I read "A Weekend in September" after finishing "Isaac's Storm", in order to learn more about the hurricane that destroyed Galveston, Texas almost exactly 100 years ago. John Edward Weems' book was first published in 1957 and was reissued for the seventh time in 1999. He was able to interview many of the survivors of the Galveston hurricane, and one of the differences between his book and "Isaac's Storm" (which was published over 40 years later) is that Weems tells his story from many more points of view.

Erik Larson, author of "Isaac's Storm" writes a more in-depth narrative about fewer survivors.

Another difference 40 years has made, is that Larson is able to go into much more detail about the origin of the hurricane and the science behind the forces that made it so devastating. He spends much more time describing the days before the hurricane hit Galveston, and Weems spends more time describing the aftermath of the storm and how the survivors recovered and rebuilt.

Both books are compelling accounts of this country's worst natural disaster. You should read both of them, especially if you happen to be in Galveston on the hundredth anniversary of the Great Storm...and another hurricane is rolling through the Gulf.

In hurricane terms, this book would be a category 5, catastrophic damage to any idea that hurricanes are not potentially deadly. This was an amazing account of the 1900 hurricane that slammed into Galveston, causing unimaginable death and destruction. This book came to my attention after reading Isaac's Storm, a book about the same hurricane. While that book was very good, this was even better. The author interviewed survivors of this storm, and the stories are amazingly frank and clear. When told through the eyes of so many survivors the book takes on a life of it's own. While it does document an event, it never dry or dull. It brings the power of a hurricane to reality and helps the reader to realize that this power is not something that man can control. To realize that predicting the weather has made such a giant leap forward from 1900 may lead people to be complacent in the face of a hurricane,but read this and you will never feel that way again. The descriptions of the sounds and the level of noise were vivid and made me clearly remember the category three hurricane I went through with my family a few years ago. This should be required reading for anyone who lives along the coast, and even inland where hurricane damage can still be catastrophic. Mother Nature deserves respect, and if you don't give it to her.......well.......read the book!!

This book is more of a story that a documentary. It is the best book on the Galveston 1900 Storm. It could easily be made into a movie more interesting than Titanic because the love story was real. Why no film writer hasn't capitalized on this story, especially this year, is stupidity. Read this before Issac's Storm.

Sadly, despite the fact that this is a well-made, (and as the very title indicates) exhaustive concordance of the New International Version of the Bibe, this type of resource no longer fulfills its role to the extent that other resources can.

For instance:

* Websites exist that allow you full access to the NIV version, providing multiple keyword searches that this sort of reference simply cannot provide. Nothing beats a computer for searching for string matches. Cost? Free.

* Bible study software exists that fulfills the same keyword searches and can, in many cases, offer multiple translations with keyword searches across all versions. The better Bible software packages include commentaries, multiple translations, links to Strong's concordance, Hebrew and Greek lexical aids, Bible dictionaries, and so on. For the cost of this NIV concordance, you can purchase a decent piece of Bible software that offers more capability than the paper concordance does. Some of the best Bible software is even free.

* Text versions of the Bible exist for download online (though I am not certain of the NIV's availability.) When used with a word processor, you can search for words, too (though most word processing software does not allow searches on multiple words at once.) Still, this is another possibility.

But if you must have a bound concordance for the NIV, this is it folks. It has several plusses going for it to counter the format minuses above:

* Strong, plasticized, hard cover. Should last for a long time.

* Very easy to read sans-serif word heading typeface along with a nice, open serif typeface for the verse listings set on bright white pages. No eyestrain here.

* Excellent Strong's Concordance cross-reference.

* Detailed Hebrew and Greek dictionarys/lexicons.

It's everything you could want in one bound volume. However, since switching to computerized resources, I have not looked back.

Five stars for the quality of the book, but minus two for usability when compared to other resources.

The best concrdance of the NIV translation of the Bible I have seen yet. It has every single word in the NIV, and lists the words in the original language(s) from which each word in the NIV is translated form (Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic). Both of these features I have found extremely useful.

The G/K numbering system, which is used on all the words in the Bible, is better than Strong's and I've found it useful in using the Concordance with other books. This feature allows you to find all of instances of the same word in the original language, and the different ways it is translated. It counts how many times each word occurs in the NIV (and shows them all of course, with the entire verse it is in for context), and counts the number of times the original language's word occurs in the original text (including times the word was not translated).

Comparing the new numbers with Strong's was an essential and wise addition to the back as most books use that numbering system. Another good feature is that Zondervan's Nave's NIV Topical Bible can be used very easily with the Exhaustive Concordance, making word and topical searches very easy.

If you use the NIV for personal Bible study, get this. My preferred translation is the NASB (but I use the NIV nearly as much as the NASB) so I am looking forward to when Zondervan publish their NASB Exhaustive Concordance in September. If it is anywhere near as good as this concordance, then I will have two concordances which have no equals from other publishers.

