An excellent book -- the best I've ever read on the subject. As a financial advisor I can't recommend it enough. Most find estate planning confusing. This book is not confusing. It's an easy read. Each simple, short, touching story illustrates a different problem that can arise by not doing good estate planning. It will make you think about your own situation with more clarity than was possible before. This book could be called Chicken Soup For Your Legacy.

This is the first book I have actually seen on estate planning that was actually interesting. The stories and letters are captivating. I found myself drawn into the next one without even knowing it. By the time I had finished the book I felt like I not only learned a fair amount about estate planning, but that I also learned a lot about myself. I found myself thinking about what I really wanted to pass on to my heirs (and not so much thinking about the money). Kudos to these great authors.

Almost all books on estate planning explain how to minimize taxes and avoid probate. Colleen Barney and Victoria Collins take a totally different approach focusing on the emotional aspects of leaving money. Using compelling real life stories and letters, the authors focus on what fairness really means, passing values, wisdom, goals, ideals and life's lessons in a meaningful way, preventing fights after your death, who are the "right" people to choose as trustees and more importantly as guardians, sweating the small stuff like passing personal effects and dealing with the always sticky situation of second marriages. With a great deal of emotion, the authors take a very non-technical, understandable and realistic look at the personal side of estate planning with the goal of ensuring that your best intentions are realized after the estate has been settled.

A great look at the Cathedrals' history, George Younce and Glen Payne's stories, and the gospel music business in general. A MUST read for anyone who has ever listened to gospel music!

A great book for Cathedral's fans. The lives of these two gentlemen are a true example of what being in God's service is all about. They have touched hearts and lives for decades with their music. My only complaint is that it was too short and I hope someday, the full and complete story of Glen Payne and George Younce will be told.

WOW! As a fan of the Cathedrals, I loved reading about the 2 Sr members. The Lord worked in both of their lives to bring them together to bless us all with their music and their commitment to the call on their lives. If you love the Cathedrals, you will LOVE this book!!!!!!!!!!

The New Zealand Prayer Book is one of the easiest to use prayer books in my library. It has marks of creativity that open up prayer. Out of the 3 or 4 prayer books I have, this one is the most flexible and useful. I combine it with daily scripture reading from The Chalice Hymnal and the Revised Common Lectionary. This prayer book keeps me balanced and regular - more so than others I have.

If you're an Anglican who loves liturgy (or even if you're not Anglican), this is a must for your library. It's the standard prayer book with all the services you know and love, but with a wonderful new twist of language. In the translation for today's church, the feeling has come back to all the words we say without thinking. For example, in the Lord's prayer "our Father" becomes "Eternal Spirit, Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver, Source of all that is and thiat shall be, Father and Mother of us all..." What could more inclusively capture a glimpse of the Living God?

A New Zealand Prayer Book beautifully combines the lofty Anglican tradition with a directness and simplicity that reflects native culture. Many of the prayers are almost childlike in their simplicity, but directly speak to the heart and soul. I find myself coming back to certain prayers, especially an evening medititation that reminds, "What has been done has been done; what has not been done has not been done; let it be." Accessible and reflecting the complexity, and simplicity, of the soul.

I have read the books - all the good ones I thought; I've researched the treatments; I've talked (& talked...) to several physicians, to other women - nothing has even come close to this book. This makes sense! We are all so unique - biologically, psychologically, chemically; why would our passage through menopause not be unique as well? Of course it is!

Well written, logical & filled with simple yet revolutionary new alternatives to use immediately for the irritation, anxiety, memory-lapses, hot flashes, night sweats, you-name-it... that you're experiencing, the book gives you some control over what you're experiencing.

I knew I was doing something wrong (though I was trying almost everything!), but didn't know what. Now the pieces fit!

Beg, borrow or steal if you have to, but get a copy for your home library; you'll refer to it again & again.

Finally, sense to the confusing passage of menopause. Why do some women hardly notice the change at all? Why does one do well on estrogen while another, natural progesterone only? Why do some women's discomforts resolve while others continue to baffle? Not only does Dr. Collins make all of this simple to understand, but he offers straight forward protocol for analyzing, understanding and prescribing for the whole range of individual differences of menopause. What a relief, to see light through the tunnel. The book is in my back pocket. The appointment is made. My Naturopath and I now have the tools to mend my menopausal way.

