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Book reviews for "Lesperance,_John" sorted by average review score:
Sam Walton: Made in America: My Story
Published in Hardcover by Doubleday (1992)
Authors: Sam Walton and John Huey
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Sam Walton's Wal-Mart Story
Absolutly a wonderful story! Hard to believe something that started over fifty years ago as a dime store in small town Arkansas has become the world's largest company today. Mr. Walton's down to earth approach in telling his story makes it an easy read. From his humble beginnings in rural Arkansas, Sam was a go "getter" from early childhood.
The sucess of Wal-Mart is actually based a few simple principles. Offering value to the customers, shareholders and associates and managing the business in a common sense way. Are you an entreperneur or want to be one? Invest in this book today! Not only will you gain valuable insight, but Mr. Walton is open about the hardships and obsticles he faced, especially in the early days. After reading this, I don't feel alone in my challenges as a small business man.

A Must Read for Dreamers

Sam not only makes you dream big but inspires you to follow your dreams.
For someone not having 'lived' the 60s and 70s in small town America, it was an insight into the All American values of old.
My business and personal links with Wal-Mart testify to how Sam's basic values are still a driving force at Wal-Mart

It is a book that makes you dream and gives you 10 rules to achieve your dream.
I read only one - it was all I needed.
The rule was 'Swim Upstream - Break all the Rules'.

- Murtuza Vasowalla

Great Book
Mr. Sam's book is an excellent look into the dedication, leadership, and hard work that made Wal-Mart the most successful company in the history of the world. He teaches the reader about the basic values of money, hard work, and family. At the same time, he gives insight into some of the details about starting and running a retail enterprise. All throughout the book, he interjects little stories about getting caught with tape recorders in the competition's store, or flying around with his hunting dogs to look at potential Wal-Mart land sites. This book was not only a great series of lessons on entrepreneurship and management, but it was also very entertaining and at times funny. It was amazing to read about Mr. Sam's predictions when he wrote the book (10+ years ago) and to see how contemporary Wal-Mart has far surpassed even Mr. Sam's wildest dreams of success.

I recently visited the museum in Bentonville, AR. This book was an excellent supplement to that trip. Reading this book and visiting the Wal-Mart visitor's center in Bentonville are highly recommended for any Wal-Mart fan or any business fan as well.

On Her Majesty's Secret Service
Published in Audio Cassette by Brilliance Audio (1900)
Authors: Ian Fleming and John Kenneth
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Fleming reclaims Bond
One of the last of the original Bond Books, On Her Majesty's Secret Service is also one of the best. Picking up a year after the end of Thunderball, this book finds James Bond again battling the nefarious schemes of Ernest Stavro Blofeld and SPECTRE and, most importantly, falling in love with the beautiful, resourceful, and ultimately tragic Tracy. Though the usual intrigue is well-presented by Fleming, he also makes it clear that Blofeld's plan is hardly meant to be taken all that seriously. (Without ruining it for those who might never have read the book or seen the surprisingly faithful film adaption, it all comes down to Blofeld hidden away in Switzerland, pretending to be an allergist, and brainwashing English farm girls. No, it doesn't make a lot of sense but Fleming obviously had so much fun presenting it that most readers won't take offense.) The heart of this book -- and this Fleming treats with an admirable seriousness that should take his critics by surprise -- is the love story between Bond and Tracy. In Tracy, Fleming has created perhaps his most fully realized "Bond girl." Vulnerable yet resourseful and more than capable of taking care of herself (and, at times, perhaps even more so than Bond himself), its hard not to fall in love with this character and when Bond finally does decide to reject all others for her, its impossible to disagree with his logic. Its a compelling, rather touching love story and, even though most Bond films know how its going to end, the ending still packs a heavy impact.

As for Bond himself, after being a rather predictable presence in Thunderball, he's back in full form as a full realized, interesting character in this novel. On Her Majesty's Secret Service was written after the release of Dr. No (Ursula Andress even makes a cameo appearance at the time) and one can sense that, with this book, Fleming is reestablishing his claim on the character. From the intentionally ludicrous evil scheme to the frequent excursions into Bond's head (revealing him hardly to be the ruthless, unflappable killer that filmgoers though him to be), Fleming comes across as a reenergized writer in this book -- determind to let all the new Bond fans out there know who is really in charge of their favorite secret agent's destiny. The result is one of the best of the original Bond books and one of the best spy thrillers I've read in a long time.

