Tom Wentz has done it again. His book, "Transformational Change," is the best book I've read on that subject; and I've read many.

This time around Tom combines forces with his son, Bill, (who is a teaching and playing golf professional) to create a fascinating and very instructive treatise on leadership. The book narrates - from multiple perspectives - human actions and reactions to a business simulation that the authors conduct through nine holes of "team golf." The lessons are profound and the narrative style is compelling (I read it through on the first reading). More importantly, you don't have to be a golfer to get the messages. If you know who Tiger Woods is, you'll get the message.

The core lesson - that you must start with the end in mind and SWING TO BALANCE, rather than "hit the ball" - is simple to understand and very hard to execute. Of course that's the way leadership is in real life.

I've got a dozen I'm giving to my clients.

In Leadership and Golf, Tom and Bill Wentz have provided an entertaining experience in business, life, and golf. We all have a limited amount of time and money - invest both wisely and spend a couple of hours experiencing the meaning of Swing To Balance. Its not what you'll learn that will make the difference, though most will learn something, its what you'll feel that will change the way you think and act.

Mr. Wentz gets it right when he writes, "You not only have knowledge about Swing to Balance, you have feelings about it. It is not until a concept becomes a vision in terms of emotions that a person or organization can choose to behave as that concept implies."

Leaders act on information, but emotions are often the catalyst that gets the action started . . . or stopped. Learn to Swing To Balance, and learn how to make meaningful, positive change in life and business.

"Swing to Balance" is an excellent book that uses the golf swing as an analogy for business. You don't need to have any golf knowledge to understand how businesses suffer if they cannot utilize everyone in the organization and coach them to understand the company goal. Thomas Wentz does a wonderful job helping these actual real characters understand how working together for a common goal will result in success. It will transform your business.

This book will surprise you with its revelations, such as - what do the current and all previous UN Secretary-Generals have in common? All are/were socialists or Marxists (without exception). Here's the straight scoop folks: the UN Charter and the US Constitution are incompatible with each other. Something is going to give. The main difference, as the book points out, is the source of 'rights'. Our Constitution recognizes and protects 'God given' rights. With the UN, rights are not absolute, and subject to any number of provisos. Get this book, read it (it's not too long), and encourage your friends/family to read it too. We needed to get out of the UN 'yesterday'.

After reading this book, I have become encouraged to reach out and educate people of the dangers of the United Nations. Please do likewise!

People in USA and Europe must read this book and start a people movement to stop the madness. Luckily Norway is still out of the European Union, against the "Quisling" ,former Norwegian prime minister: Gro Harlem Brundtland. She is now head of the UN WHO ! Watch out all free and healthy people of the world!

To capture the ironies, poignancies, and soulful idiosyncrasies of the grave sites pictured in this book, William Greiner spent several years traversing the cemeteries of New Orleans and South Louisiana....Despite Greiner's obvious debt to William Eggleston, who is often cited as the father of modern color photography, his photographs stand out as originals. The compositions are provocative, and he renders garish colors into a lushly seductive palette..... Mr. Greiner's small, Louisiana-style models of the barren earth combine with Thomas Lynch's elegant foreward to make The Reposed a fascinating book. Nov/Dec 1999

William Greiner's first monograph is a welcome selection of photographs from his many years of work in color. Greiner's view of the world, mainly in his native Louisiana, is alternately witty, tender and rhetorical. THE REPOSED is a book that the viewer will want to look at again and again.

-- Deborah Bell, Private Dealer of Photographs, New York City

If one picture is worth a thousand words, then this book is worth sixty two thousands words to describe the surreal photographs. Definitely not enough room here to convey what I think is a remarkable look at cemeteries in and around New Orleans. William Greiner is a genius with a camera,who has taken the cemetery photograph and made it into a haunting, beautiful work of art.

I'm adding my voice to the chorus of praise for the G&D books. The attention to detail is impressive. The authors go so far as to account for the different definitions of "inch"--an inch of armor in the Royal Navy was actually 0.98in, and this reflects correctly in the figures cited for the KGV, Lion, and Vanguard classes. In citing the damage inflicted on France's Dunkerque by exploding depth charges, the authors properly tally, not the amount of explosive in all the depth charges lying alongside the ship, but only the amount which detonated properly. Impressive work.
It should be no surprise that more recent revelations have overtaken G&D's look at Soviet designs. Still, the info they do present is generally representative of the design's actual properties. A similar state applies in the chapter on Dutch Design 1047.
The only caution requiring the reader's attention is that the occasional typo pops up to confuse the statistical information. This is a general caveat for all three volumes rather than this one in particular.

