G Books

We have two young children (3 and 1), live in Philadelphia, and I like to think we take fairly frequent advantage of all the city has to offer. This book is a terrific way to help our son learn his letters (our daughter is a bit young yet), while at the same time reminding him through pictures of the various city adventures he has been on. He gets very excited to recognize pictures of places he has been, and has pointed out more places he would like to go. It has become a staple in our regular rotation of bedtime books. We are looking forward to using the Boston and Baltimore books soon, as we have plans for trips to both cities. I think it is particularly clever how the maps are setup. Really a fun and educational book.

We live in the Suburbs of Philadelphia and we bought this book to make sure that we did not miss out on any of the amazing treasure in our own backyard... We have started with A and plan to go through the entire alphabet... I am hoping the next book in this series is ABC Softball. A must buy for any Philadelphia area resident or visitor... BTBJ.

This is another winner with our family (but more so with my 3 year old). During our visit with relatives in Conshohocken, PA (suburb outside of Philadelphia)we used this book and all we've heard for the past couple of days is L is for LOVE mommy, L is for LOVE, mommy, (I keep saying, it's also for the LIBERTY BELL!).

It's clear that this author has spent considerable time out-and-about with children. His choices are excellent kid-friendly destinations, including some hidden gems that aren't necessarily obvious in your typical Frommers or Fodors guides. My youngster (4 year old boy) especially loves the spaces left for drawing and writing notes. The first page allows you to record the date of your journey, which turns the book into a bit of a journal. I also appreciated the address/phone/website info index in the back. On a recent trip to Disney World, the boy wanted to know if we could play "ABC Disney"... maybe that will be a future edition!?

I picked up a copy of ABC Travel Guides for Kids-Philadelphia to help plan our family trip to Philadelphia. The book was perfect. The photographs were of great interest to my children and all the phone numbers, addresses and websites were in the book which was great for planning our itineries.

This book compiles all known games played by Alexander Alekhine over his career. It includes many (MANY) games from Simultaneous displays, as Alekhine did so many of these exhibitions all over the world, throughout his career. It also includes every 'serious' tournament game, and all of Alekhine's match games, along with many consultation and blindfold games. This is not a biography, although there are light biographical sketches periodically, and also information on his travels between each new destination.

As with every McFarland Chess book I own, the physical quality is quite high -- hardcover, very well bound.

There is a lot to like -- I'd consider it the only book on Alekhine's games anyone would need, but for two slight drawbacks:

First, not every serious game is annotated. This is not a really serious problem, because the games which are not annotated are generally annotated elsewhere. For example, none of the Alekhine/ Capablanca match games are annotated, despite the fact that Alekhine annotated most of his wins and some of the draws for his best games collection. It's hard to fathom why they were not included here. This makes it less all inclusive than it would otherwise be.

Second, all the annotations are Alekhine's. This is a minor issue, since his notes are generally accurate and good. Still, notes by other players would be nice, especially in the way it was done in Forster's epic biography of Amos Burn (in my opinion, the book by which all other Chess biographies should be measured). Forster commonly included notes by several players of the day within individual games, and he often added his own notes, or annotated a game fully himself where no other notes were available.

Another slight demerit to this book are a regrettable number of typos. I have not noticed any in the prose of the book, but I have noticed a few in the game notes, just going from a random sample of games.

That said, this is a great work. I wish it had been more of a true biography/ games collection, but that would have made the book absolutely huge, and a truly monumental work, as Alekhine lived, as the saying goes, in 'interesting times'.

This is a wonderful book in any Chess lover's collection, and is a true desert island book.

Alekhine was not just World Champion, he was important for the development of Chess itself. He thought in terms of what it meant to unbalance the position. Alekhine took this concept and forced it into his games. Whether he was on the hunt with his own attack, or desperately defending he relished positions in which he could take some advantage he had and use it to the maximum. That he greatly favored being the attacker is obvious. This book is the most complete collection of his games in existence and will reward your study many times over. Not for the beginner, it is very expensive but worth every penny

This book is truly a marvelous book to have in my library. I have been collecting chess books since 1969 and despite having almost 500 chess books not much comes close. This book most clearly resembles the excellent two volume book on Rubinstein by John Donalson and Nicolay Minev. As big as a phone book this book does not easily fit on all bookshelves. The only caveat is that there could have been more anotated games. One example is that all the games from NY 1924 should have been annotated as Alekhine himself annotated all the games from the tournment and all of his games from that tournment should have been annnotated.

