This prayer book is the best all around prayer book for daily personal (or even family)use. The Scriptures are addressed back to God and arranged by category (with direction to add certain categories of requests inbetween the sections). This adds structure to ones prayer life and breaks the monotony of "grocery list" praying. This one is a little longer than, "Praying the Scriptures for Spiritual Growth" or the "Simple Prayers" books; in my own personal devotions, it takes me about 7 minutes per daily prayer segment.

Boa has written several prayer books, all great, all solid. This is my favorite to date.

Many times when we pray we don't know where to get started, what to do, many times we just want a deeper prayer life.

This book will scripturally guide you through praying...not only the scriptures, but will guide you in praying for your world around you. It begins with praise and worship of Almighty God, leads you in a confession of Who He is, then guides you through personal renewal, petitions, intercession, and then a prayer of thanksgiving.

One of the things I liked best about this book was that it started out with each section, declaring the Word of God, then it guides you (differently each day) to pray for your leaders one day, your family the next, that you will be a faithful steward of your time and money, for God's wisdom...the list goes on and on.

Both this book and "Praying the Scriptures for Spiritual Growth" are two of the best prayer/devotional books I have ever used. If I could only keep two, these would be the two I would keep. Not only are they easy to follow, they are taken directly from the Word of God.

Face to Face is a wonderful tool to help you pray. Boa has assembled scripture into eight sections for each day. You pray through scripture for Adoration, Confession, Renewal, Petition, Intercession, Affirmation, Thanksgiving and Closing. It helps you focus and it gives a marvelous sense of the completeness of God's word. I do not recommend very many books but this is one that I would recommend to anyone. I have already given away 20 copies.

I've read all three of John Wessel's books about Harding, the ex-con PI. All three have kept me up late nights, reading "just one more chapter." I can't put these books down! Pretty Ballerina is the second in the trio, which began with This Far, No Further, and has as its latest (but hopefully not last!) installment Kiss It Goodbye. All three books are fast-paced, loaded with action, and are damn good mysteries that will keep you scratching your head until the end. Harding's cynical world view leads to some hilarious observances, but this guy's no slouch as a PI; he never misses a trick. Well, almost never. His girfriend, Alison, is equally intriguing as a kick[in] femme who keeps Harding on his toes and watches his back. She could give Xena a run for her money! All in all, the characters and the stories in John Wessels' novels a well-worth the price of admission. Wonderful books, all!

I read alot of mystery/thriller novels and this one was good change from the usual formulaic mysteries I've been reading. The novel has an atmosphere that evokes a film noir feel and Harding is great as the reluctant hero.

Twenty-two years ago, a young boy, Kim Moon disappeared without a trace. Two years after that, their father allegedly murdered Kim's adoptive family with Cassie Rayn, hiding in the basement, being the lone survivor. Over the next two decades, Cassie became a famous porn star. However, she has recently received missives from "Lost Moon Developers" that are reminders of that night of terror and hints that her adoptive sibling is still alive.

Cassie hires defrocked Chicago private investigator Harding, who lost his license after a manslaughter conviction, to investigate. Harding quickly learns that the Lost Moon Developers have sent letters to other people besides Cassie. He also realizes that the recipients of these missives have a real good reason to fear for their lives. Harding will have to uncover the identity of a nasty evil being rather quickly if he is to keep his client alive.

The second Harding mystery, PRETTY BALLERINA, is a compelling novel that will please fans that enjoy the work ethic of a hard-boiled, wisecracking sleuth. The story line is filed with action and a well designed who-done-it. However, it is Harding, that usually unemployed handyman, who turns this novel and the superb debut tale (THIS FAR, NO FURTHER), into great reads.

Harriet Klausner

The NASB Study Bible is simply the NIV Study Bible adapted for those who prefer the translation of the NASB to the NIV. It therefore includes all the strengths of the NIV study Bible: copious notes, cross-references, concordances, and maps, et al. Few would dispute that in a world of competitive Study Bibles, the NIV Study Bible is perhaps the finest produced by evangelicals.

Why then am I less enthusiastic about the NASB Study Bible? One simple reason: The NIV Study Bible works because the translators of the NIV produced all the notes. Many of the comments focus on the translation of the NIV itself and provide justification for difficult decisions in translation made by the translators. Adapting the notes for another translation almost seems pointless.