The Crown Jewel of Her Majesty's Secret Service Bookshelf
Without a doubt, Ian Fleming's finest James Bond Novel. Mr. Fleming neatly round out the character of James Bond as the reader sees the complete person behind our favorite government operator. The book begins with Bond begining to becomed bored with his assignment and meeting the love of his life. Due to the nature of his work and the emotional scars from previous relationships, Bond is always reluctant to engage in a serious romance with a woman. However, this time, Bond is willing to take his chances to find someone to fill the void in his life. Aside from the romance, Bond also has a job to do. Reinvigorated by progress in his once moribund assignment, Bond tackles his arch enemy Ernst Stavro Blofled through Fleming's engaing narrative. References to Bond's childhood memories, past assignments, and his dreams are particularly effective. Fleming's rich imagination transports the reader from Bond's old haunts on the Northern French coast to the Swiss Alps, where 007 once again takes his licks for "Queen and Country." Hats off to Fleming for his gutsy ending, which unfortunately for Bond, underlines the fact that 007 will always belong to "Her Majesty's Secret Service."

BELUGA CAVIAR WITH MINE ...
The downside of the massive popularity of James Bond on film is the shadow cast over the extraordinary Ian Fleming source novels. In truth, nothing Fleming wrote - the 13 novels, two books of short tales, a children's book (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) and two non-fiction journalistic works - falls short of high inspiration. "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", a book written in the glow of the first Bond movie success in 1963, is among Fleming's best. It is poetic, ingeniously plotted, and shows a full-dimensionality of character in Bond that John Grisham or Freddie Forsyth can only drool for. This is the book in which Bond finally falls in love (it came late in the book series), and it shows the maturation of Fleming's style - a style much admired by Raymond Chandler and the poet William Plomer, to name but two stalwarts - and also reveals the cynicism of battle scarring that Fleming personally was suffering in his copyright disputes on the earlier "Thunderball". The novel begins with a description of beachside, late summer, that is as richly evocative as a sonnet, and takes us into an Alpine Christmastime. Here was Fleming's "secret": like Dickens, he had the ability to create ambience so intense that one could taste the soft shell buttered crabs, and feel the cold sand of a winter strand. No recommendation is more heartfelt. So much snobbery pollutes novel reviews, but the driest academic will see the deep wells of Fleming, and the pure thrill of fantasy. Rider Haggard and John Buchan come close, but Fleming is perhaps the best escapist romancer of the twentieth century and "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" (along with "Dr No" and "From Russia With Love") are his masterworks. It is nothing short of criminal that these great romances are no longer available in their elegant Richard Chopping-designed hardcovers, or in well-styled mass paperbacks. They are, in short, the stuff of connoisseurs. Forget the sugary dribble of Kingsley Amis ("Colonel Sun": not bad), John Gardner (better with his originals, like "The Werewolf Trace"), or Raymond Benson. Go for gold.

From Russia With Love (James Bond Adventure Ser)
Published in Audio Cassette by Brilliance Audio (1900)
Authors: Ian Fleming and John Kenneth
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A Great Cold War Thriller
By far the most realistic of the Bond books. Fleming's description of the MGB (later KGB) headquarters in Moscow's Dzherzinsky Square, where the plot to lure British agent James Bond to his death is first revealed, is reputedly based on information to which he was privy in his capacity as a WWII officer in British Naval Intelligence -- likewise the recruitment and training of the psychopathic killer Red Grant, one of the most formidable of Bond's enemies (and the only one in the films who looked for a while about to kill Bond for sure! 007 meets his match in Grant!) This is the book behind what in my opinion is the best of the Bond movies, steeped in the atmosphere of the Cold War into which the Bond series was born. 007 travels to Istanbul in pursuit of the bait, a Lektor decoder which can read top secret Soviet military and intelligence signal traffic. Another form of bait is the beautiful Tatiana Romanova, an MGB cipher clerk allegedly in love with Bond, willing to defect with the Lektor if only 007 will come and fetch her. (Fleming takes yet another jab at the Reds by choosing this name for Bond's love interest -- Romanov was the family name of the last Czar of old imperial Russia, the family doomed to extinction by the Russian revolution.) Kerim Bey adds a bit of panache, mischief and mystery as "Our man in Istanbul," Head of Station T (for Turkey). A truly great and suspenseful plot!