I am a practicing Naturopathic Physician. Dr Collins, has provided me with a great tool to further my understanding of the complexity of menopause. I have had cases that have not responded to what was a resonable treatment plan. After reading "What's your menopause type" I now have a new insight into those patients and their needs. To have the "types" defined and put into categories lends to a greater understanding for the practitioner. The "menopause Type Questionnaire", combined with the labatory hormone levels is very useful information that should help everyone who is working with this transitional time in a womans life. The information on the nutrition and supplements is excellent. I applaud Dr Collins for his commitment and dedication to an area of medicine that is in great need of more information and understanding. If you are practitioner who deals with menopausal patients, I strongly suggest you read and understand what Dr collins has to say. If you are not a practitioner but would like a better understanding of menopause, this is a good read.

I really enjoyed this book. I was vacationing at a Marriott Hotel and actually bought this book I wanted to read it so much (even though I thought it should just be given away to the guests). It did not disappoint me. As one of the other reviewers noted, it was a well-written, easy read.

Mr. Marriott inspired me with the business tips contained in the book. I especially enjoyed reading about the checklists that Marriott Hotels uses in its business. I really like checklists too. Why invent the wheel everytime you want to do something? Why try to remember all of the steps needed to complete a task, such as making up a room at a Marriott Hotel? Why not just find out what works and put it on paper?! In this way, a business can create a standardized process that can be taught to its employees, instead of relying upon each individual's whim. This idea is also discussed in Michael Gerber's excellent book, The E Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It.

I also enjoyed reading J. W. Marriott, Jr's criticisms of his father's way of making decisions (I also thought it was interesting that he was so negative with regard to his father, in a published book). Jr. said that his father fretted too much about decisions and basically drove himself crazy. Jr. says in this book that one should not try to make a perfect business decision. That involves too much angst and is a waste of time. One should gather the necessary information to make an informed decision as best as one can, then actually make the decision. The price of pefection is prohibitive.

I hope you find this book as enjoyable and as inspiring as I did.

Ran into a copy of this succint biographical book at the Sydney Marriott alongside the Bible/Gita/Buddhist manual, and I wasn't too sanguine about something from the hospitality industry being too relevant to me. But this slim, easy read may actually connect with almost any business person. More so if you are in any way related to customer services or marketing.

Without skipping any beat on chapters of glorious prose, ala TypicalBusinessBook, it shoots straight from the gut about the tenets of Marriott -- how with sheer determination it shot to the big league from a small cottage inn, the MBE leadership style of Marriott (the younger Marriott that is) who prefers to walk his troops instead of boardroom inertia, lessons in team building, the importance of listening to all the levels of the organization, codifying past experiences into business philosophies (not the usual "Best Practices" bromide that is bandied about in elite echelons of business) etc etc.

In all respects, a hidden business gem of a book.

Now the million (ok, 11) dollar question. You can imagine how I got my copy. So would I *buy* this book if I had to? For the basement price, and for the simple but compelling REAL WORLD lessons, most likely yes.

I stayed at a Marriott in Denver last week and found a copy of this book in the nightstand. I expected it to be hogwash and instead found it to be the most useful business book I've ever read. It is a quick read (about 150 pages, not the 240 mentioned in the Amazon catalog). It is entertaining without being self-indulgent and informative without being preachy. The anecdotes revealed an appropriate level of introspection (my one quibble is that Mr. Marriott claims that his family and faith come before business and yet also describes himself as a workaholic). I'm not in the hospitality industry and yet I found dozens of parallels to my own business (computer software and book publishing). Most interesting were the frank assessments of Marriott's business mistakes. He truly used them as an opportunity to learn. The book is chock full of excellent and thought-provoking strategies and totally devoid of the cheesy buzzwords so prevalent in, say, the latest Tom Peters books. Although I have no association with Marriott, the book will cause me to examine the entire service industry in a new light.

...but still a great book to read. When I read it I only put it down to sleep. The scariest part was when they actually saw Patty's "Ghost". In other words, it's a 5 star book.

This is a great book for Halloween. It keept me reading it all day. It's about Patty dareing Mary-Kate and Ashley to go into a haunted house.

Then they see a ghost...

Oh you bet it is

It a great great book I love it

the story was on halloween in a haunted house where the twins taked a bet and go in to the house and then the story begins

Mary-Kate and Ashley Searching for cleus and they come out wiht? ....

this story is I think one of the best books I have reading till now and I hope that there ever come's better books :-)

Larry Collins wrote "Is Paris Burning". At a dinner party a retired General told him he should research Operation Fortitude. From that research came his book "Fall from Grace." It is based upon the disinformation that was generated during Operation Overloard to make the Germans think that the Normandy Invasion would actually be 200 miles north at the Port of Calis.

