This is a masterpiece, a must for all Jesuits and those interested in the religious history of the West, esp. of the Late Middle Ages. Fr. Conwell, a man of immense erudition, weaved such an interesting tapestry based on the 1539 text of The First Sketch of the Institute of the Society of Jesus or Cum ex plurium, using the first three Latin words of a papal document. You get an in-depth understanding of the times and spirit of the first Jesuits through the analysis of the the key-words of the text. There are many gems in the copious footnotes also. E.g., "...According to the accepted system, the clergy prayed, the nobles protected, and the people provided, but down the ages the peasant experience has often been that the clergy preyed, the nobles preyed, and the people prayed and paid..." (p.444) Against the background of so much corruption and immorality in the Church, you get inspired by the author's unravelling of the inner core of the lives and dedication of so many people, Francis, Dominic and the first Jesuits... who responded so totally to the Impelling Spirit. That's a beautiful and apt title. The Spirit is very tangible throughout the book.

Father Joseph Conwell, SJ's work will remain as a classic in the history of Jesuit spirituality for many years to come. This book is the culmination of almost fifteen years of serious scholarship and writing. His hard work shines through very clearly.

The book is concerned with an early Jesuit document known as "Cum Ex Plurium" which was prepared for Pope Paul III in 1539. The document was the the precursor to the "Formula of the Institute," which is the official governing document of the Society of Jesus. The book concerns itself with this early rough draft in a meticulously crafted style by following the meaning of each word or set of terms in their historical context and within the evolution of St. Ignatius' personal history. From the first word to the last, Father Conwell has clearly laid out the evolution of the ideas surrounding the creation of the Jesuits. He also has also drawn inspiration from this document and tries to make the founder's intentions come alive for the reader. Father Conwell peppers this work with sage advice about the discernment of spirits, which is so central to Ignatian spirituality. He points out St. Ignatius' own experience of discernment from reading the movements, making the decision, finding confirmation, readiness for action, movements for further discernment, and taking action (356-358). He also offers little tid-bits of advice for religious and anyone interested in following a spiritual path. These nuggets of insight are well worth the read. The Epilogue is one of the finest writings of hope as well as a challenge for the future of the Jesuits.

"Impelling Spirit" is a must read for anyone interested in the evolution of the spirituality and governance of the Jesuits. It will stand as a classic bench mark for future generations due to its careful scholarship. It looks like a daunting task to read at 400+ pages, but it is well worth the effort. This book would also be one that would prove helpful to anyone interested in more deeply exploring their own religious vocation. I high also highly recommend this book to anyone who wishes to find the Spirit that impels him or her. "Agite, igitur: Get moving! Follow the Spirit wherever the Spirit leads you" (421).

This is a business book that's readable, useful and funny!
What a nice change. Joe Keefe offers you ways to bring some humor and life to your business meetings --and get better results to boot. I started using some of Joe's improv exercises to start our weekly meeting. The president of the organization complimented me for bringing energy and excitement to the meetings. (In truth, it wasn't me it was the improvs!) I love Joe's rule: Listen, agree, add and accept. We do some of the games at home as well. The kids love performing and it is helping them to exercise their imaginations and think quickly on their feet. This is a great book to help you think about the importance of having humor in all aspects of your life and it offers sound advice on how to get it.

I received this book as a gift and was immediately surprised at how useful it was in meetings and other informal settings.
I thought it was a gimmick until I tried some of the tehniques used in improvisation - boy was I surprised!
Very useful indeed, thanks Mr. Keefe.

There have been a number of slams against stock options by people who think they are at the heart of corporate scandals. This readable and thorough book points out that sharing ownership broadly has been a tremendous benefit to many companies, although a few have abused it. Those of us who have seen companies grow dramatically through the efforts of incentived employees know that options are the best system devised for sharing ownership broadly, and that current attempts to restrict them will do more harm than good for the US economy. This book carefully documents both the benefits and abuses, and should be useful for entrepreneurs who want to build companies, and for regulators who want to really curb abuses while saving the benefits -- and chance for broad based wealth creation -- that employee ownership represents.

This is a very carefully crafted and persuasive book. The authors do a great job of laying out the argument for why sharing ownership broadly with employees is good for companies, shareholders, and employees, while concentrating ownership in just a few executives is a bad idea.The book is especially important now with all the debate going on about stock options, which they point out are just one of the ways companies can share ownership. The book provides the most comprehensive data on this subject to date, so its arguments are not just based on preconceived notions. It deserves a wide audience, especially among corporate decision makers.

