategically guide me through deciding whether to go into mediation as a profession. The book is well organized and can be read cover to cover or as a reference guide. Some of the key parts of the book are 1) Deciding if Mediation is Right for You and 2) Building Your Career as a Mediator.

The chapter on deciding whether to get your law degree or not for mediation was an especially important chapter for me. I completed one year of law school and then decided to re-evaluate my J.D. path. I enrolled in SMU's Dispute Resolution program to help with my decision. Mosten's book is the only mediation book that directly dealt with the J.D. dilemma. The chapter did not tell me what to do or what Mosten thinks is best. Instead, the chapter asked certain questions about my background to see whether a J.D. is a good choice or not.

Mosten's book is a MUST HAVE if you are deciding whether the mediation profession is right for you and how to build a mediation practice.

Thank you Forrest (Woody) Mosten for this book and all of your contributions to the peace-making profession!

Roseanne Pierre

I am just beginning my mediation practice. This book stays with me all day. It gives practical advice, plus deals with the emotional issues attached with such a leap of faith that is required for entering this field. I highy recommend this to everyone!

It is one thing to learn how to mediate, it is another to learn how to start your business as a mediator. This book focuses on the second task. I found that this book contains good, practical advice for analyzing your own abilities as a mediator and setting up your practice. It even talks about how to establish the physical environment of your office. Combine this with Allan H. Goodman's new, second edition of Basic Skills for the New Mediator, and you should be ready to hang out your shingle.

This book is one of the most helpful and insightful books that I have read. If you are thinking of, or already are, a mediator, this book is full of great information, ideas, and helpful hints.
This book is an easy read, you could read it in one evening and then be on your way to implement the things that you have learned.

Forrest Mosten has written what must be the definitive book for those who are considering or might consider a career in mediation.

I have known the author since 1970, when he was a law student working part time for me in the foreign student office at UCLA. Even then he was thinking about how he might incorporate his strong social conscience into the practice of law. Ten years later he found his answer when he committed himself to becoming a professional mediator. For Mosten, mediation is more than an efficient means of resolving disputes, it is a way to work as a peacemaker at the person-to-person level. It provides its practitioners who are attorneys with an alternative to the adversarial nature of the legal system, which weighs heavily on many lawyers. Of course it provides the same benefit for clients. He makes his point about mediation as a peace effort dramatically in chapter one, where he states "...don't jump into a growing but still uncertain field like mediation unless you eat, breath and dream about creating peace and resolving conflict and are willing to risk everything to make it happen".

In addition to maintaining a highly successful mediation practice in Los Angeles, Mosten trains future mediators and he has established a nation-wide network of mediation centers. He also is the author of three previous books on mediation.

The author's purpose in writing the book is stated in the first paragraph of the preface, where he says "It was an uphill climb to build my mediation practice. This book is my effort to help you avoid many of the costly mistakes I made along the way".

The book is organized into three parts, each with several chapters, followed by nine appendices. In the first part, "Is Mediation right for You?", he covers the question of what it takes to be a mediator, such as being a good listener, patient, tolerant and neutral, flexible, and empathic, among other traits. In the chapter on "Education and Training", he discusses the question of non-lawyers as mediators. Mosten admits that lawyers have certain advantages, but he lists other fields which often provide a good background, such as therapists, business persons, teachers and clergy. Whether they come from the law or other fields, he states, extensive training in mediation will be required. Here Mosten goes into some depth on this subject which is dear to his heart because he wants "...mediation to be the first stop on the conflict resolution highway", which means having "...enough trained and experienced mediators available to meet this need".

Part Two, "Building Your Career as a Mediator" deals with the creation of a mediation signature, which includes advice on writing vision and mission statements to distinguish your particular practice. He also advocates having a board of directors to help with these tasks and to provide a sounding board along the way which he had earlier described as an informal group of persons whose judgment you trust. (He might more accurately have called them a "board of advisors). Another chapter, "Creating a Mediation-Friendly Environment", gets down to reading materials and arrangement of the reception room. Most important, he introduces the idea of the client library, described as a consumer-friendly collection of books, video tapes and other resources which will help clients learn what they need to help solve their own problems. This concept is related to Mosten's preference for informed client consent, and he reports that his library is well used by his clients.

