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Book reviews for "Lyle-Smythe,_Alan" sorted by average review score:

The effective invitation
Published in Unknown Binding by F.H. Revell Co. ()
Author: R. Alan Streett
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"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ
In these days of shallow preaching and easy believism, "The Effective Invitation has taught me to preach the Word in an uncompromising fashion and yet it has shown me the urgent need of the call to all to repentance and faith. Biblically and evangelistically this book is rock solid, and it is a well-rounded approach to evangelism and evangelistic preaching that will bless you tremendously. I look forward to reading it again and again along with the workbook.
This book is not a book that can or should be read only once. "The Effective Invitation" is a book that's not meant to be put on a shelf to flex ones intellectual muscle, but one that should be found on the desk, coffee table or some where sermon preparations are done. It's a book designed for the lay person, Pastor, Evangelist or anyone who is serious about the Word of God and how to deliver an effective call for sinners to Repent and Trust Christ through the proclamation, preaching, or heralding of His Word.
Without this book I would still be preaching a half-empty gospel. It is like putting a puzzle together and missing a piece. Some might say "it's no big deal" or others might say "Oh, well". But to me it never seemed complete. You see my preaching seemed to be missing something (just like the puzzle) until I found the missing piece in "The Effective Invitation".
This book has also shown me the need to have a message with an invitation and music that flows together in one accord. It has given me the necessary tools to be able to prepare, put together and deliver an effective evangelistic message. It proves this point through the use of Historical, Theological, and Biblical bases. It has shown me that it's not through the words of man but from the very Word of God is the call issued for the sinner to repent and believe in Christ and Him alone to save them.
The book also covers the invitation from A to Z which is the best method especially in these fast paced, hectic times we as minister are living in. Again it has shown me that I don't draw the people to repent and trust but that it is the role of The Holy Spirit to convict and draw.
This book has caused me to examine the reasons, moods, and methods of other preachers as wells as mine to have people walk the aisle. Also it has shown me how to deal with those who down play or even deny the need for an invitation and its biblical roots. May the Lord bless you as He has me through this book.

An Apologetic & a Practical Guide for the Public Invitation
In recent days the evangelistic public invitation has come under heavy fire on many fronts. In some cases the criticism is well deserved because of public invitations that attempt to manipulate spiritual seekers. As such, many evangelists have retreated from calling people to a public commitment to Christ. "The Effective Invitation" by Dr. R. Alan Streett provides a powerful apologetic and a practical guide for a return to the public invitation. In this 252-page volume, the gospel message is clearly outlined, and an outstanding explanation of repentance and saving faith is provided. The author presents the Biblical and historic precedents for the public invitation, followed by a fascinating chapter chronicling Billy Graham's use of the invitation. Streett answers the critics and presents the pertinent reasons for extending an evangelistic call. Finally, he examines the "how to's" of preparing and delivering an authentic and effective public invitation. This includes an assessment of the various models used to invite people to make a decision. The book concludes with sections on the use of music (somewhat dated) during the invitation and insights into the particular sensitivities required when inviting children to Christ. "The Effective Invitation" is concise, compelling, and practical. I'm aware of no better book on the subject. I highly recommend it to any pastor or evangelist who desires to see people come to Christ through the public invitation.

The Effective Invitation: A Practical Guide for the Pastor
This little paperback authored by Dr. Alan Streett has enhanced my working knowledge of the importance of the Gospel presentation, it's delivery and the means for invitating one to receive Christ. Dr. Streett appears to have used all of his expertise as a pastor, evangelist and professor to make this book clear and concise. It is easy reading with distinctive guidelines that can be implemented easily. This book outlines the 'dos and don'ts' for an effective invitation from the introduction of the sermon to the last word of the final prayer. Dr. Streett gives precise creative methods that can be used in many different settings. The material is doctrinally sound and enegetic in it's delivery. This book is a must for all Christians. Recently, I had the opportunity to hear Dr. Streett teach on the subject of the importance of the invitation and his sense of humor can readily be seen throughout the pages of the book. He is a hero of the Gospel equal to Paul and this book clearly defines his courage in a world that fears man's response rather than the will of God. I would even venture to say that to hear Dr. Streett deliver the message of Christ, makes the book even more impressive.