Bond and Fleming at their best
Fleming seemed to have used his first four novels (Casino Royale, Live and Let Die, Moonraker, and Diamonds are Forever) to warm us up to the Bond character and used the same plot style for the first four novels. In From Russia, With Love, Fleming takes Bond and his writing style to a higher, more intellectual level. Fleming is masterful in setting the scenes without being too boring. Bond doesn't appear until the second part of the book (Part II-The Plan) and you hardly even notice. Another interesting note is that of the James Bond movies, From Russia, With Love the movie follows the novel pretty well, even in lesser scenes such as the gypsy fight. This, perhaps, is due to the fact that Fleming was alive only for the filming and release of Dr. No and From Russia, With Love. This book is clearly Fleming at the top of his game and an outstanding entry to the series.

SMERSH battles against 007 with their deadliest plan yet....
Considered by many to the be the best James Bond 007 book of all time, From Russia With Love delivers the perfect formula for a James Bond novel. Originally, Ian Fleming's tales of 007 were not going so good, so he intended with this book to kill off James Bond once and for all. The end of this novel is quite a surprise to a first time reader.

The book begins by telling of the commanding rule of SMERSH. The leader of this organization is General Grubozaboyschikov. Also working is Colonel Rosa Klebb and director of planning Kronsteen, who treats real people as if they were chess pieces. The muscle of the group is a homicidal madman, who follows orders, and is in practically perfect physical shape, Donovan "Red" Grant. These evil minds have planned the perfect way to destroy the life and reputation of James Bond. Their plan is to lure 007 with the beatiful Tatiana Romanova and a Spektor cipher decoding machine as bait. Then Grant will meet up with them eventually and kill them both. However, SMERSH will take it a step further to lie to the public that Bond and Tatiana were in an affair, and that Bond commits suicide. It's a perfect plan.
Bond indeed does travel to Istanbul, believing that this girl wants to defect, and will give him the Spektor machine only if he personally helps her. 007 meets Darko Kerim, and a wonderful gypsy fight adds to the fun of the story. Bond and Tatiana travel on a train back to Europe, where he meets Red Grant and is told of the plan to kill him. An extremely bvrutal gun and fist fight breakes out between the men with 007 shooting Grant. 007 goes to Paris with Tatiana to catch Rosa Klebb in a meeting. However, Klebb releases a poison knife from her shoe and kicks 007 in the leg, before being taken away by the police. The story ends with 007 lying on the floor of the hotel room...

Perhaps the finest story of Ian Fleming, filled with the excitement and adventure to give this book it's reputation as on of the best 007 novels ever!

Night Before Christmas
Published in Paperback by Scholastic (1995)
Authors: Clement Clarke Moore, John Steven Gurney, and James Marshall
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A beautiful edition, to give as a gift
We have an inexpensive paperback version (see our reviews) of this classic poem, and we said that's enough for us. That was before we looked through this beautifully illustrated (by Bruce Whatley) edition of The Night Before Christmas.

The lyrics are the same, from book to book, but the fanciful illustrations in this one are enough to engage adults and children as they read this book together.

The perfect gift for any family whose Christmas tradition includes reading this classic!

The Night Before Christmas illustrated by Tasha Tudor
I discovered this book 31 years ago, for my daughter and it is still loved by all the family. The illustrations are wonderful, warm, charming and delightful and bring a special meaning to the story. We still read it to all the young children on Christmas Eve and for adults we read the story and pass a grab bag gift every time the word THE is mentioned. It would not be Christmas without this book. It is magical.

A Happy Christmas to All
This beautiful book was in my family as a hard cover edition for many years and was a Christmas Eve tradition for my four sons when they were growing up. It's poor battered body disappeared some time after the last of my little ones went off into the adult world. I am so delighted to see it back again, though this time as a nicely affordable soft cover. Clement C. Moore's enchanting story poem already provides an atmosphere filled with warmth and joyful expectation and with the addition of Tasha Tudor's quaint, nostalgic water-colors from an antique New England the Christmas magic is complete!
The winter landscapes fill our senses and Tasha's own gray tabby cat and Welsh Corgi welcome us into this charming world.
Tasha's Santa that you will meet in this book has been portrayed as the poem describes him...a right jolly old elf. He's not that much larger than the corgi and his team really consists of eight "tiny" reindeer. His pointy ears and his Eskimo mukluks add to the delightful ambiance of the book. He dances with the toys and with the happy animals and we can truly believe it will be a happy Christmas for all.
I hope this book becomes a Christmas Eve tradition for many, many more families.

