On-the-tape

Once again, Bill Bennett has demonstrated his exceptional ability to choose an unfortunately undervalued topic in today's society (in this case, the Founders), and pull together a book which should be required reading in our public schools and which each and every candidate for elected or appointed office should be required to read, then submit to a test which would shame the SATs! Failure to pass with an 'A' would bar the individual from holding or seeking office for a period of 5 years! There is a clear correlation between the increase in our nations material wealth and the trend which finds our historical roots becoming more and more distant. Knowing, understanding, appreciating, and following the precepts of this book will go a long way towards reversing a sad and truly disgraceful trend.

This is one of those rare books that makes you wistful for a more civil age. When I first started the book, I must confess that I didn't want to "waste my time" reading all the essays -- about things that didn't particularly interest me, or from authors from whom I'd already read. However, my biases were quickly squelched after reading -- and re-reading -- the first few essays.

The value in this book comes from Mr. Bennett acknowledging the fact that the men and women writing these essays were not perfect. On the contrary, they recognized their weaknesses. But rather than wearily accept those weaknesses, they held themselves to a "higher standard" and strove to overcome their challenges. They are examples we all can learn from.

This is an excellent resource for teaching your kids that America was founded on Christian Principals by God Fearing men. Provides PROOF that the American History texbooks are lying when they call our founding fathers Diests. Many, if not most of them were in fact devoted Christians.

This book is excellent and will open your mind and show you what the bible has to say about the struggles facing women today. For example, this book addresses topics such as releasing negative emotions, God's desire to prosper us, healing, friendship, etc. etc. In her chapter about friends, she identifies certain signs of unhealthy friends. In her chapter about wisdom, she lists the benefits of seeking and obtaining wisdom as stated in the bible and the actions of a wise woman. She talks about controlling your words, praying for protection of your friends, how serving God will actually lead to living our your destiny and many other topics relevant for today.

This book is written in a way to encourage actual application of Stormie's insights. It is divided in short, readable chapters, with a prayer and relevant verses at the end of each chapter. This book can be read in any order as each chapter contains a stand-alone topic. While this book is presented in a very reader friendly format, the reader should not fly through this book. Rather, this book is extremely useful for daily devotions and life application. Each segment is useful for meditation and the verses set out at the end are empowering when memorized or frequently reviewed. I have used this book as a daily devotional and have found that consistent application of the teachings set forth in this book will change your life.

I just got the book today and I have to say it is a word in due season. The caption on the back cover "prayer is powerful...but do you know how to pray for yourself?" says it all. As women we are so busy caring for others, we neglect to go to God for the things we need ourselves and for help to be the women He would have us to be. The first few chapters have been a blessing. Ladies: read it and be reminded of the magnitude of the Lord, then share it.

I would definetly recommend this book to any woman who is seeking a deeper more meaningful realtionship with God. This is an excellent book for encouragement and inspiration. Many of us are in a "Shallow Walk" with God, however this book along with the willingness to open up your heart to God's Holy Spirit will definetl change you for the better. I was skeptial at first about reading this book. I thought it was just another one of those "This is my opinion Religious Finatic Books" But to the contray it was the total opposite. Stormie hit the nail right on the head. She reminds us that all that we need, want, and desire in our lives as women walking with God, can only be obtained through God! She also gives us helpful and very useful prayer guides and prayers as well to help assist us with the opening up of our Hearts to obtain God's Blessings. It grabed my attention from the moment I opened it up and I can definetly say that it has helped me with my walk with the Lord. Reading her book is like having my own personal prayer partner by my side. I hope she continues to do such Great Works for The Lord and for all of us who are atempting to be more like him.

If you are looking for a book that is a once informative and entertaining, you have to get this one. What I found interesting in this book are the insights that the author gives us as to how pros and ordinary players think, or should think when preparing to putt. He discusses the importance of the pre-shot routine . As 40% of the shots made in the course of a game are putts, it's simple logic that such a book should interest all golfers whatever the state of their game. If you wish elevate your game another notch, this book is for you.