I really enjoyed the harmony of Kelly Hoppen's book. I had never thought how the combination of different textures could make a room so interesting but it works! I found the pictures tranquil and inspiring, and would recommend the book to anyone who wants to take their design to a higher level (and definitely with minimal clutter!). The only strange aspect was her keen devotion to "wenge wood" - whatever that may be!

This is a very beautifully edited book of design for today and a timeless look into the future of interior design. Although this book is primarilly focused on residential interiors, the simplicity of detail and design presents it also as being applicable to commercial design.

Unlike the formidable "How to Kill a Dragon" by Calvert Watkins, which has stuff a total layman can understand, this book is pretty impenetrable (as the other reviewer noted). Not only are the linguistic references very difficult to follow, the author's train of thought is also on a very-high level. ("As we have already seen with regard to the dative in Tokkarian-V," would be a pastiche.)

This is not meant to criticize the book, or say that it is bad. I just want to point out that there are just possibly 100 people on the globe who could read this book. :-)

This is no more a book for the casual reader than is Newton's _Principia_; but, like the _Principia_, it leaves its subject transformed forever. Greenberg argues that the Indo-European language family should be seen as part of a superfamily that also includes the Uralic, Altaic, Yukaghir, Gilyak, and Chukotian families; Korean, Japanese, and Ainu (seen as distantly related members of a single family); and the Eskimo-Aleut languages, another family. Plus Etruscan. This volume concentrates on "grammar"--mostly pronouns, suffixes and prefixes with grammatical functions, and other formatives; a second volume on vocabulary is planned.

Greenberg's methodology, focusing on the assessment of degrees of probable relationship rather than the quasi-mathematical demonstration of relationship via laws of sound change, is controversial. Yet he makes a strong case supporting the claim that the patterns he demonstrates are stronger than any of their individual data points. Even a small subset of the evidence he presents (for example, the material on first- and second-person pronouns and verb endings) is hard to account for except by genetic relationship of the languages involved.

A virtue of the book is the testability of the relationships he alleges: it opens the way for further study which can strengthen or weaken his case.

It is hard to imagine that a common ancestor for Finnish, Sanskrit, Japanese, and the Eskimo languages--and most of the languages in between--could be more recent than the last ice age. I find it wonderful that elements of English that we use every day, in almost every sentence--the "m" of "am" and "me," the "g" of "ego" (buried just under the surface of "I"), the "th" of "the" (transformed from an earlier "t"), and the"sc" of "crescent" and "fluorescent"--could be shared across the whole northern cap of the planet, passed down to us from linguistic ancestors who witnessed perhaps ten thousand years of history.

Perhaps the most provocative element of the title is the word "closest." Greenberg argues here for only one linguistic superfamily, equal in status to a number of others--one galaxy, as it were, in the starry heavens. What, then, is the closest other galaxy to ours? The American Indian languages, from Canada to Patagonia.

As co-founder of Human Capital Technology Inc. and active in the area of Knowledge Management, this book provides an essential history of information and knowledge management. By providing an historical perspective, the book clearly and simply explains the relationships between those who have information and those who want information and how that relationship has and continues change.

While the authors use the Investment Banking industry to make their point, the information is applicable to all areas of business. A must read for those who are concerned with the acquisition of information and the management of corporate knowledge.

Excellent book that describes the fundamental structure of the securities industry then overlays practical (and readily observable) elements of intellectual property/capital. One of the few intellectual capital books I have ever read that includes detailed analysis on J.P. Morgan, one of the all-time titans of capital.

Do not be turned off by the greek (mathematical) equations in the chapter about IPO allocations.

The authors have a very strong framework that holds up well in the real world, even in the post internet bubble world.

I especially enjoyed the chapter about the Goldman Sachs IPO and ECNs.

I've never, ever gotten more out of a purchase in my life. This is a wonderful treat: 12 casettes with wonderful easy to follow talks on meditation, 12 guided mediation tapes, an easy to read guide, and a meditation teacher who writes to you after every lesson. I've gotten a tremendous amount of peace of mind and even insight out of this experience, and I recommend it highly to all of my friends -- well, except the very most skeptical types (though no doubt they need it most!).