Anam Cara : A Book of Celtic Wisdom
Published in Paperback by HarperCollins (1998)
Author: John O'Donohue
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Each sentence is a ponderable morsel.
Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom is truly a work of art. Over the past three years, I have been working on discovering myself through self-help books, 12-step programs, religious study, and personal introspection. This book summed up everything I have learned (the hard way) during this time, and presented it in a beautiful package that was invigorating and thought-provoking to read. It was a pure joy. I began reading it in January, and have only just finished it last night, because each sentance was a ponderable morsel. Sometimes I would read a phrase five times over in order to fully grasp and apply it's meaning to my life. This is not a 70 mph trip through the McDonald's drive-thru, this is a seven course meal in Vienna, and every bite demands that you hold it in your mouth to savor it.

Anam Cara is one of the best non-fiction books I have ever read. I plan to read it again in a year or so, because I know I will get new things out of it. I am already loaning it to a friend, and have a couple of others in mind I'd like to loan it to. I can't keep this from the ones I love.

VERY VERY POWERFUL AND FULL OF ILLUMINATION!
Reading this wonderful spiritual book has embedded into my soul all the valuable insights and gifts that these powerful words envelope. I will treasure this book. There are many lessons to be learned about soul and one needs to read over and over again these valuable lessons to digest the depth of this profound celtic wisdom.

I shall use this book as I glide into much celebrated old age and intergrate it's beautiful spiritual power into present moments. Anam Cara states....'Once the soul awakens, the search begins and you can never go back.....the eternal makes your urgent..'

One of the most inspiring books I have ever read
This insightful book by John O'Donohue is a moving and irrevocably inspiring view on living, dying, loving and becoming closer to your own soul with the companionship of your Anam Cara, or soul-friend. It speaks of the incredible beauty of the Celtic tradition and views on such ethereal subjects as religion, our own divinity, and the power of transforming your life. It is truly a book to learn from.

The Third Policeman (John F. Byrne Irish Literature Series)
Published in Paperback by Dalkey Archive Pr (1999)
Authors: Flann O'Brien and Denis Donoghue
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The joy of our Flann
Undoubtedly one of the finest books I have ever read, a sentiment echoed by the several people I distributed the book to after reading it myself. After a relatively straightforward opening chapter the plot just takes off, leaving you asking yourself what the hell is going on. The atomic theory, DeSelby, bicycles - it's hard to believe this book is a product of pre-war Ireland. And it ends well too. A book that you will want to tell your friends about in the pub. By the way, the Poor Mouth is great too, although it's aimed much more directly at an Irish audience.

bits of the book's atoms will get onto you...
This is the funniest book I've read in a decade. First of all, it's the sombre yet academical tone of the narrator (the main character has no name for he has forgot his own name) --- who would have expected to find footnotes in a novel? Second, the weird things described in the novel and the way people argued make perfect logical sense although we all know it's all nonsense. Third, the creation of De Selby shows that Flann O'Brien is a story-telling genius, so much so that the first time I read this book I thought that De Selby actually existed!! And only thanks to my university library which boasts a big hoard of books, COPAC, and the British Library, I'm finally convinced that De Selby have never ever lived. Oh how I wish to find a book written by De Selby --- because it'd be great fun to read his books!

BTW, there're even more De Selby in "The Dalkey Archive"!!! And don't read "The Poor Mouth" unless you're ready to read 100-odd pages about the boiled potato diet of an Irish family.

'Is it about a bicycle?'
This century has seen two comic novels rejected by publishers when they were first written, only to be hailed as masterpieces decades later. These are are 'A Confederacy of Dunces' by Kennedy O'Toole and 'The Third Policeman' by Flann O'Brien. Sadly, rejection led to their author's (respective) suicide and alcoholism, and recognition came only after both writers had died. There isn't room here to explain why I love 'The Third Policeman' so much. It is by far the funniest book I have ever read, yet it is also one of the most chilling, and ultimately one of the most mind-bending. 'Is it about a bicycle?'............ read it and find out!

