Half-life

Game Plan is an excellent read for those who are struggling with their purpose and significance in life.

Among some of the excellent points Buford mentions are:

1. The first half of life is spent on someone else's agenda while the second half is more about your true self.
2. Learn to say no to many good things.
3. We must have time alone with God and let Him speak to us.
4. Eventually, you will have to take a chance in the second half of your life (career, relationships, interests, etc).
5. The second half of your life can be much better than the first half.

All in all, an excellent read for the person who wants to finish well!

For those who have climbed the "ladder of success" and then wondered "is that all there is?", this book will help direct one in their pursuit of real meaning in life. While being driven from the early days of our first career to achieve "success" in line with the secular world, it is helpful to reflect on how our life can move to being of value to others. In redirecting our developed skills and ambitions, we can uncover real satisfaction and meaning from our contributions. Highly recommended for those who have already "achieved" much, but are looking to "significance" for the remaining years.

This book is a gem and will impact the design for the rest of your life. It offers a critical challenge and practical strategies for creating significance in the second half of life. Bob Buford presents a refreshing view for being active in our middle and senior years. He cites that our accumulated experience and wisdom over our first 20 professional years have prepared us to truly take our gifts and talents to another level, to contribute to the lives of many, and to leave a legacy that continues to make a positive difference after we're gone. His insights are valuable. His recommendations work well. His references to God and Christian principles are sensitively presented and make good sense regardless of the reader's stance on faith. I've been using the strategies effectively for the past 6 months. I have an enhanced personal vision and purpose and an expanded set of goals for my next several decades. I highly recommend this book.

Gordon MacDonald, one of my most favorite authors, has written and excellent book on the need for us to evaluate our lives as we enter the 30s and 40s and beyond. Granted, this book may be more appropriate for older readers, but younger ones will also benefit as they prepare for the "prime of life".

Among the principles MacDonald covers include:

1. Abraham exercised great faith when he left the comforts of his home and followed God's voice to go to a new land.
2. Although Abraham experienced scars in his life, he was a man who learned to trust God.
3. We have to go to quiet places to get a glimpse of God's majesty. Faith is built in the tough places of life.
4. Character is what truly exists in the hidden life of a person. A fall in character is often due to the neglecting the inner life.
5. Principles of perseverence.
6. Jesus was (and is) very interested in a person's character.
7. A person's character is revealed in impossible situations.
8. To have life change, we must be willing to reach for the unfamiliar.

All in all, an excellent and highly recommended book!

"Mid-Course Correction" is Gordon MacDonald's best book to date. As in all of his books, this is a very practical book, full of concrete suggestions. He suggests that all of us need to be in a lifelong process of continuing conversion. Either we need to escape from a certain staleness in our life, or we need to become more dedicated "Christ-followers" He sees Abraham as the most relevant model for conversion because his conversion was most like that which people today face. He, and we, come from a pagan culture and need to learn much that some from the culture (or subculture) take for granted. MacDonald is a gifted storyteller who uses events from his own life as well as biblical narrative to illustrate his points effectively. read this book, you will be better for doing so.

I have been a fan of Gordon MacDonald's books for almost a quarter century because he is so strongly focused on the practical aspects of the Christian life. This, his latest book, deals with the question of moving onward to the next step. He is convinced that God has more for His people if we live a life of continuing "mid-course corrections". No matter what apparent disaster has befallen the Christ-follower, God can use it to bring good. If you are finding your spiritual life a bit flat, here you may find hope from one who has learned from experience that God is a God of the second chance.

Having been mightily impressed with Margaret Guenther's The Practice of Prayer, I was eager to read more from this wise, articulate, and highly compassionate woman.

This is not just a book for senior citizens, as the title might suggest. Indeed, as far as I am concerned, the second half of life is everything after that point when you wake up and realize that you are indeed getting older and that you cannot hold onto your youth, and you begin to question what is really important in life. Margaret Guenther shows us many ways of seeing and sifting, and getting to the core of what it is to be human and Christian. Although she is an ordained Episcopal priest, I think this book will speak to everyone of the Christian faith as they are growing older, and let's face it, who isn't?

Highly recommended.

In "Toward Holy Ground", spiritual director and theologian Margaret Guenther discusses the effect of mortality and aging on spirituality. Although the title suggests this book refers to those approaching or into mid or later life, Reverend Guenther suggests that the "second half of life" can occur at any age - it is a mindset and a change in focus, rather than an arrival at any specific age.