The Enchanted Places
Published in Paperback by Viking Press (1978)
Author: Christopher Milne
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Enchanted book....
....about enchanted places and enchanted childhood favorites.

Winnie the Pooh, Piglet and all their friends have been family friends of us for a long time, and it was a treat to find this book about Christopher Robin, and be able to read about what it was like to be him. Did he really have a bear named Winniw the Pooh, did the Hundred Acre Wood excist, did he and Pooh play on Poohstick Bridge? What a fantastic childhood he must have had?

Of course the imagination in my mind was not all correct, at least not the fantastic childhood part. In this book Christopher Milne tells us from his heart how it was to be the son of A.A.Milne, the creator of all our childhood friends. The book is written with alot of charm, but we can also read between the lines about the negative effects of being a "famous" child, a boy with a childhood who belonged to, and still belong to the whole world.

If you know Winnie the Pooh, and who doesn't, this book is a little diamond, a book full of great details, a book which gives a unique view of the Christopher Robin myth.

Britt Arnhild Lindland

Reading this book was a rare privilege for me...
...as was reading the rest of the trilogy when it was in print. (I got the whole trilogy through a friend in England, but I'd never heard that Mr. Milne had written a fourth volume.) I'm glad to see that excerpts of all his memoirs are available in one volume, BEYOND THE WORLD OF POOH, because Mr. Milne was indeed a gifted and sensitive man.

I have a special interest in this book because Christopher Robin, of all the characters, was my favorite -- indeed, my alter ego. I knew from an early age that there was a real boy behind the fictional character, and I sensed the three of us were a lot alike. It was a delight to find out just how right my intuition was.

In which Billy Moon comes to terms with Christopher Robin
Despite tales of Christopher Milne's bitterness over being forced into the spotlight by his father's tales of Pooh, this comming-to-terms-with-it-all autobiography is filled with wonderful memories of Christopher's childhood and his relationship with his father, his nanny and his mother. He addresses with much warmth and humor the question "What was it like to be Christopher Robin," and, as it goes into much detail about the real enchanted places in Ashdown Forest in England, it's a must read for anyone making an "expotition" to the real-life haunts of Pooh and friends


Escape from Auschwitz: I Cannot Forgive
Published in Paperback by Grove Press (1986)
Authors: Rudolph Vrba, Alan Bestic, and Rudolf Vrba
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One of the most memorable books I have ever read
I most highly recommend this book for students of history, especially WWII. It is gripping, the character portrayals are so real... as is the story

Horrifying, mesmerizing story
I concur with others who claim this book changed their life. I read this book in high school in the mid 60s, and in my small Iowa town, where no Jews live, I became familiar with a minority that had borne unspeakable horror. Mr. Vrba was a teenage Slovak Jew that was deported from his country. In a series of almost miraculous events, he was able to secret himself and escape after nearly 3 years in this death camp. This book is blunt and gripping in its reality, and yet I felt that it was probably worse than he reported. It gave me a morbid awareness, that these unspeakable acts should never be forgotten (or forgiven)in the hope that in the telling they will never recur. I highly recommend this book to those who don't believe the awfulness of the Nazi "Final Solution" because this will open their eyes.

This book changed my life
I read I Cannot Forgive many years ago. Unitl that time (the 1960s) the Holocaust was an abstract event that happened before my birth. Verba's characterization of the events leading to his experiences in Auschwitz, the details of the life and deaths within the camp, and the personalities of the people, both prisoners and guards he interacted with MADE me aware of the darkest chapter in human history, and started me on a life avocation. His daring escape from KZ Auchwitz and the almost unbelievable disregard of his report on conditions there reads like a thriller, but sadily it is all true.