This book is excellent! It is expensive but worth every penny! It would have been nice if it included some rare photos but this is very minor. Even if you own other works of Alekhine's this is still a good book to have because of it's completeness. The publisher has other chess books of this quality on chess masters such as Capablanca, Marshall, Steinitz and Reshevsky.

This book is everything Amazon's desription says. And it's a very solid hard-cover job, with excellent layout and printing. Some interesting biography bits prefacing each chapter were new even to a die-hard Alekhinbe fan like me.
Finally a book that does him justice. One could only wish that *all* the games were annotated, à la "Chess Stars" series (I have all four Tal volumes), but it's really hard to complain about a fine book like this.

It speaks for itself. But in short, profound, shocking and earth shattering. It wold take any man 10 lifes to accomplish what Gurdjieff did in 1.

Gurdjieff (1866?-1949) was an eminently practical philosopher. After a traumatic car accident in 1924 from which he miraculously survived, Gurdjieff decided to transmit all of his lifelong learning into book form, and embarked upon an intensive writing effort that resulted in Beelzebub's Tales to this Grandson.

Gurdjieff advises us to read Beelzebub's Tales to his Grandson thrice, with the open heart of a child listening to a fairy tale. This is not an easy task, for one is dealing here with an account of God, World and Man intentionally composed to provide a self-transforming shock. However, any sincere effort to 'fathom the gist' of this work will provide unexpected benefits. The ultimate impression one recieves is of unsurpassed compassion for the human condition and a heartfelt call to awaken a dormant conscience.

The manuscript was edited into readable English by A R Orage from the literal translation done from Gurdjieff's original Russian by Thomas and Olga de Hartmann. The result was then read to Gurdjieff who consequently revised the text, which was again refined by Orage. This arduous cycle was repeated for the full seven years (1924-31) that Gurdjieff worked on Beelzebub's Tales.

This Two Rivers Press edition is a fascimile of the original 1950 edition whose publication was directly supervised by Gurdjieff.

I wish you good hunting in your quest for the Hidden Learning.

If the book is the World's Number One Unread Book it is simply that the book is not very easy to read. However, if the effort is made, not only is the book intensely funny but the wealth of knowledge contained therein is truly priceless. Gurdjieff was the ultimate rascal mystic and Beelzebub's tales is a tour de force. I actually enjoyed this book alot! It took many years and many false starts and I have only read it through once but it is clear this book deserves an important place in the history of literature. And even though the book is somewhat tragic in its approach, I say it is easily one of the funniest scifi novels to come along ever.

This is the original version of Beelzebub you have been looking for. It is a very diffcult read with pages upon pages of foreign works, but well worth the effort! In this book, we find Beelzebub relating the history of the universe, our planet imparticular, to his grandson. These tales are a delight to read, albeit difficult at times. I can honestly say that this is the most enlighteningbook I have ever read. It offers an excellent model of social, religious, and political history and hope for the future.

The book commands your attention and mental energy every time you pick it up. The tales are so concisely creative, and are told in such a logical sequence, and in such rich language that I could not overcome the feeling of being a student sitting humbly at the feet of a High Quality Human Being. I recommend this book with all of my essence to all who want to attain to as Mr. Gurdjieff calls, "Objective Reason."

What a thrill to find Jeff Meyer's book at Amazon and Barnes& Noble! I had no idea he was working on one - and one so comprehensive as this. I knew he was extremely involved in the historic tree/seed program and research. There is also a very interesting documentary on this subject that Jeff appeared in and advised on, which was aired on PBS this year. His mother, Joanne, has been a strong influence on Jeff in this field. She is a tireless member of The Garden Club of America and, by her efforts, raised the conciousness of many.This book is a fine explanation of all the work that has been done to preserve history, as well as to make us more aware of how important beautiful trees are to our quality of life on this planet. The photography is marvellous and the book is a wonderful read, as well as a great coffee table book for just a quick pickup. We all love a "picture book", don't we?

