As a teacher of Chinese martial arts, I highly recommend this book, which covers a secret and highly developed aspect of the Southern White Crane style, which trains both physical strength and martial qi power, known as jin. This balance of internal and external training promotes health, increases longevity, and deepens understanding of martial skills. The general concepts of Chinese martial arts and qigong are presented in succinct yet thorough discussions, along with the history of Chinese martial arts and the underlying theory, philosophy and spiritual discipline.

I've definately finded the best source of informations on Martial Arts : Yang Jwing Ming , and this book one of the best . From this pages You can study several training pattern and integrate them in Your style now , but later read them again and again , them will reveal many other aspects !!

After 22years of Wado Ryu Karate, 9years in competition (kata and kumite),4 dan black belt and 5 years federal instructor, I've started Tai Chi getting the instructor level 3 years ago. This book is so deep that if you really didn't spend all your life in serious(and hard)trainning(whatever martial art)you miss most of the matter as well as you won't get tips if you spent your life moving fast from a martial art to another or just wearing exotic uniforms.The book is semply great in the way the Jing is explained. The proposed sequences really allows you to develop and implement your chi and express your Jing. A must for moving from muscolar strength to something highly advanced. A book every real martial artist should have. Anyway a good source of theory and hystorical information.

This is a very good study Bible, with solid and accessible commentary from respected Reformed theologians like RC Sproul and JI Packer (better than Ryrie to be sure). Like the previous reviewer, I too strongly prefer the paragraph format and the New King James Version as the best translation out there (fwiw, it was done by translators who believed in the inerrancy of Scripture). The books are opened with a good discussion of background and context. Most comments are brief but illuminating, and there is the occasional one-page forays into more substantive issues (e.g. Angels, The Sacraments, Christian Liberty). I have the leather version, which I like but I did have to get the binding repaired rather quickly- hopefully they've improved the quality control.

Out of the three study Bibles I have at home, I'd say that I trust most what I read and learn from the New Geneva Study Bible because of its trueness to the original texts of many centuries ago as well as its God-centered study notes. The more you dig into all of the great things that this Bible offers, the more you will gain an accurate view of God's awesomeness and His sovereignty over creation, redemption, missions, and much more. If you're serious about learning more about the one true God beyond a superficial level, I highly recommend this Bible.

In rating a Study Bible it becomes a difficult task. To try and put away one's personal taste and write an unbiased rendering can be difficult. In this case, I may have made this very mistake.

This is my personal favorate because it seems to be the strongets in doctrinal issues. Edited by renowned reformed theologian-philosopher R.C. Sproul, the logical sequence and short, but informative essays on doctrines are a plus.

The running commentary is quite good and except for a couple of "spots" like Genesis 6, quite scholarly. The running commentaries strengths are when it deals with eschatology, because the emphasis is where it should be: non-sensational and balanced.

The added essays by J.I. Packard, Bruce Waltke, and James Boice are exceptional. This study bible may present problems for a Christian culture not well grounded in reformation views or biblical doctrine in general; However, these are probably the people who need it most.

James White has written an entire series of novels set in "Sector General", an enormous spaceship/space station that functions as an interspecies hospital of the future, inhabited by dozens of different species of sentient beings from across the galaxy. The stories are always well-written, fast-paced, character-based but filled with action, and touched with satire and humor.

In this particular novel, a human named Hewlitt was raised on a colony planet and has a history of near-fatal illnesses without apparent cause, followed by miraculous recoveries. All of his life, the semi-xenophobic Hewlitt has been the target of doubt and skepticism from medical personnel, who think his episodes of illness are either self-induced (Munchausen Syndrome) or hypochondriacal in nature. In a last-ditch attempt to accurately diagnose ("final diagnosis") and treat his "illness", he goes to the galaxy-renowned Sector General hospital. I won't give away the rest of the story, but adventures and mishaps abound, with a fascinating double-climax (Hewlitt's final diagnosis and then dealing with its implications).

The story is hard to put down, and is very enjoyable reading.

I have not read the rest of James White's Sector General series but I now eagerly anticipate reading them. The humor and mystery of the book were only equalled by White's talent for describing enthralling alien characters. He paints a picture of the future with a different slant than any I have read thus far, an uplifting look at human/life ironies told from a sympathetic point of view, like a Norman Rockwell doctor who routinely treats nitrogen-breathing slime creatures from a planet with five times our gravity!

