This book starts out with about 100 pages of legitimate information concerning sinuses, symptoms of sinusitis and other sinus ailments, and the current medical understanding of allergies and many other causes of sinus problems. This material is informative although similar information is available at public web sites as well.
But the remainder of the book is a random walk through what the author terms "holistic" approaches. These include such topics as having too much yeast in your diet, getting psychotherapy, having a stronger sense of humor, celebrating a day of Sabbath, and so forth. Some of these might be good suggestions for various individuals, but if you want to learn about these things, get some other book. The book doesn't relate these things to sinus problems in any case.

Bought this book last week. After six months of not being able to smell or taste, and having ears plugging up, I am feeling a bit better. I have intermittent episodes of smelling/tasting in only a week. Yes, I have done acupuncture, chinese herbs and naturopathy. My energy level is up a couple of notches (thanks,kukicha tea), I can sorta keep up with my babies. For me the candida/fungus link is absolutely there. So just following the diet and taking some supplements is a start to getting better!! YEAH!
p.s. I did find a positive "I AM" getting better attitude helps.

A good deal of what Dr Ivker talks about in this book rings true for me. I've been on far too many antibiotics over the past few years. And when I finally made the effort to visit an ENT, he confirmed what the book claims, a chronic sinus infection that cannot be treated by antibiotics alone.

That said, the book also has its weaknesses. If you haven't already gone headlong into the vitamin and mineral supplement lifestyle, this is all new to you. If you look at the dosages, it's not always consistent throughout the book.

Then there's the link between sinusitis and candida. I do believe that there's something to Dr Ivker's claim here. But his discipline in documenting the linkage is weak. I'd really hope that he further research and explore the current literature and studies out there. And his cure for candida -- heavily based in diet -- is not especially helpful for a vegetarian. While is diet does prod one towards eating a more healthy and vegetable-oriented meal, the suggestions really cannot be followed by a vegetarian! It's a bit ironic, but taking dairy (cheese and milk), fermented soy products (soy milk, tofu, tempeh), etc out of your diet makes you even more dependent on fish and meat. Dr Ivker doesn't address this challenge.

All said, I think the book is a good read, and provides many useful tips. It needs more focus from a good editor and thorough review of the clinical literature by the author. But, his plan is a heck of a lot better than the alternative presented by endless rounds of antibiotics.

I read this as a requirement for one of my graduate courses in Sociology and to be perfectly honest, a classroom full of well-educated people, open and willing to take in Nelson and Bridges' ideas could not make heads or tails of it, and that includes our professor! It is certainly bogged down with legal jargon which makes a lot of it very difficult and not very interesting to read. The conclusions were muddled and unclear which makes the reader question what the point was in the first place. Additionally, from a feminist's point of view, I have to draw in to question the motivation of two white males in writing a book about gender inequality in the workplace. Anonymity among social scientists has become an outdated relic of the positivist period and particularly in this case, prompts the reader to question what the writers have to hide.

This book makes the very important point (based on empirical evidence) that organizational and structural practices can result in pay inequality that becomes attributed to the "market." Further, this becomes "legalized" (or condoned in the american legal system) because the market is reified by judges and thought to be "natural" rather than socially constructed. The authors brilliantly demonstrate how this occurs in 4 organizations. This is why it has won every major award in sociology and law and society.

Fascinating reading, darkly hilarious in spots and an important challenge to orthodox labor economics and law--both of which assume that people's pay is set in "the market." As the authors point out, employers defending discrimination suits don't even have to prove this--it's just an assumption of the system. But the authors show that employers only encounter that "market" through intermediaries, the consultants and advisers who tell them what people are paid--and those people have their own biases, interests, and agendas. The authors carefully examine the records in some famous discrimination cases and show how unlikely it was that any "market" required that the maintenance men be paid more than the secretaries. Every labor economist and lawyer should read this book.

Very disappointed in this book because it was not what was advertised. It should have been titled "ultimate CHRISTIAN resource." If it had, I would not have wasted my money. I agree with another reviewer who says that this book is not something they can use because of its religious nature. I wish I had read that review before because I would not have bought the book. Perhaps it is a good marketing concept to title the book a "contemporary resource" ... so as to mislead and increase sales, but instead it has just angered and frustrated this reader and I will avoid this publisher in the future.

I am a Corporate Trainer & am always in search of a poignant story and the like to add to a presentation. Although this book is well organized & quite extensive most every quote is directed to the Christian perspective. The book is one of the best that I have seen with this type of subject matter, but I will not be able to use it in my profession because of the religious content. I have in fact passed this book on to my sister whom is involved in Christian Retreats and is a speaker at those events. I also showed the book to my pastor and he will be ordering one shortly. Well organized, extensive on the subject matter and excellent stories abound inside. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for this type of materiel.