Nurseryman and author Jeffrey Meyer started the project called America's Famous and Historic Trees, wherein said trees are rescued for posterity through seed propagation. Seventeen specimens are discussed, each featured in a chapter that relates the tree's historic significance, botanical description and instructions for propagation and placement of the tree. There is one color photograph of each of the seventeen trees, with many small black-and-white photos and drawings. Initially I was disappointed that the book did not take more pains to represent these trees more lovingly with good color photography, but the inspiration is in the text and the companion project, and one is struck by the brilliant simplicity of Meyer's idea for preserving these lovely old giants.

America's Famous and Historic Trees is a wonderful book that seamlessly blends history with horticulture. I found the biographies of the trees immensely interesting. The John F. Kennedy tree story was particularly touching. Equally apealling were the various descriptions of "how to", grow your own trees from seeds. I never realized how difficult this could be without the right information. This book is a must for every home gardener and it might just teach you something you didn't know about history.

I bought, "America's Famous And Historic Trees" as an Arbor Day gift for an old friend who loves all things trees. In looking it over, I decided to buy another one for myself because it's just too good not to have. The author of the book, Jeffrey G. Meyer is a latter day Johnny Appleseed who has been planting trees successfully since he was five years old. I loved all of the stories, particularly the Elvis Presley and George Washington portions. This is not only a fascinating read, it

contains really valuable information on how to actually grow trees from seeds. This is also an excellent book for all ages.

Here is a book that combines a love of trees with famous American individuals to make an outstanding addition to any book collection. The author, Jeffrey Meyer, gives an account of 17 of the most noted trees and the historic persons associated with them. From the Indian (Comanche) Marker Pecan or George Washington Tulip Poplar to John F. Kennedy=s Post Oak or Elvis Presley=s Pin Oak, Meyer goes through pages of American history to pick out some the most significant figures of the time (Patrick Henry, Lewis and Clark, Johnny Appleseed, Frederick Douglass, Wyatt Earp, etc) and the trees (Osage Orange, Cottonwood, Rambo Apple, White Oak, Black Walnut, etc) that meant so much to them. In so doing, he provides the reader with a fine book, easy to read, beautifully published, with magnificent black/white and color photos and illustrations, and sidebars on how and where to grow the particular tree. As a idea and as a published work, America=s Historic Trees ranks in the top five per cent of books I would urge all to read and enjoy.

I was truly blown away by the content of this volume. I must say that I was and still am an earnest seeker of truth, so in stumbling across this work was not a coincidence. I couldn't put it down. Something rang true on every page. In those nights and days of my first reading it, I could literally feel heaven closer to earth, or maybe I was drawn closer to Heaven. A light was ignited within my soul that could not be put out.

I am very grateful that this work exist, and trust that many would find it and be transformed by its content. Jesus is real, alive and well, and his mission was indeed to make known to all mankind that the potentiality to yearn for and receive the Divine Nature of God was re-bestowed to all mankind.

God is a Just God, and did not ordain a sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins. Such nonsense of sacrificing to enter Heaven is all a creation of mankind. God ordained only Love, His own Divine Nature, to be the means whereby sin can be removed forever, by literally recreating the soul that yearns for this love into God's nature. This is the real Born again process. This is what Jesus taught before he was viciously murdered by greed and misguidance.

This book and the other volumes hold within it the testimonies of Angels and high spiritual beings who were once mortals on earth, and continue to have the best interest of humanity at heart.

There is no fear in Love, for you will discover all your fears melting away as you boldly decide to use you own freewill to get this book and read it prayerfully. We are all Children of a God that truly loves us, and who has given us the easiest solution to the problem of us being in separation from Him. And that solution does involve Jesus, but only as a messenger.

Jesus brought the message from God that human beings can now receive the nature of God, which was withdrawn after our first parents slighted it, and choose the devices of their own minds. Jesus demonstrated this message with his life, not by dying for mankind but by living the LOVE of God that had transformed his soul into a Divine Angel.

