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"We are the first generation of mothers to want the best of both worlds, whether or not we work. We want to be able to take care of our own needs and pursue our personal interests in a wide variety of activities inside and outside the home - while we're being great moms." ~Sheryl Gurrentz

While many books on motherhood focus on what you "should do," this book focuses more on how to make becoming a mother an enjoyable experience for YOU.

Is this possible? Can you really make time for yourself and feel guilt-free?

Sheryl Gurrentz has helped thousands of parents redefine their goals. She believes you can have it all. As a trained ?doula,? she has experience couching women before, during and after childbirth. She wants you to know what it will feel like to be a mom and how you can feel good.

She also shows you how to choose baby products, create harmony in your life, make time for yourself, get things done, balance responsibilities and make wise career choices.

The Contents Include:

Adjusting to Motherhood - feelings
Creating Life Balance - time for you, time for baby
Dealing with Physical Changes - what will your body feel like?
Enjoying Nursing - to nurse or bottle-feed, that is the question.
Choosing the right baby products - deciding what you need and how to select items
Managing Family Dynamics - You, Your Partner, the new baby, other children, grandparents.
Making Career-Oriented Transitions - Getting what you need from working, returning to work and becoming a professional mom.
Creating a Safe Home Environment - general baby proofing and safety
Going Out with Your Baby - daily trips and eating out
Traveling with your Baby - planning what to bring and adapting to places you are staying
Finding Baby-Sitters
Finding Child Care

The author encourages you to look at your positive and negative feelings. She suggests making time for a massage or getting a facial to make yourself feel great. Just because you are pregnant, doesn?t mean you can't spoil yourself.

Throughout the book she talks about:

Dealing with Physical changes.
What the difference will be between various forms of childbirth.
How to prepare yourself for nursing. I had no idea there were breast shields.
There is information in this book, I have never read anywhere else.

The "Deciding What You Need" section is extremely good. Sheryl also explains how various items are more practical than others. This will save you money!

Would make a great baby shower gift.

A Unique resource for every mom or woman considering being a mom. 20 Stars for originality!

You might also enjoy:

Win the Whining War and Other Skirmishes
The Answer is "No"
Survival Tips for Working Moms
The Summer Camp Handbook
Good Friends are Hard to Find

This wonderful resource recently received a Gold Parenting Resource Award from the National Parenting Publications Award (NAPPA). Susan K. Perry, PhD wrote the following review: This compendium of ideas guides expectant and new mothers toward balance and a sense of control as they plan for and face the upheavals of new parenthood. A wide rang of issues is covered, and the tone is reassuring, helping both expectant and new moms relax. The tips are practical and specific."

A look of skepticism crossed my face as a friend handed me this book to read. Being a new, sleep-deprived, working mom, the last thing I thought I could find was time for a little quiet reading, but once I started flipping the pages I was hooked. Sheryl Gurrentz brings her own wisdom as a mother to a fresh new look on parenthood. She uses a mix of humor and real-life testimonials that not only provide good information but priceless wisdom and advice for surviving the many adventures of motherhood. The book talks about everything from dealing with the physical changes after childbirth to evaluating your career and life balance. It is packed with important advice including a resource guide in the back of the book containing contact information for manufactures, organizations and associations that you may need during that first year of motherhood. This book would help any new mom get through the twists and turns ahead. It is a book that new moms will use and treasure.

Like his other books, this one is full of love, simple practices and advice, and a spirit that permeates your being.

This is an awesome book. If you read this book, and apply what you learn in it, your life it will improve dramatically! This is a fact. Do you realize that there are many people living, right now, on this planet who live what some would call a magical and miraculous life? I do, I know many others who do, and so can you! It is about learning life-skills that work. This book will teach you those life-skills.

This book has IT. Bartholomew doesn't want to show you how to rearrange your mental furniture but to show you that you misidentify yourself with that furniture.

A couple of quotes:

"Every moment of the day, for as much as you can, remember who you are."