This update to the original 1990 NIVEC makes it even better!

Better typesetting in the dictionaries are a real boost to the productivity of this volume. Originally, the concordance used the "index lexicon" format where the Greek or Hebrew word was listed followed by the various ways the original word was translated--without any formal definition of the original word. The editors felt that to include a formal "definition" would be misleading since various contexts can change the meaning of a word.

According to the editors of the 1990 edition, this lexicon/dictionary format was in and of itself a dictionary since it showed all of the ways in which the word could be translated into English.

However, as stated in the introduction to this latest edition, there was an outcry from the public for the Greek/Hebrew dictionaries to mirror more closely the Strong's dictionary in terms of layout and features.

In response to this, the dictionaries now have "beefed" up definitions as well as the original index of English words used to translate the original word (along with their frequency count).

Now, we users of this concordance have the best of both worlds: the familiarity of Strong's layout with the power of Young's analytical layout. Although the concordance followed Young's layout more closely in the 1990 edition, this 1999 edition gives us the best of both worlds (Strong's and Young's) and makes it a real must-have for your Bible reference book shelf!

Cheers!

This book made me realize that radio is not just about playing music. It is about sending and reciving waves to make the public happy.

This book focuses on the history of radio from 1899 to 1954 and thus has nothing to do with RCA's CED VideoDisc system, but one of the key figures in the account is David Sarnoff, so a lot of the early history of RCA is covered. In addition to Sarnoff, the book focuses on the technical radio pioneers Edwin Howard Armstrong and Lee de Forest. In some respects this book is a reflection on the development of the modern computer, as parallels can be drawn between these radio pioneers and computer industry figures Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Larry Ellison.

Read some years ago & book now lost. Fascinating in that it vividly displays the genius, sometimes luck, unstinting effort, inspiration, and often the "happy" accident that is part of basic effort when one breaks ground in a new quest in pursuit of a dream. Much of this history could not be repeated in our 2000 world because those opportunities no longer exist. An example is Sarnoff's success in getting meaningful work at the tender age he did in the story! Mankind's unflagging quest goes on but in different ways. The first way of making news available at the instant it occurs certainly shrunk the world. The process continues. Recommended highly for the radio buff of any age!

I have the 1995 edition. The context lines are usefully long. The layout and type font are not too hard on the eyes.

The binding is not durable. The copy at the Fuller Seminary library was falling apart in the spring of 2000, so I turned it in to the circulation desk for repair.

The entries all seem correct, except for some of the "special phrase" indices, which point to some wrong verses.

This is really a perfect Concordance. Even a one-lettered Greek article was not missing from the all cases. Every entry word and related verses are all in Greek. It has also excellent quality of book-binding and printing. This is the most recommendable Concordance based on the text of UBS Greek New Testament.

Using this opportunity, I would like to recommend a small handy sized concordance of Greek New Testament for the users' convenience: "Alfred Schmoller, Handkonkordanz zum griechischen Neuen Testament, Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft," which is based on the text of the Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum Graece. Every entry is all in Greek. It is available in "amazon.de"(Germany). Total 534 pages except introduction. Hardcovered. The dimension is roughly 0.5x4.3x6.3.

From the first moment I had this book I was in love with it. This is the ideal tool for any NT exegesis. What more would one want? It is truely exhaustive, giving reasonable context to every listed word (except "kai", "ho" ...). It also lists related words, word combinations in which the word is frequently used, simply anything one would want of a concordance to the greek New Testament! Strong Buy!

This is a sick, twisted, don't let it near you kids book thats great but too short (thats why 4 stars not 5). This book is really just the appetizer for "FAMILY TRADITON" GET THIS BOOK, READ IT, AND THROW-UP (in a good way).

This exercise in hardcore grossout horror, originally published in 1996, may contain more scenes of carnal grotesqueries in its 138 pages than most horror writers publish in a lifetime. Any effort to do so usually comes off as a pale imitation of these two fine writers, who are kind enough to return us to some familiar territory here as well as introduce some new aspects to the genre that none of have ever imagined before. In this volume, we have the return of Philip Straker (Lee's pseudonym he used on his first two novels and the main character in his novel Creekers), we have the return of PFC Micah Hayes (who also illustrated this edition) and Chief Richard Kinion (another Lee pseudonym), and we have a parody of virtually ever professional wrestler in the business.

The book is about a police officer and a reporter who go undercover as ringrats, or wrestling groupies, to try to catch Goon, a heel wrestler who can take a fatal blow to the head without batting an eye and who may be responsible for the murders of several ringrats. To say more would spoil the story, which may be the most unique piece you've ever read. It may not be Faulkner, or even Stephen King, but it will remain in your mind (in a dark corner filled with memories of other things you will never speak of in certain company) long after you've read it.