Part Three is "The Nuts and Bolts of Private Practice", which covers topics such as finding a place to practice, naming your practice, forming strategic partnerships and networks. With respect to networks, he uses his own Mosten Mediation Centers as an illustrative model, in which he has established local mediators around the country as subcontractors. In the chapter entitled "Strategic Planning and Investing in Yourself", he gets very specific about the time and money required to establish a mediation practice, including a breakdown of out -of-pocket costs which add up to $57,000 over a five-year period.

Even though he has stated his desire to see a great increase in the number of practicing mediators, Mosten in no way sugarcoats the obstacles and challenges facing anyone who plans to enter the field. His candor, at times, would almost seem to discourage, but at least anyone who has read the book would enter the field fully warned. More important they will have read a well integrated combination of philosophy and nuts and bolts, each supporting the other.

This is a critical book for those contemplating a career in mediation, it is a useful book for anyone contemplating using the services of a mediator, and it is an interesting book for those who are attracted by the concept of mediation as a force for more peaceful interpersonal relations.

"Welcome to a new way to cope with the demands of a too-busy life. Welcome to a way that requires no difficult skills, adds no new burdens, and accommodates all spiritual systems and life-styles. Welcome to all who want to do nothing-more often, more creatively, with joy, and without guilt. Welcome to one-minute retreats that can be yours at any time of the day or night." - From the book

According to author David Kundtz, a mindful posture centered from the quiet state of your being is *crucial* for any undertaking. In fact, he asserts, if we do not take the time to pause with purpose, disappointment and failure awaits us.

In his book Quiet Mind, Kundtz invites us to do nothing-but to "do" it with purpose, meaning, and value. That is, to take time for ourselves, to rest, to find peace, to awaken, to remember, and to find ways to recognize what we may have forgotten, and how not to forget again.

At 370-pages, Quiet Mind: One-Minute Retreats from a Busy World is brimming with dozens of meditations designed to promote thoughtfulness, calm, and quietude. The mini-retreats, one and a half to two pages long, feature a sage quote and Kundtz's wise and gentle commentary. At the end of each, the author offers one-sentence encouragement, inviting readers to observe life and apply the wisdom found in the meditation.

Kundtz has organized these meditations under fourteen general categories, including:

* Making Room for Life
* Creating Opportunities for Serenity
* Defining Your Values
* Finding Peace at Work
* Knowing Thyself
* Awakening to Wonder
* Giving Back to the World

Under the category Finding Peace at Work, for example, is a meditation about Weariness. Beginning with a quote from Eric Hoff saying, "Our greatest weariness comes from work not done", Kundtz observes:

"...what tires us most is not work, but the anticipation of work still to do. Here is a time when living in the present moment is vital. The past is gone, the future is a just a concept and a projection of our minds. All you have is now. It's all you need..."

In the section Making Room for Life, a meditation called What's Going on Here begins with a quote by George Wilson: "Things are seldom about what they seem to be about." Kundtz notes that all too often we narrowly focus on accomplishing a particular task that we overlook the obvious cause of pain and distress in those around us. He relates the story of a frustrated mother bringing her son to him for counseling. The boy refused to go to school, and neither the son nor the mother was very communicative as to possible causes. Kundtz couldn't figure out what was at the heart of the problem! When he suggested they come back next week the mother replied that they could not come back next week because they were moving across the country. Aha! At last, a window into the boy's world: he was grieving the loss of his friends and all things familiar.

Quiet Mind by David Kundtz is a delightful book, providing a much-needed respite from overloaded senses, cluttered thoughts, and hurried lives.

Thoughtful questions or ideas to consider as meditation, focus for the day, or a daily reminder for mindfulness. We know our bodies need rest and recovery; it is important to give our minds the same gift. There are interesting thoughts about every day events.

I originally picked up this book because of the title, figuring it would have some nice observations about existing in our "busy" world. I was surprised that not only did it have some pithy, and relevant thoughts about our lives, but that they were insightful and thought provoking as well. The short one or two page comments are just enough to read quickly, but deep enough that I found myself thinking about them at various times throughout the day. I have enjoyed this book so much, that I bought four more for Christmas gifts. One of those incidental purchases that turned into a real find.