Wonderfully written, this book speaks about spiritual direction, craft, shifts in perspective and life; as well as discussing aging, both as one who will eventually age, and one who has ministered to the aged. Her insights are sensitive and helpful, and the suggestions for ministry practical and compassionate. Her sections on spiritual direction do tend toward a mainline Christian focus, not surprisingly, as Ms. Guenther is an Episcopal priest. An excellent, helpful book.

Adjusting to the aging process is every bit as challenging as the passage from childhood to adolescence. When you catch a glimpse of yourself in the mirror and see your mother, it's time read Toward Holy Ground. The author is an Episcopal priest, no longer young herself, whose wisdom and insight into the aging process make this gently written, easily read book invaluable for those of us in the second half of life. Reading it is similar to having a conversation with a friend, about many things we share, the things that make aging wonderful and difficult. The author has written several books, including The Practice of Prayer, and Holy Listening.

This is a fascinating contribution to understanding human brain functioning. Nico undergoes a hemispherectomy (remove of his right hemisphere) due to extreme epilepsy.
What follows is the amazing journey of Nico, through kinder garden, schooling, and socialization. Nico conveys the image of which the author so profoundly believes, that his left hemisphere isn't damaged, it's a brain it itself.
By reading this book, you'll realize that Nico has nearly no deficits resulting from his hemispherectomy. His left visual field is absent (due to the left eye normally transmitting information to the right - in this case absent - hemisphere. He also suffers from minor physical disability in his right limbs. Nonetheless, Nico performs or outperforms his peers when it comes to reasoning and intelligence, with the only deficit being in drawing.
It would do injustice to the author if it weren't mentioned about how he strongly believes in technology improving education for both the general public and especially handicapped children. By using a laptop Nico was able to further his verbal and spatial education regardless of his drawing and handwriting deficit.
Antonio M. Battro deserves credit and reading for this extremely concise and informative authoritative introduction to hemispherectomy & brain research in general.

Battro's insightful, inspirational, and sensitive study of a young boy whose functional hemispherectomy has left him with only a functioning left side of his brain is a challenge to many preconceptions regarding the limitations of the human brain and its adaptability. The successful adaptations made by the subject of the book, Nico, with the aid of computer technology to succeed in a regular academic environment will call into question standard lesion analysis in projecting the capabilities and potential of others who have undergone this surgery.

Possibly the only time that Sci-Fi made me cry, "Half a Life" is a collection of stories and a novells about normal sounding people experiencing the viscitudes that seemed reserved (in convetional sci-fi) for steely-eyed heroes or hyper-intelligent engineers who blather in incomprehensible technobabble. The heroin of "Half a Life", a human taken prisoner by alien robots, wanted nothing more after WWII, than a quiet life on some Oblast when she finds herself the latest addition to a menagerie of creatures from different planets. Instead of adjusting to prison life, she humanizes her fellow prisoners and seizes control of the means of freedom. The heroic explorers of "Red Deer, White Deer" look past their prejudices against the brutal ape creatures of a newly discovered planet, to find the kernel of humanity - with all of its qualities and failings. The protagonist of "Can I Speak to Nina" is something of a child frozen in the body of an adult - emotionally paralyzed by his clumsy loss of a ration card during WWII. Not entirely willing to forgive himself the mistake which made life much less pleasant in an unpleasant time (the rest of the family had to give up some of their rations), he never comes alive until accidentally calling a young girl who's literally more backward than he - eerily convinced that the year is not 1972, but 1943! The oddities of the universe, which cover up the unoriginality of plots or flatness of charachters in other sc-fi, cause Bulychev's charachters to unfold like a flower. His prose only seem spare but mask an inner humanity. when futuristic cosmonauts stumble on the derelict zoo-ship of "Half a Life", they argue on seemingly petty history - like whether Natasha, the human abductee, made it into space before Sputnik, or had to follow Gagarin. When other interplanetary explorers are welcomed home after a seemingly meaningless mission, you'll want to shout along "I was the first to find you!" Don't lose this one.

This novella and collection of short stories by the Russian author is one of my favorite science fiction works. He is unusally clear, original, poignant, and human. For a man who wrote this when Communism was not only Law in Russia, but Religion as well, his prose lacks the political pollution so typical of inferior Russian works that had to be approved by a Ministry before they were printed. Bulychev isn't given to flights of fancy to mask ignorance. His science is proven; his extrapolation of scientific ideas is believable; and his stories are marvellous. To those who enjoyed "The Ice People" by Rene Barjavel, Bulychev should be equally good. If not, well, at least I hope that "Half a Life" and the stories "Red Deer, White Deer," and "May I Please Speak to Nina?" (my favorite ones) will have still proven to be good enough. Happy reading.