Fans of the Lee and Pelan team are encouraged to track down copies of Shifters, Splatterspunks, Family Tradition (especially this one, I can't stress enough), and whatever short stories you can find. Fans of Lee should read anything and everything he's written, especially over the last decade. See also the Excitable Boys anthology edited by Kelly Laymon and Santa Steps Out by Robert Devereaux.

What do you get when you combine sex, wrestling, and serial killing? Why Goon, of course. Edward Lee and John Pelan team up again to bring you another no-holds-barred tale of mayhem. Having recently read one of their chapbooks (The Case Of The Police Officer's C. Ring And The Piano Player Who Had No Fingers), I was amused to see more of Luntville's finest (Chief Richard Kinion and PFC Micah Hays). Some time soon, these 2 need a longer story of their own (I have since found and purchased Splatterspunk). The Overlook Connection Press has done an excellent job of getting this 1996 book back in print. I only wish that someone had proofread it a little closer. Maybe next time. Anyway, be sure to check out Erik Wilson's cover artwork, Micha Hayes' illustrations, and T. Winter-Damon's introduction. See ya ringside.

Reading this book reminded me of attending a good conference where lots of company executives provide detailed examples of the issues they faced, and how they went about dealing with those issues. Since such conferences usually cost several hundred dollars, this book is a real bargain -- and you don't have to get on an airplane and fly someplace!

One of the strengths of the book is that you receive several perspectives on the context for each case history. The editors describe what each case means, and the conclusions section summarizes general patterns. Also, each case is presented in the same format which makes it easier to understand what is being shared. I was particularly grateful for the exhibits (which exist in electronic form in the CD enclosed in the book). I also appreciated that the cases were primarily written by Human Resources professionals inside the companies, rather than being a consultant's take on what happened.

Having said all those positive things, let me share some concerns. First, I looked in vain for my favorite examples of outstanding work in recruiting, retention, knowledge encouragement, and executive development. If this book is about "best practices" where were GE, Disney, Motorola, Ritz Carlton, and SAS Institute? Second, many of the cases involved companies that are better known for their poor performance than for excellence. If they are developing their people so well, what happened? Third, a lot of these cases involve new initiatives where the long-term consequences are hard to see. Fourth, the profit impact on the organizations was not well documented. That makes it hard to use these cases as examples to encourage your own company to follow suit. Fifth, as change management processes, most of these cases are far behind the curve of what is described in Peter Senge's various books of case histories such as The Dance of Change. Part of the reason seems to be that a number of these cases aren't very new.

Of the cases in the book, I recommend the ServiceMASTER, Westinghouse, Johnson & Johnson, Allstate, and Case Corporation examples as the most helpful to me. I mention that because there's a lot of material in this book. I read a lot and rapidly, and I found this book hard to tackle. By being more selective in what you go after, you can help avoid some of that problem. Naturally, if your own issues are only in a few areas, just look at those cases.

Develop the full potential of everyone, beginning with yourself!

"The principal goal of this book is to provide you with the key ingredients taken from best-companies to help you create and enhance your organization and human resource development (OD/HRD) initiative. Through a case study approach, this book provides practical, easy-to-apply tools, instruments, training, concepts, and competency models that can be used as benchmarks for the successful implementation of your specific OD/HRD initiative (from the Introduction)."

In this context, Louis Carter, David Giber, and Marshall Goldsmith (editors) divide core part of this book -Organization and Human Resources Development Case Studies- into following five OD/HRD topic areas:

I. Organization Development and Change: In this section, W. Warner Burke says, "Seven rich cases (Kraft Foods, Nortel, ServiceMASTER, SmithKline Beecham, Westinghouse, CK Witko, and Xerox) of organization development and change are discussed...The cases cover a wide range of change from how OD occurs every day to deep change in an organization's culture...Without doubt we can learn from these cases. And learn we must. Changing organization is too intricate to be left to novices. We have indeed learned and noted at the outset, but we still have much to learn. As one who has been involved for more than 35 years, helping organizations change is both thrilling and very satisfying. Learning, however, is the most exciting part (pp.6-8)."

II. Leadership Development: In this section, Jay A. Congerwrites that "In the cases that follow, we look at three companies (Boeing, Johnson & Johnson, and Sun Microsystems,Inc.) that have dedicated serious time and resources to leadership development...In addition, all three of the company cases make extended use of competency models, 360-degree feedback, and action learning (p.186)."

III. Recruitment and Retention: In this section of the book, John Sullivan writes, "you'll learn how three diverse companies tackled their retention and recruiting problems. Two of the firms are high tech (AMD and Cellular One), while another (Allstate) is in a more traditional industry. Both AMD and Cellular One focus on solving the hot issue of retention while Allstate takes a new look at the recruiting and selection processes. All three of the case studies use a scientific approach to identify which solutions have the most impact...All three of these case studies are worth examining because of their scientific methodology as well as their results. All are full of powerfull 'lessons learned' for those who are soon to begin a major recruitment or retention effort (pp.303-304)."