"You need to quiet your mind. And that is all you need to do! The best way to quiet the mind is to be in the moment. Your mind cannot be agitated if you are present in the moment. If you are alive to this moment, alive to everything going on in it, you can't be ruminating over the past. "

This book fits well with the teaching of Maharshi, Nisargadatta, Robert Adams, Advaita Vedanta, etc.

I bought this book for my daughter just before we got her first pets, two guinea pigs! The pictures are lovely and the book covers guinea pig likes and dislikes, as well as their basic needs from vitamin c to clean water. The best part though is the author's continued assertation that guinea pigs love to be cuddled!

If you don't have a guinea pig, this book will make you want to get one

I think adults can enjoy the book as well. Smith is charming, witty and very knowledgeable about the species.

I had expected Visser to play the role of a cheerleading reporter of Wilber's works, and was pleasantly surprised to see that Visser is a capable thinker in his own right. Not only does he manage to clearly and concisely convey the gist of Wilber's vast collection of writings, but he also contributes many insights that help put Wilber's work in context and in perspective. There seems to be a healthy undercurrent of friendly disagreement and tension between Wilber and Visser on a number of issues, and I think Visser displays a remarkable objectivity for one who maintains the main website on Wilber's work.

In sereral places I wished Visser had put even more of his own thoughts into the book, but of course the subject of the book is Wilber's thought, not Visser's. Specifically, Visser had a short section in which he explores the similarities between Theosophy and the Integral perspective. I haven't read all of Wilber's writings, but from what I have read there seems to be a major avoidance of the Western esoteric tradition, with the possible exception that Wilber once wrote that he admired Rudolf Steiner's writings. By esoteric I don't mean Western mysticism, which Wilber covers well enough, but the strand of Kaballism, Rosicrucianism, Anthroposophy, Theosophy, Alice Bailey, etc. There is a vast amount of material there dealing with involution, evolution, stages of consciousness, and so forth, that should rightly be incorporated into a fully integral spirituality. I have found that most Wilberians and Integral thinkers in general show little interest in the occult traditions, and most occultists show little interest in Integral studies. This means we have two almost exclusive strands of practioners trying to cover very similar ground without communicating much with each other. The result is not healthy in my view.

I imagine Wilber avoids the Western esoteric tradition because it does not play well with academics, whom he is trying to reach. But Visser appears to have a Theosophical background and may will be a thinker capable of championing an expansion of integral thought that embraces the esoteric and occult as well as the usualy religio-mystical traditions.

March 04, 2004

If you want well researched, thorough overview of the work of Ken Wilber, then Frank Visser's Ken Wilber: Thought as Passion is a great choice. It's well written, covers a broad scope, and is a relatively easy read. That's the short version.

The long version must take into account Wilber's five periods or models to date. Visser's book nicely introduces the first four periods in a general way, and sets the stage for further study of the oeuvre. Wilber-5, so-called, has emerged in the last few years and will be published for the first time in the upcoming Kosmos, Vol. 2 (whose working title is Kosmic Karma and Creativity). One of the novel aspects of Wilber-5 is what he calls a post-metaphysical approach (among other things), which relies on empiricism in the three great domains of body, mind, and spirit. So the jury is still out on the niggly details of Wilber-5, and how its critic's will respond. But one thing is certain, once published it may be easy to misconstrue criticism of this Visser opus because it's NOT Wilber-5 and appropriately focuses on the influence of the perennial traditions in Wilber-1 through Wilber-4. But to Frank's credit, he mentions Wilber-5 several times and acknowledges that Wilber's views continue to develop.