Robert J. Morgan has done an outstanding job of collecting and organizing stories, quotations and anecdotes into an indispensable tool for the public speaker. This book is especially helpful for the preacher or teacher, but it would also be great just to read! Each selection is followed by space to record the date, place and occasion of when it was used.

This book would be a wonderful gift for anyone who does public speaking or teaching.

I simply did not understand the story. I had to force myself to continue to read and when I was finally finished - I could hardly believe it. I felt cheated and betrayed. I could hardly understand what had happened and could not figure out the ending. Was the mystery solved? Who was the killer? I could only guess. So I visited this site to read other people's review and was stunned to find to find that the average rate was 5 stars! They must be loyal to the author or be crazy about anything that has to do with cats. Or I must be from Mars. I love books and I love mysteries - but this is the worst mystery I have ever read. Perhaps the author should consider another genre of writing. I feel bad giving a bad review but want to warn others not to read this book.

I've read all books in the series (which I'm normally fond of), but this one was just a little too overloaded with characters, plots, and angst. I didn't really care about the too out-there Shangri-la villianess or her cat, and I was annoyed with the heroine Temple (who actually seemed to be more in the background). I think Ms. Douglas does a much better job juggling a complicated storyline in the next book, Cat in an Indigo Mood.

I've read all of the first nine books, except for the first and they are absolutley incredible!. I just ordered the first one and I'm getting ready to order the tenth one INDIGO MOOD. The books are fast paced and very exciting, I read 8 of the books in just two weeks, I couldn't put them down! Cat on a Hycanith Hunt was one of my favorites in the series. If you're looking for a good read, these are definitly it!

I bought this book expecting a real debate between the three views mentioned, namely, Young Earth Creation, Old Earth Creation, and Theistic Evolution. The reason I found it disappointing is for two main reasons. None of the contributors really talk about the evidences for their position, but instead ramble on about their philosophy of science. Van Till spends most of his time trying to convince people to call his perspective the "fully-gifted creation perspective" instead of theistic evolution. To me, it really was just playing with words in order to avoid the negative Christian response to evolution. Does Van Till believe in Darwinian evolution or not? He says he does, so why not Theistic evolution? His view, as he expresses it, is really Deism, although he protests that it isn't. Read what he says and decide for yourself. My other major complaint with the book was that instead of the proponent of each view responding to the other two views, the responses were made by a third party "panel". I found this to be extremely unsatisfying.
The book wasn't totally without merit, and all three perspectives had some good things to say - but it got lost in a lot of wordiness about "words" which really took away from the book as a whole.

This book consists of essays by proponents of each of the three views (Young Earth Creationism, Old Earth Creationism, and Theistic Evolution) and commentaries by practitioners of four disciplines: Biblical studies, theology, philosophy, and science. The entire discussion is concluded by summaries by Philip Johnson, an advocate of intelligent design, and Richard Bube, an advocate of theistic evolution.

The result is only partially successful. I am particularly impressed with the essays by Paul Nelson and John Mark Reynolds (Young Earth Creationism) and Howard J. Van Till (Theistic Evolution). Both give lucid and reasoned presentations of their views. I was pleasantly surprised to see Nelson and Reynolds, neither of whom I have read before, forego some of the more common but already discredited scientific arguments for a young Earth. Van Till presents a well thought-out and challenging integration of science and theology.

I am very disappointed by the commentaries, however. My first complaint is that the commentators sometimes seem unwilling to critique the essays primarily within their own expertises. For instance, John Jefferson Davis spends much of his space discussing the fossil record. On the one hand, none of the other commentators talk about this important piece of evidence. On the other hand, I wish the editors could have found someone other than a theologian to do this.

My second, more serious complaint is that each of the four commentators speaks entirely from an Old Earth Creationist perspective. In fact, Walter Bradley (who is supposed to provide criticism from a scientific perspective) uses the space allotted for commentary on the Old Earth Creationist perspective to attack the positions later presented in the Theistic Evolution essay. The reader is deprived of any scientific critique of the Old Earth Creationist view and instead finds a philosophical objection to a view not even presented yet. I find that entirely inappropriate.