It's not often that a writer of grace such as Maile Meloy comes around. I have not read her second work, the novel Liars and Saints yet, but just judging by this slim collection of stories, she is going to be a writer to watch. My favorite story in here was "Red" in which a soldier fixing to ship out to France during the World War, desperately tries to reach a non-communicative woman. "Thirteen and a Half" is a brief tale about a junior high dance crashed by a murderous gangbanger. "The Ice Harvester" shows the life of a man whose profession has become obsolete due to electric refrigeration. "A Stakes Horse" deals with a woman whose ex-husband is a jockey who she thinks is involved in throwing races. "Ranch Girl" shows the debilitating effects of small-town life on a girl who is afraid to strive for anything better and rejects anything outside her zone of comfort.

Meloy is a great writer. She is able to show ordinary people and use them for great tales. Her stories seem to be about awakenings. Or more rightly, realization. Whether it's of awareness of infidelity, of death, or of joy, it's the power of opening your perceptions that she writes about, for good or bad. The best of these stories show that she has the potential to climb the plateau of the best short story practicioners. Hope her novel is just as good.

This is a collection of short stories, by Montana born author Maile Meloy. I knew nothing about the book, and it was recommended by a colleague at work, who graduated in English from Princeton.

I don't believe I have read a short story since High School (To Build a Fire), even then I read them discretely, so reading an entire book of short stories was a shock to my reading sensibilities. One of the reasons I read is to become lost in the story and with short stories, well they are short, so the experience is something entirely different. I think with short stories (at least ones this short), the sensation was for me more visceral. After reading them since their breadth was narrow I could stop and ponder them, their meaning and the feeling they invoked. However since there were so many stories, it was difficult to just sit down and read one right after another. Each new story was an entirely different set of characters, different context and setting; it was difficult to be able to shift gears between stories. I had to often pause and allow time for settling before reading the next story.

There were several themes that I observed acros the stories, first was a sense of life in Montana, the general attitude of its inhabitants towards life, nature and new comers. There was also as the title suggests a great deal said and unsaid about love. Every relationship was poignantly troubled in some regard, "half in love" is not half way there, but a relationship that never made it and never will or one that was and is half way gone. I don't believe there was any tale where the couple was truly happy. Even in the moving story of Kite Whistler Aquamarine where a man desperately struggles to save a filly born in the dead of winter and frost bitten, his wife has no admiration for his love and dedication to the horses, more she seems annoyed and disdainfully judgmental. Having said that I did not find the book depressing, and I enjoyed so much diversity, variety and interest across so many stories in such a short book.

One thing that did bother me about the physical layout of the book was that the left page title had the authors name and the right page title had the book's name. This made it difficult to know what was the name of the short story you were reading, and it made a particular short story hard to find.

...

These aren't cowboy stories, but you can see the influence of Meloy's Montana life in them. Each story is wildly different, looking at everything from love to death to horse racing. Thing I really enjoyed about the stories was the background information she invented to support each story; just simple few line references that enhance the story, such as when she talks of Mexican homes that always have room for guests because they're constantly being added onto since you don't have to pay property tax if the house is still being finished. It's little things like that dropped throughout the stories that really paint the scene for you and give the characters depth.

Gosh, I love this book. I wish I'd had its lovely, practical wisdom to use in answering all the people who've ever said to me, "Would you lighten up?" Now I know how. And it's fun. (This is also a BEAUTIFUL book -- terrific gift for Mother's Day, birthdays, best friends, uptight bosses, etc.)

This book was a welcome respite in a busy week filled with working too hard, keeping up with kid's schedules and trying to have a life all at the same time. For busy parents trying to keep everything together and set rules and expectations for their kids, it is great fun to read Ms. Levine's witty , thoughtful and often touching take on how to approach life with fun and grace. Her advice on how to do the unexpected, break the rules we set, usually because it is just how we think we should act, and create special moments for ourselves and our families and friends is a wonderful antidote to stress and tension. I am ordering more to give to friends who really need this book!

This wise, warm-hearted and witty primer is a great mood-booster and moral-supporter for anyone whose outlook on life could use a little freshening. I recommend it for both a few quick takes in the morning and longer doses of beach-reading.