Admittedly, Kenneth Boa has admirably adapted the new edition for use with the NASB. Yet doubts remain. Why use notes principally designed for use with another translation? I suppose the obvious answer is that the market lacked a critical study Bible that uses the text of the NASB and that this was the cheapest route. But that raises another question: Must a Study Bible be made available in every translation to cater to everyone's diverse tastes?

Bottom line: If you want the NIV Study Bible, I recommend the NIV edition. If you absolutely must have the NASB then this compromise is certainly acceptable, even excellent, but not ideal. The NASB is one of the few translations that actually works well on its own, without an accompanying study notes because the footnotes and additional readings are so extensive.

I was glad to see Zondervan match the NIV study notes with the more accurate NASB translation. While the NIV is more readable, the NASB is more literal and therefore more helpful for study. The notes in this Bible can be trusted primarily for historical accurracy and for accurate protrayal of the various doctrinal viewpoints. The outlines and references to other passages within the study notes are very helpful also. The only drawback with these notes is that in fine points of doctrinal differences, they are somewhat ambiguous in an effort to appeal to all the different camps. All in all, a fine combination.

If you love the NASB, and are a serious student of the Word, this is the bible for you. It has the award-winning study notes of the NIV Study Bible plus the reliable New American Standard Bible translation with the 1995 update, hailed the most accurate word-for-word (while extremely readable) bible on the market. It has exhaustive center-column references. Charts on almost every bible subject possible are included. Introductions to every book of the bible are extensive and include information on the following: Style, Date, Author, Subject Matter, Cultural Information, and very indepth outlines. There are hundreds of intext maps and a very extensive chronology of the bible included at the beginning of the bible. The best thing about the study notes is that they are not biased to any particular denomination. When more than one view exists on a subject, generally at least three views are presented. Information from all kinds of archaeological and historical sources offers much needed insight to difficult passages. This is your one-stop for cultural, historical and theological information for almost every verse in scripture. I'm a youth minister and this bible is my main source of study and lesson preparation. I find that I don't need much more than this. If you're a minister or just a student of the Word, then you can't go wrong with the NASB Study Bible.

There are a lot of good study Bibles and several reliable modern translations to choose from. I've settled with the NIV study Bible because I find that it possesses the best mix of all the features that make a study Bible useful. It may be debatable whether the NIV is the most accurate translation, but it is certainly a reliable and responsible translation while being the easy to read. The notes do not interpret the Scripture but instead provide observational data such as definitions of words, background information about people, places, and events, and point to other related passages. Multiple explanations or views are provided in the notes on tricky or controversial passages. It comes with a large concordance plus a subject index for both the Bible and the notes. The timelines, many maps, charts, introductions, and outlines are also very helpful. I also appreciate the blank pages in back for my own notes. When traveling without any Bible study resources other than this study Bible I have been amazed at how much I can rely on it. Whichever Bible you choose, may you rely on the Holy Spirit to guide you and assist in learning more about our Lord, Jesus Christ.

The NIV Study Bible is of outstanding value for providing readers a greatly enhanced understanding of The Bible.

1. GENERAL EVALUATION: There are many Study Bibles on the market. Including the NIV Study Bible [Zondervan Press], I own and use three. While my two other versions, one is the older RSV and the other the newer NRSV, give some information to explain the more difficult to understand passages and add commentaries, none go into the depth that the NIV does. The commentaries and explanations in the NIV Study Bible are, to say the least, profuse. Yet, not overwhelming in long elucidations that tend to make you forget what you just read. Rather, the commentaries are brief, to the point and very well develop understanding. The commentaries are not biased toward any single religious canon. They are simply information. Commentaries are cross-referenced, thus allowing the reader to gain further insight from related passages.

2. FORMAT: The page format is exceptionally well planned and implemented. The design is the traditional two-column format with references in a column between the texts. The commentaries are located at the bottom of the page to which they refer. The type font is large enough to easily read and is crisp.

Icons are used to quickly identify to what the commentary refers. These icons are: Character Profile, Archeology and Personal Application.

Maps relating to the particular text are on the same page as are diagrams. The four-color maps, located at the back of the book, are excellent. There are also time lines to assist the reader in grasping the time frames.

3. SUGGETSIONS: The following comments/suggestions may only apply to those who embark on an in depth study of the Bible. Since The New Testament documents were originally in Greek, a wise choice of a companion Bible to further augment the NIV Study Bible would be the NSRV-NIV Interlinear Greek and English Bible. The NRSV and the NIV texts are on either side of the Greek text in three columns. Under the Greek, is a word for word translation. Greek of New Testament times was a rich, scholarly language and some words, like English, had varying meanings and implications. A Greek Lexicon would be helpful to understand those shades of meaning.