Among many books dedicated to capitol ships in the II WW, this volume is a very pleasant reading. It comes close to the experience of on the spot study of the design, construction and operational life of dreadnoughts of allied Navies, leading every naval buff to the very insight of the ship themselves. Each class is thoroughly illustrated, giving detailed information of ship's armament, protection systems, engineering and machinery. The best facet is the careful examination of operational career of each ship and the analysis of battle damage sustained by the ship according to testimonies, technical data and the most probable reconstruction of incoming shell trajectory. The damage studies are interesting since they are presented with extensive use of line drawings, further explaining the ships' innermost structural architecture. Another remarkable feature is the extensive chapter dedicated to Soviet wartime effort to build capital ships. It literally casts a light on the subject, providing many facts and photographs of this unknown page of II WW. Profiles, armor diagrams, shear,frame & body plans, line drawings are very accurate as they are results of blueprints' deep investigation.

This book is really an authoritative source for studying battleships from their inception to their final days.

Mssrs Garzke and Dulin have written a trio of detailed, comprehensive and objective analyses of the battleships of the World War II era (designs past 1930). In this volume, they analyze the capital ships of the Netherlands, Great Britain, France and the Soviet Union. Overall, they rate the units of France as the best in the 35,000 treaty class due the Richelieu's fine protection and speed coupled with excellent firepower. The authors analyze the loss of Prince of Wales to Japanese air attack and the loss of Hood to Bismarck in intricate detail. For any wargamer or student of warships or naval history, this book is a must. Even designs contemplated but never laid down or completed are discussed, including the Lion class and French Alsaace class. A must read.

This book will show how to turn a cold clinical facility into a warm, caring home. A place families want to visit, not make exuses to avoid. This truly can be revolutional. Anyone placing a person into a nursing facility should make sure they have Edenized.

As a Regional Ombudsman, responsible for a large county in N. CA, I used this book to inspire people to form a "Family Council" in a sample nursing home and to lobby for the changes that Thomas recommends. The home adopted several of the changes and they transformed the home, once known as the worst in the county into the best. Several people emerged from years of depression, others simply took a whole new interest in life, others simply had whole-hearted laughter reenter their lives for the fist time in years. The Eden alternative is indeed the "recipe" for making one's years in long term care "worth living."

I am a Regional Ombudsman for a county in Northern California with responsibility for 970 Skilled Nursing "beds", so I see first hand what happens even in the "best" of Nursing Homes. This book, if taken seriously represents such a profound, yet so seemingly simple approach, that nursing homes would become "homes" for the first time - places where one could look forward to living out one's last years still growing and still having a reason for living. One nursing home in my district is beginning to implement it and one example will suffice. There was a woman who was so severely depressed, nothing could reach her - no drugs, no therapy, nothing! Then the facility put a cockatiel across from her room (part of Thomas'"Eden Plan.") Ever so slowly, she started to take an interest in that bird. Then she got out of bed on her own for the first time so she could see it better. Then she crossed the hall and started talking to the bird. Then she started talking to other residents and to the staff. Her depression was gone. A simple bird had done what no drugs, no therapists, nothing else could do. And that is but a tiny part of the picture. This particular nursing home has gone from what many considered to be the worst home (it's name among the people outside was "Hellhaven")in my district to, in my opinion, the best, and they are just getting started! Read this great book. You won't be able to put it down and it will change the way look at nursing homes forever. Rev. Wayne Bradley Robinson, Ph.D., Regional Ombudsman for Placer County, California. wayner@cwia.com

Guerrilla warfare is seldom spoken in Civil War circles or written about. Probably one of the more popular characters in this topic from that period is Bill Anderson. Authors Albert Castel and Thomas Goodrich have assembled quite a bit of useful information in regards to Anderson's ambitions, motivations, movements and operations throughout Kansas and Missouri. This dangerous, callous and revengeful individual is brought forth to show how rough and chaotic war can be, especially for a divided state such as Missouri. Anderson leads his small band of raiders throughout these states living like desperate pirates to plunder towns and more importantly hunt down enemies to the extreme.