Ruth Beckford brings a lifetime of experience and accumulated wisdom to this book of affirmations and short essays aimed at "women in the second half of life." Topics, which touch on professional and personal issues, include empowerment, health, romance and inner peace. Although this book contains the same philosophies found in virtually every other self-help or inspirational book, its focus on how these thoughts apply to women at midlife and beyond sets it apart. We [...] recommend this book to those women - at least to the ones who, with their booming careers, adolescent or adult kids, aging parents, active spouses and an occasional night at the theater - still have time to read. Just one criticism, though: These lovely aphorisms have a slight whiff of retirement about them, a faint fragrance that makes us wonder a bit if the author fully understands that 50 isn't quite as old as it used to be.

This a must read for the forty-something and the
fifty-something.
This little book with its' practical no nonsense
approach to life and lifestyles can be read again and
again.
Enjoyable, exciting, and enlightening.

I recommended the book to my bookclub, In the Company of My Sistah (Northern Califonria).

Beckford does indeed provide "affirmations for women in the second half of life." As a male, what I find so interesting is that these same affirmations are also relevant to men who share the same generation. The material is organized within four Parts: Health ("An ache here, a pain there. So what?"), Empowerment, ("Live as you jolly well please."), Romance ("There may be snow on the roof, but there's a fire blazing in the oven."), and Inner Peace ("Living from the inside out."). Quite correctly, Beckford affirms the importance of physical as well as mental and emotional health. An abundance of research confirms that older people (ie those in "the second half of life") live longer, recover more quickly from illness, and (generally) are much happier if they sustain a positive attitude. Beckford generously shares from her own, extensive personal experience. ("This book has been a lifetime in the making.") She neither preaches nor harangues. She includes dozens of quotations, some serious and others amusing. She concludes her book with a list of 10 "sayings" she has "invented." Here are three to give you a sense of her style and perspective:

1. "When you're casual about life, you'll end up a casualty."

4. "If you stand for nothing, you'll fall for anything."

8. "Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That's why it's called the present."

Some readers may think such sayings are "corny" or "obvious." Quite true, there is very little "new" in this little book. For me, many of what Beckford calls "affirmations" are really "reaffirmations" of what I already knew but seldom consider. I plan to re-read this book periodically. Also, I will continue to give copies as a gift to friends. But not to all my friends. Nor only to those "in the second half of life." Rather, to those who will be receptive to what Beckford shares so generously. One final thought: Many (most?) residents of retirement communities -- and especially those in assisted living facilities -- will derive great benefit from reading this book. If you have loved ones among this group, you should seriously consider giving this book as a gift to them. Just a thought....

J.M. McDonell does a wonderful job in exploring what it means to be a friend and to love someone. David is constantly struggling with the choices that Miranda makes in her relationships with others. I wouldn't say that he is jealous of Miranda's lovers in a sexual sense, but he is so awestruck by her charisma and beauty that he doesn't want to see her get hurt. He has to come to terms with his feelings for her - Is she the one who is going to change everything about his way of life? Does he love her? It seems as though J.M. McDonell did a marvelous job in developing David, Miranda, and few other characters, but there were other characters that didn't seem to be important to the plot (like the veterarian, and Ben). I think that she could have made each of the characters more developed and meaningful to the story. She could have made a stronger connection between some of the characters. I felt as though there were many wasted pages in her novel on which she would introduce these meaningless characters, never intending to incorporate them into the plot. Despite the underdeveloped characters, I enjoyed reading Half Crazy. I think that McDonell could have made the book more captivating by not taking up space with names and descriptions that weren't integral to the plot.

This is one of those books that I read at one of those moments in life where I just starting to understand myself. And this booked helped. I hold it very close to my heart, and I hope that you will too. Even though I agree with some of the other reviews (about underdeveloped characters) I find that a minor flaw in such an awesome first novel for Ms. J. M.

Though interesting and enjoyable (read on a plane-trip), at times I felt as though the ghosts of Holly Golightly and Dunne's Grenville women were lurking in the mist. Miranda did exhibit a vunerable fragility that made her character believable; David was a 2 dimensional Truman Capote wanna-be? Or so it seemed to me. All in all, an entertaining romp, though more like late-night snack at Van Cleef's rather than Breakfast at Tiffany's!

This book was wonderful. Once you start reading it you can't put it down. It keeps you in suspence through-out the book as more clues come out as to who the killer is. I defenitley recomend this book

The Mystery at Half Moon Cove is an engaging and delightful read, with surprises around every corner. Great for kids, teens and adults. I highly recommend this book!

From Sister Rose's lively karate academy to the dark, cold waters of Sculpin Bay, this action-packed story will thrill you right off your seat! The character interaction is entertaining and believable. Although the main characters in this exciting story are teenagers, it appeals to readers of all ages. This and all the other Kimmy O'Keefe mysteries are consistent and have excellent continuity. I recommend them all.