This is a great little book that reminds us to stop and breathe to clear the mind. It helps us to manage some peace among our crazy lives. Thanks!

Quiet Mind is such a thought provoking book. It points out issues that, in our ridiculously busy lives, we forget to even think about. Kundtz challenges the reader to be introspective and to take the time to notice, consider, be, and most importantly, look inward to determine what is really important in our lives.

The quick, two-page bursts of thought are perfect. They really are one-minute retreats.

One criticism, though, is that there are some editing problems. Being a grammar instructor and freelance proofreader, I can't help but find these things where they exist. It's the curse on my life.

Like much of the writing of the author's mentor, Dr. W. E. Deming, this book is deceptively simple and straightforward, but contains some basic principles of leadership that have profound implications for the management of any enterprise.

Before proceeding, I have to reveal my bias. I have to good fortune to be friend of the author. Dr. Ed Baler. He and I co-facilitated several Deming 4 day seminars and have kept in touch over the years. It is doubtful that there is much that Ed would say about the subject of Deming's teachings with which I would disagree. This book, however, clarifies and extends those teachings considerably.

A variety of metaphors are used to present the basic concept of systems thinking and the implications of these insights for managers. Of those used, I thought the illustrations using the metaphor of the symphony the most helpful. Ed continually points out that it is the coordination of the talent contained within the orchestra that produces the sound. The interactions of the players produces an effect over and above the sum of each's individual efforts.

It is this concept of interaction that I think is made particularly clear. Some people use the word interaction to mean inter-relationship, but in the sense used here (and by Deming), it means more than that. The interaction is an effect over and above the sum of the parts. This is an important distinction as this book points out clearly, because the interactions must then be considered in any attempt to manage the enterprise as a whole.

The first part of the book is given over to some clarification of the nature of systems generally. They operate over time, they are far-reaching, they are nested within other, larger, systems, and, as pointed out above, a system is more than simply a collection of parts. As someone once pointed out to me, if you divide a pile of sand (not a system) in half, you have two piles of sand. If you divide a cow in half, you are not left with two cows.

The book then draws out the implications of these principles of systems for the human enterprise that operates at the core of any organization. It is disheartening to hear some managers continue to divide organizations into `people problems' and `technical problems'. Surely we know by now that these are all people problems and the technical state of the art at any point in time is usually given.

There is, in Chapter II, a discussion of the interaction between the individual and the enterprise which is right on the money and shows clearly one of the major problems with any policy of pay raises or advances based on individual rating and ranking. Separating the contribution of the individual and the enterprise is virtually impossible. The authors description of the `Enterprise-in-the-Individual' shows clearly how the enterprise molds the activities of those who work in it, and the `Individual-in-the-Enterprise' shows the converse.

More than half the book is taken up with a fairly specific discussions of the requirements of leadership given the foregoing. There are some general points made such as the echoing of Deming's caution about managing by visible figures, and there are some very specific suggestions such as the Interactions Matrix and it's list of "do's and don'ts".

Finally there are some specific examples of enterprises that have operated to one extent or another with these some of the principles as a basis.

All in all, a book well worth reading not only for those who manage enterprises, but also for those who help them. It would be nice to see similar, companion pieces on some of the other aspects of Deming's teachings such as variation and his Theory of Knowledge.

Although this book was short in length, it was long in content. The seldom addressed theory of systems was easy to understand. The author takes such seemingly unrelated analyses of golf and symphony orchestras to demonstrate the wholeness of systems theory. The first half of the book was jam-packed with management concepts and ideas that evolved from the theories of the late W. Edwards Deming. The second half was comprised of actual examples of these theories in successful practice. Overall, this was a marvelous learning book.

Dr. Baker's book is an excellent contribution to the Deming legacy of systems thinking. Our mental shift from mechanistic to social, interactive concepts is well served in "Scoring a Whole in One". I strongly recommend that educators as well as managers in business take this book seriously. Systems thinking is essential to re-thinking education. Dr. Baker adds substantially to this task.