Anderson's life is never short of violence as he is the ultimate and sadistic leader of a dangerous group of bandits that have borderline allegiances to the Confederate cause. Portraying to be Union Cavalry, Anderson and his band of murderers steal, burn, kill and ravage towns of Union sympathizers. Union Militia throughout the state of Missouri is quickly and badly organized to hunt down Anderson and his company that seems to constantly grow larger in membership. Anderson raids towns such as Fayette and Centralia leaving deadly results by killing many former Union soldiers, burning depots and various other buildings while looting stores. Anderson and his gang are always drinking and whiskey seems to elevate their need for murder and money that never ends.
Is he ever stopped?

Like many, I couldn't resist this book and wished for more though there is quite a bit of useful information for a short book of roughly 144 pages. It was descriptively well-written, concise, maps and pictures were included which gave the book a great rhythmic flow as far as content. 5 STARS!!

This is a very interesting and well written book about the atrocities that Bill Anderson and his bushwhackers committed, within the background of the Civil War. The authors have done a tremendous amount of research and it pays off.

The only problem I has with it is that at 150 pages, it was a bit too short. Then again, the subtitle does say Short and Savage life.

Well recommended for Civil War or military history buffs.

I found this book to be an easy to read history of not only Anderson but the circumstances that helped create him. The authors have done an excellent job turning up new information and sifting old information to write a helpful new view of Anderson. The book is well footnoted and contains several never before printed photos including a photo of Anderson's wife, Bush Smith and one of the cord he used to keep track of his kills. This book is a must for anyone interested in the Civil War on the Kansas-Missouri border.

Stedman's Medical Dictionary is a near-perfect lexicon that should serve the needs of anyone interested in medical language. With it, you are assured of simple but precise definition of terms. Although its biggest shortcoming is having fewer entries than the Dorland's, its colourful illustrative figures are far better than the black and white charts that the Dorland's boast of.

This dictionary has many helpful features such as a well-illustrated color anatomy section, a large word-finder index, appendices of DRGs,blood groups, lab values, temperature scales, elements, symbols, and more. The inside cover details the many features contained in the definitions. The layout is easy to read. This also contains many illustrations and diagrams. This is an excellent medical reference book.

Having just started my medical studies I was looking for a complete dictionary to meet my demand for a comprehensive and "easy-to-use" book to guide my among the vast and sometimes difficult medical language. I found quickly that Stedman's had everything i could ever ask for in a medical dictionary. It's up to date in current research and also has many entries for termonology of old. The book is very comprehensive and detailed and even surpassed my dictionary of organic chemistry when I studied the subject.

What I especially apriciate with this book is it's pedagogical illustrations and a passage with "building-blocks of the medical language" wich has been a great help for me in understanding and memorizing medical terms.

During my studies I have compared my dictionary with many other medical dictonaries and have found that Stedman's remains my first choise by far!

This compelling love story set in medieval times shows the sacred convictions of beauty, morality, honor and integrity of which God originally intended. This book is ideal for helping instill Godly values in the younger readers, as well as support the values that are held dear by families that long for more depth in meaningful relationships.

Thomas Williams is right up there with C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien. It's a MUST to read and I look forward to reading the sequels!

Aradon and Volanna are the perfect fantasy hero and heroine. They are called on again and again to make difficult decisions in the midst of the intrigue and hardships that surround them. This book really has something to offer everyone -- romance, suspense, danger, humor. The hardest thing about reading this book is that it ends -- far sooner than you are willing to stop reading. I hope that Mr. Williams will continue this story of Aradon and Volanna, along with the other wonderful characters of the Seven Kingdoms. Read this -- I am sure you will feel the same!

Thomas Williams is truly talented! This book got me from the first page till the last and I neglected much work while reading it as I couldn't put it down.Set in medievil times around two kingdoms and an awsome forrest it's fast paced , exiting and full of adventure.It has strong characters and a fantastic story line that I wished would never end. It will make you believe in love and honour and think about your own morals and strive to be better.I loved every word!