IV. Performance Management: This section examines performance management systems of Case Corporation and Sonoco. Edward E. Lawler III says that "the performance management systems in most organizations are contoversial, ineffective, and constantly under construction. They are so problematic that critics argue many organizations would be better off if they simply didn't have a performance management system, particularly one in which performance appraisals are tied to pay actions. But-and it is an important but- if individuals are not appraised, counseled, coached, and rewarded for performance, how can an organization pruduce the organized, coordinated, and motivated behavior that it takes to perform well? The answer most likely is that it can't (p.393)."

V. Coaching and Mentoring: Introduction of this section, Beverly Kaye writes, "the last 5 years have seen a groundswell in both arenas. And it's not just been more of the same; organizations have begun to use mentoring and coaching more purposefully. HR and OD practitioners have worked to utilize both interventions to meet pressing business problems having to do with the development and retention of talent, as well as the growth of future leaders. These interventions have been more systemic, more thoughtful, and more innovative than ever before. The case studies (Dow Corning, and MediaOne Group-AT&T) illustrate this trend. Both were motivated by specific business drivers, both were preceded by intensive research, both were implemented over time, and both were evaluated seriously. Readers will find them instructive, detailed, and engaging (p.438)."

Finally, Louis Carter (editor) says that "contributors were asked to indicate where they envision their organization is heading with its initiative within the next 5 to 10 years. Responses indicate that the contributors want to keep the organization on a track to continuously learn and develop its capabilities. Comments from some contributors indicate that they want to leverage lessons learned from this experience. Some contributors commented that they want to firmly ingrain the initiative into the organization to the point that it is almost invisible to the user, making it an accepted part of life at the company. Other contributors will continue to refine the present initiative in place, while others will expand their efforts into other business lines. Survey results clearly indicate that the present state of the initiatives represented in this book represent snapshots of moving targets. Further growth and innovation is inevitable for these best practice organizations, as they work to stay ahead of their competitors by embracing change and continuously learning and improving (pp.531-532)."

Strongly recommended.

Here in a single volume is about all that is needed to design, implement, and then monitor a program through which to achieve organizational transformation. Moreover, the editors have selected both information and wisdom which can help to ensure that such a program is comprehensive, cohesive, and cost-effective. The phrase "best practices" is apt but should not be misconstrued to mean that strategies and tactics which have been highly successful in some organizations are necessary going to be successful in all others. Moreover, I urge the reader to keep in mind that, although the organizations featured (e.g. Boeing, Johnson & Johnson, Kraft Foods, Nortel Networks, ServiceMASTER, SmithKline Beecham, and Sun Microsystems) are among the largest in their respective industries, much of the material in this book is also relevant to small-to-midsize organizations. My own rather extensive past experience with all manner of organizations (including non-profits) has convinced me that most people do not fear change; rather, they fear the unfamiliar. Hence the importance of three on-going initiatives: communicate, communicate, and communicate.

Part One consists of Acknowledgments, About This Book, How to Use This Book, and an excellent Foreword by Richard Beckhard. Carter, Giber, and Goldsmith then shift their attention in Part Two of "Organization & Human Resources Development Case Studies." The individual case studies are distributed within this thematic structure:

Organizational Development & Change

Leadership Development

Recruitment & Retention

Performance Management

Coaching & Mentoring

Part Three: Conclusion consists of Research (OD/HRD Trends and Findings), Endnotes, About Linkage, Inc., About the Editors, Index, and How to Use the CD-ROM, terrific value-added benefit.

Back to Beckhard's Foreword for a moment. In it, he identifies six (6) "elements" which are basic to each case study; all are central to and sequential within the change process associated with organizational development/human resource development (OD/HRD). They are: Business Diagnosis, Assessment, Program Design, Implementation, On-the-Job Support, and Evaluation. It is helpful to keep these six "elements" clearly in mind while working your way through the abundance of information which the editors provide. Fortunately, they have organized the (sometimes daunting) material with meticulous care and write exceptionally well. I also urge you to use the same six "elements" as guidelines when determining what the design of your own program for organizational change should be, and, when selecting those strategies and tactics discussed in the book which are most appropriate to the implementation and evaluation of that program. This is especially true of decision-makers in small-to-midsize organizations.

Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check out O'Toole's Leading Change, Katzenbach's Real Change Leaders as well as his Peak Performance , Kaplan and Norton's The Balanced Scorecard and The Strategy-Focused Organization, Quinn's Deep Change, O'Dell and Grayson's If Only We Knew What We Know, Isaacs' Dialogue and the Art of Thinking Together, and Senge's The Dance of Change. Those especially interested in Six Sigma are encouraged to check out (and read in this order) Pande's The Six Sigma Way, Breyfogle's Implementing Six Sigma, and Eckes's Making Six Sigma Last.

