General-Order

This book of 400 ideas and ways to help organize your child was not at all what I expected. While I consider myself an organized parent, I am always looking for new ideas and methods of keeping myself and family on track. This book did not contain 400 ideas, at least not 400 DIFFERENT ideas. In the listing of her 400 ideas, the author mentions "color-coding your family" a dozen times.... No need to break it down into "color code each child's outerwear, to keep separate" and "color code files to keep each child's schoolwork, notes, etc." It's all the same. It is a book you can leaf through in under an hour, and probably while waiting at the checkout of the grocery store. Nothing earth-shatteringly helpful.

I found this book to be very helpful. I also consider myself fairly well organized, but was not sure how to help my very unorganized child become organized. This book gave very helpful and insightful tips to help me help him. I like that it is quick and to the point. . it helps those of us who do not have a lot of time to read really indepth books.

In the Catalog of Catalogs, several of the business I called were either out of business or had been sold. And of the book catalogs, many of them were publishing companies who only listed those books they published.

Need a mail order catalog? 900 categories (such as art works, books, hats, umbrellas, yoga) lead you to 15,000 catalog entries, each with the regular address, 5,000 internet addresses, and phone (in many cases toll free numbers). Want to buy something (e.g., a camera, a VCR) and check out the options first? Look up the category, then contact the manufacturers or retailers. See what I mean handy?

I found that this book was not very helpful. The 'storage solutions' seemed extremely unorganized and un-attractive.

This is a beautiful book, but the solutions focus mostly on built-ins. Good for home owners, but not for renters. The built-ins seem to require advanced carpentry skills, or the money to hire a professional. The chapter that includes container storage is brief and ideas could have been more creative.

Stewart's book was one of the first introductions to monasticism that I had when I became interested in the religious life about two or three years ago (and I am currently a Benedictine scholastic at St. Joseph Abbey in St. Benedict, Louisiana). I found Stewart's book to be quite helpful, balanced, interesting, and informative, covering all the major aspects of Benedictine life (and it is truly an impressive feat, for life often varies greatly from monastery to monastery!).

Recently, however, I was in St. Joseph Abbey's gift shop, where I was looking for a good introduction to Benedictine life and spirituality for my mother, who at the time knew nothing about the purpose of monasticism, of giving up one's earthly life and will for the glory of God. On the shelf, I saw this book, and, remembering the good experience I had had with it before, I decided to buy it for her. But as I was flipping through the pages to refresh my memory as to what was in the book, I saw something to the extent of, "Women Benedictine communities, however, still must rely on male priests to conduct Mass for them, a painful reminder of the exclusion of women from the priesthood."

Needless to say, I was a bit taken aback by the statement, not having remembered anything of the sort the first time I read through the book. Unfortunately, this and other statements show the Benedictine author's deviation from Church teachings, even on such a definitive matter such as the inability of the Church to ordain women. And it is absolutely and in every way unacceptable. For this reason, I give the book one star, when I would otherwise have gladly given 3, 4, or even 5 for its exposition of such a complex and, in certain aspects, confusing subject.

The first time I visited the monastery as a vocations guest, I was given a small booklet called "The Benedictines" by Dom David Knowles (with an intro by Marion Bowman, OSB). You may read four of the six chapters here: http://www.osb.org/gen/knowles/ . If you can, try to find the full version of the booklet (originally published by Sheed & Ward), as it is faithful to the Church, written with a true Benedictine spirit, and, most importantly, faithful to the teachings of the Church. God bless all.

Columba Stewart isn't just another author of a book on Benedictine spirituality. He is a monk of St. John's Abbey in Minnesota, holder of a D. Phil. from Oxford, a teacher in the Theology department at St. John's University, and one of the world's best scholars on John Cassian. Given his backgroun, this book easily could have been very scholarly, very dry, and very academic. So it is a real pleasure to say that his overview of Benedictine spirituality fills a gap in the growing list of books in this area. As with other authors such as Esther de Waal and Joan Chittister, Stewart's intent is to provide an overview of this important stream in Christian spirituality and it's applicability/relevance to modern day concerns. However, Stewart takes a different perspective in his approach, using as a dual focus both the text of the Rule of Benedict and the lived experience of monastic communities during the ensuing centuries. As a result, this book conveys to the reader a much better sense of how Benedictine communities have struggled with how to live by the spirit of the Rule of Benedict even as the world around those communities has changed in ways unimaginable to Saint Benedict.