Essentials of WAIS-III Assessment (Essentials of Psychological Assessment Series)
Published in Paperback by John Wiley & Sons (07 January, 1999)
Authors: Alan S. Kaufman and Elizabeth O. Lichtenberger
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Clear and user-friendly yet sophisticated
This is a gem of a book. I assigned it for the grad students in my intellectual assessment course and both they and I found it to be very helpful and easy to use. The format of the book makes it very user-friendly and unintimidating. There are a lot of boxes and highlighted text that help the reader to find what he or she is looking for quickly. This book covers administration, scoring, and interpretation and provides numerous helpful tips for beginners on common errors. The approach to interpretation provided in this book is a pared-down and slightly modified version of the method described in Kaufman's book Intelligent Testing with the WISC-III (an excellent book with a great deal of information on interpreting the WISC-III). Kaufman and Lichtenberger take the guess work and estimation out of interpreting the significance of various scores. This approach is based in the scientific method (assume nonsignificance unless you have a compelling reason, based on the test data, to believe that the variations in scores on the test protocol are unlikely to have resulted by chance). This approach is very helpful in giving students an understanding of how much variation in test scores can result from test error, and brings the "science" back into test interpretation. There are a lot of numbers to crunch using this method, and in some ways the clarity of the system can encourage users to become mechanistic, but I feel that the emphasis on systematic and defensible interpretation is well worth this risk. Kaufman's approach has become the basis of the standard described in the WAIS manual and calculated on the WAIS-III record form, and this book is an excellent way to learn it and the rationale behind it. The book is also an excellent reference for practitioners. I find myself pulling it off my shelf very frequently as I supervise student assessments, and it's loaned out to various students a lot of the time. The book provides pages of useful tables, some of which are in the WAIS-III manual, but many of which are not. One caution is that the shared abilities tables provided here are based on theory rather than data, so it's important to take these with a grain of salt. Also there are a couple of points in the "decision tree" where it's not entirely clear in some situations what the reader is to do. This is not a common problem, but one that is not really adequately addressed in my opinion.
Overall a truly excellent book that raises the standard for WAIS-III interpretation above that seen in many practitioners. This is a treasure chest of information at a great price.

A must have!
I am a graduate student in psychology and this is the clearest text I have ever read that describes the interpretive process of IQ tests! Look for their new book for WISC interpretation as well!

makes assessment easy
I really enjoyed this book -- it was easy to read and well-written, and made the topic matter (which normally is quite hard) understandable.


The Faculty of Useless Knowledge
Published in Paperback by Vintage/Ebury (A Division of Random House Group) (07 March, 1996)
Authors: Yury Dombrovsky and Alan Myers
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Brilliant! : In the Tradition of Dostoevsky and Solzhenitsyn
Do not be put off by the length-530 pages; it is as exciting from the first chapter to the last- a book that is hard to put down.... This book contains actual events from the author's life and many of the people are real. Yet it is more; the battle between soviet expediency and humanistic values, the nature of justice, a romantic tale (Dombrovsky marries the real Klara), a re-telling of Christ's passion, a description of the terror and a ripping good detective thriller.

worth the effort
The narrative tends to shift unexpectedly to flashbacks, but it is a deep look into an era of repression and destruction of integrity. Quintessential reading for all of us.

Bulgakov, Dombrovsky, and Bitov
No, the beautiful marriage of the philosophical with the literary characterized by the Russian novel in such giants as Dostoevsky and Gogol didn't disappear in the twentieth century, it was only repressed. This important book stands to finally take its place alongside other contemporary Soviet writers in a deep, thought provoking proof that art really does conquer all. Lovers of profound literature need not fear since, as Bulgakov pointed out, Manuscripts Never Burn. But passion and the human spirit always will in the face of all tyranny, and nothing illustrates this more fully and with such beautiful defiance as The Faculty Of Useless Knowledge.


Holding Stone Hands: On the Trail of the Cheyenne Exodus
Published in Paperback by Bison Bks Corp (2001)
Author: Alan Boye
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This is one great book.
I'm not much for history as it is taught in our schools, but this book is great. It is a perfect blend of history, present day (in the form of the author's trip), and thoughts and stories from the author's personal life.

I recommend this tome to anyone that likes travel stories. Especially if you dont know, or want to know more about, the Cheyenne Exodus. Expensive, but worth the money.

HISTORY COMES ALIVE ON THIS FANTASTIC ADVENTURE
This is a magical walk through a dark time in American History...Alan's own experiences are so materfully intertwined with history on this voyage, the past truly comes alive as you feel every step and face every fear. With each step, with every encounter along the way, you can feel the ghosts of the Cheyenne people walking in your own shadow. Make no mistake, HOLDING STONE HANDS is a Masterpiece...you'll feel the pain of endless walking, the anger for what the Cheyenne people were forced to endure, and the sorrow for the pointless death as they tried to make their way to the only land they would ever call home.