I felt that this book really drew me into its plot. The evil man trying to produce this opera made me realize how charming and innocent people sound when you don't have all the pieces of their life story. It was also exciting to see Rose Rita, and Mrs. Jaeger coming together to thicken and enrich the plot. The only criticism is that there's not much of an epilogue at the end of this story.

I have reviewed this book as 8. It was a great book but it needed a better ending. Rose Rita and Lewis go searching through a sealed up opera house when Lewis finds a lost piece of Music. Little did he know he was bring a evil ghost back to life to try to take over the world.

"Doom of the Haunted Opera" is one of my favorite books by John Bellairs/Brad Strickland, a good mix of spookiness, humor, supernatural megalomania, and a dash of real human fears. Lewis Barnavelt and Rose Rita Pottinger are at their best here.

Jonathan Barnavelt receives the news that a friend -- another wizard -- has recently died, and posthumously asks that Jonathan and Mrs. Zimmermann take care of his old magical objects. The two leave New Zebedee, and Rose Rita and Lewis are left to their own devices. They explore an old opera house and find a crumbling old opera called "Day of Doom," by Immanuel Vanderhelm. As Lewis finds the opera, he sees a ghostly dead man who calls out "Beware the doom of the haunted opera! He means to be King of the Dead!"

Then a strange man appears in the town, claiming to Vanderhelm's grandson. He means to put on as performance of the opera, and at first everything appears to be all right. But soon all the adults in the town are enamored -- and enspelled -- by Henry Vanderhelm, communications with the outside world are cut off, wizards are locked in their houses, and Lewis sees a tomb statue come alive in the graveyard. With the help of a well-meaning ghost and a grandmotherly witch, can Rose Rita and Lewis hope to stop the raising of the dead?

Anyone who has suffered through a badly-performed opera will enjoy the idea of one being a necromancer's spell. The imaginative plot base is only one of the appealing things about "Doom." The incredibly grim and tense plot is leavened by humor, such as Jailbird the whistling cat and Finster, a ghost who inadvertantly freaks out Lewis with ghostly intonations, then makes himself sound more friendly. Aside from the usual fears of evil sorcerers, there is also the chilling fact that the capable adults are not present throughout much of the book -- we get to see how Lewis and Rose Rita can try to handle the situation on their own. Any kid who has had to deal with a crisis on their own can relate to the fear and frustration of the heroes in this book.

Lewis is, as always, a sweet timid boy who has more guts than he knows. Rose Rita is his equal friend (she can't really be classified as a sidekick) who has to take matters into her own hands when Lewis vanishes. Mrs. Jaeger is a little too vague to be entirely believable, but the idea of an absent-minded grandmotherly witch is a nice one. The deceased Finster is a good source for plot-related info, and mildly amusing as well. And Vanderhelm is an outstandingly sinister villain.

Full of the funny and the spooky, this is a first-rate thriller for fans of fantasy, horror, and John Bellairs. Excellent read.

Self-help is big business. According to Gerald Rosen (1993) as many as 2000 self-help books are published each year. However, only a very few have been evaluated empirically. This sad state of affairs is a poor response to the appeal made by Rosen (1987) that self-help books should first be evaluated empirically before being sold to the general public. Additionally, the little research that has been done on do-it-yourself treatment books sometimes demonstrates major limitations in their usefulness. Yet psychologists continue to develop and market new programs with increasingly exaggerated claims. This is potentially a problem. Especially as psychologists often use self-help books as adjuncts to their clinical practice (Starker, 1988). The good news from research (e.g. Gould & Clum, 1993) is that certain self-help programs can be quite effective. Fairburn’s Binge Eating Disorder treatment (Carter & Fairburn, 1998) and the Albany protocol for Panic Disorder (Barlow & Craske, 1994) are two good examples. In Gould and Clum’s (1993) meta-analysis, fears, depression, headaches, and sleep disturbances were especially amenable to self-help approaches. Sometimes with effect sizes as large as for therapist assisted treatments.

How can busy clinicians keep up with the flood of new self-help books, and know which to recommend? Guilford Press offers a solution. In an attempt to help the clinicians a guide to self-help resources in mental health has been published. It includes ratings and reviews of more than 600 self-help books, autobiographies and popular films. It also includes hundreds of Internet sites, and listings of online support groups. The book addresses 28 prevalent clinical disorders and life challenges – from Schizophrenia, Anxiety and Mood Disorders to Career Development, Stress Management and Relaxation.

