It is truely amazing how helpful this booklet is! It really taught me how to be a genuine listener. I am one of those who likes to help people that have a problem by giving advice or asking multiple questions. Listening to understand helps to change those bad habits and learn how effective it can be with those relationships that mean the most! I find that not only does it work well at home, but with professionals too. I also find that the other person feels appreciated and understood. If you find that you continuously deal with people that bring up the same problems or don't know how to listen to others effectively, read LISTEN TO UNDERSTAND.

This book clearly and concisely teaches how to really listen, let the other person know you have heard them, and preserve or improve the relationship in the process. Most importantly, it teaches you WHEN it is appropriate to listen, which is more often than you think! The concepts in this book are simple and easily understood, but practicing these skills to the point where they become natural takes time and patience.

Once you have mastered the Listening to Understand skill in this book, you can find more ways to apply that powerful skill by reading another book by Helen Hall Clinard, "Winning Ways to Succeed with People." The listening skill taught in this book really is key to learning the interpersoanl communication skills that Clinard teaches in her other books.

"Listen To Understand is an enormously powerful book! I could not put it down once I began reading. I truly identify with the comments about how few people really understand what listening is all about or the power of the skill."

Winning Ways is a step by step book for development and learning of powerful and subtle ways of communicating with people. I was first introduced to Helen Clinard's "ways" in 1993, became a student, and with practice and nurturing, have endeavored to incorporate these skills into my daily living, that is to make them become so natural that they are behavioral habits. Helen Clinard's insights into human communication behaviors, were ahead of their time, sort of precursors to recent emphasis and popularity of Emotional Intelligence in management training. The book is technical, thorough, uses graphical models, and incorporates many day to day examples to help the reader. A must have for those in executive coaching and counseling professions.

I use this book as a communication training resource for suprvisors. The skill outcomes are concrete and applications oriented. Another advantage of the book is that it is written in a developmental format. Everything is in a stepwise order. Each part builds on the skill previously presented. I recommend using this book as a training guide for communication training with people who want well defined, concrete, applications-oriented training. I liked it so much I brought in the author, Ms. Helen Clinard, to do the training. I also recommend this book as a self-help guide to individuals wanting to learn concrete and useable communication skills. It is clearly written, easy to understand and the skills are effective when practiced in real life situations.

If it is true -- and I believe it is -- that effective communication is the key to success in business, life, and parenting, then this book is a "must buy!" The "seven skills" taught in this book are really interlocking parts of a single framework for understanding and interacting with human behavior that can transform all the relationships in one's life. I have used the skill called "Tracking Positives," for example, to teach first-time supervisors how -- pragmatically -- to (in Dr. Johnson's words) "catch employees doing something RIGHT!" I know parents who have been able to open up long-closed channels of communication with their adolescent children by practicing the skills in this book. And I have watched as volunteers have been able to use these skills to break through to people on the edge of hopelessness. If you are serious about communicating effectively or if you know someone who should be -- buy this book!

Like with "Rest And Be Thankful", this is a Helen MacInness spy novel without the spies. Her romantic and political philosophies are just as plain as ever, but there is no thriller plot to drive them. This puts the spotlight on the romantic plot -- which is just fine. The book is a little more integrated and subtle than "Rest And Be Thankful", making it my favorite of her non-thrillers. (As a point of comparison, my favorite of all her books is "The Double Image".)

In case you want to know the plot, it's about two young college students falling in love in the years just before World War 2. We follow them from infatuation to a more mature relationship, seeing them learn from the problems they encounter along the way.

WW2 looms in the background, but the book ends about a year before the war actually starts.

This book is very different from Helen Macinnes' usual spy thrillers. It is a love story - but it is so much more. It explores the problems of developing and maintaining relationships, whether with family, friends, or lovers. A bit dated now but it's uplifting without being soppy. And the writing is excellent. Ms. Macinnes has a way with words.

This book is a wake up call to the power of tracking positives. The skill is presented simply and clearly and is reinforced with real anecdotes. Most of us have experienced the power of receiving appreciation. Yet we tend to criticize, in our mind if not openly, instead of tracking positives. At one time I was a professional "negative tracker" on one of my sons. Because I began to track positives instead of tracking negatives I believe several things happened: · I felt better about my son. · I felt better about myself. · My son felt better about himself. · We both felt better about our relationship. · He began to do more of the things I liked and less of the things I disliked. Now I respect him. He respects me and we have fun being together. We enjoy each other's company as adults. I really believe I could have blown all these benefits if I had persisted in tracking negatives. When put to use, this little book produces a big payoff!