This Message of Jesus' true teachings were lost, corrupted and changed so as to suit the misguidance of greed and deceit, but now through these Angelic Revelations, this Message of the Gospel is revealed anew in its correct form for the entire world to see, hear and know. Salvation is an individual thing, and it involves us as individuals yearning sincerely for the Love (Nature of God) to possess and change us into a New Creature.

Heaven's light is shining upon earth, and the change for peace and goodwill that is occurring upon earth will indeed bring about a new earth. The current earth will not be destroyed by fire, but will be transformed one soul at a time into that which is truly Love and lovely. Highly recommended, 10 Stars. Human Operations Manual

Find a quiet spot to read somwhere where you will not get interupted and change your life completely by reading these revelations.

The most authentic proof of Absolute Truth is it's simplicity, it's power, and it's complete steadiness when attacked with a mind of reason. Most importantly, real Truth will focus on the existence and character of a Divine Creator, a God of Love, and the effect His Love can have on the heart and soul, and present facts regarding the makeup and character of the Human Soul.

The Angelic Revelations of Divine Truth does this and far more, and brought to me the single most emotionally intense experience from reading that I have ever personally experienced.

The increase in the depth of your love for God and others, the deepening of your own faith in His Love for you an individual, and the intense happiness and security that comes from the realisation of such things cannot be missed. Your personal journey of developing your own Soul will never again stagnate from a lack of Truth. This is a must read for any seeker of Real Truth.

The most authentic proof of Absolute Truth is it's simplicity, it's power, and it's complete steadiness when attacked with a mind of reason. Most importantly, real Truth will focus on the existence and character of a Divine Creator, a God of Love, and the effect His Love can have on the heart and soul, and present facts regarding the makeup and character of the Human Soul.

The Angelic Revelations of Divine Truth does this and far more, and brought to me the single most emotionally intense experience from reading that I have ever personally experienced.

The increase in the depth of your love for God and others, the deepening of your own faith in His Love for you an individual, and the intense happiness and security that comes from the realisation of such things cannot be missed. Your personal journey of developing your own Soul will never again stagnate from a lack of Truth. This is a must read for any seeker of Real Truth.

This remarkable collection of deep truths messages received by James E. Padgett, a Washington D.C. lawyer who lived between 1852 and 1923, through automatic writing is absolutely breathtaking - not only for the multitude of messages received by Celestial Angels of the highest spheres and Jesus Christ himself, but also for the wide range of subjects discussed and the absolute simplicity and logic of them which easily convince the reader of their truthfulness.

The subjects discussed include:

"Laws of Rapport and Communication Between Spirits and Mortals",
"The Truths Surrounding the Birth and Life of Jesus of Nazareth",
"The True At-Onement",
"The True Nature of God, the Heavenly Father",
"The Holy Spirit",
"The Divine Love of the Father and the New Birth of the Soul",
"The Spiritual Heavens and the Celestial Kingdom",
"The Soul of Man",
"Sin and Error",
"Judgment, the Law of Compensation and True Forgiveness",
"The True Resurrection",
"Immortality",
"The Truths of the Spirit World",
"The Truths concerning the Bible",
"The Importance of Prayer",
"The Continuity of Life After Death" ... and several more ...

I`ve read many books on spiritual matters such as "Conversations with God" by Walsch, "Love without end" by Glenda Green, ACIM and many many more, but these Padgett messages have caused my soul to dance with joy like no other messages before or ever since.

Furthermore they are interesting to both the intellectual (re-)searcher of spiritual truths - whether he is interested in life after death, spiritual phenomena of different kinds, angels, the concept of God, or the creation of mankind - as well as to the religious person who desires to learn why a loving God "permits" cruel wars or what the true reasons were why Jesus, the Father`s most beloved son, died on the cross.

And above all else these two books deal with the WONDERFUL LOVE OF GOD and the EFFICIENCY OF FAITH AND EARNEST AND SINCERE SOULFUL PRAYERS AND LONGINGS FOR A CLOSER NEARNESS TO AND A LIVING PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH OUR HEAVENLY FATHER.

