Tells you how to create the details that make a place special, using a simple but powerful theory of linked contrasts. Highly readable, can be put to use by anyone. Few books offer such design insight, none in so few pages. I rank "The Good House" alongside Alexander's classic "A Pattern Language".

As an architectural student, I found this book to be excellent. Unlike other architecture books which may highlight an architect or certain buildings, this book highlights the idea of "contrast" to stimulate how one can critically think about a design whether the project happens to be residential, public or institutional. The book also shows a myriad of different types of buildings of different styles to highlight the "contrast" concept clearly. I belive, this is an excellent refence book for students and architects alike!

Mr. Hood speaks eloquently from his experience about what is good about the sport of ice hockey, what has gone wrong, and ideas about what we can do to bring it back to what it should be: a FUN game of speed and skill. This should be required reading for all players, young and old, parents of youth hockey players, leaders in youth hockey organizations, coaches, and fans. His words speak to the thoughts and concerns of thousands of parents who are out there today, trying to come to grips with the insanity of spending thousands of dollars a year for their kids to participate in what is now a hypercompetitive year-round sport. Mr. Hood cuts through all the rhetoric and offers up powerful common sense observations that I hope will lead the way to a grass roots effort to return a wonderful sport to what it should be: an opportunity to teach our children about the values of team work, discipline, integrity, sportsmanship, dedication, and perserverance -- that fun comes as a result of accepting and fulfilling responsibility to yourself, your team mates, family, and community. Bravo and thank you Mr. Hood!

Mr. Hood has done it again! This is one of the best hockey books I have ever read, the stories he tells about playing hockey in Canada on the ponds when he was younger is so true, and something now days that most people have never done. He touches on some excellent points like how youh hockey has gotten too serious, and how much it costs! This is a must read!

While Ada Lovelace is heralded as the first computer programmer and has a programming language named after her, the woman who has had the greatest impact on computing was Grace Hopper. In the vast collection of role models for young women, there is none better. She was not only a pioneer in expanding the roles of women, but also in the development of what computing is today. Considered to be the grandmother of the language COBOL, much of her early work formed the basis for computing as we know it. And yet, she was a no-nonsense career officer in the Navy.
To understand her approach, consider what she did when assigned a Pentagon office with no furniture or supplies. Rather than waste time filling out the required forms she told her staff. "If you need something, 'liberate' or borrow it from the Air Force . . . If you can't get it from there, get it from the Army. They have almost everything, and they don't know how to count." Her two distinctive office symbols were a skull-and-crossbones flag and a clock that ran backwards.
A truly inspiring story that shows the value of determination and non-conformity, this book should be required reading of all early adolescents. Maybe someday justice will be served and there will be a programming language named after Grace Hopper. Without question, it is an honor she deserves.

Originally published in Journal of Recreational Mathematics, reprinted with permission.

we'll all im going to say is that i look up to ms.hopper because she is a strong willed woman and is not afraid of anything.i want to be just like grace hopper.

I appreciate the scholarly and personal blend of Rev. Mary's writing. She gives all of us wonderful tools to use and teach while touching our souls with real stories from her life and the lives of others. She offers guidance from diverse cultures which enhances the message she is conveying. I know I will use her 'Qualities of Being' in my own life as well as in my practitioner practice.

Guidance from the Darkness is a beautifully articulated, imaginative and illumined heart/soul map for quantum leaping into the Bigger Adventures of Life with a clear understanding of Self-unfoldment to light the way. Profound in its deep wisdom and penetrating insights, Guidance from the Darkness offers a sensitive and compassionate hand to hold through not only difficult and challenging times but also as an empowering vehicle for unlimited transformative possibilities. Mary Murray Shelton

honestly and bravely invites the reader to join her in an empathetic journey of mind,heart,soul and body to welcome and accept the presence of our most mystical, magical and mysterious Self in both our triumphs and tragedies. There were tears and laughter, but most of all, new ways to savor the lemonade of our lives. A must read for new beginnings in a new millenium. Amen

This book is an absolute "must have" for obstetrical practitioners and expectant parents who are looking for a way back into normal childbirth. Medicalized obstetrics has taught their students and society that "techno-birth" is not only logical but safe. This book proves that the way we have been delivering babies for the past 40 years is not the safest most competent care we can give. Hopefully, after reading this book, the practitioner will come away with a renewed sense of purpose in providing safe, logical, evidence-based care, and the expectant parent will take a firmer stand against allowing unneccessary and hazardous "routine" birth interventions. We are all the better for this book and the many years of sound, documented research it provides us. The next generation of babies will thank us!

This book is an invaluable reference tool for anyone involved in childbirth, including educators, doulas, midwives, nurses and doctors. It provides reviews of the current literature regarding just about any procedure of standard care that a pregnant woman is likely to encounter in the American medical system. This book provides important information, especially for anyone who is trying to convince an OB that "standard procedures" (like limiting food for a laboring woman) may not be supported by research

I perform so much protein purification and yet i still find this book to be a helpful reference for pointing me in new directions in the lab. although some of the sections are not terribly useful, they describe each major type of chromatography in a reasonable way and also discuss what to do with your protein once it is purified (e.g. mass spec, library screening); again in a way that is understandable!