Ultimate Sniper : An Advanced Training Manual For Military And Police Snipers
Published in Paperback by Paladin Press (1993)
Author: John Plaster
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A very good novice/intermediate level training manual
This book is a valuable resource for the novice to intermediate level rifleman or sniper. I found a credible amount of useful information within it. The ballistics tables are real-world--unlike the dry, theoretical tables found in reloading manuals. Major Plaster sticks to the heart of the subject matter; he doesn't go off on those lame, sorry "soldier of 'fiction'" tangents that many authors do. He even authorizes the reader to photocopy range cards, practice targets, etc..., as long as the credit line is not removed. You can't get much fairer than that. If I mentioned every good thing about this book, I would exceed the 1,000 word maximum that Amazon has limited me to.

Robert, 11B/EIB, U.S. Army, 1981-1984

A great primer for the long range shooter
We'll here's a book title that may get some folks shorts in a bunch. Of course if you wanted to learn about long range shooting, what other title would you look under? As a work dedicated to sniper training, it is probably representative of more basic or summary treatment of topics, but I'd leave this critique to someone more qualified.

The book is promoted or defined as an Advanced Training Manual for Military and Police Snipers, but the detail in description and selection of any long range shooting equipment is the most comprehensive I've seen in public print. The book offers quite an education to almost any shooter.

The rifle selection coverage is expansive. You'll find everything from types of actions to special preparation and specific model rifle features to look for. The section on scopes is a definitive work on shooting optics, including full description and application of every reticle I can think of, fitting and setting up a scope including mount and ring shimming and offsetting techniques. I know I have a better understanding of how MIL dot set up is suppose to work. This section concludes with a chapter on utilizing scopes, as well as related problems and solutions.

There is great detail on shooting positions, using a sling, breathing techniques, etc. There is an excellent chapter on ballistics, including the basics of bullet and case construction, and on to premium cartridge selection and cartridge options, pros and cons. This section then rolls into a chapter that ties the preceding together into long-range marksmanship coverage.

All of the preceding is all capped off with a good deal of information on field equipment ranging from range finders and binoculars to field posting and camouflage. Some of the material needs conversion to a hunting situation, while the concept remains the same; as an example, there is a lot of information on tracking and covering a given terrain or situation. To tell you the truth, I thought this content was closer to what "Art of the Rifle" would provide.

If you are interested in long distance shooting with centerfire cartridges, this is an excellent addition to a home library.

The Most Advanced Training Manual Currently on the Market
I am an AGR/SSG, Organizer of the Headquarters Special Reaction Team, and RVN Vet: 11B/71L/92Y. I aquired this book in early 1997, read it from cover to cover twice and referred back to seperate chapters more often than I can calculate. Currently I can recommend no other manual with such a wide variety of accurate information on most aspects of precission shooting and tactics. I can make only a few minor criticisms. (1) I found only one error in the text- i.e.: "...do not..." vs "...do...". The error however should be obvious to even a neophite shooter so I have ignored it - but it does rattel me a bit every time I run across it. (2) Some of the Photos seem a bit pretentious - like they came out of an old issue of SOF. (3) Point of contention: MAJ Plaster opens the door to calibers such as 223, and 243, and provides fine tables for their accurate engagement. He may have been rushed to reach a publishing date, but I was hoping to find complete tables on all current match grade (high accuracy/long range)factory munitions. Especially windage tables. I hope the author will produce a supplement later. I reciently entered my first paper target state level competition which reinstilled my confidence in my abilities. With the help of his fine machinery, this manual provided my SRT team member and I valuable information leading to our ability to quickly and consistantly place comfortable hits in the x ring and engage moving targets at 600yds with a 5-7mph wind. I have given up my allegiance to "The Accurate Rifle" for "The Ultimate Sniper". Other than philosophical or theological treatises this is my favorite reading. I only need to convince my commanders of the importance of QRT and SRT programs.

