The subtitle "The Complusion to Build" was what attracted me to the book after first learning about it in another Chelsea Green publication. I hoped for insightful wisdom about one's motivation to build things out of wood using traditional methods like timberframe. And there are some nice parts about the use of old tools, especially one section where he describes visiting a used tool shop in Maine. But I was dissatisfied with the book because of the constant digressions about the "local yokels." I wasn't interested in reading character studies of a misfit Vet, two junkyard owners, the local Amish families, and assorted others who populate this corner of upstate NY. I was hoping for deeper ruminations about craftsmanship, along the lines of "Grain of Truth: The Ancient Lessons of Craft" by Ross Laird. [That book was better than this one but at the time I didn't like it much either -- see my review about it.] Oh well. At least it was a quick read due to the extremely short chapters.

This book is every bit as good as all the praise on its back cover, and its additional reviews promise. Thomas Glynn is a clear-headed, self-deprecating, and slyly reverent wise man. Often in this book he seems nearly egoless. It's part of how good and smart he is, and how well he tells his story.

This is a seemingly simple but actually multi-layered book, on its surface about the building of a small house that Glynn and his wife planned on "cheap land," that they bought. The land appealed to him despite the fact that he knew "I didn't really want to live on a farm, I wanted to live on the idea of a farm." And he really does build a house, and on a tight budget. He hires helpers, and is part of a little team. "Years ago I realized I wasn't much good at making money. I don't know why it took me so long to realize this." But he knows what it is that he loves, and one of those things is the work of carpentry.

Glynn's book is divided into neat, short chapters. Some are almost meditative. He thinks deeply about a lot of things. He writes about himself, and several people and places who in the course of this project become important to him. There's a lot about wood, tools, and building, and somehow it is all very interesting, whether or not you liked Woodshop class.

You learn about as much about the characters as you might know had you lived around there for twenty or thirty years. One of Glynn's incredible abilities is that he never tells too much about a person. It works well in this book. Whittled-to-the-bone declarative sentences reveal deep inner lives, complex and layered thinking, real emotion. It's a guide to run-down things, to parts of the northeast US that don't show up in the guidebooks, to persistence, to the value of things that might not have a price tag, or might be had for free if one knows where to look or how to ask - and a meditation, really, on nature, work, creativity, human (and canine, come to think of it) oddness and will. Glynn would seem to be a man who without any self-consciousness is, in fact, in tune with his surroundings and his fellow man - and can teach us a lot about love and acceptance.

A great read, I have bought copies to give away, and you definitely do not need an interest in carpentry to enjoy it.

I picked this book up after being attracted to the title and the pen-and-ink sketches of hardware and tools that appear sporadically; it's all very Eric Sloane-ish.

But this book is only marginally about tools and wood and carpentry. The short chapters document the building of a house in passing, true, but they also tell the stories of Donald and Eldon, a pair of brothers whose farms neighbored Glynn's; Harlow, who shot cows when he didn't take his medicine; and numerous other local people and places.

In passing, you do learn a bit about timber framing, woodworking tools and other construction lore, but it's really the story of Glynn and the town he picked to build his house in. And it's very good.

It's

Many business books are a form of utopian literature and should be treated as such. Given this premise, one would think that a book with a title like "Journey to the Emerald City" would be a top-notch business book as it suggests the authors might have a certain awareness of this genre.

Unfortunately, this in not the case here. Instead, this is yet another entry in the "book as selling tool" sweepstakes. In this sub-genre of the business book, the book is the foot-in-the-door for selling consulting services. Little more than a powerpoint presentation fleshed out with the usual miscellaneous facts and figures, these books are short on everything but jargon. They offer middle managers cozy, self-evident insights and simplistic advice that most company employees find insulting or at least insipid. (Around our office, the charts in the first chapter that show "non-aligned" and "aligned" processes and goals are considered a fine example of this facile and fallacious sub-genre as they keenly demonstrate the obvious in the most obvious fashion possible.)

Business books are not known for their sense of humor, certainly, because as we all know, business is extraordinarily serious. Yet, lack of wit and self-awareness are not virtures either. Nor is the plodding purposefulness with which the authors describe their "innovative" approach, although again, they are clearly in good company in this genre.

A shame really, especially since clearly the publishers felt strongly enough about the book to spend some extra bucks on shiny green foil on the jacket. Then again, perhaps the title is more apt than I take it to be. Like in the Wizard of Oz, we find there is no wizard behind the flashy curtain and special effects, but rather the usual seller of snake oil.

In 1998, the authors wrote The Oz Principle around the concept that "an organization will perform at its highest potential if, and only if, each of its members assumes personal accountability for achieving its results." Thus, Conners and Smith emphasize a corporate culture that is based on personal accountability, with leaders, goals, tasks, teams, and every aspect of organizational life connected to that theme.

I will admit to being put off by the title and the cover. Wizard of Oz? Dorothy and her red shoes? The Cowardly Lion? Do I have time for fables and games? There are some mentions of Frank Baum's classic, some quotes, and some relationships like explaining that managers don't have magic. Overall, however, this book is a solid management book on changing organizational culture. And that's a vital issue for a lot of companies today.