To determine the usefulness of the self-help resources a series of national studies have been conducted over the past 7 years. The methodology consisted of a lengthy survey mailed to clinical and counselling psychologists residing throughout the USA. A total of 2,500 psychologists contributed with their expertise and judgement in evaluating the books, movies, and Internet sites. The self-help resources were rated on a 5-point scale (-2 to +2). These data were converted into a one to five star rating (negative ratings were given a dagger). On this basis, 19% of the self-help books were rated as “very helpful” and fortunately only 1% as “very harmful” [e.g. the assertiveness training book Winning Through Intimidation by Ringer (1973) and the weight management book the Beverly Hills Diet by Mazel (1981). Interestingly, many of the books by Scientologist guru L Ron Hubbard are categorized as extremely bad].

When looking more closely at a specific disorder, let us say for example panic disorder, there are some good books that I feel are missing. This is probably because of the rating criteria. In order for a book to be included in this self-help guide the psychologists used as referees had to know about the book beforehand. It was their rating of previously read books that mattered. Hence, if there were good books out there that had not been read by many referees [like the Australian panic disorder workbook by Franklin (1996)], they would automatically receive a lower rating. Thus, a low rating does not necessarily mean that a book is less helpful than a higher rated book – only that it has not reached a wide audience. For example, an excellent book, An End to Panic (Zuercher-White, 1998), previously recommended in a review article (Carlbring, Westling, & Andersson, 2000) was described as “highly regarded by the psychologists in our national studies but not well known, leading to a 3-star rating.” (p. 79). Another thing that disturbed me was that this particular author’s name was misspelled. Instead of Zuercher the surname appeared as Luerchen. No wonder the book was “not well known”! One wonders how many other errors this survey included.

In a perfect world all self-help books would be scrutinized in the same manner as other treatments. However, as a majority of the published books still have not been evaluated, this new guide to self-help is a step in the right direction. Despite questionable inclusion criteria and a few errors I thoroughly recommend this excellent guide to self-help

From books and movies to the Internet, Authoritative Guide to Self-Help Resources in Mental Health provides a strong survey of self-help resources in mental health which reveals the good ones, bad ones, and how general consumers can tell the difference. Five national studies involving over 2,500 mental health professionals lends to a rating of over six hundred titles and films, along with Internet sites evaluated by a clinical psychologist.

This book contains reviews / lists of the best (and worst) of self-help books / movies and internet resources. It has been compiled using surveys of 1000's of mental health professionals and gives essential guidance on which resources are helpful, and which are best left alone.

The book is clearly-written and well laid out - each chapter relates to a specific problem area eg mood disorders, men's issues, abuse, anxiety etc.

I found the recommendations on books particularly helpful - one can immediately determine which are the best books to read on their own specific problem. Clearly, the input of mental health professionals gives a "scientific" basis on recommendations which in turn leads to a systematic process of choosing which resources should be given credence.

Essential reading if you want to build up a collection of serious (i.e. most useful) self-help resources.

Russell Kirk wrote that there is nothing more conservative than conservation, yet today's Republican Party has squandered its heritage of protecting the environment, a heritage begun by Theodore Roosevelt that continued through Eisenhower and Nixon. Many conservatives have come to the environment's defense, among them: Russell Kirk, Richard Weaver, John Gray, Margaret Thatcher, Wendell Berry, Paul Weyrich, Theodore Roosevelt IV and Susan Eisenhower.

Bliese's defense starts with demolishing misconceptions and fallacies. He then shows how certain conservative principles are consistent with the goals of environmentalism. The rest of the book takes a look at the major environmental issues of the day: pollution, public lands, global warming, biodiversity, and sustainability. Finally, he discusses the inadequacy of the libertarian notion of "free-market environmentalism."

One of the book's real virtues, in fact, is that it reveals how traditional conservatism has much more to offer than the libertarianism with which it is sometimes confused.

I also applaud Bliese's familiarity with which public policies and private actions have worked and which have not. He offers many solutions, most of them market based. Much could be accomplished, for example, by eliminating the billions in subsidies that nearly all industries receive. The unwillingness to do so reinforces my belief that there is no conservative party in Washington, D. C. It is worth keeping in mind that most scientists are problem-solvers, while most politicians are not.

Despite occasionally getting bogged down in the specifics of various studies, Bliese has fully documented his work. The end notes suggest deep, scholarly reading in environmental research. But this also raises a problem. In our time there is a general loss of consensus over what is debatable and what is fixed. More specifically, the politicizing of science, which is to say government involvement in science, has turned it into a tool of lobbying groups, college professors, and others whose livelihood depends on giving answers that the king wants to hear. Moreover, the rhetoric of catastrophe, whether it comes from business interests or environmental interests, sedates the public in much the same way as the boy who cried wolf. Lacking formal knowledge in these matters, readers are left wondering what to believe.

These are problems about which readers must draw their own conclusions. We ought to agree on certain fundamental truths, particularly in a field that pertains to the natural world that we all share, and this search for consensus appears to be Bliese's intent. Our time on earth is temporary, one of tenancy rather than ownership. We can care for the world we have inherited or we can treat it as our own personal trash can.