If you are looking for an overview of how to incorporate Benedictine spirituality into your daily life, this book is probably not the best place to start. For that, I would highly recommend books by Esther de Waal and Joan Chittister. I have read several books by these two authors and they have been extremely valuable in my own attempts to live out my faith. But what I gained from reading Stewart's book was a much better sense of how the major themes in the Rule of Benedict have been lived out over the centuries and how the understanding of those themes has in some ways changed and in other ways remained the same during that time period. As an oblate since 1998 of a Benedictine monastery in California, I found Stewart's perspective very helpful in further enriching my own understanding of the Benedictine tradition. I've also found this book very, very helpful as the starting point for a presentation to a men's group in my parish on Benedictine spirituality.

Another reviewer of this book criticizes it for it's "deviation from Church teachings". I should state at this point that I don't share the same perspective as this reviewer, in part because I am Episcopalian. For those who share the other reviewer's concerns about faithfulness to the teachings of the Roman Catholic church from what I sense is a traditionalist perspective, this book may not be the best choice. For those individuals, Roman Catholic and non-Roman Catholic, who are sincerely interested in further exploring the Benedictine tradition and it's connection and power for life today, Stewart's book is one that I would highly recommend that people read.

This volume contains lectures which Thomas Merton gave to nuns of the Loretto community during late 1967 and early 1968. He manages to say almost nothing of substance, except that "contemplation" (however we define it) is good, and that authoritarian structures are bad. Only the most fervent devotees of the somewhat trendy Trappist would find this book ineluctable; the rest of us can profit by avoiding it. We look to his earlier work for nourishment: Thoughts in Solitude (1958), New Seeds of Contemplation (1961), and many of his poems and journals. THE SPRINGS OF CONTEMPLATION strikes this reader as needless chit-chat about silence. We do not find God in the book, but a tired talkative Merton who is a bit too convinced of his own sagacity. Alas.

Its odd, how things work out. In his Journals, Merton was ENTHRALLED by this reterat. He spoke in glowing terms of the participants,and praised the intamcy achieved. He states, flatly"this is the best reterat of my life." Yet none of that comes forth in this collection, which is more the pity. Of course, some of this is indeed dated[the world is radically changed in 33+ years]and perhaps, as it seems Fr. Merton was wont to do, he gets overly enthusiastic about something before he has completely immersed himself.Still, second level Merton is better then just about top shelf from anyone else.Some nuggets on prayer left me thinking that perhaps the great moments of this retreat were the celebration of the Mass that were held each day. In that silence was perhaps that ineffable moment that cannot be heard nor touched that Merton groped for so in his life and writings. So, in all not great Thomas Merton, thjough still necessary to see the entire picture of this good great man.

This book was not really a romance. It was about two people who came together from a mail order bride program. The Romance part did not happen untill the end of the book. The author should have wrote more about the couple then there life before hand. The book was VERY predictable. The religon part was odd. I was waiting for them to pull out the snakes and scream. Not impressed at all.

Personally, I've enjoyed other books better, but this was the best mail order bride book so far. The plot is satisfying and not too fast like other Lacy books. Not a must, but a good read never the less.

I am asking myself why Ms. Sebba would devote an entire book to criticizing a woman who has given up any material possessions she may have had, located herself in an area stricken with poverty and disease (such as leprosy), and spent her life helping the destitute. It is offensive to read this knowing that the author sits in a comfortable residence in England as she searches to find fault with Mother Teresa. Has Ms. Sebba done more for the poor and destitute than Mother Teresa?

By way of preface the author wrote the piece before Mother Teresa died and I read the book before publication. I have not seen it since the death of Mother Teresa. Secondly I am not a Catholic nor am I particularly fond of the dogma. However I enjoy biographies that are submissive to the subject and not patronizing to the reader or make me have to think why the author wrote what they did. The good bios are the ones where I am a witness to a person's life and do not even know the shade of the lens or the style of the frame of the glasses through which I am priviliged to observe. As I don't have the time to write with greater detail I wil summarize as follows:

A crack in the sidewalk may be insurmountable to an ant. It does not mean it is insurmonuntable. Mother T. Did what she had to do to save starving people in the most horrible of conditions. Do you judge her because she used every means possible to accomplish this? Do you fault her because her method is more the method of one born in 1910 and a stranger to the political exigencies of the author's agenda or the agenda of those others whom she intimidated by her plainess. To even give print to her very passable shortcommings in the face of her most ordinary training and the enormity of the task she was courageous to undertake is snobbery. Sebba is a snob. She wrote her piece to be counter to the then existing general satisfaction for the work of Mother T. She didn't write her piece to be a biographer.