Dr. Baker has given us an excellent reflection on the theoretical and practical aspects of systems thinking. Drawing us from a strictly mechanistic view of organizations, he leads us to a deeper understanding of the social, interactive organization, and the differences such thinking will have on our managerial actions. Second, this is an important book for educators. If we are to reform education, we must do so by return ing to a theoretical basis for ensuing dialog. Dr. Baker offers us an invaluable contribution in this task.

Dr. Baker has managed to create a very portable and accessible volume that gets to the heart of management theory. It is no secret that the issues associated with managing the modern enterprise have multiplied in complexity in recent times. Dr. Baker's experience in consulting and with Ford comes through in relevant examples. His examples of short sighted decisions and their impacts will feel familiar to many. The power of the book comes in the discussion of how such problems occur, the theory of how to solve them, and practical solution tools to use. This level of completeness sets this book apart. Dr. Baker's theories on management and systems are aligned with those of the late Dr. W. Edwards Deming. Dr. Baker condenses concepts which have troubled many in Dr. Deming's books into easily readable and practical format. Particularly for those intimidated by Senge's "The Fifth Discipline", Wheatley's "Leadership and the New Science" or Deming's "Out of the Crisis". Scoring a Whole in One is a great place to start.

Excellent book! Excellent response from seller! Excellent delivery! Now, you know I'm happy... and better educated!!!

All of Stedman's Medical Dictionaries constitute the premiere reference sources for definining and illustrating the lexicon, anatomy, pathologies, and techniques of the healing arts, including clear word roots in the form of prefixes and suffixes, highlighted cross-references, finely illuminated and representationally full-colored delineations of the most salient topics presented, et cetera.

it is a good medical dictionary. It has all updated terms that are helpful to your medical field, especially for those who work in hospital settings.

Exactly what I wanted for the price. Has been quite beneficial for my class. Thank you for the quick delivery!

In preparing to re-enter the healthcare field (a Registered Dietitian who's been Innkeeping) I needed to get updated, and found this reference to cover many bases.

Aimed at licensed therapists, this book makes you feel like you have your own business coach sitting alongside you. It is a well-written guide for the licensed therapist who is looking to improve his/her practice or change it altogether within a related field. - Cris Walker Roskelley, MFT, Author of the MFT Handbook titled "On the Road To Becoming a Successful Marriage and Family Therapist: An Insider's Guide From Graduate School Through Licensure... and Beyond!" On the Road To Becoming A Successful Marriage and Family Therapist

If you are a therapist needing help to develop a therapy practice, this is the book for you. It's tough building a practice these days. Things are way more competitive than they have ever been. Larina Kase's book is a good step-by-step analysis of what works. I recommend it highly and am going to use it with those therapists that I coach around practice development.

This is a comprehensive guide to starting a private practice that does an exceptional job combining the broader concepts of successful practice building with ample details and user-friendly examples. I found it simple to implement Dr. Kase's recommendations and quickly saw positive results in my own practice.

I am part of a consultation group of early career psychologists and we regularly discuss issues related to starting and building a practice, marketing, developing a niche area, and issues related to the business of owning one's practice. This has book has been referenced numerous times by our group and has been so helpful and informative to us, particularly b/c these issues have not been taught in graduate school or in our training. I would not forge ahead in the field of psychology and in your career as a psychologist without looking at this book first.

I have a private practice as well as a coaching business. I found this book full of excellent information and resources. I am now pursuing other business options as a result of reading this book. I have also purchased a number of Dr. Kase's ebooks, and have found them extremely helpful. She consistently gives you more than you pay for.

Dr. Sujay has done it again! This dynamic, blessed & assured Woman of God has given a self-less, priceless gift of "spiritual homeopathy" to all women in ministry through this great writing, "Too Blessed to be Stressed". I saw all those books at Hampton Ministers' Conference Bookstore in June 1998 and took it for granted to get one the following day, and guess what, I came back 5 hours later after changing my mind and not a one was left! Sold ouutttt!!!! OOOOuuuchhh! Well a member of my Church had gotten a hold of one and blessed me with it as a gift. I was estatic! I couldn't put it down, I read it and read it & finished. I used it to teach my group meeting for the Connecticut State Missionary Baptist Convention's "Commission On Women In Ministry" where I am the Chairperson (1996-1999). How inspiring was the prayer for God's will to be done in our lives. Dr. Cook answered the inevitable -- how do I know when it's time to make a move? No more wondering, just assured guidelines to follow, thanks to Dr. Cook. Women, if you do not have this book in your lap, then your library, you are definitely "lacking" a blessing from God! Dr. Cook, keep up the wonderful blessings that God has so richly endowed you with, God bless your husband and children as well.