Bliese has certainly carved a niche for himself, given the paucity of books or articles that deal directly with the connection between conservatism and environmentalism. I hope he continues that work. With any luck his book will be an antidote to the ideology that obscures these issues.

Conservative criticizes conservatives for not protecting the environment

"We have also seen that the current anti-environmental stance of many politicians and pundits is entirely unacceptable because it violates fundamental conservative principles." page 263

John R. E. Bliese (The Greening of Conservative America, Westview Press, 2001) is not the first to claim that conservatives should be conservationists, but no one has done the job as well as he has. In contrast to the usual ignorant nonsense that is promoted as conservative "environmentalism" (for example Peter Huber's Hard Green) the book is well researched, well written, and for the most part well argued . Contents

In the first chapter Bliese tackles three myths about the environmental movement; that environmentalists are anticapitalisrs and leftist, that they are pagan nature worshipers, and that environmentalism is just gloom and doom. He then takes on the myth that conservatives should be for business no matter what. Bliese claims that this being for business is what has turned many conservatives into anti-environmentalists. This is a gross oversimplification, but then charting the growth of anti-environmentalism would probably take an entire book. Chapter two demolishes the environment versus the economy myth In chapter three Bliese presents nine conservative principles that are related to environmental protection. Using numerous quotes from conservative thinkers Bliese makes the claim that conservatism requires caring for the environment. The next six chapters look at various environmental problems and possible solutions. Chapter four covers pollution. This is very good, except that Bliese uses "cancer clusters" as proof of harm from toxic chemicals. Almost all of these clusters are the result of the random distribution of cases, and cannot be proven to be caused by toxic chemicals. Chapter five looks at issues involving public lands. His reccomendations are almost totally the reverse of what conservatives usually recommend, especially the so-called "wise use" movement. He notes, for example, that livestock grazing on public land adds an insignificant amount to both the economy and the food supply, while causing great environmental problems. And he notes that wilderness, preserved as wilderness' is far more valuable than the resources that could be extracted from them. Chapters six and seven cover global warming. Yes, it is real, according to the best scientific research, and it will cost far less to prevent it than to deal with the consequences. Chapter eight covers endangered species, including how the Endangered Species Act can be improved. Chapter nine covers sustainability.

Chapter ten looks at "free market environmentalism" an idea that is very popular with some libertarians. Bliese ask if FME is "environmentalism for conservatives?". The answer is a decided no. Among the faults is a good idea (private conservation of land) taken to a bad extreme; the elimination of government conservation of land. Another FME idea, the replacement of environmental regulations with common law liability rules fails for several reasons. For one thing, it was the way of doing things until the 1970s, and it simply did not work. Another major problem is that it is a system that puts the victims of pollution at a major disadvantage in relation to the polluters. These are just a few of the problems Bliese found with FME. The book ends with a short chapter on concluding thoughts.

The good and the bad

Overall the book is very good. It should help rally conservatives to the conservation position. But one has to wonder about how great an impact it will have. So far, it has received little publicity. And we now have a "compassionate conservative" in the White House who seems intent on rolling back environmental protections as rapidly as the paper work can be processed.

There are a few minor problems with the book. For example, Bliese seems to believe that all conservatives share his view that the world was created by God, and that nature ought to be preserved because God gave man stewardship of it. But there is one major problem, the repeated claim that he is promoting conservative solutions to problems, with the implication that liberals would not support them. We are told, without any evidence, that liberals (and bureaucrats) support "command and control" regulations. This is totally inconsistent with the heavy documentation found in the rest of the book. And it appears to be just plain wrong. Here are his three main categories of "conservative" solutions (he also offers more specific solutions in some cases).

1. End the subsidies of destructive activities. Who, except those who benefit from the subsides, would object to this?

2. Where needed, improve existing laws. Who, except anti-governmental extremists, could object?

3. Make the polluters pay. Who, except the polluters, could object.

In short, these solutions are neither conservative nor liberal. While people may disagree on their reasons for protecting the environment, the solutions should be judged by how well they work. The environment needs all the friends it can get.

Not since Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" has the case for environmental protection been presented in a manner that could compel even the most apathetic citizen to sit up and take note. Extremely well written, well researched, and well argued, this book dispels a number of common myths and provides fresh and impressively documented arguments for conserving and protecting the environment. Nothing new, you say? It is when the case for environmental protection is made from (surprise!)a traditional conservative perspective! "The Greening of Conservative America" is an enjoyable, educational, and inspirational read. One can only hope that Bliese's fellow conservatives pay it some heed, for the sake of generations to come.

I'm far from an expert, but an interested novice in this field... Crane's book is interesting for the unique take it presents on the people and events.

On the other hand, his language is flowery, his opinions unsupported by his own evidence, and his patronizing superiority sometimes beathtaking. Byron is held up as a person of judgement and moral probity -- at least in Greece. The Greeks are dismissed as grasping, brutal and mendacious -- and this is attributed to their national character. The Turks are brutal and cold -- again, a "character" trait.