The Sot-Weed Factor
Published in Hardcover by Doubleday (1967)
Author: John Barth
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A Masterpeice of Satire!
Perhaps most impressive of all of John Barth's picaresque classic is the fact that it succeeds on many levels. It is quite difficult to imagine anyone taking this novel completely seriously, however it can be read as an epic. Most likely it will be enjoyed as a brilliant satire providing most readers with innumerable passages that will have them laughing out loud. However one senses many philosophical statements and themes communicated through the characters' preposterous actions and attitudes. It was the characters, in fact, that impressed me the most about "The Sot-Weed Factor," while appearing at times ridiculous to the point of being hilarious, most readers will likely find a little bit of themselves in characters like Ebenezer Cooke, Henry Burlingame, etc. My favorite character was Ebenezer's servant whose name eludes me at this time. Barth has coined himself a "smiling nihilist" and this book is a fine example of this sentiment, though most readers will likely spend less time smiling and more time doubled over in laughter. A must-read!

I'll never look at an eggplant the same way again
If you've read the book, then you know exactly what I'm talking about and are probably doubled over in laughter just at the mention of it . . . if you haven't, well there's just one more reason to start reading this. Widely considered Barth's best novel (I'm very much a novice with him, this being only my second book so I'm no man to judge) I can easily see why it deserves such a status. A parody of historical novels, Barth writes the story in the style of that time so it seems like all those books your teachers made you read in high school, but better. The book is massive and concerns the various adventures of would-be poet Ebenezer Cooke, writer of the poem "The Sot-Weed Factor" as he becomes involved, willingly or otherwise, in more situations than any man should reasonably have to undertake. An attempts to summarize the plot are useless, it's too sprawling, people who want instant gratification will be at a loss here, this is a book you have to absorb over the course of a few days and get used to the style before it sinks in just how much fun it is. The characters play everything seriously, making the jokes (and there are plenty, with the funniest of a vulgar nature and often involving the story of Captain John Smith of Pocohantus fame) come off as utterly hilarious, but at the same time Barth manages to make you care just a little bit about them, as quirky as they are, they still come across as typically flawed human beings. Probably the best thing about the book is its sheer unpredictability, not shackled by the morals of the 16th century, anything and everything does happen, nobody is what they seem and situations shift gears so rapidly that it'll make your head spin even as you can't stop laughing. A truimph on nearly every level, this is something a lesser writer would have only managed to turn into a stale stylistic genre exercise, something to wow the kids in the creative writing workshop . . . what Barth creates here is something lasting and no matter what century it was written in or evokes, will probably wind up being timeless.

Brilliant, Funny and Spellbinding
I know it's supposed to spoof historical novels, but I didn't read "The Sot-Weed Factor" that way at all. To me it read like a darkly comic epic, reminiscent of "Water Music" by T. Coraghessan Boyle. I loved the characters, especially the main protagonist, Ebeneezer Cooke, the wannabe Poet Laureate of colonial Maryland. He starts out as a prim, officious twit, but his character is befouled almost continuously from the outset, so that by the end of the book he is a resigned (if not wholly self ironic) and nearly sympathetic character. And I guess that is what makes this book work for me: it follows all the rules for successful story telling. There is a central conflict (and a thousand hilarious ancillary conflicts), a crisis of spectacular proportion, believable resolution, and character transformation. The story is riddled with deception, fraud, betrayal, mistaken identity, errant bravado, sex, scatalogical humor, and enough action and adventure to hold the attention of almost any reader. At 750+ pages, it took me a month to read it (if you travel cross-country, it's perfect for those four-hour plane trips), and now that I'm finished, I'd have to say it was one of the finest months I've ever spent reading. I wish I was starting it all over again for the first time. Haply I'll read it again.

Life You've Always Wanted, The
Published in Hardcover by Zondervan (03 November, 1997)
Author: John Ortberg
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Spiritual Disciplines for New Christians
John Ortberg, who serves as teaching pastor at Willow Creek Community Church, is a gifted teacher. His goal in writing this book was to offer new christians (or those exploring christianity) an accessible guide to christian practices that foster spiritual growth: prayer, reading scripture, and so on. Ortberg's story-telling, humor, and breezy writing style are appealing. He succeeds in motivating the reader to practice spiritual disciplines, but is less successful at telling the reader how to pray, how to read the bible, etc. For a more in-depth guide to the practice of spiritual disciplines, the reader would be better served by Richard Foster's "Celebration of Discipline" or Donald Whitney's "Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life", for example. Moreover, he spends little time explaining the interplay of spiritual disciplines and grace. If we are saved by grace through faith, are spiritual disciplines merely "works"? For such a discussion, Dallas Willard's "Spirit of the Disciplines" is invaluable. However, Ortberg is a great place for many christians, particularly new christians to begin to explore spiritual disciplines.

