Romancing Your Child's Heart is a unique and informative book about parenting. Monte shows ways to love children (and others)that I have never read about before. The stories about his children are very insightful and meaningful. I would recommend this book to anyone, especially those with kids and I hope all of my children will read it.

ROMANCING YOUR CHILD'S HEART by Monte Swan is a tremendous book that combines solid advice for raising kids with fascinating stories from the life of a truly unique family. It is rare to find a book of this kind with such great insight, which has been gleaned from the Swan family's lifestyle - part little-house-on-the-prairie, part renaissance home. The pragmatic principles of spiritual child-rearing in RYCH are clearly illustrated by compelling tales of Monte's own upbringing, travels, and family building, all told with refreshing enthusiasm. (Actually, a lot of the adventures themselves are interesting enough even to be read to kids as bedtime stories.) Monte Swan, reflecting his background as a geologist with a keen scientific intellect and a remarkable ability to synthesize a variety of sources, weaves into his book the words and thoughts of a multitude of individuals, some famous great minds and others just successful parents. The material here is super practical, conveyed in a simple, direct way and never preachy. Monte simply allows the truth of his own relationships with God, family, and friends to serve the reader with a banquet of rich ideas and applications. My own three daughters are grown, but I have given them a copy of Monte's book to help them prepare for their own future families. I wish I had had this book in my hands 25 years ago. At least perhaps someday I'll be able to use it in romancing the hearts of my grandkids and developing in them a vision for the divine. In sum, I would highly recommend ROMANCING YOUR CHILD'S HEART for parents, grandparents, and parents-to-be who are serious about leading their children to Christ.

Parents across the world need to have a copy of this book. Monte not only delivers what might be considered the best parenting book out there, he also delivers a sure recipe for parents to reach the heart of their children. In a time in our society where it is even more important that we stick together as a country, we need to strengthen the bonds of our family as well.

As a new dad I was not only moved by what Monte had to say, I was moved to change the way in which I was raising my children. It breaks my heart to know that there are parents out there that would raise their children in any other way.

If you don't get a chance to read this book you will be doing a disservice to society, yourself, and most of all your children. So my advice to you is stop working late at the expense of your family and invest in your true retirement. Put down your remote control and let your attention be spent on what will truly entertain your life. If you take a little time out of your schedule to read this book, I guarantee you will never regret it.

Angel By My Side is not a book "just" about a dog. It is also not a book about an exceptional dog (Golden Retriever) or
an average dog. Angel By My Side is a book about life. This
book is a book about what most all of us want in life: nurturing, acceptance, healing, attention, fun, and last but not
least: unconditional love. Anyone (child or adult) who is an animal lover or needs to hear a "feel good" story will love this book. I'm picking up several of the books for Christmas gifts.

As a Puppy Raiser for Southeastern Guide Dogs, I know that dogs are exceptional and are often guardian angels. This book, however, tells the story of Dakota who is not only a guardian angel for his owner, Mike, but his spirit guide. Through the gentle encouragement from Dakota, Mike has found his mission in life - to educate others about the human-animal bond and about the specialness of service animals. Bravo Mike for telling this truly amazing and touching tale of love, generosity and spirit.

After loosing my golden that I had had since age 7, for as long as I could remember, a friend bought me this book. It was truly excellent and brought this 6' 8" man to tears on a constant basis. His descriptions of a guardian angel in the form of a dog could not be more accurate. I have bought numerous copies of the books since to give to friends and fellow dog owners.

Reading had become a nightmare for my son and our entire family. We have tried everything from Hooked on Phonics to special tutors to university clinics. Nothing worked!!!! Every day was a trial for all of us. My son was convinced that he was retarded! A friend told me about this program. I almost didn't buy it because it seemed to easy. At that point I was willing to do anything, so I read the book and followed the detailed instructions. IT WORKED!!!!!!! My son advanced 4 grade levels in 5 months!!!!! Since then he has advanced another level and is a totally different person. He comes home from school and hugs and kisses me, then he always wants to read something out loud to me. I can't say thanks enough. We have contacted Dr. Furr (who was a big help along the way) and we are going to go meet him and say thanks.

I don't know what else to say other than thank you. My son suffered a brain injury when he was 3 years old. I have been told by many professionals that he would never learn to read. I had given up when another parent told me about this book. I sent an e-mail to the author and he said, "Baloney,he'll read using this method." And he did. And he did quickly. I am still in awe. I am also angry that so many people told me to give up, that he would never learn. Thank you and I want to be the first to order the multiplication program that Dr. Furr invented. Thank you for changing my son's life (and my life).