Having said that, if you really want to get inside Wilber's head, or at the very least, into his heart, then it's appropriate to study his work beginning with Wilber-1. Why? First, Wilber is a developmental, evolutionary, transcendentalist thinker and doer. It's apt to see how his theory developed as it was informed by his own spiritual growth. Second, even though Wilber no longer recommends his first two books, The Spectrum of Consciousness (1977) and No Boundary (1979), they're required reading because we can trace the "integral impulse" at work from the very beginning along with what are now acknowledged flaws (the so-called pre/trans fallacy in particular). That integral impulse included nascent awareness that the three great domains of body, mind, and spiritual science must be included in any integral approach. Put another way, it reflected Ken's precocious understanding that transcendental experience is not solely pathological, and properly developed could greatly inform human development. He also refined transpersonal psychological theory to include the full spectrum of consciousness, from body to mind to soul to nondual spirit, along with identifying appropriate pathology and therapies.

Thus, Visser's book handles Wilber-1 through Wilber-4 with the skillful means of one who is far more than a journeyman with the material. In fact, Frank includes a great deal of biographical material to provide a human face and heart, background in the transpersonal field in general to situate Wilber's oeuvre, major critics, a summary of their differences, as well as his own critiques. He also includes a thorough bibliography of Wilber's work that alone is worth the price of the book! In the closing chapter Visser offers further insights and suggestions that may help refine the inchoate Wilber-5 model based upon his theosophical background.

In summary, if you're seriously interested in learning about Wilber's work, this is a great place to start. Ken personally recommends A Theory of Everything (2000) because it's concise, and A Brief History of Everything (1996). Together, they give a full accounting the major insights of Wilber-1 to Wilber-4, now called AQAL: all quadrants, levels, lines, states, types (and the kitchen sink. It is a thorough model :-).

All in all, let's give Frank Visser a hearty congratulations for a job well done!

As Wilber's Chief of Staff, I observe a lot of people attempting to reflect on his life and work in ways that are often speculative and confused. There are so many things to react to, and people line up to do so. It's refreshing to finally have a text that is able to represent Wilber's work and life in a way that is at once informed, critical, fair and inspiring. Visser echoes and reverberates Wilber's clarity of style, while infusing a revealed humanity in the process. Well done.

What a masterpiece of arranging and translating. Mr. Cheney took 20 years to finish this project and it's a wonderful way to study the life of Jesus in chronological order with all the details from the gospels blended together. You have to read it to see it's value. It is out of print -- thus the high prices for used copies -- so it's too bad it couldn't be revised to bring the words a little more up to date.

As a student of the Greek and Hebrew I can say it's a very accurate translation though a bit uncontemporary in it's vernacular after 30+ years.

I don't think it was ever published in hard cover. It's paperback is extremely sturdy.

I got my first copy in 1980 at a Goodwill store for $.99!! I've gotten many, many fine books from the thrift shop book racks.

Unbelievers never tire of alleging contradictions between the Gospels. Yet if one actually takes the time to read the Gospels, it becomes obvious that the discrepancies between them are, in any case, so trivial that they do not undermine the veracity of the accounts in any way. Otherwise, one would have to discard all newspaper accounts for comparable "contradictions" between news accounts. Since the Gospel writers wrote independently, it is inevitable that there are superficial discrepancies between the Gospels. Cheney beautifully shows how the different Gospel accounts flow together once one realizes that the writers "saw" things from different angles, so to speak. Cheney correctly calls this supplementation.

Cheney's harmony is a must for the bookshelf of any serious Bible student. This work, which accounts for every word in the original language texts, demonstrates the sequential consistency and compositional integrity of the four Gospel accounts and brings them to life in a special way. What a shame that its out of print!

Good Company is an easy to read primer on discovering the basics of a successful modern business. Rosenbluth & Peters begin by dogmatically proclaiming that "companies not only can positively influence lives, they have an obligation to do so." Both Rosenbluth and Peters have been closely associated with Rosenbluth International. This organization has been a world leader in travel management. Anyone familiar with the digital economy knows that travel management has recently undergone a revolution in how it conducts business and generates revenue.