As a brief introduction to the thinking in the three perspectives on creation and evolution, the primary essays in this book are very good. They each present some of the strengths and weaknesses of their own positions. These are not explored fully, but each essay is well referenced for further reading. The commentaries could have benefited by a better selection of commentators, however.

i've read in the field of creation-evolution for nearly 30 years now, from the _genesis flood_ to _darwin's dangerous idea_. that certainly doesn't make me an expert, only a concerned layman. this book is addressed by christian's to christian's, not that anyone outside of that community won't get a great deal out of the discussion only that the emotional desire/impetus to seek answers pushes christian's with a high view of scripture to try to reconcile the two biggies in their lives: science looking at general revelation and theology looking at scriptures. if you're not part of this community it is much easier just to ask "so what?" and not to understand why this is such a personal topic.

this is a first book, that is suitable for educated people to delve into a topic where many of the other books in this field/topic presume a background in either science or theology, or where the books are so stridently biased as to be "preaching to the choir" and put off 'newbies' with their presentation.

the issues are presented well enough that i think if someone finishes the book they will have a reasonable idea of what the problems are and where the different parts are most concerned in the discussion. it is not a scientific or theologically based book but rather philosophic. it presents concerns from each viewpoint, thus showing relative priorities in what each person discusses first and critisies as lacking emphasis in the other viewpoints. this is one value in a debate type of format, it can leave you with a prioritized idea of what people find important in the issues.

one problem however with this debate framework is that each person reading the book who already have committments to issues or positions tend to cheer for their side and boo down the opposing sides. this is evident from the reviews posted here, the young earth creation team is not the big names in the field, so it looks like in suffers from lack of heroes. nay, the two philosophers defend the position well given the page constraints they faced.

there is one issue running through the book i wished everyone had addressed in a more explicit matter, that is the difference in accepting the functional materialism of science versus the uncritical acceptance of a materialist world and life view of scientism. there is much confusion between the two, you can see it in much YEC criticism, in this book as well, of both progressive creationism and theistic evolution. naturalism is the idea that what we see is what we get, no god's behind the curtain, no skyhooks to come down and rescue us. there must be a distinction between how science uses this idea as a working hypothesis, as a functional means to an end, versus how a philosophy uses it as an axiom. of the 3 viewpoints, only vantil talks to the separation of the two. the YEC's fault the other two positions as if they accepted the materialism/naturalism as a deep committment in their systems. which as christian's is simply unacceptable from the beginning.

i liked the book. i think if you need a place to start it supplies one. however if you are already committed to a position you would be better off served by jumping straight to one of the major works in each viewpoint. and interact with that author without the polemics that form the debate structure of the book.

It is the most boring textbook I've ever seen. Too dull that I nearly fall asleep. Luckily my teacher has excellent lecture notes so I can understand the concepts of physical anthropology.
If you are so unlucky that you have to use this book, I can only wish you have a good teacher. God bless you.

An acceptable intro text for physical anthropology. It's overall scope is wide, and it covers the relevant topic, but it's just so . . . dull. It takes a rare person to fall in love with physical anthroplogy after getting through this book. Jurmain et al are in fine anthropological literary form, which means half-asleep and probably on a fiber-reduced diet. This book is so stilted and formulaic that getting through each chapter is a herculean labour. It's also fairly childish in its format, with irritating extra " Try This!" questions at the end of each chapter; the sort you doubtless remember from high school and junior high textbooks and the ones which no one - not even the teacher's pet- ever did. The price is also ridiculously high considering its a non-specialist text for beginners. Come on guys, gimme a break, the right-wing government where I live already believes students are made of money.

This is probably THE most boring physical textbook on the market, but it is also the most comprehensive. As an undergrad, I couldn't stay awake through more than a couple of paragraphs at a time. As an anthropologist, I can't think of a better text
to assign to my students. For the serious student, there simply is no way to avoid this book. It set the standard.

DO NOT SEE THIS MOVIE until you have read the book. While "The Shipping News" film is enjoyable it does not accurately portray the characters of Annie Proulx. In the book, the characters are not simply meshed into your memory as they are in the film. For example, the relationship Quoyle develops with Wavey happens over the course of many trials that both must endure before gaining the other's trust. However, the film version portrays their relationship as nearly instantaneous in that they see one another, have a couple conversations, and have one fight towards the end. Is that a fair representation of the careful and elequent caracterizations Proulx enmeshes our psyches in? No. In other ways, too, the film does a great injustice; but it would be a great disservice to whomever reads this to divulge too much and ruin the plot.
My point is very simple. The film version of "The Shipping News" takes out so much of the original substance by deleting the life stories of some very important characters (and some characters themselves) as well as moving the plot around at an inconsistent level that the viewer is left with more of a blueprint of Annie Proulx's aesthetic and charming brilliance than a final draft.
If you are one of those people who hopes to get by with a minimum knowledge of the characters in books, then this film is just for you. On the other hand, if you are a person who craves to understand what is important about the story and all the elements within it, I implore you to read the book before seeing the movie. You will be able to see the pitfalls of the movie that the book explains in a very well-defined manner.
Take your pick:
:0) Book first: Strong comprehension of the material
:0( Movie first: Poor comprehension of what is taking place before your eyes