This book was a God-send. I recommended it to my sister who is a Federal Judge. Growing up in Kannapolis, NC (only 8 miles from Concord) I felt an immediate bond with the author. This book is a must for every woman. You will laugh, you may cry, you will sing, you will shout hallelujah but most of all, you will never be the same.

Too Blessed to Be Stressed found me on the first pages of the book and ministered to my spirit throughout. Often we get so caught up in the drama that we lose sight of the choices we make that create our scenarios. I found myself humming me back to a centered wholeness and peace that I don't want to let go. Dr. Suzan Johnson Cook, thank you for this wonderful work. It has certainly blessed my life and the lives of my Sisterfriends!

This book is on the mark for anyone not just women who are moving at a very fast pace and need to find peace and comfort in their daily lives. The Prayer of page 12, I call "The Stress Reliever's Prayer" is very powerful and has been of great comfort to everyone I have shared it with.

Dr. Cook's approach to women of the Bible brought them in to the "sisterhood" of my life like I have never understood before. I highly recommend this book at a training I do on stress management called "Are you too stressed to be blessed?"

For me personally, the book has been a great source of peace and comfort and a guide to seek and trust in God. Once reading it and not all at one time, I recommed her other book, SisterStrength as a companion to TBTBS. She indeed takes you on a personal journey to find less stress and more peace in your life. If you are seeking to manage the stress in your life this is a good investment to start with. TDBS

I took this book with me to the hair salon. A stylist sitting a little distance away asked if what the title listed was possible. Answering her was easy...the blessed state of mind from reading the book caused my lips to open to a resounding YES!!!! We as women are indeed "too blessed to be stressed". Thank you Dr. Cook for bringing life into such a dynamic perspective!!!!

Excellent book. Interesting read. Inspiring call to action.

I read a lot, but I almost never pin my husband down to read him sections of a book. When I was reading Totem Salmon, I couldn't help it. I kept saying, "Listen to this one." I owned a home in the Mattole River Watershed in the late 70's and early 80's. I was amazed at how well Freeman House captures the essence of the area and the people without caricaturing either. Over and over he writes a few sentences which really "get it right" in explaining the landscape, the weather or the people of the area. This is not an easy "how-to" book on bringing back the salmon, but it brings out why it is worth the effort for as long as it takes.

Briefly...as an environmentalist from both the non-profit, agency and barefoot,dreadlocked worlds I really appreciated this book. The author brings out the complexity and poetry of the technical, natural and spiritual mosaic involved in watershed work in the northwest (and eveywhere for that matter). For anyone who has ever (or even never) been through similar experiences that the author describes, it brings shivers up the spine with the descriptive imagery and his obvious intimacy with the Mattole. I highly recommend this book.

The book is a first-person account telling the story of a group of people who have dedicated themselves to rehabbing a river, a watershed, and saving some special strains of wild Pacific salmon stock. They decided to use salmon-hatchery technology (and other procedures) as a way to learn from the native salmon, rather than to introduce non-native species to their river. Freeman House is a truly impressive thinker and writer. His engaging intelligence is not just wide and deep, like a rockclimber his awareness gets into some unfamiliar and little-explored crevices of life - nature and human nature. House and his cohorts are questers who may ultimately discover something as important as did William Harvey or Sir Albert Howard. I'm tempted to call the book a riveting read, but the experience is warmer than that metaphor implies. It's hopeful. A strangely wise book.