5 stars for a must-have (in my eyes) ...

I loved this book! MGM packs a lot of practical advice for parents to implement NOW. My children will benefit from the tips I have learned in this hard to put down book.

This book is wonderful! Everyone who has kids or is going to have kids deserves this book! She really speaks in words everyone will love reading!

This was a very helpful reference for ideas in raising your children. What a difference when you raise a childs self-esteem. It is a must read for any parent.

This Book is a "Must" read for all ages (0-100)! Rediscover the celebration of life with the guidance and experience that MGM offers! All professions from parent,educator,social worker, police officer, physician,recreation and on down the line will have a Greater understanding of themselves and the importance of working together as families and communities in supporting the positive and healthy growth of our children.

As a special educator I was blown off my feet by Any Kid Can Be a Super Star. It was actually designed to be used by parents as a guidebook for parenting but the principles can be applied to any discipline involving the molding of young minds. Reading this book reminded me not only do we educators have a responsiblity to teach the subjects but a moral obligation to teach children to be good people as well. This book inspired me to implement new methods of teaching and gave me a a new positive way to interact with my co-workers, administrators and parents! All educators should read this book!

This is one of the most beautiful books I have ever read. A friend passed this onto me and I remember reading the first 20 pages on a bus and not being able to stop crying. It was so beautiful and it made me look at myself and others differently. The one thing that we are all searching for is Love. That is the fundamental purpose of life. Absolutely amazing book in it's simplicity and beauty.

What a deeply enriching book! I have had to read it a few pages at a time to savor and feel my way through what is being said. I reccommend this book to any spiritual seeker, even though the book is loosely Christian in orientation.

This author is the best contemporary spiritual guide I have. I wish he would write more!!

This was not a book I could read without stopping. It's truth hits my heart hard; and gives it pause. Each page invites meditation. I will keep it in my library for further study. It gives Amazing Insights to the connection between mental and spiritual health.

It happens that sometimes in moments of silence, honesty and surrender we become aware of our deep desire for love - both to love and to be loved. This deep desire is our true nature and it is God's life in us. This is May's simple thesis. The power and beauty of his book is that he unabashedly celebrates this love and slowly gets us to become aware of and appreciate its presence and also to recognize the ways we seek to stifle it or twist it or run away from it and some of the reasons why we do this. Like his other works, May here again blends his unique experiences of prayer and psychology into a touching re-affirmation of our heart's basic goodness. His book opens an inner door to a greater trust in the instincts, intuitions and spontaneous acts of love that arise from that sacred space. How courageous for a man to write about and value the apparent "weaknesses" and "vulnerabilities" of love in a time when the "virtues" of efficiency and action are so exalted. By now, having read most of his works, I feel like a friend. And so as a friend, I say, thank-you Jerry.

I actually bought this book because I thought it would help me open up to *romantic* love, as in, to meeting my potential partner/soul mate/twin flame. It was none of that, but it did help me open up to Love -- the greater love for life, for people, and especially for myself and God.

This book was not an easy read, but it was worth it. While reading, little light bulbs went on in my mind as several realizations became clear and obvious. I've read a great deal of spiritual material before, and had become almost against the word 'God' because it connotes a judgmental creature looking down upon us. This book does not go into "defining" God, but refers to the term a lot. As a result, I was able to return to being okay with the word and really feel what Gerald May was talking about.

It was really worth the money, and it's one of those books that you read 2 years later and realize how much deeper is becomes the next time around.

This is quite easy to follow for beginners but you def. need a good stats background to do so!

No one expects statistics to be easy reading, especially when it concerns complicated models such as structural equation modeling (SEM). Nevertheless, this book manages to do just that.

Schumacker and Lomax have successfully put together a guide that explains to beginners (like myself) in simple terms how the whole thing works. As with most books that treat complex models, some basic knowledge of statistics is preferable before you begin to read it. But if your statistics is rusty and you have only vague impressions of probability sketches in your memory, fear not! Schumacker and Lomax are kind to us poor souls, and begin by introducing some basics in chapter 1 to prod your memory: terminology, variable scales, how to treat missing data, outliers and normality. And in chapter 2, they discuss correlation and covariance.