Hollywood took a realistic book filled with tough hard characters and an even tougher and more unforgiving place and turned it into the feel good film of the year. (At least it wasn't as bad as the Disney-fication of the black academic comic novel, Krippendorf's Tribe.)

The Shipping News is an enjoyable fictional novel written by Anne Proulx, which follows the life of Quoyle, a man whose entire life has been littered with misadventures. It is a story that tracks Quoyle's barely tolerable life as he travels from one dead-end job to the next. Eventually Quoyle finds a job as a reporter for a small newspaper. He had originally applied to be an ink setter. However, the Editor of the paper told Quoyle that he needed reporters, not ink setters.
After losing his parents to suicide, an utterly destroyed Quoyle looks to his dead-beat wife for guidance. Her response: Taking their two daughters and leaving with one of her many "friends", as Quoyle calls them.
Shortly after a crucial area of the novel, Quoyle is reunited with his daughters, as well as a long lost Aunt. The small group decides to move back to Quoyle's ancestral land in an attempt to repair their lives.
As the novel progresses we see Quoyle grow from a timid, depressed man, who migrates from job to job, into a man full of love for both his family and his work.
Overall I believe the story is well written. Both the vocabulary and the sentence structure are easy to understand, and the readability helps the story to fluidly flow from beginning to end. Make no mistake, there are some graphic scenes depicted in the book, which aren't suitable for the younger audience.
Proulx writes in a manner that makes the plot quite believable. Proulx' writing also helps to create a realistic reality, one where the characters to interact amongst themselves and one another in. The characters themselves are quite remarkable as well, and we can see them mature as their lives unfold before our eyes. All in all, The Shipping News is a thoroughly enjoyable, though sometimes shocking read from beginning to end.
Coming from a fairly knowledgeable reader, this book is a decent read if you have some free time. But this isn't one of those novels that shouts exceptional quality or style. It will tide you over until one of those groundbreaking novels does come out.

Book Review. Jack D. Cook, Training Consultant, Middle East

Have to disagree 180 degrees with Ken Blanchard on his summation of We've Got to Start meeting Like This! as "the best book on meetings on the market today." I am qualified to disagree with Mr. Blanchard because I taught his book Situational Leadership for 5 years on a U.S. Military base before coming to the Middle East.

I have just reviewed We've Got to Start meeting Like This! And from an international perspective, the book is too cerebral, too procedural, too clinical, and too digital. Devoid of the "messy stuff" of groups communicating that often characterizes even the best of well-run business meetings.

In fact, the Index does not even list emotions, empathy, group maintenance skills, and any other "touch-feely" term or phrase that authors seem to have strong aversion for. While the emphasis is "all about data" and MIS and DSS computer-aided decision support systems, the authors do allude to Carl Rogers, cited in a box on page 183, in a response to a "fan" of One Minute Manager who is desperate for some way to manage conflict. But more space (about 3 pages) is given to a "cute" profile of "The Meeting Saboteur." Seems that the contradictions run everywhere, like a cheap pair of pantyhose.

Typographically and stylistically speaking, the paragraphs are long, academic, self-congratulatory, and evince almost a total absence of "good white space" and effective use of lists and bulleting. "Words, words, words," as Hamlet said. And it appears the authors were writing to one another, certainly not to an urbane, multicultural, international audience. Verbiage! Verbiage! Verbiage! Almost rimes with garbage, garbage, garbage. Seriously, the authors could reduce the word count by 50% and the fog index would drop by a thousand.

My summation is that this book is one of the worst books on running effective meetings I have ever read.

Jack D. Cook
Saudi Arabia

I bought this book for work, and it's pretty thorough. It addresses common meeting problems, suggests causes, and then offers solutions. I found the surveys in the appendix particularly useful. Two of the forms are going to be implemented at my company: the one on facilitation form / agenda preparation and the one on meeting evaluation. The book gave tons of ideas on how to make meetings better.