The 3rd most important book I've ever read. . .
. . .The Bible and Mere Christianity were #1 and #2, by the way:) Once you get past the Baby-Boom-marketing-gimmick title, there's good stuff here. There is a time and place for retreat and contemplation--which he discusses in Chapter 5--but John Ortberg doesn't live in a monastery, and he realizes the average person reading this book isn't, either. His message is that we can live a deeper, more spiritual life right where we are, even with mortgages and kids and dogs and laundry. (He even says that, approached in the right way, our everyday responsibilities are spiritual training ground. That may not be revolutionary to some of you--but it is for me:) This work is immensely readable and laugh-out-loud funny in places--but I've had it two months and am still not finished studying it. It's deep:) What he says about studying Scripture--that our goal is not to get through the Scriptures, rather to get them through US--is also true of his book. My Christian walk is never going to be the same again. I'm giving this to every believer--new and mature--on my Christmas list this year.

Dallas Willard "for Dummies"!
John Ortberg reads widely and that's evident in his book. He especially enjoyed the books by Dallas Willard and Richard Foster on spiritufl discplines. He calls this book "Dallas for Dummies". But it is far from stating the obvious or dumbing down the essential truths of spiritual disicplines.

Before reading this book, I read Ortberg's latest book "If you Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get out of the Boat" - I really enjoy the author's conversational style. He tells stories about other people and about his own life, which really serve to drive home the point he's trying to convey.

John makes himself vulnerable and transparent in discussing his own sin and failings, which makes him more credible!

The three chapters that impaced me the most are #3 about the truth of spiritual disciplines, #4 about "the practice of celebration". The last chapter is entitled "The Experience of Suffering". I will definitely be re-reading these chapters.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in growing in their faith.

You might be interested in checking out my reviews of other Christian books.

The SAS Survival Handbook
Published in Paperback by Collins Pub San Francisco (1995)
Author: John Wiseman
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Average review score:

good illustrations
This book is one of four indispensable basic, general texts on the subject of survival that anyone interested in the subject should have for reference. The others are Janowsky and Janowsky, the US Army FM 21-76, US Air Force Reg 64-4. My version is the 1986 Survive Safely Anywhere: The SAS Survival Manual. The most important characteristic of a really useful book on this subject is not just the kind and quantity of information available, but the real usefulness and authenticity of the information. Wiseman's book has that, and it's greatest asset beyond that sine qua non is the generally excellent quality of illustration. It covers much of the same ground as other texts, expands nicely on some areas, and has some discussion that is generally not discussed in other books. It has quite a bit in the areas of camp craft/improvised equipment, plants, first aid, and natural disasters. The bit on vehicle operation is not the same old information, and benefits from military experience such as that of SAS Mobility Troop. This book, with the other three, is a superb general reference and a starting point for further investigations for those interested in the subject.

Outstanding! The most comprehensive survival info. available
The British Special Air Service (SAS) is an elite military unit trained for long range patrols,sabatoge and covert operations far behind enemy lines. The U.S. Navy SEAL teams are trained on principles developed by the SAS nearly fifty years ago. SAS troops are deployed to some of the most remote regions on the planet and for this reason, must be experts in outdoor survival. John Wiseman is a former SAS survival instructor, so you can rest assured that you are receiving the best available information. The techniques desribed in this book are simple, functional and extremely clever, all hallmarks of SAS operations. The section on traps and snares is spectacular! All drawings are clear and easy to understand and the book is organized into specific geographic regions according to climate(i.e. deserts, jungles, etc.). I have spent most of my professional career in the woods (I'm a biologist by trade)and I use the information in this book on a daily basis, including training fellow employees in the basics of land navigation, improvised direction finding, and basic "woodsmanship". Additionally, I apply the SAS mindset to daily problem solving and find that it serves me well. The book comes in two sizes and I can highly recommend the pocket sized version for your pack or field bag. I can not say enough good things about this book. I have over fifty survival books in my personal library and this is the one I use as my bible. I can also highly recommend the SAS Escape,Evasion and Survival Manual by Barry Davies. It contains the same high quality info. as this book plus some additional goodies!

Awesome Reference!
I teach hunter education for the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish and base many parts of my lecture dealing with survival on parts of this book. I find it to the point, with great illustrations and directions. I recommend it to anyone with an interest in the outdoors.

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