*Final Diagnosis* refers back to *Star Surgeon*, which pleased me because that the first Sector General book I ever read [in 1967 or 1968, when paperbacks were only 50 cents]. If you've read that earlier book you'll enjoy reading how things turned out, and you should enjoy the book even if you haven't. Although, as another reviewer mentioned, it's easy to figure out most of what's going on (once Hewlitt remembers his kitten's accident, the incident with Morredeth is inevitable, etc.), that doesn't matter much. Never mind the "mystery", the book is worth reading for the characters alone. I only wish, for new readers' sake, that series remained in print as long now as they did when I was a girl. The internet makes it easier to find out-of-print books than it used to be, but that's no substitute for being able to order all the earlier books from the publisher. Ann E. Nichols

Although it is part of a series, this book stands alone as the main character of the series, Conway, is given a new job as ambulance crew and leaves the station.

Initially he is not happy with the role and does not get on with the abrasive captain of the ship. However, as usual, there are plenty of new and wierd beasties and problems for him to face. This time, instead of patients arriving at the station, he is going out to find them.

The problems faced are ingenious. All the answers are there in the story but it is often not until the very end that the solution is revealed; very much a mystery story.

The only criticism I would have is that Conway and the captain spend too much time telling each other what is going on, technically - it is a bit like having technical footnotes to the story rather than letting the action speak for itself.

Good story lines, good problems, not as good at the characterisation as some of his other stories; but still an enjoyable read.

_Ambulance Ship_ begins with "The Secret History of Sector General" - White's introduction discussing the series to date - then proceeds to the 3 linked short stories of this volume, introducing Sector General's special ambulance ship Rhabwar (named for a famous figure in Tralthan medicine, being Tralthan-built).

Some misconceptions might arise for new readers (or even fans of the series who haven't previously encountered this book). Rhabwar isn't special just because it's an ambulance ship; those are actually common in White's universe already. What's special is that somebody in the Galactic Federation government has applied some lessons learned from Sector General's previous adventures. (Points to the author for giving an interstellar civilization credit for some common sense.) Someone has noticed that over the last 20 years, the Monitor Corps has found 3 new civilizations while Sector General has found 7 - since distress calls are much easier to find than any other communication signal. Once contact has been made, the hospital's track record for establishing friendly relations is also much more impressive than the Corps' - since saving lives makes a MUCH stronger impression than ordinary diplomacy.

Until the opening of this story, the Federation hasn't had a set policy for dealing with mysterious distress calls - on the face of it, why would they, until it became obvious that they needed one? Calls that DIDN'T happen to fall within Sector General's area have usually resulted in the death of any unknown aliens involved, since regular ambulance ships are specialized for various known species (usually only one or two). Rhabwar, therefore, has been specially built to handle all kinds of atmospheres, shapes, and sizes on its casualty deck, and is kept in reserve for distress calls that don't correspond to any known flight plan. (As a bonus, of course, it can fill in for just about any known species' ambulance craft, if needed.)

Senior Physician Conway, his wife pathologist Murchison, and the fragile Cinrusskin empath Prilicla (with their considerable experience of ship rescue operations and first contacts) have been assigned to Rhabwar. White also introduces Naydrad, the caterpillar-like Kelgian heavy rescue specialist, as part of the new Rhabwar team.

"Contagion" - As a shakedown assignment for Rhabwar, the team has been assigned to an ordinary search-and-rescue job: responding to a distress call from the Earth-human-crewed scoutship Tenelphi. This job begins as an opportunity for White to introduce the ship and Captain Fletcher as he and the medical team begin feeling out their relationship (which continues throughout the book). After all, what could go wrong with a simple chore like rescuing the Tenelphi?

"Quarantine" - After the Tenelphi job, Rhabwar's first proper assignment - answering an unknown distress signal - cropped up soon afterward: responding to a distress signal from a ship torn apart by hyperdrive failure. One survivor was found: a child of the previously unknown species.

"Recovery" - O'Mara orders the medical team and crew of Rhabwar to spend their on-duty time aboard ship until they've established routine procedures. (The crew's training in rescue procedures by the medical team and the reciprocal training in ship procedures didn't get launched properly in all the excitement, so White smoothly provides the usual overview of species classification for those who came into the series late.) Their next rescue job introduces the two species later known as the Blind Ones and the Protectors of the Unborn.

RELEVANT NOTE: Compared to the Protectors of the Unborn, the Blind Ones have little exposure in the Sector General books. However, White didn't waste the idea; see _Federation World_.

IRRELEVANT NOTE: The Dean Ellis cover art on the 1st US edition purports to show Rhabwar approaching a very large derelict spacecraft, but in narrative reality, the ship doesn't just carry a simple red cross - it also bears the equivalent symbols from cultures across the Galactic Federation.