This is a must book for biochemist and people that intend to become one. It gives a vast background on most biochemical methods used for the purification of proteins, including the history behind the methods. Not to mention the availability of comments on most topics, that help in understading the limits of the various procedures.

I have idolized Deacon Jones all of my life, and this book really made The Deacon out to be everything I thought he was. The reason I liked the book so much was the fact that it not only covered his unrealistically impressive football career, but also covered his entire life from childhood all the way through his retirement from the NFL. It really gave you a real feel of the hard, grueling times he went through back in the days of racism and presidium. I recommend this book for anyone, even those who are not interested in football, fore is a book far from only being about football, but a book of struggle, anger, distress, and overcoming all obstacles in order to succeed greatly in life.

I met Deacon Jones about two months after I read this book. I felt like I had actually known him for a long time and even played with him. The author did a great job in describing the man, especially his youth in Florida, during the fifties. If you like sports and understand the discipline and dedication that a good athlete puts into his profession you will experience it in this documentary that reads like a novel. In some ways, this book is a history of the NFL as seen through the practical eyes of a humble and sincere young man who came from a small town in the "old south" and was never groomed for college or the NFL. This is the first biography that I read completely without getting tired of all the subject's glories. The book is not self-serving. It should be mandatory reading for all high school athletes especially football players and their coaches. Submitted by: Stanley Strychaz West Hills, Californi

An extremely readable, engaging, and yet thoroughly scholarly examination of doctrinal issues facing the early church. An excellent choice as a primer for beginners not familiar with the details fo the issues involved.

When I used to work at the Whole Earth Catalog, whenever a truly great book was out of print we used to thunder in bold faced type, "Get this book back in print!" That's how I feel about A History of Heresy. It is probably the most complete overview of the undertow to the Christian church available (or, well, formerly available). It is a Baedeker of everyone who challenged the ideas of the church from within through the centuries, and it is wonderfully well written. I learned enough here to "fake it" for the passages on Medieval heretics in my own book, The Age of Heretics.

I SAW GOD is absolutely fantastic! I haven't read any book as brief as I SAW GOD that caused me to think as much as it did. In our family, we have a tradition of reading to our children at bedtime every night. I SAW GOD will be a regular part of that. The book is a wonderful way to open a conversation on a very important topic. Get it, read it, discuss it.

This content of this little book is easily read but not so easily forgotten. The story of the people of Perfect is simple enough; a group of people once in harmony eventually set against one another by their own finite perception of a being they believe is God. When I first read the book my initial thought was that it was just more evidence of American relativism, in this case, one's perception of God being ambushed by each individual's perception. But in all fariness there is much, much more to the story than that.

Since the book's marketers said it would stimulate discussion and communication, I decided to try the book out on our three kids ages 11, 9, and 7. Our 9 year old boy took the book off the coffee table and read it one night before I could even suggest that he do so. He liked it but parts of it confused him, a long interesting conversation ensued. Next came our 7 year old boy, I read him the book while he occasionally sat and occasionally jumped about the room. He loved the pictures but the first question out of his mouth was, "Why would God do that?" Humm, a good question which was followed by another long conversation involving how we relate to people, who is God and even a bit about Egyptians (which he threw in). Finally our 11 year old daughter read the book upon request. She was the least interested in the topic but in her defense being an American 11 year old girl really offers enough stimuli so I suppose the topic of Ultimate Truths has stiff competition from a myriad of other issues.

Given the pleasing results of my little experiment with our three kids I would highly recommend the book to others. But be forewarned, if you read it with your children (or even other friends) they will ask legitimate, difficult and perhaps probing questions that one should be prepared to discuss. But in our home, that is a welcomed way to spend our time with each other.

The Lonely Planet guides are excellent for any locale..but this edition (covering Italy, Spain, Greece, France, Portugal and even Morocco) is a must-read for the quintessential backpacker jumping on a plane for Europa. These guides excel at recommending lodging of many price ranges (from youth hostels to 5-star hotels) and meal choices of the same range (excellent recommendation for outdoor markets.."buy a loaf of bread, a block of cheese and a bottle of wine here"..which is a plus as many guides catering to this area focus on only older travels with large budgets..or persons seeking to spend only a dollar a day or some insanity..it's always good to have the most information possible..and it's included here. Entertainments ideas from free plaza and park visiting to museums, discotechqes, architecture, boat rides etc. etc. are included..good for young and old. It even lists culture-sensitve information such as appropriate dress for visiting churches and monasteries as well as travel-safe tips for women. Book your Eurorail pass and get going.

Lonely Planet has great books and this one certainly was. It's very thorough and tells alot about things that interest travellers. They are up to date and tell you the pros and cons of the different countries. I liked it alot and I know that other people will too.