I think we all want to be happy. This course is not really Buddhist or even a course of meditation. It's a road map to happiness and great peace. It's a road map home. You can do the meditations in a chair. Or you can sit in a variety of positions. It is asked that you meditate for 45 minutes daily. But, on certain days, you can only meditate for a few minutes if you so choose. I feel it's really best to start on the road to happiness with this couse rather than finding a teacher or a group. I've been that route many times, and I have always been left unfulfilled. This is simply a wonderful couse. It custom-tailors the practice of happiness tailored for you. It is for beginners as well as for advanced practioners. My instructor has completed a nine-month retreat in this meditative tradition. Several three-month retreats. Is the director of a meditation program in New Hampshire. Has a master's degree in Western and Eastern Psychology. On and on. I follow the guided meditations with the tapes being played. You can do this or pracice without the tapes after you've listened to them several times. I prefer the tapes on. Once again, this course allows you to custom-tailor your practice for you. You don't get this by joining a group. All these options. It is hard work. But it's also good to be alive and not asleep. Each meditation on side two of each tape, modifys or builds on the prededing one. You are really creating your own practice. Then if you want to join a group or find a personal teacher, fine. But you will be in the driver's seat. And with this course and the resorces that the workbook provides you, I'm beginning to wonder if this is absolutely necessary. I write to my instructor after each lesson. And she replies. I am also asked to contact her if there are any special problems with my practice. Using either letter or cassette tape. I use mail. I really love this course. It's just so concise. And each tape is user-fiendly. The talks are very inspiring, and the guided meditations gently glide you into the practices. If you really want happiness based on a 2,500 year study of the mind and the causes and the practices of happiness, here it is. Put the workbook under one arm, the cassette binder under the other, and follow the yellow brick road to happiness. There is one catch. It is hard work. And you do have to stick with it. Nothing is free. Good luck.

With Inspired by Miracles, Dan Joseph has written a critically important book in troubled times. With a style that is at once simple yet thought-provoking, and a tone of genuine warmth and wisdom, Dan guides the reader through coherent, useful exercises that won't make you cringe, but rather can enable a clear psychometric analysis of events to rise to the surface. I personally found his approach to be very helpful, and his suggestions feasible, understandable, and uncomplicated. While focusing in on miracles, relationships, and inner guidance, Dan offers his refreshing take on A Course in Miracles, which I appreciated - he doesn't get bogged down with semantics, but sticks to the overriding principles. I strongly recommend Inspired by Miracles. Though nonfiction, you won't want to put this book down. Enjoy!

Inspired By Miracles by technology trainer and business communications consultant Dan Joseph is a book of "spiritual psychotherapy" inspired by the principles of "A Course in Miracles" and focuses on three primary themes: miracles, relationships, and inner guidance. A gentle, encouraging, and reader friendly self-help book about opening oneself to the wondrous mysteries of life and learning to see so-called ordinary things in a new light that reveals the grandeur in the everyday, Inspired By Miracles is uplifting, rewarding, strongly recommended for spirituality enhancement, self-improvement oriented, and strongly recommended for personal improvement reading lists and reference collections.

Lepla and Parker are the kings of branding how to. I've read all the latest literature from ries, etc. but this book guides my efforts.

I have gone so far as to contact them in Seatle, however the events of the past few weeks have kept me out of contact.

If you are developing a brand and need guidance, this is the book for you.

Integrated Branding is loaded with great tips for businesses of all sizes to effectively develop and use brand tools. Parker and LePla speak with authority on what works, and what doesn't work, in creating messages that resonate with customers and employees. They take brand out of the company handbook and into the everyday actions of employees. This book gives lots of entertaining examples of how to make sure everyone in the company is using the same principles to guide the way they represent the company--through customer interactions, product development, corporate communications, and more.

This user-friendly reference showing how to use the Internet illustrated with screen shots and diagrams. Material is arranged in six sections on connecting to the Internet, browsing the Web, sending and receiving e-mail, reading and posting newsgroup messages, downloading files, chatting, Internet phone calls, and creating a Web page. It also features a series of short, easy to follow tutorials in the proven style and format of the 10 Minute Guide.

Intended for general users, "Internet 6-In-1" is composed of a series of short, easy-to-follow tutorials. The six major categories of coverage in the book is Getting Connected, Web Browsing, e-mail, Newsgroups, Creating Web Pages and Internet Yellow Pages. This solid book contains practical information that is provided on "working" not just surfing.

Good job!

I'm using this to teach an internet course and have been very pleased. Students seem to enjoy it as well and find it most useful - which is of prime importance.