Before talking about structural equation models, Schumacker and Lomax dedicate chapter 3 to a number of statistical methods on which SEM is built. This chapter gives a basic overview of regression, path analysis and factor analysis. The review of these methods helps you to understand SEM better later on. They also provide an excellent understanding of the methods, in case you have not used them before or it's been a while ...

The rest of the guide covers SEM: how to develop and measure a model (chapters 4 and 5), how the model parameters are estimated and how you can check for reliability and validity (chapter 6), and checking for goodness of fit of your model (chapter 7).

In chapter 8, you are shown some examples of computer outputs by two software packages that can conduct SEM, EQS5 and LISREL8-SIMPLIS.

Chapter 9 goes into more detail on models and diagrams (regression, analysis of covariance, path, measurement and structural models). For those that feel by this point that they've gained enough experience, advanced topics such as cross validation, simulation, bootstrap and jacknife methods as well as multiple same and interaction models are covered in chapter 10. And for the super-keen, the technical bits are covered in chapter 11 (health warning: you better be up to speed on matrix algebra).

The great thing about this book is that you most likely will be able to run models and interpret results by chapter 7, and you don't need to go into the nitty-gritty if you don't want to. On the other hand, the details are there if you need them. In essence, the authors start at the beginning, building up slowly until you are able to handle a basic model, before going into more complex issues.

One drawback, I have found, is that this book was published in 1996. That's nearly a decade ago, and (fortunately) computer power and statistical modeling has come a long way since then. The authors, for example, are convinced that WordPerfect is the software of choice for word processing and that at some point in the future it would be possible to copy and paste diagrams into a word processing program. We've come a long way since then. Today, many SEM packages exist that are much more user friendly than some of the older stodgy packages that require you to enter data in a very specific way and interpret results by going through reams of data output. As such, the authors (or publishers) probably ought to update it with a second edition.

Nevertheless, the strength of the book lies in its guidance and explanatory power. And even if you use a different package, you can skim through the data outputs they use, and focus on your model, how to construct it, and of what pitfalls to beware.

I highly recommend this for anyone starting on SEM - your modeling days will be much happier with this guide.

This book lays out the basics of SEM in an understandable way. Doesn't address EVERY issue, but then again it's very accessible and application-oriented, with language not too highly techinical (in relation to other SEM texts).

This is a very good book about SEM for the beginners and advanced. The book gives a clear and concise principles and examples about SEM. This book definitely enables the readers clearly understand the subject.

Schumacker and Lomax make for a good first course in SEM. Although they are somewhat less technical than Bollen (1989), they are a little more up-to-date, and very good reading for a beginning student of SEM. I found the sections on confirmatory factor analysis and identification very useful.

I was given this book in 1998. Pulled it off the shelf in Hawaii while on vacation in the winter of 2008. Inspirational from start to finish, no wonder Jerry is one of the top 10 speakers in the country. I couldn't put it down. I have sent this book as a gift several times. Highly recomend it.

I had an opportunity to hear Dr. Coffee speak in California this past summer. To say he left the room speechless was an understatement. Inspiration,patriotism and an acknowledgment of our God were messages he left with us.

The book goes into great detail about the spirit of man and the strength that lies within each of us. His years spent in North Vietnam as a POW and the indomitable spirit required to survive unheard of torture is an incredible tale. Dr. Coffee states that he is an ordinary man much like everyone else - he merely endured extraordinary circumstances. I think not!

This book should be required reading in our high schools. To hear Dr. Coffee speak or to read his book will make one proud to be an American. I strongly urge you all to read this uplifting and incredible saga of an incredible human being.

This book looks at a man with a comfortable, happy life who is forced to endure hell on earth as a Vietnam POW. The struggles he faced to the small personal victories that got him through are all applicable in our own lives. Through the book, the author also offers a keen perspective on the Vietnam Conflict.