The authors define the type of company we would all like to work for! A company built on friendship and where everyone genuinely cares about each other. Does this sound too good to be true? Apparently not, as this book demonstrates how fifteen of the worlds best companies have confronted the most severe management challenges and prevailed. In contrast to the prevalent management technique of operating "lean and mean", Good Company demonstrates the opposite approach. Rosenbluth and Peters offer solutions on how an organization can discard outdated practices and create an environment of innovation, teamwork, continuous learning and joy at work. Chapter six of the book is entitled, "We're Not Born into Leadership: We Convert". It is here the authors define a valuable principle by stating that "Companies can't bestow leadership upon people; true leadership is earned with right attitude, skills, and behavior."

The cultural foundation of the books corporate examples is most refreshing. It is that the pathway to competitive success is paved by investing first and foremost in your people. The authors show how any size organization can gain a competitive edge by accepting greater responsibility for society at large and the welfare of their employees. Organizations specifically mentioned include Land's End, Hallmark Cards, Mary Kay Inc., Southwest Airlines and over a dozen others.

This is a terrific book. Insightful, practical, wtitten with a crisp prose style. Beginning with Chapter 2 through Chapter 8, the authors provide a detailed summary of key points at the end of each chapter. These summaries offer excellent checklists which could, perhaps, be discussed individually during a staff or department meeting called to focus on a specific topic such as "speed.". All by themselves, the summaries are well worth the price of the book...and then some.

It is no mere coincidence that the same companies which the editors of Fortune annually rate as the "most admired" also have the greatest cap value. For the co-authors of Good Company, the term "good" refers to character as well as to competence, to decency as well as to dedication. In their book, they examine their "peers from the top 100" (Rosenbluth International is one of them), explaining why the best companies to work for are the best companies to work with.

One of the most valuable points in Good Company is that almost any company (regardless of size or nature) can learn a great deal from the family farm model. Obviously, there will be significant differences between and among companies in terms of how they define terms such as "farm land", "seeds", "crops", "harvest, "going to market", "town", etc. Fair enough. However, each farm is an organization which requires teamwork as well as hard work, careful planning and constant attention, and a healthy respect for natural forces.

Good Company examines two models: the Rosenbluth "farm" as well as the generic "family farm." In process, Rosenbluth and Peters take a close look at fifteen other companies which vary widely in terms of size and nature. "What do all of these companies share in common?" Good Company answers that question. "Why are these same companies rated the most highly respected?" Same answer. An abundant harvest awaits those who care as fiercely as they compete.

This was a great read. Simple to understand and apply to any business. A very valuable read especially for your boss. Goes into great detail on how to create a winning environment where people can excel and even be happy working.

This book was just what I was looking for. I didn't want some preachy book about how women have been opressed for so long. I didn't want someone to talk to me in a condescending way, or make assumptions about me or my partners. I wanted something concrete-a program or steps that I could follow. And this is exactly what I found! The author offers a step-by-step program, which guides you to orgasm by taking "baby steps" to get there. The program has helped my relationship immensly, and I know it will be a very rewarding journey all the way through to the last steps!

It seems that most of the sexual guides out there are geared to giving the man pleasure. In my experience that has never been a problem. The guides that are geared toward woman are usually filled with stories about muti orgasmic woman sharing their adventures. If you are a woman who really wants some clear cut advice that really works given in a friendly chatty kind of format this book is for you. It is written by a woman who had the frustation of regular unsatisfying sex herself and tells how she learned to overcome this. It was not written by some clinical doctor. The program teaches you how to be in control of your own orgasm in bed not be dependent on the abilities of your partner to have one. It's empowering. I definately recommend this book.

Of all how-to-do sex books for women, this one is the best because it focuses on the intimate relationship of women to their own sexuality. More than just giving techniques, Rachel Swift leads the reader to a very natural change in the everyday behavior, focusing on how to gain control in sexual (but it extends to more ...) situations by learning to develop the ability to satisfy oneself and to get familiar with one's own fantasies.