From "Totem Salmon - Life Lessons from Another Species" by Freeman House -

"My straining senses slow down the sound so that each of its parts can be heard separately. A hiss, barely perceptible, as the fish muscles itself right out of its living medium; silence like a dozen monks pausing too long between the strophes of a chant as the creature arcs through the dangerous air; a crash as of a basketball going through a plate glass window as he or she returns to the velvet embrace of the water; and then a thousand tiny bells struck once only as the shards of water fall and the surface of the stream regains its viscous integrity."

"I flick on my headlamp and the whole backwater pool seems to leap toward me. The silver streak that crosses the enclosure in an instant is a flash of lightning within my skull, one which heals the wound that has separated me from this moment -- from any moment. The encounter is so perfectly complex, timeless, and reciprocal that it takes on an objective reality of its own. I am able to walk around it as if it were a block of carved stone. If my feelings could be reduced to a chemical formula, the experience would be a clear solution made up of equal parts of dumb wonder and clean exhilaration, colored through with a sense of abiding dread. I could write a book about it."

And here it is.

The Mattole River, where this story takes place, flows from the northwestern tip of California's Mendocino County, first a dozen miles northeast and then about sixty miles northwest through remote rural Humboldt County to its mouth at Petrolia. What keeps the river from reaching the Pacific Ocean any sooner is the King Range rising precipitously from the "Lost Coast", a stretch of beach frequented only by hikers and the occasional small plane.

Getting to the Mattole from the freeway is at least an hour's drive on winding country roads. This area, like much of Humboldt County, was logged in the fifties and sixties, and in the late sixties and seventies a substantial portion of it was sold to urban refugees, "reinhabitants". Over the next three decades, quite a few of them committed to the task of restoring the watershed to health. Two of these were David Simpson and Freeman House who together conceived and founded the Mattole Watershed Salmon Support Group. "Totem Salmon" tells the story of this work.

Salmon are an indicator species. Their health, as a population, closely tracks the health of the watershed to which they return. If you want to know how well a river valley is doing in the Pacific Northwest, look at the salmon runs, if there are any left. The principal enemy of the salmon is silt, produced by erosion usually from badly built roads and culverts, and from logging. Salmon need clean gravel in the streambed for eggs to survive and hatch. Well forested valleys with little erosion provide the best stream habitat for hatching and rearing salmon.

In 1950, before logging, it is recalled by the older Mattole valley residents, that, when they were running, "you could walk across the river on the backs of the salmon". In 1980, before restoration work began, the runs were down to perhaps 200 fish. More, those fish were the last wild salmon run in the state.

Looking back after reading the book, one could see the first phrase, "I am alone...", as a key to the work. Rooted in an explicit sense of self, spiraling out through sensory subtleties of immediate nature, to the larger cultural complexities, Mr. House melds what are usually seen as distinct worlds into a coherent portrait of a personal and multi-species reality. Like the salmon traversing the several worlds of ocean, river, air and creek, the personal, philosophical, cultural, historical, administrative, ecological, and cosmic threads are finely woven into a narrative yielding a shimmering presence of spirit and nature.

The book is a deeply enjoyable memoir of a long personal relationship with salmon. Along the way we see the history of the Euro-American relationship with this species, and that of the Native-American people who were here managing these watersheds long before. We learn of the state and federal administrative context of salmon management and the history of our, first, ignorance, and then, study of the anadromous species and their rivers. In clear and moving images, and with affection and humor, we see the people on the Mattole River who have joined hands for eighteen years to rescue this last wild run of salmon from extinction. Lastly we see the hopeful results and the tenuous circumstances of their work.

We might expect it to be a text for salmon restoration, and while the specifics are there they are widely scattered throughout the book. More attention is given to the wider question of how we got here, and how we can get through this to a more wholesome, rooted, and appreciative life in our particular place. If it is a text -- and Mr. House would say it is not -- it is a meta-instructional one, showing a way to become a people who will do the right thing for the watershed and thus for the salmon. The personal explorations in the book demonstrate by example the message beneath the text: by immersing ourselves in the reality of our local valley we can rescue both the health of our watersheds and our sense of ourselves. In the end, we see that they are the same journey; the salmon reflect to us our understanding of self and place.

The epilogue quotes Paul Schell, Mayor of Seattle, "Ironically, as we work to save the salmon, it may turn out that the salmon save us."