I first read Go Down, Moses in grad school but am now returning to it after 3 years. Faulkner explores his usual themes--memory, history. black/white/Indian relations, the South, slavery, ownership, etc.--in a way that's just as compelling as in Absalom, Absalom or Sound and the Fury. It's a collection of short stories which I believe are meant to be read in order, unlike other collections. We get different viewpoints from different characters at different ages. When you're tempted to give up in the middle of a 5-page-long sentence, don't. Fascinating

It becomes quite clear after reading Go Down Moses why many critics call this William Falkner's most mature book dealing with race. In Go Down Moses, the black characters are not only as well represented as may be possible from a white author, they are believable and easy to relate to. The main character "Uncle Ike", the grandson of an influential plantation owner, comes to represent everyone who struggles with identity in the miserable face of racism. The style of the book itself was confusing for readers and critics when first published, as it makes use of a series of chapters, each with its own title and numbered sections. Faulkner resisted having the book called a collection of short stories and most modern readers should have little problem with its nonsequential chapters and its sometimes, seemingly, unrelated characters. If you have read some Faulkner, especially A Light in August or Absalom, Absalom or if you enjoy authors such as Toni Morrison and Richard Wright you must read this book to get an idea of just how far Faulkner came toward wrestling with race in his time.

I read Go Down Moses in 1996 before taking a trip to Mississippi. I had never read Faulkner before and had only one criterion for picking a book of his: it had to take place in the mythical Yoknapatawpha County. I picked this one off the library shelf.

For any non-southern American whose sole exposure to what happened there was from history books, this should forever shatter the pat preconceptions and simplistic black and white (no pun intended!) formulas they were taught.

The book plunges you into a vast panorama of ambiguities and contradictions. It was clear to me from the first paragraph that Faulkner was a genius. In the whole history of literature, he surely stands among a select few at the very pinnacle of greatness.

Go Down Moses is a tremendous struggle to get through. Some parts are straightforward and easy, but there are others that you can't hope to make literal sense of. You're bombarded by its twisted grammar. Its frantic confusion. Its endlessly unresolved sentences. But through these, Faulkner ultimately conveys the pain of history -- past and present. The emotion of that pain seems more real to him than the specific incidents it sprang from. Why else would a book begun in pre-Civil War Mississippi -- entirely skip it -- picking up again a generation later?

This book is about the South. Having read it, Faulkner walked beside me every step of the way I took through his state. But this book also has a sub-theme that should not be overlooked. Faulkner was a profound environmentalist, although sharply contrasted with how we usually think of that term. Hunters don't much fit the mold of environmentalism -- and Faulkner was an avid one of that lot. So, in that sense, along with all the sociological, he can shake you up pretty good! Go Down Moses contains some of the most wrenching descriptions you could hope to find on the loss of wilderness. There is nothing ambiguous in his portrayal of that loss. Faulkner may confound everything you thought you believed of Southern sociology, but in an environmental sense, he leaves no room for confusion. Leave those trees standing!

This book will grip you; I can't imagine it having a lesser effect. Like all truly great art, it should change you forever.

Learning from Hannah is a vehicle by which the author attempts to change our societal view that once you reach a certain age, you no longer have anything to offer, and the author achieves that goal. It tells the story of two people who learn that the elderly have much to teach us all, if only we will listen. The main characters also learn that life itself has much more to offer, beyond the next deadline for some distant project. I applaud Thomas' effort and cause, which is why I give the book 4 stars.

From a story standpoint, it felt a bit preachy after a while, and sometimes repetitive; I found myself saying "I've got the point already." In short, I became a little annoyed with the overall story. The writing seemed a little flat, but it was a good effort.

This book was incredible. I knew Dr. Thomas before he wrote this book and I can honestly say the story and wisdom come from his soul. I was so inspired by the books teachings of caring for our elderly, but also felt a tug on plain old every day living with people of all ages. I felt the authors conviction for respecting and honoring the elders of life who have so much to give to our society if we are willing to slow down and listen. I am reminded of every older person I have ever worked with and what they gave me to apply to my own life. With these lessons I realize how much we have to start with our young so that hopefully they can shape a society similar to the book. I suggest this book to anyone just looking for a warm story to stir your soul and to get you thinking about life in general, and how you will be cared for as you age. Thank you Dr. Thomas for once again inspiring me to see beyond the idea and making it a reality. This is a book that clings to your soul and stays there. I love it!

This book uses Dr. Thomas's talent for storytelling to advance his ideas. The Eden Alternative is a way for Long Term Care facilities to be a real home to the people that live there, a place families will enjoy visiting. The changes are very low tech and save money in the long run. The environment these changes create is not only wonderful for the people who LIVE there, but for the staff as well. I encourage anyone with family in a facility to read this book.