Helen Nearing's galaxy of quotations from the likes of Ghandi, Freidan, Woolf, Einstein, Wharton, and Lao Tzu (and scintillating many more) on the subject of aging and dying is somewhat like meditating under a summer sky's meteor shower, each new light a brilliant, breath-catcher. With this collection, this "study for eternity" (Nearing quoting Emerson), Nearing restores elements of wonder and mystery to living and dying , rescuing them (and us!) from the pervasive and monotone hellfire school of western religious tradition. Among my many dozens of favorite Nearing choices is this from Hazlitt (Table Talk, 1821) : "To die is only to be as we were before we were born".

Helen McInnes would have been about 94 years old this year. I wonder what she would have thought about the events of September 11th? This thought has been going through my mind a lot lately as I remember the trilogy that she wrote in the late 1970's and early 1980's. That trilogy includes the titles: Prelude to Terror, The Hidden Target and Cloak of Darkness. These are books that I have read, re-read, and thought about a number of times. (In fact, I even wrote a "fan letter" to Ms. McInnes some years ago, commenting on her excellent main character, Robert Renwick. She sent me a postcard!) The subject of all of these books is world terrorism, yes, fictional for storytelling purposes, but stories that are so well-crafted and so highly literate that they are still relevant and readable today. In some ways the plots of the books even echo recent events, for unfortunately terrorism is not new to the world scene. Those three books and Ride a Pale Horse were written at the end of Ms. McInnes' long and distinguished career and perhaps are most relevant today, however most of her books (in spite of changes in the world political scene) are still very readable and in many ways, educational.Helen McInnes is and will remain one of my favorite authors of the international intrigue genre.

This book is the first that I've ever read by Helen MacInnes, and I was very impressed! I got so into the book that I missed a date and stayed up reading until the wee hours of the morning to finish the book. There is a lot of action, from Eastern Europe to the United States and Italy.

This short, simple book has really made a difference in my life. I always used to get defensive when criticized and immediately try to shoot down the other person, explain myself or rationalize my own behavior. This book showed me why it makes sense to handle criticisim in a different way. (I won't give the skills away here, because Clinard explains them so well in the book. You'll have to read it!) The skills are very simple, and if you can go against your initial reactions to criticism and use these skills, it really works like magic in your interpersonal relationships. WELL worth the (price)!

This book is an excellent design source for anyone interested in older quilt patterns. The book features color photos of 800 quilt blocks with captions giving the name of each and the approximate size of the original block. Included are patterns and piecing diagrams for 200 of the blocks. The blocks are all pieced with vintage fabrics for anyone who is interested older fabrics. Just a wonderful book!

If you are interested in quilt history or in the names of traditional quilt blocks, this book is an invaluable tool. Carrie Hall sewed and collected various quilt blocks along with their names in what is now an encyclopedia of quilt history. I have used this book both for inspiration in my own quilt block making and also for historical interest (which blocks were named after political events, etc). Definitely one to have on your quilt book shelf.

This is an excellent resource book for those interested in quilt history. The more than 800 blocks were made between 1900-1935. Both pieced and appliqued blocks are shown in color. The pattern section of more than 200 blocks range from easy level to difficult. The template section is very easy to use. Each block is shown in color and then in sections with all template numbers listed. All blocks in this section have been converted to more standard sizes and could be converted to other sizes with relative ease by any quilter. A fantastic book and a must for any quilter's personal library!

this was actually pretty good. the opening is great. very detailed. interesting story. there was something about the way the characters acted that didn't convince me completely, though. but well worth a read

I bought one of MacInnes' spy thrillers in a small drug store in Kentucky during Christmas vacation in the late sixties and then read them all. For a grad student locked into classroom and homework, it was perfect escapism, a way to travel to exotic places like old Europe and experience the flavor of the WWII era without getting hurt. After MacInnes, nothing else in the mystery category satisfied me, until I accidentally discovered Donna Leon's Inspector Brunetti and his interesting wife...

This is a really good novel, full of suspense. A tale of espionage, this is about the search for an old chest full of nazi documents. With agents from all sides trying to get to it, a lot of dead bodies turn up. Written some years ago, this is worth reading, with an unexpected, everyman hero.