This book is truly amazing! I only half believed it would work, because nothing has ever helped my son before. This not only worked but it was very easy to do. My son is in the sixth grade. He was reading on a first grade level two months ago, today he is reading at the fourth grade level and we have only just begun. Thank you Dr. Furr, you have really saved my son's life!

I'll keep it short and sweet. I believe if you want to really understand PhotoShop for what it is, then just buy this and you are set. Blatner & Fraser are brilliant, when it comes to teaching and explaining Photoshop. I can only think of 2 books that every Photoshop user should have, this one and (forgive me Dave & Bruce) Ben Wilmores book.

This book is a godsend, can't wait for version 6.0

I have many books on Photoshop, but only two or three I recommend to fellow users or my students. Real World is one of them. Blatner and Fraser don't waste a lot of time with the 90 odd filters in Photoshop. Instead they focus on the tools and techniques the user needs to create the best prints or the best on-line graphics. In a world of also-rans, this book is top notch from start to finish. It's essential for beginners, professionals, and upgraders alike.

If you use Photoshop, but you don't use high-level techniques, you owe it to yourself to get this book. This is not one of those books on how to do crazy effects, rather it's a tool for serious users to get the most from Photoshop's tools. This book takes you through each of the different features of Photoshop -- sharpening, color correction, making selections -- and teaches you things you thought you already knew.

P.S. Years after writing this review, and attending Photoshop workshops, I can attest that the information in this book holds up. The advice on topics such as color correction, making selections, sharpening, etc are still on-the-money and totally applicable to Photoshop 7, so if you can get this book at a big discount it may well be worthwhile.

One of my proudest moments as a mystery writer came at Tucson's Left Coast Crime mystery convention when I was given the honor of introducing David Cole to the mystery community. He was a member of the author panel I was moderating, and his debut mystery, BUTTERFLY LOST, had just been published. BUTTERFLY LOST features Laura Winslow--a Ritalin-abusing, cyper-hacking, half-Hopi--protagonist. BUTTERFLY LOST is a remarkable book because, at least to this reader, David Cole gets everything right. His work with Native American groups has provided him with the thorough cultural knowledge he presents in his book. Laura's computer expertise is completely convincing. David Cole knows well of what he writes. His plot is fast-paced and complex. He knows the Southwestern turf well. I cannot remember reading a more impressive debut novel. David Cole is an amazing talent.

David Cole breaks with the mold in this fascinating first mystery. It includes a dark, unromantic, and completely unexpected view of the contemporary American Southwest. Where else could you find a central character who is a half-Hopi, Ritalin abusing, computer hacker, living on the run while battling the demons behind her own anxiety disorder. Laura inhabits social, psychological, and geographic borderlands, where the reader learns to appreciate and ponder the ambiguities of Native/non-Native identity, the ties and terrors of personal commitments, and the seedy backstreet life of the US/Mexican border region. The author manages to evoke complex worlds of sense and character with an economy of verbiage, and had me puzzling over the mystery and its personalities at odd moments during the day until I had finished it. Butterfly Lost is also an unusual mystery in that the pieces never all fit back together -- the bodies are not necessarily found and accounted for, there is unfinished business -- this feels disturbingly like reality, rather than a typical work of fiction. I am looking forward to his next book, while bracing for another wild ride.

Butterfly Lost is one of the best and most original mysteries I've read in a long time. I live in southern Arizona during the winter months but I knew little about the Hopi and Navajo reservations other than reading books by Tony Hillerman. But David Cole writes so well about many things. I gained new insight into the tribal land conflicts, resulting from the US government's decision to give Navajo property to Hopis, with families who owned land for generations forced to move away. Laura Winslow is a complex central character, haunted by her past and trying not to repeat it as she tries to regain some sense of her Hopi heritage. I'm impressed that a man can have his main character a believable, compelling woman. Cole has a main plot about missing Hopi girls, but he weaves many fascinating subplots and characters around the main story. Bounty-hunting and theft of sacred Indian artifacts are both talked about in Arizona, but Cole tells the dark sides of these problems. And Cole gets into aspects of computer hacking that are so believable I got new insight into how many people have access to my personal information. I completely enjoyed this book, and look forward to reading more about Laura Winslow.

Black and white was never so gray, and gray was never so vibrant as it streams across the pages of David Anthony Durham's new historical novel, "Walk Through Darkness."