Then this is the book for you. This is by far the most thorough and the most detailed book not only on meetings but one of the best books on inter-personal relationships at work. Based on empirical research, this book is not your garden variety (We think that 3 main ways you can save time are ...) but a serious and methodologically sound work. I run various management seminars in Australia and world-wide, among them "Time Management @ WORK", where a whole section is devoted to time wastage at meetings, and I have read almost every conceivable book on time management (many of them being an utter waste of time and money). The small price of this gem will be one of the best investments you and your organisation will make in a long time.

A warning: if you expect quick and easy answers and "5 fast ways to improve your meetings" you may be dissapointed, since that simplistic attitude may be your organisation's problem in the first place!

This book does present scholarship that uses and (sometimes) defines a variety of themes and approaches to art criticism, but most of the writings are highly esoteric, randomly selected, and not always focused on the visual arts. If you don't already have a solid understanding of concepts like "Post Modernism" and "Commodity" don't expect any clear answers here. This is less of an explanatory textbook-type work, and more of a compilation of modern critical writing. Pre-requisite: PhD.

If you interested in reading about particular themes in contemporary art. This book covers a whole slew of art crit terms.

Each individual term is explored by its own essay. Each essay is written by a different author (mostly in the 80s and 90s). These essays are around 14 pages long, so these terms are explored rather in depth. The writing is so thick in this book it takes a good chainsaw to hack through 'em. But the effort is well worth it.

Here's the terms explored: Representation, Sign, Simulacrum, Word and Image, Narrative, Context, Meaning/Interpretation, Originality, Appropriation, Art History, Modernism, Avant-Garde, Primitive, Ritual, Fetish, Gaze, Gender, Modes of Production, Commodity, Collecting/Museums, Value, Postmodernism/Postcolonialism, and Figuration

My favorite essay so far is the one on Simulacrum.

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in art criticism. It provides some interesing viewpoints.

This book is organized into chapter section each focusing on a step in the process of becoming a homeschooler, and then succeeding at it. The book begins with several sections devoted to justification and support of homeschooling using Catholic tradition and biblical interpretation as well as a section written by a priest advocating such a system. This is followed by sections on the process of setting up a homeschool including the examination of curriculum, the organization of space, managing the household while teaching, and maintaining discipline. There is also a helpful section on incorporating the sacraments and practices related to the liturgical calendar in the lesson plans and another on socialization.

Also contained are sections regarding the legalities of homeschooling, how to repsond to authorities, use of technology in homeschooling, homeschooling in the highschool years, and the future of homeschooling both in terms of the future for an individual who is homeschooled and for the practice itself.

It is true that in this book Dr. Clark is a stong supporter of homeschooling and combined with her socially conservative postions can be intimidating. The book will probably not change the minds of those who are catagorically opposed to homeschooling, but may give those who are "on the fence," if you will, a push in this direction, and will definately provide encouragement to those who currently teach at home. It is also true that Dr. Clark does not make secret the fact that she is the director of Seton Home Study, but she offers room for those who design their own curriculum or use another. In the book, Dr. Clark gives credit where credit is due for the establishment of this school.

For a begining homeschooler this book offers much in the way of process and tips but is best read as each chapter is needed as it can be itimidating to read in order.

. . .which was a significant encouragement for our family in our decision to homeschool, although we ultimately chose a different system. In this volume, Dr. Clark gives solid and specific advice about how to begin homeschooling, how to enlist the support of others, how to make one's faith active in homeschooling, etc.

There are also informative sections on single-parent homeschooling, homeschooling disabled children (though I felt that the author of the chapter on disabled children has possibly "bought" too much into the tendency of modern society to label everything a "disability"), and legal aspects of homeschooling.

What cost this book a star is the dated material. The computer information is virtually useless, and even the legal situations have changed significantly around the country. I would be very much in favor of a "revised edition" reflecting these changes.

All in all, though, an extremely helpful book.

This is the first book I recommend to families looking for information on Catholic home education. Dr. Mary Kay Clark, Director of Seton Home Study School, has devoted much of her life to Catholic education to help her family and others. Her zeal and success, chronicled in this book, fills the reader with a confidence which has deep roots. A parent who reads this book will come away with an understanding that homeschooling does not have to be just a stop-gap measure until a "good" Catholic school is found. Catholic homeschooling can become a life for you and your family.

Before embarking on the home education journey, two very important question parents should ask themselves is "Why do we want to home school?" and "How and what do we use to accomplish our goals?" Dr. Clark's book addresses both with the emphasis on the first. Unless each family develops a philosophy and goals, the "how" and "what" will have no direction, possibly leading to burnout.

Reading this meaty book before others will help Catholics form a firm foundation. Be sure to have your own copy in hand with a highlighter!