In the spirit of Edward Abbey
This is a story of heartache and strength, of hope and struggle...it is the story of a man's love of the land and a people's fight to keep their homeland. Boye is a gifted and talented writer whose words flow as he leads us from page to page, back into the past and then gently into the present. He is a writer that truly cares about his story and the people that inhabit it. He opens his heart and the words come tumbling out. A wonderful MUST READ for all nature lovers and history buffs.


Fundamentals of Corporate Finance
Published in Hardcover by Irwin Professional Pub (2003)
Authors: Richard A. Brealey, Stewart C. Myers, and Alan J. Marcus
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A little too detailed for beginners
The financial concepts are explained very nicely. Though it is my first finance book i can go through it without much difficulty or extra help. However there are still some drawbacks need to be noticed:

1. Need more charts and graphics to explain the concepts, ie: when explaining the DU PONT System, i think the pyramid structure can be illustrated so as to state a whole concept, not only fragments

2. Too many examples

3. This book is too detailed in both relevant and irrelevant matters

Still, I think it is a good book.

I own Principles of Corporate Finance (5th ed.)
If possible, please tell me the difference between this book (Fundamentals of Corporate Finance by Richard Brealey) and Principles of Corporate Finance by Brealey and Myers. I currently own the 5th edition of Principles; having worn the book down with constant thumbing, I am looking for a replacement.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Excellent book for very beginners
I and my friends(with no business background) are studying corporate finance by ourselves using this book and all of us are very satisfied with the book so far.

The concepts are explained very clearly(even kindly) and sample tests with complete solutions are very useful. The book also has solutions for selected end-of-the chapter problems and I enjoy mini cases which help me apply the concepts to the practice in detail.

I had tried other finance books before and most of them were not clear in explaining concepts and a bit difficult for me(my major was chemistry). I think that this book is probably the easiest and the best book to begin with for starters in finance.


Hard Heads, Soft Hearts: Tough-Minded Economics for a Just Society
Published in Paperback by Perseus Publishing (1989)
Author: Alan S. Blinder
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eye-opening economic perspective
Blinder will have you sitting beside yourself as he challenges the public's vastly preconceived notions of the economic world. One chapter in particular draws my attention, "Who Will Protect Us From Protectionism." Although there are minor flaws in his analysis, due to recent revelations in economic free trade policy, Blinder exercises a practicality that wonderfully illustrates the need to revamp our protectionist policy. This book is a must read if you are still mislead by the notion that protectionism levels the playing field and increases American welfare.

A powerful yet unintended message!
Mr. Blinder does a great job of setting forth sound economic policies that should be adopted by any nation. His chapter on protecting the environment was particularly enlightening. However, I disagree with him on one very specific issue:

- On page 63, Mr. Blinder argues that employees should get a share of a company's net income rather than a fixed wage rate. This is no less than a recipe for disaster. How do you define a company's net income? Upper management would spend most of its time devising ways to understate their results while employees would make a great effort to dispute the company's income statement. In the end the holy grail of economic efficiency would be lost as both parties squabble endlessly. Just look how easily Enron cooked its books.

What really struck me as fantastic was Mr. Blinder's brilliant if unintentional critique of American style democracy. He did this by showing how often the American political process produces mediocre results that fly in the face of simple economics. He turns the spotlight on the damaging effects of lobbying by powerful groups and their vested interests. This was particularly apparent in his chapter on tax reform.

I recommend this title to anyone who is interested in setting society on the road to prosperity. I would also recommend it to anyone interested in knowing just how harmful the US's corrupt brand of democracy is. Perhaps this book's greatest contribution lies in raising the following question:

How can a system be devised that safeguards the ideals of democrarcy and freedom without compromising economic efficiency and equity?

A good Keynesian analysis
Blinder renders a balanced analysis of governmental policy, criticizing Democrats and Republicans equally. I might even go as far as to say that he is objective. However, his policy prescriptions are very left-leaning. The reader will see clearly that Blinder makes many normative assumptions about the goal of policy and that those assumptions dictate unambiguously the liberal ends to which our resources and tax dollars should be directed. He gives a great explanation of how the deficit grew out of the Reagan administration's blunders, and I may even recommend this book for that alone. Overall, it is a good econ book for the initiated readers and everybody else, as it doesn't treat you like a dupe. Definitely preferable to The Armchair Economist, but you should balance your diet with a reading of Capitalism and Freedom. LEWIS GAINOR MIZZOU ECON