The book is organized into three sections whose titles give good insight into the value and flow of the text: Understanding Company Culture, Shifting to a New Culture, and Accelerating Culture Change. The ten chapters explain the concepts and a process for moving forward in an organized, results-oriented fashion. The book is filled with practical approaches that can open a company to achievements that have been trapped inside by a dysfunctional culture. The key is accountability that starts at the top of the organization with an open and complete style of leadership. No games: communication.

The authors show us how to change the way people think and act. They show how to get people involved in a positive way so transformation can occur. Culture change is a journey, a journey that can be taken at an agonizingly slow pace, a normal flow (whatever that is), or moved to a higher level of velocity and enthusiasm. Graphics and an index enhance the book's value, which is far beyond the connection to the Oz story.

You'll learn from consultants who have "been there" and achieved results. The knowledge you gain will enable you to achieve some change in your organization based on what these men have learned and share in this book.

An Excellent Book.. A must for all the mangers in any organisation.

Skidmore and Smith deliver a great historical review of the development of Latin America covering the span between the precolonial period and present time. These authors further engage in individualized analysis of some countries, though leave out some with great historic importance, like Bolivia. Overall however, this book serves as an outstanding reference guide to those interested in Latin American Studies.

Great companion to any intro course of study of Latin American history. You will find easy to follow and clear accounts of the regions and their occastionally hostile beginnings, the political, social and religious climates as well as the traditions and beliefs handed down through the centuries.

There is much to appreciate in this book and I'd recommend it for anyone interested in delving deeper into this region which is rich in history and development.

This is a great book for thoes who know little about Latin American and want to get both snipits as well as the general feel of the past 150 years of Latin American history. As a history major I highly recomend it.

This series is by far the best action/adventure of it's type out there today.
If you like SEAL TEAM 7 then you will LOVE this series even better. The rawness and savagery are written extremely well with characters that are not perfect - but extremely interesting to delve into time and again.
Sgt. Night Runner is by far the most interesting of the team with his American Indian background coming more and more to the fore with each novel, turning him into a warrior of old with new technology helping.
What I like about this series is Mr. Smith always starts right off in the thick of things without bogging you down with boring political jargon. His action scenes are very colorful and well thought out. You can tell that he is a writer with firsthand experience with this.
I normally don't read this type of genre, but thank god for Amazon.com for getting me interested. I have purchased all of the novels and will be a James R. Smith fan for as long as he writes this top-notch adventure.
Thanks Mr. Smith!

This 3rd in the FORCE RECON adventure series is an all-out assault on the combat senses, giving the reader a front row seat for high octane action/adventure.
The only complaint I have is that they are too short. The Team Midnight are at it again in Kosovo, fighting Serbs as well as their own bombing raids.
The new character called Perfect was delicately written and was a plus for this growing action series.
You can tell that the author loves to write about his favorite character - Night Runner - because even though he is not the main character - he is by far the most interesting.
Jack Swayne, the leader of team midnight, is a great character whom is both smart and deadly when the time is ripe.
Being stuck behind enemy lines and surrounded by armed Serbs isn't enough, throw in a crazy dictator and Swayne's love interest as his captor, and you have a great action read.
This is a must for action fans of all genres. Man, this author was a great find. If you haven't tried this guy out - then hurry and order your books now, or look in your used book stores for past novels by this author. He doesn't disappoint!

Much of the Kirkus review was accurate, although, the point that New Agers will find little that resonates is probably the most compelling reason to buy this book. It isn't New Age mystical garbage---I wasn't levitating when I read this book.

Cayce is a fascinating character. Because of his deep faith, he wrestled with the concept of reincarnation and tries to reconcile a biblical explanation for what he experienced in the "life" readings. I found the final chapters of the book more interesting than much of the rest of the book. But it deserves better treatment overall than was given by Kirkus.

Have you ever wondered what it might be like to see inside the mind of a great psychic? To be able to access information about people and places that reaches far beyond the physical dimension? Edgar Cayce's biography, expertly compiled by a professional journalist and editor from Cayce's never-before-published autobiographical notes, a personal diary, and lecture records, allows us just such a rare glimpse. Cayce (1877-1945) is the world's best-documented psychic, with over 14,000 verbatim transcripts of 'readings' on topics ranging from health concerns, reincarnation, astrology, spiritual development, earth change predictions, and other metaphysical topics catalogued in the Library of the Association for Research Enlightenment in Virginia Beach, VA.

Edgar Cayce is also known as the "Father of Holistic Medicine," whose unorthodox naturopathic cures, while helping many regain their health who had been given up as hopeless by the medical establishment, once led to his arrest on grounds of practising medicine without a licence.