4. CONCLUSION: No matter for what reason(s) any person cares to study The Bible, the NIV Study Bible, in my opinion, is the most readable and understandable on today's market. For those of you who may wonder about my qualifications to comment on this Bible, my minor was theology. My studies included Greek and Hebrew; I base my opinions on those studies and having read many-many works on the Bible, the culture of the times and recent archeological finds.

I think many evangelicals know the Bible only in terms of life application. They don't know the difference between God and God the one and Only (see John 1:18 NIV), nor concern themselves with theological or historical aspects of the Bible. The NIV study Bible should help change this. Its notes are concise, numerous, and very informative. When I got this Bible, it opened up a whole new area of fascinating biblical study that perviously I had overlooked. The translation of the NIV is readable and for the most part accurate (though they sacrifice literalness for the sake of readability a lot). The notes represent the conservative side of theology and I agree with most of what they say, though I always have other versions on hand to broaden the depth of study. My only real big complaint is the lack of the deuterocanon. Though I do not consider the books to be 'inspired' scripture, I do believe for a complete study of the Bible they should be consulted. Maybe in a future addition they will be included. If people ask me which Bible to buy, I usually say this one.

Ten years ago, Harding failed to protect a young girl from her sexually abusive father. He went after the man and revenge ended up costing him one-and-a-half years in prison, not to mention his private investigator's license. Nowadays, he does work on the side for his old friend, Donnie Wilson. The case Harding is presently working on consists of getting the goods on one Dr. Stephen Rosenberg, whose wife, Elenya, is looking for a divorce and possibly access to the supposedly two million dollars hidden in a Swiss Bank account. Dr. Rosenberg is an adulterer to the tenth degree. He not only cheats on his wife with other women, but with men as well, getting heavily into S&M and other forms of kinky sex. It doesn't take Harding long to get the pictures that will insure Elenya an easy divorce and a nice settlement. The only problem is that someone else is after the good doctor...someone so despicably evil that he makes the Rosenberg's escapades look like a day at a church picnic. This monster, for want of a better word, calls himself Gaelen, and he is gruesomely killing everyone Rosenberg has been sexually involved with in an effort to set the doctor up for murder. When Harding starts getting too close to what is going on, Gaelen comes after him and his tough kickboxing partner, Alison. After a couple of encounters with this creature, one of which puts Alison in the hospital, Harding, who isn't an easy man to scare, knows that he is going to have to put this demon from Hell down the hard way, even if he has to drive a stake through his heart. Harding will also have to figure out why Gaelen is so interested Dr. Rosenberg and his wife, Elenya, and what the hidden agendas are. THIS FAR, NO FURTHER by John Wessel demonstrates what top quality writing is about. The reader is not a bystander on this journey through the gritty side of Chicago and into the heart of unthinkable evil, but rather a participant. You will literally feel the depraved evil of Gaelen and understand why the fear it generates in our hero makes Harding a more dangerous adversary. Mr. Wessel lets us know that a person never entirely escapes their past, and for Harding, it must come full circle. As he attempts to keep himself, Alison, and the Rosenbergs alive, Harding has to eventually face the results of a passed action, and in doing so, perhaps find redemption for his failure to live up to his own expectations. Few authors are able to write such a compelling novel on their first try out, but John Wessel succeeds wonderfully in THIS FAR, NO FURTHER. Its darkness will remind you of the earlier "Burke" novels by Andrew Vachss and the later "Matthew Scudder" books by Lawrence Block. Buy this book, read it, and then pick up the second novel in the "Harding" series, PRETTY BALLERINA. After that, you going to have pray like I'm doing, that John Wessel will to write more books.

John Wessel's _This Far, No Further_, introduces us to an ex-PI named Harding.

Though he no longer holds a license (because of a sequence of events which are gradually filled in during the course of the book), Harding still does some occasional work for his friend Donnie, an old friend from his Chicago neighborhood who now works in a corporate security office.

As the book opens, Harding is tracking Dr. Stephen Rosenberg, a plastic surgeon, who has some decidedly unsavory sexual practices and preys on the nurses and students at the University of Chicago hospital. Rosenberg's wife, Elenya, is getting tired of the physical abuse she must sustain at her husband's hands and is looking for a way to divorce him.