The Nazis actually had enough tanks and army troops to Port of Calis to completely defeat the invading forces of the Allied armies. Because the Germans were so convinced that Normandy was only a diversion these tanks and troops were never committed to fighting the invading forces until it was too late. It is now thought that the English used double agents to let the Gestapo capture about 20 French resistance fighters who were in the Port of Calis area. These French were convinced that the invasion would take place in The Port of Calis. Under severe torture these agents finally broke and revealed the invasion plans that the British had fabricated. All of these agents were finally executed. The details of these betrayls were so repulsive to our Christian ideals that they were kept secret until 1980. The book that Mr. Collins made from this ordeal is absolutely spell binding. He has substituted a gorgeous and corageous American Girl of French ancestry to be the Spy who is broken by the Gestapo. The French spy is actually a double agent who, under British orders, has involved the Gestapo in his plans. When the British want to make the Germans believe that he is truly a Frenchman working for the Germans they order his execution. The best part is TF O'Neil who is the son of an Irish imigrant who is on the general staff of the USA. He has graduated from Yale and is told by General Marshall, before going to England, that America needs to fight with honor. So he is outraged when he learns that Catherine is sent into Occupied France not knowing that she is to be captured by the Gestapo and tortured to the brink of death. We are finally made aware of how Draconian our side was when she takes her Cyanide pill and then wakes up only to learn that it did not work.

FALL FROM GRACE es de esas novelas que te dejan el cuerpo hecho polvo... porque no puedes soltarlas hasta que acabes su lectura. Cuenta una historia dentro de otra. La que interesa es la primera,la de una mujer decidida, aventurera y con gran sentimiento patriótico a quien el destino fatal empuja a la caída en desgracia del título. En España fue traducido como Juego Mortal, título convencional aunque no deja de ser adecuado. La otra mujer con más peso en la novela actúa más de contrapunto. Otras relaciones interesantes son las que se establecen entre Paul y Stromelburg, el americano y Ridley y, naturalmente, Catherine y Paul. Muy recomendada.

...This book: FALL FROM GRACE by **Larry Collins** is a World War II spy thriller. It's the story of a female agent on the side of the allies and a male agent on the side of the Nazis and the relationship that develops between the two spies. This is a super spy thriller that grabs you by the seat of your pants and doesn't let go! A great book!

I take teams of people on international work projects every year. Presently I have a team going to Bosnia. The material presented in this book is insightful, accurate, practical and worth absorbing before working cross culturally. It is well written, very personal and engaging. Hats off to the contributors, authors, editors and publisher. It will get a lot of use.

I am preparing to volunteer in Costa Rica and this book has been an amazing resource for me. It has encouraged me to write out my motivations and expectations for this trip. It has helped me think through how I can be an effective volunteer. Thanks to this book I feel more prepared mentally and emotionally and I feel more aware of what I am getting into.

Thanks for this excellent resource!

This book is a treasure. It is a good book for anyone in the age group of about 18-75 of any ethnicity, religion and socio-economic background. It addresses safety, among other issues, for women travelers. This book includes more than information one could find on the Internet about particular opportunities and organizations in any region of the world. It includes in depth studies as well as information for the person considering volunteering overseas to examine his/her motivations and come up with criteria to apply to choosing an organization as well as a location. In addition, this book discusses issues surrounding language barriers and how to overcome the obstacles as well as use the volunteer opportunity to become fluent in another language. This book makes a wonderful gift.

Cpl. Joe Enders is in the middle of the swamp somewhere in the island, by given his first command to 15 marines inculding 3 of his friends fought against hundreds of japanese soilders until only one survived, Joe Enders. After Joe got a promotion to a Sergeant he was assigned to his next mission: saipan, which belonged to Japan. His job is to Protect a Navajo Codetalker, Private Ben Zahee at all cost. As the mission Begins, Sgt. Enders finds himself that a Navajo world is different from his world. but this story is about friendship between 2 different man from 2 different worlds.

I have gained a deep respect for the Navajo from the reading of Wind Talkers. We Americans of foreign lineage fail to appreciate our Indian brothers in this country. There is a cult of appreciation of Indians in Germany. When I was in Europe there was a highly publicised entertainment involving American Indians.