This book is a very enjoyable read and has many "Dr. Bob" insights that will help golfers of all levels. Unfortunately on the heels of his classic "Golf Is Not A Game Of Perfect" this exposition on putting is less fulfilling, but very good nonetheless. Ultimately the book recommends the following: 1) focus on the process of putting (developing a standard mental and physical pre-shot routine to clear your mind), not the mechanics or outcome of each putt; 2) don't worry about mechanics during practice or course putting, just focus on the target and aim to put each putt in the hole; and 3) the more relaxed and positive you are about your putting and the experience of putting the better the results will be. The messages in the book are simple. While they seem redundant at times the lessons are valuable and the book is an enjoyable and beneficial 4-5 hour read. As the author points out, 40% of strokes are putts so it's worth putting time into improving this part of your game.

My golf game has been transformed by this CD. What is so valuable is the perspective he offers on the mental side of the game. I was a horrible putter only a couple of months ago, shooting in the mid to upper 80's, and my handicap of 8 was rising. After listening to this,practicing what he recommends, I just won my flight and low net champion at the Club, shooting a 1 over total for 2 days! It does work.

This is a good introductory text to some basic concepts on leadership. Stanley does a good job of synthesizing good leadership theory from John Maxwell and others. Strengths of this books include how much Stanley focuses on character (the true measure of any leader) and how as a leader you should focus on what you are good at. One book I would recommend if you want to go deeper on the topics Stanley discusses, would be, "The Making Of A Leader" by J.Robert Clinton from Fuller Seminary.

Stanley leads a very successful church in the Atlanta area and practices what he preaches. He knows what he is good at, and works from there. He could have flushed out what more about what leaders look like, how we can lead from the front or the back of the room, etc. Still a good book regardless.

Stanley also focuses on knowing your inner "man" which seems to be a bit gender exclusive, but does not invalidate this as a good leadership text. Overall this is a good, solid leadership book. B

Joseph Dworak

Stanley has written an excellent book on leadership principles which can be immediately applied to your every day pursuit of becoming a leader worth following. He blends a number of personal stories and examples to illustrate core principles. A fast read full of relevant lessons.

This is a great little book on Leadership. The section on "Courage" was worth the price of the book. I can almost guarantee that if you read this book you would not at all be disappointed. It is packed with great insight and ideas that are packaged well. I not only learned I was inspired.

Previous: Thank You, Jeeves

One of the most popular of the Jeeves novels, Right Ho, Jeeves brings us to Brinkley Court, the lair of Bertie's Aunt Dahlia, who is by far my favorite secondary character in all the books. This book is overshadowed by a decidedly antagonistic relationship between Jeeves and Bertie over a certain white jacket with brass buttons, and one can practically see Jeeves snickering in the background when his brilliant solution to the problems at hand is accomplished at Bertie's expense. Nevertheless, he does "rally round" when needed, and saves Bertie from a fate more hideous than death, viz. marriage to the loony Madeline Bassett. There are moments of laugh-out-loud hilarity in this book, notably Gussie Fink-Nottle's prize-giving at the local grammar school after drinking a jug of spiked orange juice, Bertie's very ill-timed question about haggis (a personal favorite of mine-the line, not haggis), and Aunt Dahlia's calm suggestion that Bertie go out to the garden pool and drown himself. This is comedy at its brilliant best. A wonderful beginning to a chain of events and characters that will follow in many books to come.