While contemporary activists seek slave reparations, Durham explores the complexities of slavery from a modern black man's perspective. It's not a rant, but a contemplative journey in which good is always tainted, bad is never pure, and black and white blend to gray.

The desperate condition of African-Americans before and after the Civil War is Durham recurring theme.

In "Gabriel's Story," the protagonist is a 15-year-old African-American boy in the empty middle of the continent after the Civil War, caught between youth and manhood, naiveté and wisdom, family and flight. It was a classical bildungsroman - a novel about the moral and psychological growth of the main character -- told in masterful prose reminiscent of Cormac McCarthy.

In "Walk Through Darkness," Durham retraces his literary steps in a different landscape and a different time: That troubled slice of America between Virginia and Pennsylvania where slavery and abolition collided in the anxious twilight before the Civil War.

William's story also traces through complex historic and cultural issues. If you were expecting Durham, by virtue of being an African-American, to oversimplify an issue that split America down the middle, you've been reading too many racial polemics. We glimpse extraordinarily humane slave owners, mercenary blacks who gleefully profit from trapping runaways, and a wide array of men and women who are unexpectedly - and refreshingly - conflicted about human bondage.

As he did with his first book, Gabriel's Story, Durham has provided readers with a book that works on many levels. First of all it's a hell of a story. This is an exciting adventure, an intelligent page-turner. Interesting, well-drawn characters, who, like people in "real life," can act in unpredicted ways. These characters rank with those created by Charles Frazier in "Cold Mountain."
If you've ever grappled with imagining the lives of slaves in 19th century America, their struggles and the response of whites to them, reading "Walk Through Darkness" will help.
The story concerns a slave, William, escaping a cruel master and his search for his pregnant lover. Durham intersperses this tale with relentless pursuit of the protaganist by a tracker.
While spinning this fascinating yarn, Durham offers a hard look at a time and place not so distant and the attitudes that pervaded American life.
This is Durham's second book, following the fantastic "Gabriel's Story". He is two for two, having hit both out of the ballpark.

Walk Through Darkness is a powerful tale of the trials and tribulations of slavery in early American history and how the forces of love, truth and redemption can at times work to right the wrongs of that hateful period.

In his novel, David Anthony Durham tells a story of William, a fugitive slave, who places his life in danger to find his pregnant wife and deliver her to freedom. With little knowledge of his surroundings and only occasional help from random strangers, William travels from down South to Philadelphia. During his travels, William encounters many hardships, which force him to grow into a stronger man. First, he is tricked, then captured, by a group of slave traders and prepared for sale. Forced to endure the cramped quarters and debasing actions of his captors, he begins to lose hope of his goal, only to be freed through a violent uprising, which results in the death of his captors. On the run again, William reaches Baltimore and stows away upon a trading ship, only to be found and once again returned to shackles. It is here, while befriended by the ship's Captain, that William begins to learn the larger lessons of life. With one more chance to reach his goal, he is given the opportunity to escape, and through a stroke of luck, finally ends up in Philadelphia. Hungry, tired and lost, William succumbs to yellow fever and would have died had it not been for the help of a stranger. This Samaritan only asks that he understand her altruistic ways and her desire to help him become a free man. Fully recovered, he discovers his wife's whereabouts and makes plans to rescue her from her surroundings.

Throughout William's journey, we follow a parallel story of a Scottish tracker, Andrew Morrison, who is hired to find, capture, and bring William back to his master in one piece. While his motives are unclear at first, it becomes obvious that Morrison's past history within America has created a man who is at odds with his identity and is wrestling with his quest for redemption. With his trusted hound at his side, Morrison eventually ends up in Philadelphia to find and capture the fugitive slave.

The book ends with a suspenseful account of the various forces that are working for and against William in his quest for freedom. With violence an everyday possibility, many lives are ruined because of their participation in helping an innocent person seek his dream. However, even with powerful currents working against him, William ends up on his way to freedom through the help of many of those who were opposed to the evil of slavery that flowed through American veins.

Walking Through Darkness is a heavy read that yields an enormous amount of satisfaction. It is clear that David Anthony Durham has become a literary force to reckon with and is among the new cadre of African American writers like Paul Beatty, Guy Johnson, and Colson Whitehead, who have brought new stories into the mainstream literary world, without sacrificing their integrity. Once again, Durham has used his deft literary brush to create a tale complete with vivid pictures of life and death during this most turbulent time in American history.

This book will be good if you want to review the components that might make up your wealth protection strategy. However, the book comes up short on the detail needed to understand those components well or to structure a comprehensive plan for yourself.