Senior Physician Conway is not exactly thrilled with his new assignment to the Ambulance Ship Rhabwar but soon finds out it is more important than he thought. The Rhabwar's mission is to answer distress calls from previously uncontacted alien ships thus proving in the most direct way possible the benign intentions of the Galactic Federation. However Rhabwar's first mission is to rescue a Monitor scout ship in distress. It seems like a very simple assignment - until they find out why the ship is in trouble. Rhabwar's next casualty is a bona-fide alien - and may finally disprove the comfortable theory that cross species infection is impossible. In the final section the Rhabwar finds a disabled ship with two species aboard, one apparently imprisoned and being tortured by the other!

If you are a fan of the Sector General series then you will welcome the latest addition. As usual it presents a first contact situation but this time with not one but two new races at the same time. Interestingly the story this time is told from the point of view of Dr Prilicla and offers some new insights into this character which has formerly offered support without taking the central role.

Sadly, this is the last Sector General story, published posthumously.

After _Star Healer_, White never again used Conway as the viewpoint character. This story is from the viewpoint of his old friend Prilicla, the spider-like empath, who like Conway has been groomed for years (without his knowledge) for eventual Diagnostician status, if only he can overcome his empath's aversion to being assertive, with the subsequent risk of having unpleasant emotional radiation turned back on him. (In other stories Prilicla is referred to as a neuter "it", in keeping with polite cross-species standards, but from his own viewpoint he's referred to as "he".)

After all these years, White still finds new things to tell us about Prilicla, especially from his point of view: the only member of his species at Sector General. For instance, we always knew that he was fragile, but did you know that he uses up so much energy that every few hours he *has* to sleep? (He'll pass out on duty otherwise, but everyone knows it so it doesn't happen.) His empathic talent is exceptionally strong even for his own people; and by his own standards, he thinks he's pretty well crazy, from a culture where cowardice is considered necessary for sanity. Mind you, he doesn't *care*; life on Cinruss was boring. :)

Prilicla is still assigned to Rhabwar, having taken over when Conway was promoted, and due to the nature of interstellar travel, Rhabwar in its job of answering distress calls is the most frequent means of making first contact with newly encountered starfaring species. On the present occasion, Rhabwar will make not one, but two first contacts. The first such contact, with the Trolanni, involves a civilization from a world wherein the ecology has been damaged to the point that it no longer really supports life; the Trolanni blame another group on their planet, the druul, but that's only their side of the story. Unfortunately, to Trolanni eyes, while Prilicla isn't frightening, humans *are* - Trolanni think they look like druul.

It should be said that while White's galactic civilization has a non-interference directive of sorts, it's tempered by intelligence and good sense. On several occasions, having discovered a culture that hasn't achieved starflight but is in severe distress, a planet has been declared a disaster area and relief has been sent, rather than letting people die needlessly. Granted, this has been known to go wrong, sometimes spectacularly (see _The Genocidal Healer_), but at least they err on the side of compassion.

Another wonderful book from James White in his Sector General Series. Unfortunately,he passed away right after the book was written. The Sector General novels have been great fun to read, reminding me of the "old" sci-fi style of books. What made his book so interesting was the mix of aliens in his books and how they worked together in a medical setting to help other species. Some of his ideas were great! If you get a chance to read this book, I say start from the beginning of the series if you can get the books and enjoy yourself. This is his last book and I am sad to think another Sector General novel will not happen since he has passed away. Bless him!

The cold Alaskan air could burn anybody's skin and heart, but not this wolf named Buck. He showed he had heart in everything that he did. One of the many things Buck did during his three thousand miles was earning ownership from all the dogs on the team and from all of the men and women who owned him. He showed courage by pulling twenty five-pound sacks of flour for one hundred yards all by himself. This book is a good one to read if you love adventure, excitement and danger. I would recommend this book to anybody, but mostly the younger children because of its many fun adventures.

This review is by a family of three kids. Our mom read this book aloud to us. Here are our opinions:
Anne (12): I think this was a really moving book, but some of the writer's opinions, I didn't quite agree with. Jack London says that we are shaped by our society, but I believe that we can change ourselves, because we have free will.
Michelle (11): It was a great book, but I didn't like the middle portion, because White Fang was all hatred, killing all the dogs he met.
John (9): The best part was when White Fang was sitting at the shore as boats came up, waiting to kill all the dogs. I think White Fang was good and bad. He would be a good guard dog. But he was bad because he tried to kill. He never let any dog retreat to save themselves.
Mom: This was really a good book, but I recommend it as a read aloud. The reading level is way above my kids heads, but they understood it in context as a read aloud. There are some very ferocious parts that I skipped as I read, because I thought them too graphic. But the book did inspire us to discuss the idea that we are shaped by our surroundings, and that we have free will to make our way. But also, we shape other's lives by our own choices -- so we are responsible before God to others.