Next: The Code of the Woosters

Wodehouse is a legendary figure in British writing. I still find it amazing that many book-lovers in the US have yet to read him. All I can say is that a whole world, the world of Bertie Wooster, Lord Emsworth, Psmith, can open up for their enjoyment. Right-Ho Jeeves (originally called Brinkley Manor) was my very first book written by Wodehouse. I consider it his best work. It combines two elements that are hard to do - humor and language. No word is out of place, every word, every phrase carefully chosen, and the end of every chapter delivers a new twist to an ever-growing complicated, but airtight, plot. I've read this book a few dozen times, and it still seems fresh and funny and downright farcical at times. In terms of style, the closest American author I've read is Carl Hiaasen. The concept of a burglar-turned-environmentalist (as in Hiaasen's Native Tongue) is very Wodehouse-ian. Needless to say, I rate this book in my top 5 of all time.

You know things are going bad for Gussie (Agustus Fink-Nottle) when Bertie steps in to lend a able hand in his affairs..
The premise of this ridiculously funny book is simple, Gussie has fallen in love with Madeline Basset, friend of Bertie's cousin Angela, who (Angela) has quarelled with her lover and Bertie's longtime friend (the episode at the Drones notwithstanding) Tuppy Glossop over the matter of the latter not acknowledging the former's tryst with a shark at Cannes. Simple enough right? Take all these people and confine them in a country house, add a liberal dashing of Aunt Dahlia and that man of intellect Jeeves, not to mention a few assorted cooks and uncles, and you have a tale of horror (for Bertie) or a tale of absolute joy for the rest of us.
When helping convey Gussie's love to Madeline, Bertie convices Madeline that he loves her too. So when Madeline falls out with Gussie, she comes running to Bertie, who would rather she not. Tuppy, is also convinced that some low-lying snake has stolen Angela from him, and thinking that this l.l.s is Gussie. Gussie, meanwhile, to brace himself for the gruelling task of presenting the prizes in the Market Snodsbury school (for which he is down at Brinkley Court) tanks up on alchohol, and threatens to sully the Wooster name in a gathering of Market Snodsbury's finest. When the going gets tough, the tough ring for Jeeves. Can the man save the hour and untangle this absolute mess?
This is one of Wodehouses's finest Jeeves books. I say that in a different way in every review of mine, but I cant help it. The man is so good! If you cannot read this book in its entirety (shame on you!) just read the description of Gussie presenting the prizes. That one chapter will brighten your day, suffuse you in a radiant light of good cheer and make you feel that life is one great glad song.
Don't miss this book. It's an absolute ringer!

I'm not sure I'd tale the time to sit down to read Stout's old classics, but Michael Prichard's audiobook narration captures both Archie Goodwin and his rotund boss in a way that makes a long summer car trip seem a lot shorter. Tom Pratt, who owns a bunch of fast food restaurants circa 1938, buys Hickory Caesar Grindon, a champion sire of prized Guernsey cows, for $45,000. The Osgoods, Fred and his children Clyde and Nancy, old money riding out the Great Depression on thousands of family owned acres around Crowfield, NY, want to stop the sale to Pratt who intends to barbecue Caesar. Pratt's niece Carolyn tells Archie of a vamp named Lily Rowan, who destroyed Clyde Osgood and has her brother Jimmy in mind for her next conquest. Lily, a precocious presumably promiscuous fixture in future stories, is fascinated by Archie, her "Escamillo" whom she is meeting for the first time.

Clyde is found dead in the pasture with Hickory Caesar standing over him. Wolfe's only there because Archie ran his car into a ditch on the way to an orchid exposition, but he decides to stay on to prove the bull didn't kill Clyde. He finds a letter telling of a debt owed to Bronson, a mysterious man of questionable character who came to Crowfield with Clyde. The next day Bronson is found dead in a barn stall with a pitchfork through his chest, a stall Archie was in the day before.

Police Captain Barrow believes Archie is holding out, which he is, arrests him as a material witness to murder and throws him in the county jail. A fun sidebar develops when Archie meets Basil, a con man who's mastered a game with three spoons and a pea. Basil shows Archie how to get things done in the lockup, and within a day Archie is organizing the inmates in the Crowfield County Prisoner's Union.