The book takes us from the jungles of Guadalcanal to the months of preparation for the invasion of Saipan. We learn that the Indians have dignity and pride and love of family. After reading the book I had an obsessive desire to see the movie. The movie was good, but the book was better.

A great look into the action of The same title on screen. A great read. Don't miss this.

Fantasy, I believe, needs a special touch. That touch needs to be light. I can't imagine Tom Clancy writing successful fantasy, unless your idea of the genre is blowin' things up real good. Steinbeck tried a form of it and flopped mightily. Too heavy, too earthbound. Shalanna Collins needn't worry. She has the gossamer touch, the light-as-helium way of putting things that suspends the disbelief lurking inside many readers. She draws on legends and beliefs at least as ancient as the nebulous beginnings of Freemasonry; Mozart drew from the same well in his masterpiece opera, "The Magic Flute." But if I'm going to draw musical analogies, the composer Shalanna Collins brings most to mind is Felix Mendelssohn, especially as he was at seventeen, writing the overture to "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Shalanna shares the same fleet, quicksilver turn of a phrase, the same infallible instincts for rhythm and pace that set Mendelssohn -- and Mozart -- apart from their more ponderous brother-composers. Dulcinea the Character acts sixteen. That's a neat trick for a writer whose adolescence was left behind at least a decade ago. Add to that Ms. Collins's deft handling of the heavier characters, such as Raz and Dulcinea's stern, somewhat duplicitous father, and it starts becoming plain just how much talent went into the creation of this shimmering, magical tale. I expect to encounter many more Shalanna Collins books in the years ahead, and I have every reason to believe each new one will be richer and more lovingly crafted than the one before.

I'm not a big fan of fantasy fiction although I did read one Harry Potter book because of all the hype last year. I like to read books in different genres though and so I was intrigued by this book by Shalanna Collins and was immediately drawn in to her fantasy world where a teenage girl is grows up with a father who is a practitioner magic in a town where such things are taken for granted.

Dulcinea's world is a fascinating one and the many descriptive details made me marvel at the skill of the author who set the stage for a struggle between good and evil, while, at the same time depicting the up and down emotions of Dulcinea's coming of age. I particularly liked her relationship with the young man magic maker who is forced to appreciate Dulcinea's skill in making magic when she saves his life on several occasions. There's a dragon in this book as well as a cast of characters that spring full-blown from the author's imagination as well as a sense of tension throughout. And the author's sense of humor kept the whole reading experience fun. My only criticism of the book is that it was a bit too wordy for my taste and I would have liked to see it edited down by 50 or more pages. However, I know this book will appeal to fantasy fans, and especially to young adults.

Far too many deserving books go unnoticed in the tidal wave of Harry-Potter-mania, and this is one of the ones that deserves a great deal more notice (I was lucky enough to, in addition to ordering it, find a copy in my local library)

"Dulcinea" is the tale of a young girl named Dulcinea Brown, who at the age of sixteen is coming into her magical power. Her dad, an apothecary, has just taken on a new apprentice, Raz Songsterson. Raz is clearly keeping something hidden away.

And, like in many fantasies, the world is in danger. Dulcinea must use flute magic (better description in the book) to rescue peole from a dragon, who was conjured by the evil Society of Mages. When Dulcinea's father realizes that Raz is a talented, skilled mage, he acidently involves himself and his daughter in a power battle that risks the entire world. All standing between them and possible chaos is three magicians, including heroine Dulcinea...

I'll admit it. I'm a sucker for stories about magicians and people discovering new powers, such books as Diana Wynne Jones, TA Barron, and Jane Yolen's "Wizard Hall." I was not disappointed by "Dulcinea," and I doubt other wizard-fans will as well. (I especially liked the concept of flute magic...)

Dulcinea is a very cool heroine in a genre where too often the heroines are Buffy-types or weenies. She manages to be precisely what is expected in this situation -- a teenage girl who ends up in a power struggle with the Society, and who grows in personality throughout the book. Her changing relationships with her father and Raz were genuinely intriguing. Raz and Dulcinea's dad are equally realistic as their perceptions change (and I honestly did not know for a while what was up with Raz)

This is not a dumbed-down book in style (one paragraph contains "apex" and "inanimate"). It's very descriptive and the author does not skimp on complexity or unique ideas. Such creatures as dragons and wizards are given new spins in this book. (My only quibble would be that in tense situations, a little too much notice is paid to details, but that's a small one)

Definitely a five-star book. Fans of Harry Potter or Diana Wynne Jones would love this magical tale.