To get a feel for the lack of detail take a look at the Table of Contents, note that it seems very comprehensive but when you look a little closer you will see that most of the chapters are LESS THAN 5 PAGES! The subtopics in each chapter usually make up a single paragraph with a large font bold heading that takes up a lot of the page.

In short, if you want to get an overview of the components you might ask your advisor to explain to you, this would be a valuable purchase. If you want to understand these things yourself, you will be disappointed.

I just finished reading Wealth Protection and found it to be extremely valuable in planning for my financial future. I am a business consultant and consider myself to fairly aware of the various financial tools, strategies, and techniques...

However, the book offered me numerous new strategies for more effectively protecting my wealth. The best thing about the book is that it is structured in a way that will allow just about anybody to find specific, tailored advice.

Good work Jarvis and Mandell! I look forward to your next book!

i am privy to working with Chris personally and I can assure you he is one of the most respected, capable and knowledgeable persons in the area of wealth protection. the book's true magic lies in the fact that it is intended for anyone interested in protecting their assets, and it shows you how to do it in a very down to earth, easy to understand manner.

this is not designed for the technically advanced financiers out there, so don't fret. it is literally for anyone who wants to protect their wealth.
a highly recommended book.

A well-chosen set of essays is compiled, based on a 4-level framework: i)Analyze the competitive environment, ii)Anticipate competitor's actions & reactions, iii) Formulate Dynamic Strategies, iv) Choose among alternative strategies. The book provides a great way to update one's strategy knowledge.
But I find 'Mastering Strategy: The Complete MBA Companion in Strategy' by Financial Times Editors to be a better book with greater depth and broader spectrum.

This book is wonderful. Unlike many business books which take one very simple concept and drive it into the ground over 400 pages, Wharton on Dynamic Competitive Strategy has several (17) discrete topics which are interlinked through common themes. Need to understand applications of game theory to strategy formulation? Want to understand how to structure scenario analysis for a working session with a group of business unit directors? This book will help you understand some very academic concepts with very real, material impact when used properly.

This is also a great book for MBA students who want to understand a topic before taking to a whole class.

One final point, the caliber of the authors is incredible. Each author is writing about his/her specific areas of expertise, and the topics are extremely timely.

These are my opinions alone and not necessarily those of my employer.

The competitive challenges facing managers are more complex and fast-moving than ever. This environment demands dynamic competitive strategies-strategies that anticipate and adjust to competitors' countermoves, shifting customer demands, and changes in the business world.

The Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania is the oldest business school in America and one of the most revered institutions of business study in the world. Wharton on Dynamic Competitive Strategy offers new perspectives on competitive strategy from a distinguished group of faculty at Wharton and other leading business schools around the world. This book presents the best insights from decades of research in key areas such as competitive strategy, simulations, game theory, scenario planning, public policy, and market-driven strategy. It represents the most cohesive collection of insights on strategy ever assembled by a leading school of business.

Developed for the thinking manager, Wharton on Dynamic Competitive Strategy provides deep insights into the true dynamics of competition. In contrast to popular, quick-fix formulas for strategic success, this book provides perspectives that will help you better understand the underlying dynamics of competitive interactions and make better strategic decisions in a rapidly changing and uncertain world.

The insights and approaches presented here are illustrated with real-world examples which demonstrate how these approaches can be applied to your strategic challenges.

This groundbreaking new book will change your view of strategy and give you the tools you need to succeed in a dynamic and intensely challenging world.

Reviewed by Azlan Adnan. Azlan is Managing Partner of Azlan & Koh Knowledge and Professional Management Group, an education and management consulting practice based in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysian Borneo. Azlan has a MA in International Business and Management from the University of Westminster.

This is an important book which I hope will be put back in print soon. The story of the Ukrainian occupation during WWII, as well as Babi Yar death camp are fascinating, if also horrifying. The book covers a theatre of the war that is seldom covered in such detail.

The honesty is the most interesting part. The author, a 12-year-old boy at the time, (and NOT Jewish), had no reason to fabricate, and with an innocence that makes it clear he isn't trying to propogandize, just reports the horrors he sees. The book also includes some later gathered (when the author was grown up) interviews with survivors of Babi Yar death camp which are even more harrowing.

The most fascinating part of the copy that I have is that it BOLDs the portions of the book that were edited out by the Russian censors, before the book was published in the Soviet Union. It is interesting to notice what the censors chose to cut out, as much as what they chose to leave in!

Well worth finding in a used book store, if you can.