This decidedly simple premise sets in motion a very complicated chain of events and gruesome murders, which, ultimately, I don't think, was ever satisfactorily solved. When I came to the end, I still had a lot of unanswered questions.

Still, the book was very good in its depiction of winter in Chicago; of the post-graduate hangers-on around campus, including Harding's friend, Boone; and of the unusual relationship Harding has with his former girlfriend, Allison, a woman into Goth and kick-boxing, and who now appears to be a lesbian. Harding is a memorable creation--a very well-educated, moral, romantic detective who loves horror movies. I wouldn't mind spending more time with him, though I hope subsequent books aren't as complicated.

Those who dislike a very dark, grim, at times even grotesque read, will be turned off by this book.

I've read all three of John Wessel's books about Harding, the ex-con PI. All three have kept me up late nights, reading "just one more chapter." I can't put these books down! This Far, No Further is the first book in the trio, Pretty Ballerina is the second, and its latest (but hopefully not last!) installment is Kiss It Goodbye. All three books are fast-paced, loaded with action, and are damn good mysteries that will keep you scratching your head until the end. Harding's cynical world view leads to some hilarious observances, but this guy's no slouch as a PI; he never misses a trick. Well, almost never. His girfriend, Alison, is equally intriguing as a kick-[butt] femme who keeps Harding on his toes and watches his back. She could give Xena a run for her money! All in all, the characters and the stories in John Wessels' novels a well-worth the price of admission. Wonderful books, all!

if everybody who can't write wouldn't, we'd have few novels like this one

I should have known this novel wouldn't be to my liking. After all, I did not particularly enjoy Wessel's two previous efforts. I was told that, when it comes to this author, third time's a charm -- that this novel shows some growth and improvement. What I got was the typical detective blabber that makes novels of this kind trite and, believe it or not, predictable. I'd skip this one if I were you.

Though I thoroughly enjoyed John Wessel's previous two novels in the "P.I. Harding" series (THIS FAR, NO FURTHER & PRETTY BALLERINA), his newest book, KISS IT GOODBYE left me somewhat confused at the end. In fact, I'm still scratching my head in puzzlement, trying to make some sense of who the bad guy actually was and the book's finale. KISS IT GOODBYE brings back ex-con/ex-PI Harding and his tough-as-nails girlfriend, Alison, as they try to help Detective Terry Crowley of the Chicago Police Department solve the murder of Tracy Lawrence, one of Alison's old college roommates. While this is going on, Harding and Alison are attempting to keep Beth Reinhardt and Charles Muller (two more friends from Alison's college days) from splitting up and continuing on with their wedding plans. Add to this the possibility that Dr. Henry Dahlgreen, who's friends with everyone, may have his eyes on Beth, and Logan Pollard, who knows the girls from their college days, may just have his eyes on Alison. Plus, there's Henry Dahlgreen's wife, Moira, who has slept with most of the men involved, not to mention Tracy and Alison. And, let's not forget Crystal Royce, who's been just as bad as Moira with the same gentlemen and happens to have a psychopathic brother who just got out of prison and has been hired by one of the above to do some killing on the side. Last, but not least, is the murdered victim, Tracy Lawrence. Not only did Tracy sleep with everyone, she also looked a lot like Alison, which means that Harding's girlfriend could very well be the next intended victim. This isn't even the tip of the iceberg. Harding, like the reader, has to make sense of this complex plot, along with all of the multiple sub-plots that seem to intertwine with each other. It's a task that even the best PIs in the world of fiction would find daunting. KISS IT GOODBYE isn't a bad novel-it's simply a little too confusing at times with one too many plot twists for its own good. I had a difficult time keeping track of all the characters and how they were involved with each other, plus I ended up with more questions than answers when the book reached its final few pages. What did make the novel fun for me were Harding and Alison. They remind me a lot of the "Kenzie/Gennaro" characters in the series by Dennis Lehane. I enjoy their toughness, the bantering between each other, and the fact they have everyday problems just like the rest of us, especially Harding with his drinking and his inability to commit. These two together are nearly impossible to put down. Though KISS IT GOODBYE isn't as good as John Wessel's first two books, I hope the author will continue on with the series. He has some great characters here that definitely deserve a better story line. With time and a few more novels under his belt, Mr. Wessel could eventually be giving Dennis Lehane a run for his money.