HMS Victory : Her Construction, Career, and Restoration
Published in Hardcover by Naval Institute Press (14 January, 2000)
Authors: A. P. McGowan, John McKay, and Alan McGowan
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Best equal Victory book I've read
Although this book deals mainly with the restoration of the HMS Victory it does delve into the history of the ship in the process. My resaons for purchasing the book relate to a modelling project that I'm doing and knowing what problems are associated with restoring the Victory help in my quest to build an accurate model. The book starts out with a brief history of the ship and then gets stuck into the restoration aspect which does get a bit tedious but I'm glad someone has made the effort to document this aspect of the Victory's career. It is important. The second half of the book is filled with outstanding drawings of every aspect of the ship you could ever ask for. John McKay has done an outstanding job with the drawings here and I'm of the opinion that this book combined with his other book "The 100 gun ship Victory" would enable the construction of thr Victory from the keel up. "The Anatomy of Nelson's Ships" is another must have and I have all three.

A beautiful book cleverly stuffed with exciting material.
In all honesty and simplicity this book is great. It is a substantial sized book with excellent paper quality. The layout is professionally done which makes it very enjoyable to return to on a regular basis. The first half of this book contains very interesting info in the form of tables, charts and text on the Victory's history and career, pictures also help tell the story. The second half of the book is made up of drawings; John McKay once again has done a superb job at preserving the Victory's details. These drawings make a great accompaniment to the drawings in "The 100-Gun Ship Victory" by McKay. They are of a different style, if one could say that. More of an effort has been put towards conveying detail and workings rather than drawings suitable for reconstruction. In closing I will say that the title explains the contents accurately, and the reviews below are true and accurate. Enjoy.
Michael

The great ship saved
Alan McGowan, Chairman of the Victory Advisory Technical Committee, and Canadian illustrator John McKay have produced a truly wonderful book about the greatest of sailing warships, HMS Victory, which serves not only as a tribute to the ship and the men who sailed her, but also to those who saved and restored her to her present grace. Unlike USS Constitution, which truly is a corpse of a once beautiful frigate, a ghost of her lovely War of 1812 self, Victory has been returned to her precise appearance at her moment of greatest fame, October 21, 1805, the Battle of Trafalgar.

The first half of the book goes into startling, fascinating detail about the condition of Victory and the many years since her permanent drydocking in 1922 spent repairing and restoring her. The battle against dry and wet rot, death watch beetle infestations, and the odd German bomb (a bomb fell into Victory's drydock in 1941 - by some miracle she didn't catch fire, which would have destroyed her utterly) has gone on more or less continuously, and it is interesting to read how the restorers have learned from earlier mistakes (new repair work has sometimes rotted within a few years) and adopted new techniques and materials. While she appears very authentic, there have had to be compromises, cleverly disguised, and these are described by McGowan - emergency escape doors carefully camouflaged in the hull, her rigging replaced with polypropylene rope, her heavy wooden spars replaced with steel, her wrought-iron lower masts (themselves borrowed from the armored frigate HMS Shah in the 1880s) fastened through her keel into the floor of the dock to relieve the pressure on her 240 year old hull.

In the second half of the book, artist John McKay contributes a series of magnificent drawings showing Victory in her Trafalgar configuration, with details of rigging, armament, interior layouts, etc. This portfolio of illustrations will provide almost all the reference needed for anyone interested in building a model of HMS Victory in her prime.

I cannot recommend this book more highly to anyone interested in sailing warships in general and HMS Victory in particular. I don't give many books five stars, but this one deserves every one.


Hunter's Tropical Medicine and Emerging Infectious Diseases
Published in Hardcover by W B Saunders (15 January, 2000)
Authors: George W. Hunter, MD Strickland G. Thomas, G. Thomas Strickland, Alan J. Magill, and Ray Kersey
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Hunter's Tropical Medicine by G. Thomas Strickland (Editor)
I'm a doctor, a specialist of naval and tropical medicine. "Hunter's Tropical Medicine" is the most important publication which I need and use for my job.

Best book for developing world medicine
This book is essential to practice developing world medicine. I'd be lost without it.

Into the world of bugs
this book is well written by experts in their field, excellent book , used it as your bible. Most of the author are my former mentor at the John's Hopkins Univ.


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