This is an extremely fascinating and well-written book. It tells the story of not just the horrible massacre of Jews and other "undesireables" by the Nazis in WWII occupied Kyiv, but also of life in Kyiv under Nazi occupation. Equally fascinating is the account of Babyn Yar (its Ukrainian name) long AFTER the Germans had been pushed out. It is the personal, first-hand account of the author who is a 12-year old boy at the time of the German entrance into Kyiv. One correction to a previous review here - according to the editions I have seen of this book, the author is not Jewish, but half-Ukrainian and half-Russian. This is of minor importance other than for those who might be inclined to reject this book as "Jewish Propoganda". It is a very honest work, portraying everyone involved as all-too-human; sharing all characteristics from the noble to the obscence.

I have been looking for a copy of "Babi Yar" by Anatoly Kuznetsov for several years. I'm not sure this is the same book, but the fact that both books describe the occupation of Kiev during World War II from the eyes of a 12-year-old, including the horrible massacre of Jews and Ukrainians at Babi Yar, lead me to believe that this might be a rewrite of my copy of "Babi Yar" I have been unable to find in circulation. In my copy, printed by Dell in 1966, the protagonist is not Jewish, but Ukrainian-Russian, although many of his friends at the time were Jewish as were many of the survivors the author interviewed after the war whose stories were included in the documentary. Having lived in Kiev for five years in the early 90s, Babi Yar is not only a book of the atrocities that took place in Ukraine during the war, but a glimpse at the survival skills by ordinary Kievites during the occupation. In this way, it chronicles the plight of all citizens of Nazi occupation, not just those of the Jewish residents of this wonderful city. It also describes the way in which the Nazis rounded up young Ukrainians for shipment to farms and factories in Germany, which is the prelude to the stories of thousands of Ukrainians, many of whom returned home after the war and became Soviet citizens I met in Kiev fifty years later. But many of these young Ukrainains who found themselves in the West upon the German defeat immigrated all over the world, comprising the Ukrainian diaspora, who also returned to Kiev after independence to help build this new nation. If anyone knows whether these are the same stories or if the original has been rewritten and expanded, please post this information at this site. In any event, it is unfortunate that both copies of this book are out-of-print because the story of the citizens of Kiev and the atrocities of Babi Yar need to be told.

Of all of Gemmell's extraordinary world's none have been quite as captivating as the Drenai saga. The protagonists in these books allow us glimpses of the history making events that occur in this epic, themselves usually being a catalyst of some sort, but after reading nearly a dozen of the novels, I had only theories about how these glimpses and tatters truly fit together. From everyone's favorite anti-hero Dakyras to the epitome of a hero that is Druss we had but a fog with a few clear spots.

After reading White Wolf it was as if I had fog lights. The fog is still there but I can see my way through the history I have constructed and can see glimpses of what lies ahead. Gemmell brings us both new and familiar in this novel with druss recounting some of his history and skilgannon reliving his. At the same time David teases you with a girl carrying the Prince of Assassins crossbow and body parts of slain hero's being preserved which proved enough to make me salivate about the possibilities.
While perhaps not individually as awe in-spiring as Legend and Hero in the Shadows, it is a masterful piece that lends cohesion to this world that I so love. If that is not enough for you... our troubled protagonist fights with two katanas... how cool is that.

David Gemmell's new novel 'White Wolf' is a great read. Although marketed as a Druss novel, Druss is a secondary character in this morality play. Skilgannon is the real star of this novel; a deadly young warrior with a twisted past. As in all of the David Gemmell novels, Skilgannon is a damaged and in many ways morally corrupt individual reminiscent of the early Clint Eastwood, 'Man with No Name' characters.

As is all of Gemmell's work, the writing is sharp and the dialogue clean and clear. Gemmell's real gift however, lies in his utterly human, 3-dimensional characters. Interestingly, the author explains (via his characters dialogue) how a warrior must think in black and white terms; wrong and a right; good and evil. Gemmell's characters are none of those things. They are all wonderfully filled with shades of gray, just like all of us.

'White Wolf' and all of it's new characters are a wonderful addition to the continuing Drenai saga. I for one would like to see more of Skilgannon. Although complete in and of itself, this novel begs to be followed with more stories of Skilgannon.

Every time I read a David Gemmell novel I really become an extra character , he is that good . I have read avidly every offering and still eagerly anticipate Gemmells' next . His heroes are flawed , if old craggy Druss is new to you its' time to be acquainted , his return in White Wolf is wonderful . Read this , there is no better .