Even though it is quite a small book, it's one that is highly recommended. Some of the items are obvious, while others are helpful and make you think about your surroundings or for just utilizing cheap alternatives to professional tools that might not be in your bag of tricks. For example, the author says to use a cut out of a clear 2liter bottle for a plug remover to hold the pins & springs, while seeing what is going on through the clear plastic. Neat idea and not obvious to all.

I'm just a novice at picking, but learning quite rapidly. There are exercises to improve your skills.

The only thing bad I can say about the book is the first chapter. Long winded, but basically states the following: 1) picking what you aren't supposed to is illegal and will get you into trouble, 2) don't be egotistical and show off to your friends thinking you can pick anything, and 3) practice practice practice, that's the only way you'll be proficient in lock bypassing & picking.

This book ought to be the third level for someone who is interested in learning how to pick locks though it contains
information which may be useful to anyone. From this book one can learn how to develop and use a number of common items to unlock locks of a variety of sorts whether the lock be on a car or a house. Though I am not a locksmith, I have been practicing lockpicking for some time because somebody always forgets the keys. Conkel's book contains a number of ideas which will open locks easily which had never occurred to me.

Let's face it. Sometimes you dont have an entire van full of specialized locksmithing tools handy. But that doesn't change the fact that you need to get in right now. That's where "How To Open Locks With Improvised Tools" comes in to your rescue.

This small book is jam packed with knowledge conveyed in plain English. From making your own tools our of readily available items to picking or bypassing the most stubborn locks, Conkel's book has it all... right down to the last detail.

There are plenty of books and videos out there that tell you how to open or bypass locks with specialized tools. Anybody can do that. But the true experts can not only use their specialized tools well and with great precision, but they also can accomplish the same task without them.

That's what separates this book from all of it's peers. The others are merely bloated instruction manuals for the use of lockpicks, whereas "How To Open Locks With Improvised Tools" is the bible of an entire trade... neatly condensed into little more than 125 pages.

Very highly recommend.

This book is hilarious! Bill Meyers writes alot of these My Life As books . I am 10 years old and I love his books. One day Wally Mcdoogle is at a rocket site in Florida. The tour guide is leaving and Wally drops his glasses in a space shuttle and goes to get them. While on board,he goes to the lower deck and dozes off.When he wakes up,the shuttle has taken off so he starts to float around and hit the walls.The space crew is on a mission to deliver a piece to the space station. When the crew finds out that they have an extra passenger, they radio ground control and Wally's dad asks Wally if he wants to stay up there so the pilots can finish their job. Wally replies yes because he likes it out there. I like this book because the situations Wally finds himself in are really funny.

this book was great I just finished reading it to my 8yr old son and we laughed all the way through it. now he is ready to read it by himself. It really got through to him on following the rules and what can happen when you don't.

Wally sneaks aboard the space shuttle and learns the hard way why he should follow the rules. Very funny, and educational!

I first got hooked on Lori Wick books when a friend of mine let me borrow "Sophie's Heart" at a choir competition. Since then, I have literally inhaled all her books. I only gave this pair of books four stars because "Pretense", "To Know Her by Name", and "The Princess" are so unbelievably good! Her books, and these two in particular, do an excellent job of presenting real characters with real lives and real struggles. Lori Wick's books are a terrific standard to hold to Christian romance fiction. I highly recommend them.

I dont like all of Lori Wick's books- but this one was fantastic. Its about a family forced to move to California without their father, and how they survive. I could not put the book down!

This is the first of Lori Wick's books that I ever read, and I loved it so much that I just had to read the rest in the series! The story is about a young woman and her brother and sister who move from Hawaii to California during the 1870's, and their struggles in being on their own. Also Rigg who falls in love with Kaitlin at first sight, but she doesn't feel like that for a while. I couldn't stop reading it after the second half and I couldn't put it down until I found out what happened! I love the way Lori writes Novels, in a way that every romance should be, a God approving relationship. Be sure to read the sequences to this great book: As Time Goes By, Sean Donovan, Donovan's Daughter.