Gerald Coffee really goes "Beyond Survival" with his seven years of POW experience in a North Vietnamese Prison, (the infamous "Hanoi Hilton") during the Viet-Nam War. Just when I thought things could not get any worse for Coffee, they did. Broken and beaten he continues to survive one day to the next by maintaining his faith in God and a belief that the US Government would someday come to his assistance. Father, Husband, Soldier, and Hero, his story struck deep in my heart. He is an inspiration to all of us to "make each day count".

This book reads like a novel. Not only is it about Captain Coffe as a POW but as a son, husband, father and a friend. His courage, faith and humor leave one feeling that they too can have all of these principles, no matter who you are or where you've come from. That there's nothing that life throws at us that we can't overcome and prevail. You walk away feeling as if you know Capt. Coffee and would be honored if he was your friend. An experience not to miss - highly recommended for any age group.

I finished reading the online version of this book recently, downloaded from Ellen White's estate website. Chapters are about 11 pages long, so it was easy to read a chapter every morning as a devotional. It covers the chronology of the Bible from Creation to King David, and expounds on what the Bible says. Its very readable and inspiring to live a better life with God. Occasionally chapters lecturing on a good life, etc were interspersed with the events told in the Bible. .

In "Patriarchs and Prophets" Ellen G. White gives us important insights into the origins of evil and suffering, tells us the TRUE story of the origins and early history of the earth and of mankind(Yes, Virginia, God really did create the earth and everything on it in six literal days, and there really was a great flood!), and covers the history of God's people from Adam to David. All this she does with Tolkienesque skill, always pointing the reader to the Bible as God's word and to Jesus Christ as the only hope for mankind, singly and collectively. In a nutshell, the underlying message of this book is: GOD LOVES YOU!

If you want help to understand the Bible better, then this book is phenomenal! It is written in such a clear manner that everyone can understand. It covered the first part of the Bible through David's time.

I read the Bible as I was reading the book and found that it coincided with it. It opened my eyes to many of the events that happened during those times. Did you know that when Moses lead the people out of Egypt that God showed them the way as a pillar of a cloud during the day and was a pillar of fire at night and fed them manna from heaven every day except on the Sabbath and then he gave them double the day before so that no one would work on the Holy day. He also gave them water from the Rock of Christ. (There were like six hundred thousand or more to begin with and ended up being probably a million or more after 40 years of wandering) She explained that as long as the people kept their faith in God and didn't turn to sin they were protected by him. One of their enemies discovered that fact and decided the only way that they could defeat the Jewish people was by causing them to sin and then when the people, through their actions (sinning), rejected God and his teachings, then they were vulnerable and could be defeated. I find that very true today.

This is one of the best books I have ever read that explained to me why certain events happened and how and why they worshipped a certain way, etc.

I am not an Adventist and did not find that it promoted that Church necessarily, but rather found it enlightening for any person who believes in God or especially those who want to know more about Him. She does not promote the book over the Bible, the Bible is God's Word and that is first and foremost the only true and accurate message, but she does help us understand it better. I highly recommend this book especially if you read it and the Bible, like I did, together. It will bring you a much greater understanding of God and why he does things. She also has other books that she has written that are good. She wrote them a century ago and they are as relevant and appliable today as they were then. Enjoy!

From the fall of Lucifer from Heaven, to the life of the patriarchs, this book reads like a top-rated movie. Like you're seeing these powerful events first hand. Like actually being there when there was war in Heaven between Christ and His angels, and Satan and his fallen angels. The Garden of Eden, and the creation of Adam and Eve from the hand of God comes to life. And just read about the faithfulness of Noah and the events leading up to the flood, for powerful conviction and Biblical insight. Volume one of her five volume set Conflict of the Ages: Patriarchs and Prophets, Prophets and Kings, The Desire of Ages, The Acts of the Apostles and The Great Controversy. All prime examples of why Ellen G. White remains my favorite non-Biblical author. I highly recommend them all.

This book presents an excellent chronology of events that preceeds the dawn of creation. Although you may be already familiar with some of this tale, you will be in for an enhanced perspective. The color and emotion that the author lends to the tale will have you barely able to put this book down.

You will most definitely be in for a real-life enhancing experience!