In "My Life As a Seer," we get to know the Edgar Cayce who struggled with self-doubts regarding his psychic gift, and with concerns about the impact which the information from his readings might have on those who sought his counsel. We meet Cayce the family man, a photographer by profession, whose deep faith sees him through a series of defeats, including the destruction by fire of his studio; the closure, for lack of funds, of the hospital he had spent years trying to build; an eviction from his home; and physical injuries suffered while being the target of a humiliating attempt to expose him as a fraud. Through it all, Cayce remained a sincere and humble man,who was motivated not by fame nor by riches (which eluded him all his life), but by an overwhelming desire to serve God and help his fellow human beings.

"My Life As a Seer," as grandson Charles Thomas Cayce says in the foreword, represents "the first account of Edgar Cayce's life told completely in his own words. He does not dwell on all of the personal aspects of his life, but focuses primarily on those experiences that marked him since childhood as decidedly different from anyone else in his world."

Reading this fascinating book is the closest most of us will come to talking with Edgar Cayce in this lifetime.

This is a very good book. I give it 4 stars because it is not told in such an engaging manner (so it gets 5-stars for content and 3-stars for style). But it does give you a complete version of the early Socrates, and it shows how Plato's attitudes influenced the presentation of Socrates in various dialogues.

The book covers several areas of Socrates' approach, breaking it into six chapters. Each chapter covers a separate aspect of Socrates' thought: his method, his epistemology, his psychology, his ethics, his politics and his religion. The argument is directed to showing that much of Socrates' approach is based on his religious views, so that one can't separate the Socratic argument and method from Socrates' conception of piety and god. The two make the argument that Socrates is essentially a religious thinker, that his religious attitude was central to Socrates' method.

This interpretation is reasonable as far as it goes. My interest, however, is epistemology. Here I find the approach conventional, lacking in some important points. I can't really fault the authors because all Platonists I have read so far remain silent on this subject. Brickhouse and Smith have a section discussing "The Procedural Priority of the Definition," and it is a good in so far as it points out the importance to Socrates of defining terms. However, the discussion never gets to the "meta-theory" of the notion of definition; it never discusses what Socrates' actual notion of definition entails or whether it is or ever was suitable to describe real activities.

I find Socrates' apparent notion of definition, one that tries to define terms using models of geometric or arithmetic measures or of physical attributes of things, to be a deficient formula of definition. Wittgenstein showed that some definitions simply don't work that way. This formal notion of definition doesn't apply well to words like "garden" (are there absolute physical properties all gardens reduce to), "weed" (are there general properties of weed other than as a plant not wanted by the gardener in his garden), or "piety," "goodness," or "virtue."

It should be remembered that Socrates never arrived at satisfactory definitions for these or many other value concepts that interested him. And the modern heirs of Socratic formalism, the positivists, have thrown out the notion of value as it relates to philosophical description. This indicates one of two possibilities: either Socrates' notions about values were inconsequential because the very idea of value lacks a basis in real (formal) description, or his notion of formal description was deficient because it could not satisfactorily encompass the real values that he wanted to discuss.

Brickhouse and Smith go directly to the relevant issues in today's Socratic studies. Following the arguments of Vlastos, Kraut and others, this collection of six essays is both well-thought and insightful. Their documentation or counter arguments and commentaries is very thorough, and lends itself well to deeper investigation. A great book for scholors as well as for those reading Plato for the first time.

A creative person have original ideas and pursue their ideas with commitment.

Three PhD's whose specialty is cognitive pyschology put together a summary in 1995 of research on creativity. It makes very interesting reading because this cognitive research approach can control variables and determine what are the actual causal factors that lead to creating great ideas or products.

It easy to read and contains lots of good footnotes and discussion about what makes a practical good idea. I would have given the book a 5 if it had organized and discussed the techniques more. I had to work hard to pull out and organize their main recommended techniques. However, I'm glad I bought the book.

This book is recommended for those who want a background on creativity from researchers... and that is somewhat easy to read. If you are looking for a list of creativity techniques to immediately apply, you might find this book to be interesting but not enough of a cookbook... although they do offer some great ideas. Many of the ideas were proposed by others, but these authors show some of the research behind why they work.

John Dunbar
Sugar Land, TX

This book is about a young boy who goes on a ship with his father, who owns the ship, to an island (I forget what it is called). The boy makes friends with a young seal pup. He makes enemies with a man who works on the ship, and this guy doesn't forgive him. So this guy tries to take the boy (who's name is David) hostage and hold him for ransom. David, however, swims away to the island they are near with the seal pup folowing him. When he gets to the island some indians capture him.

David has a hard time with the Indians (who have him as a slave) until one day he is seen playing with the seal pup. I will save the rest of the story for you to find out by reading this book, and please do, it's GREAT!!!!!

Mary Leefe Laurence' childhood experiences on various military posts during the American Indian Wars, 1878-1890 was facinianting because it "fleshed out" the American soldier of the period and filled in the blanks of life on a remote Western post when the men were not fighting Indians. Ms. Laurence' Victorian politeness still left gaps that today's writers would have filled in. Mr. Smith's excellent editing and annotations caused me to read this book with two bookmarks to gather every bit of inforation available, much the same way I would read one of Dan Thrapp's books on this period.