Wolfe appears in DA Waddell's office in his "customary unhurried waddle" and browbeats him to release Archie with the notion that he needs him to solve the crimes the DA and Capt. Barrow cannot. They do, of course, and the solution seems so obvious once Wolfe ties together all the facts he saw that others missed. Isn't that what Nero Wolfe is all about?

In this novel Wolfe finds himself in quite a different world than his familiar brownstone. The portly detective who never leaves home finds himself stranded far from home -- a bit like the situation in Too Many Cooks.

Characterization seems to shine in this early Wolfe novel. Archie does indeed meet Lily Rowan for the first time, as another reviewer points out. The repartee between these two is delightful, and provides an interesting love interest. Wolfe -- perhaps destabilized by being "stuck" in an unfamiliar setting -- is at his most autocratic, eccentric, and unpredictable.

This very early Wolfe novel, first published in 1938, has some of the freshness of other early Wolfe novels. It was written when the character of Wolfe was still rather new to Rex Stout. It centers around a most peculiar crime. I'll avoid describing that to keep the reading experience fresh for the reader. Suffice to say, it is very difficult through the first third of this novel to convince the District Attorney that a crime has even been committed!

Given the excellence of Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe novels, I'm only surprised that so few are currently in print. This book-- if it can be obtained-- is a good one to put on your permanent shelves.

One of Stout's best Wolfe novels. The mystery itself is not really entirely gratifying, but the story and the characters that inhabit the mystery make it all worthwhile. The conflicts and dialogue of the characters add to the realism of the novel as well. One of Stout's most accomplished novels.

This trilogy started real strongly and then dipped a bit in 2nd book, and then took another upward curve in this latest installment of the trilogy. To me the first hundred pages is the best part of the entire story. I love when Kane and Co. get together with the indians. They blend real well together and, just like in several Deathlands novels, the indians are always great colorful additions to these novels. The rest reads like a Star Trek novel,(Which I think he wanted). It was good and interesting and well written, but I can't wait for things to get back on line. The next book sounds real good, can't wait!

I was so disappointed in the second part of the trilogy, "Night Eternal," I didn't comment on it. I figured everyone can get off track once in a while, so I cut Outlanders some slack, hoping things would improve with the conclusion of the Lost earth Saga. I'm happy to report that not only is "Outer Darkness" an improvement, it's almost in a class by itself. I loved everything about this book, especially the Star Trek-like adventure in the alternate world. If the publisher was smart, he would create a new series featuring that universe's versions of Kane, Grant and Brigid. I particularly enjoyed seeing Fand again (from "Savage Sun"), or at least her parallel casement double. I read this book over the Labor Day weekend, which shows how much it gripped me.

Well M.E. you did it again. At the beginning of the Trilogy I had a hard time following it. I didn't really understand the reason behind going to the alternate earths. But at the end of Outer Darkness, everything made Perfect Sense! It was to date, the best you have written. The way things are going, it won't be long before Outlanders begins to out sell Deathlands! The character interaction, as always, was superb. The story flowed beautifully. There were some interesting Star Trek references! I'm embarrased to admit that most had to be pointed out to me! Ah well. Keep up the good work as always! A fan till the end.

This book epitomizes others by the Gears. Like them, it is an intriguing way to learn more about our Native American forebears. There is plot, action, history and a wealth of knowledge about a very important part of our American history. It made me want to visit this part of the country and see where these people lived. I have a warning, though: read one of the Gear's fine books about the aboriginal ancestors of this country and you may get hooked on them as I did. This is the fourth one I have read, and I am now on the fifth!

I loved this book! I borrowed it from a friend. Although not as exciting as the other books at first, it rapidly became one of the best books I've ever read (the others being People of the Wolf and People of the Fire). People of the Earth is an exciting, romantic, adventurous book, and makes you appreciate the lifestyle of early Americans. The story line is enchanting. You can picture the peoples' world in your mind. The book leaves the sights, sounds, and feeling of The People imprinted in your mind.