As far as Trelawney himself, I've never read a biography in which the author had such patent and intense dislike of his subject. Without much to go on, Crane gives us a pathological liar and cold-hearted manipulator of people and events. There are many paragraphs which open with the phrase "it's impossible to know given the scanty evidence... but in this case we can be sure that..." or its variant.

At the same time, I'm compelled to read on, if only to see what verbal atrocity the author will commit next. What a ride!

In his book "Adventures of a Younger Son," Edward Trelawny set down the facts of his youth as he had told them for years: how as a teenage midshipman he began his adventures by breaking the skull of his commanding officer and deserting into the pirates' paradise of the Java Sea; of Zella, his fawn-like, thirteen-year-old bride; fearless, bloody years of piracy and rape; and the stirrings of conscience (if not calmness) which led him back to Europe to seek out the Pisan Circle and its "Dioscuri," Shelley and Byron. Shelley's social conscience and intellectual boldness attracted him; Byron, his former idol, repelled him, because the poet could see through his lies and his posturing. Byron was both a dreamer and a cynic, and the spectacle of a Lara or Childe Harold parading unironically in the real world unleashed all of his contempt. (Try to picture Ian Fleming confronted with a fan who's modeled himself on James Bond).

"Lord Byron's Jackal," the title of David Crane's biography, is from a remark by Keats' friend Joseph Severn, who suggested that Trelawny had glutted himself on Byron and his anti-heroes until nothing of the man remained. (Severn might easily have used a different phrase, had he read a certain novel by Trelawny's friend Mary Shelley). Another view, though, is that Trelawny responded to Byron's work because its bold palette mirrored his own abilities and panache; all that had robbed him of the bloody youth of his dreams was bad luck. Now, with the help of the Pisan Circle (most of whom believed his tales), all that would change. Trelawny is not the first man in history to lie his way to the truth, but as Crane tells it, he may be the most fascinating.

I can't think of another non-fiction book that I've enjoyed as much as this one. This has as much to do with Crane's language as with the vivid times and personalities he brings to volcanic life. (In many ways the 1820's was the last gasp of Romanticism, when great poets and writers trumped their own words on the world stage, staking everything on their ideals). A previous reader described Crane's writing as "flowery." No. Crane's sentences are often dense, but never with ornamentation. There's not a word out of place, and I often found myself rereading certain passages just for their beauty and perfection of language--and being rewarded with new meanings and insights. That this amazing book is the author's first is almost unbelievable: Trelawny lives in Crane's words as vividly as in his own.

Equally moving is Crane's portrait of the "Philhellenes": the idealists/adventurers who poured into Greece from Western Europe and America in the 1820's to fight the Turks. Many were on fire from Byron's verse; some were spoiled, self-dramatizing youths, victims of a 19th-century version of Jerusalem Syndrome; a few were cold pragmatists; none of them had the slightest idea what they were in for. Devoured by the savage infighting and double-crosses that typified the war, many of these naïfs died ingloriously and in great confusion and pain. As Crane puts it: "There were young Byronists absorbed in a designer war of their own invention, charlatans attracted by the hope of profit, classicists infatuated with Greece's past, Bethamite reformers, aging Bonapartists--and then all those there for a dozen different motives, who might just once have known why they came but had long forgotten by the time they died."

Trelawny himself was immune to disillusion, because his one cause was the test of his own courage and strength, and he seems to have known from the start what stuff he was made of. What makes Trelawny unique (at least until George Orwell) is that eventually he cut as great a figure with the sword as with the pen--though he seems sometimes to have confused the two. We (and Trelawny too) are fortunate to have another great storyteller, David Crane, to tell us which was which.

A companion to this book would be Trelawny's own "Recollections of the Last Days of Shelley and Byron," a great work covering some of the same years as Crane's--by turns hilarious, thrilling, moving, and wise--one of the masterpieces of nineteenth-century fiction.

They may now call it the Romantic period, but it was a brutal period, and Crane makes it clear that a scoundrel like Trelawny -- seducer, adventurer, poetaster -- was in his element. The other people in the area at the time, whether Greek, Turk, or Englishman, weren't so admirable either, and if you're looking for straight-arrow heroes this isn't your book. The "heroes" that populate LBJ are of the Heathcliff variety.

This amazing history brings to mind the current conflict in the Balkans, complete with backstabbing, massacres, self-important generalissimos, singleminded nationalists and bandits. An extraordinary trip into a time almost as scary as our own -- with the added benefit of star players like Byron and Shelley. I loved this book and recommend it highly. (And unlike the previous reviewer, I note Crane's clear sympathy for Trelawny -- despite his disapproval of the man's actions: he details Trelawny's brutal upbringing by his father and the torture inflicted upon him by the British Navy.) It seems to me you don't need to admire someone to find him fascinating.