I already knew much about the life of Mother Teresa so I was particularly interested in reading about how her order works in various countries. I have had some experience here in Slovakia with the Missionaries of Charity. They are wonderful people who work with those that gov't organizations usually ignore. But I agree with the author that treating people in western countries as though they were living in Indian poverty (e.g., no a/c in the hospice in Washington, D.C., no washing machine here for young mothers to use for washing baby diapers and clothes)is to commit these people to a lifestyle which may do wonders for the nuns' souls but not much for those they help. I thought the book bent over backwards to present all sides of controversial issues and to show why Mother Teresa took the stands that she did. No human who ever lived on this earth was perfect (Jesus was both human and divine)and we should understand that even saints had their flaws. It's just that nowadays we can know more about them. I think this was an excellent book; I read it through in a weekend because I found it so interesting.

I bought this book while I was living in America and have just gotten around to reading it.I wish I had not ,the pages are badly set out with to many side bars making it a pain to read .Also there is not enough good information in it to make it worth buying.A note to the editor if you produce this book for the British market you want to use another word than Tosser this is not a nice word over here and may offend some people.

This book has too many no brainer solutions, and not enough real problem solving information. I love the beginning of the book with the note from the editor, she writes that this book sat on her desk, under a pile of clutter, for a while before she decided to sit down and read it--was it that bad!? The book itself needs the pages uncluttered, it was so hard to read and was poorly designed. The funniest part was when my husband came in our kitchen one day and saw this book sitting on top of a mountain of paper clutter. In summary if you just throw away or organize your stuff, you want be cluttered--easier said then done.

I believe this book to be very helpful. IF you are not impaired in the ways of organization, then of course this book would have useless ideas for people who already know them. For those of us with this problem of not knowing how to organize, this book is great. It showed me how to organize space more efficiently, gave me a different outlook on how to use different rooms in my home and gave me some resources for what to buy for cabinets, closets and entryways. It is VERY helpful and full of all different advice in the way of organization. IT points out the psychological reasons we hoard things,,,,what type of clutter person you are and with that information helps you fight the habits that got you to the place where you needed to buy the book in the first place. Reading the other reviews, I believe them to unfairly put this book on a low level, seems maybe these people did not need the help to begin with??? It helps...it has major ideas and a lot of them in an easy to grasp format that is easy and pleasurable to read.

I cannot fathom that such a distinguised author would think that anyone would appreciate this drab plot. A ten year old could write a more imaginative story. The cover art was the best thing about the book. Don't bother.

This is an unimaginative work of cover filler. The characters are one-dimensional and completely uninteresting. Only the younger brother, Larry, has anything approaching character development. Yet another piece of uninspiring fiction on a subject that Ms. Edwards has already overdone.

I love to read Cassie Edwards, I think she is a great writer. This book gives great details, and a story line that I enjoyed. Read it at night without any destractions, so you can follow the sub-genre in it. I love the main character, Troy/Red Feather. He appealed to me, and my heart went out to him. If you go to cassieedwards.com, you will notice that there is a Red Feather charity for the Indian lands, and welfare. Angela Dawn was just as innocent and sweet as all the main women characters by this popular author. The villians are very detailed too. I love this book! Ms. Edwards wrote another one that qualifies for a best-seller!! Thank you for not disappointing this fan.

This book is a disapointment after reading the misleading Editorial review. Essentially, this book is a close takeoff from the macromedia book that comes with the Fireworks software. It is a cookbook approach that tells you what clicks to make for a given end result. Chapter 1 page 14, step 6 states "If you want to rasterize complex blends, and tiled fills, click the Groups Blends, and Tiled Fills check boxes in Render As Images to turn on preferences. Then select a threshold number for the number of objects or steps a selection must contain before Fireworks rasterizes it during import." This is page 14, involving Opening Vector Graphics. Anyone who thinks this is clear and explains very much to the uninitiated, will hardly be able to wait to get to page 315!

Instead of creating simple tasks for the reader to perform, in graduated steps, to acquire the necessary skills to utilize the Fireworks software effectively, the authors have chosen to emulate the Fireworks user manual. The result is to produce an equally esoteric, and relatively uncomprehensible book for anyone seeking a clear understanding of a rather pricey piece of software! Please check it out for yourself! I wish you well!

I don't have the user's manual for Macromedia Fireworks and found that this book has many features that are hidden in the program itself. The authors show a great understanding of animation steps beyond the rudimentary that anyone can do in Fireworks. One can learned the basics of Fireworks from cutting up graphics to basic animations from the tutorial that comes with the program. This book shows what you can do beyond the basics.

A word of caution, this is a book for intermediate to advance users.