I read the first two and even though i thought they were just about exactly alike I still read the third. Mainly because I thought that no way could the Gears end all of their many books the same way plus i had already bought it. I was definitly impressed with this book. The same theory was the basis for the book and intertwined with the other books very well. In this book the characters were swapped...this time we have a female dreamer. The plot for this one is great, and the ending was different which made it great. The characters i thought were better. All around it was great. I would recommend this book to any of the prehistory buffs but not before you read the first two other wise you may have trouble keeping up. And if you read the first two and your like me thinking that the first two were repetive, this one has that twist us, the readers, were looking for in the 2nd book. I will definitly read the next to see what else the Gear's have in store for us, maybe they learned that readers need a few surprises from time to time to keep us coming back for more

The Red Fox is a great spy novel, which we all love. It takes place about ten years ago, so the KGB is still out there and that's a lot of fun. The main character in the book goes to many places including Toronto, Georgetown, and Leningrad (St. Petersburg). He even goes to my hometown of Detroit, and I must say that having dead bodies in garbage bags is pretty accurate for Detroit. A word of advice: READ THIS BOOK!

The RED FOX is, quite simply, the best spy novel I have ever read. It stands out against a fairly accomplished field of competition by being what the others are not--deep, atmospheric, and utterly believeable. Read this book at once!

I've read well over 1000 novels in my life, but after this one, I felt compelled to write a review. I'm not saying it's THE best story I've ever read, but it's the most engrossing book I've tackled this year hands down. The well-conceived plot is absolutely impossible to guess and the settings are unique when compared to the cliched L.A. or N.Y. settings of most of today's bestsellers. Get this one before it's out of print.

Mitchell Draper wants to write a major screenplay. And hopefully have it made into a major motion picture. His friends Ingrid and Ramir are also aspiring artists in their own right. Ingrid wants to paint, and Ramir would like to land a leading role instead of always playing 'Gang Member Number Two'.
Mitchell gets his chance when eccentric Carmen Denver shows up--she needs someone to write 'A Time for Revenge'. She gives Mitch her characters and a brief synopsis. A couple of weeks later, he has a partial first draft done, and she refuses to accept any of his ideas.
Only problem with SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE is that most of it becomes contrived because Warren Dunford waits too long to reach the major story about Mitchell being threatened. And it is all wrapped up too quickly.
Would work as a movie...just change the title and do some minor, yet necessary, fine tuning.

I picked up this book by first-time Canadian novelist Warren Dunford with uncertainty. The jacket sounded really fascinating (a sometimes sure sign that what's inside isn't). I must tell you that this is a warm, funny, surprising, and satisfying read. I usually take my time with books but read this one in one day. The diverse cast of characters Dunford has created will keep you turning the pages. The main character, Mitchell, is very human, very real yet finds himself in some outlandish situations including juggling his job as... writer, budding screenwriter, exasperated friend, and amateur sleuth. I loved the diary-style writing as a peek into this Toronto twenty-something's extraordinary life. It's a fast, easy, FUN read.

Early on in the book, the author describes a character as "nondescript" and I thought "oh, no. This will be bad." but no! This book is tremendously well-written. I think I'm pretty hard to please when it comes to gay humor fiction, so it's great to find something to recommend whole-heartedly. Similar to Misadventures in the 213, Soon to Be.. has a little triumvirate of lovable characters (though Mitchell's friend Ramir can be less than lovable) that are drawn very well. Even minor characters such as the unnerving and condescending Kitina is spot on and Dunford's Carmen Denver strikes me as a Hollywood tyrant completely encapsulated.

The reader will probably figure out what's really going on before Mitchell does, but that's okay because there are still a few surprises. Mitchell's other friend Ingrid is very lovable and shy. The reader really roots for her triumph in the Toronto artworld and her subsequent stresses caused by her fame are very touching and affecting.

People who liked this book would also enjoy the aforementioned Misadventures in the 213 and Christian McLaughlin's book. I can't wait to read the next Warren Dunford.