London's near epic tail of a wolf struggling to adapt to civilization is one marked by adventure, excitement and emotion. London flawlessly depicts the nature of wild beasts and the environment in which they live.
The storyline follows a young gray cub called White Fang, who is thrown into the midst of human culture against his will. The young cub develops into a dominant wolf and experiences confrontations beyond his vivid imagination. White Fang possesses unique and distinctive qualities for a wolf which is wonderfully detailed in the characters countless struggles.
This is truly a well-written book, with more than enough excitement to keep any apathetic reader intrigued. Although an interesting and insightful look at the nature of animals, the book's beginning can be considered a toil to accomplish and perhaps even tedious for some.
Fortunately, with the introduction of mankind, the story sweeps into action as White Fang strives to fuse with society, and the domesticated animals that come along with it. White Fang's Possession changes multiple times during the novel, keeping readers enthused and captivated. Be advised however, the exhilaration reaches a climax only halfway into the book, and never achieves the high level of excitement at any point afterward.
Despite the less absorbing material in the first and last parts of the book, Jack London's timeless account of a ferocious wolf molded by the fingers of civilization is well worth the read. The emotional attachment one attains from reading the pages of White Fang is more than enough to engage readers of all types. Don't miss out on this book.

One Step from the White House is a very satisfying, well-written biography of a pivotal figure in both post-World War II U.S. political history as well as 20th century San Francisco Bay Area history. The book chronicles William Fife Knowland's life in a straight-forward narrative from his 1908 birth to his suicide in 1974. Knowland's life makes a compelling story -- from his early days as the favorite son of a politically ambitious father, to his Senate years as a strong voice for the Republican Party's conservative wing, to his self-destructive golden years. Montgomery and Johnson allow the story to unfold slowly and tell itself without too much analysis or summary. While this style gives the book good narrative momentum as the reader becomes more and more familiar with Knowland, this sometimes analysis-free style resulted in this reader wondering how certain events came about, such as Knowland's meteoric rise in the Republican Senate leadership. The book is also too "soft" on its subject for a post-Watergate era political biography. While the author's introductory remarks thanking the Knowland family for their confidence and trust seem polite and appropriate, they ultimately reveal an excessive concern for the subject's descendants at the expense of the story at hand. When Montgomery and Johnson do impose some analysis on the story, it is sometimes unconvincing. The most prominent example of this is naming the book "One Step from the White House," clearly an appropriate title for a biography of Thomas Dewey or Hubert Humphrey, but the author's do not successfully sell its applicability to Knowland. In spite of such lapses, Montgomery and Johnson deliver a effective chronicle of a fascinating man and flawed man.

Gayle B. Montgomery and James W. Johnson have presented an excellent book on the complex life of Senator William F. Knowland. This book is great history of California and the (SF) East Bay Area;the Republican Party of the 1950's and the Oakland Tribune. Daniel Wyatt, the author of the life of Bill Knowland's father, Joseph Russell Knowland.

I knew Senator Knowland well, having worked for twenty years for the Oakland Tribune, and having had the unenviable assignment of writing his obituary for the newspaper following his death. Gayle Montgomery and Jim Johnson have done a magnificent job of capturing the driving demons of a man whose brusque and hearty demeanor disguised a complex and, in the end, tortured personality. This is a compelling book for every reader, not just those interested in the social an political history of the time.

If the embers of enthusiasm in your church are dying and you do not know why, rhis book is a good place to start. It guides you through a rethinking process in neither a revolutionary nor evolutionary manner, but in one of common sense. More than a fine tuning guide, it just might open your eyes to how to better run your ministry. Being careful to please God first and not just turn the church into a market driven organization, Mr. White challenges the whining tirany of the "we have always done it this way" crowd.

Rethinking the Church by James Emery White is the book to read when it comes to understanding why your church is not growing. The primary strength of this book is that it asks the right questions - it leads the reader to ask the right questions about his or her church. The secondary strength of this book is that it does not prescribe one set answer, one model of doing church, as the only possible answer for the absence of growth in one's church growth.

Based on his experience of starting a church that reaches lost people, White delineates questions that need to be asked by every church. Even though the book was written in 1997, I found the questions to be accurate today. The questions White leads the reader to ask in the areas of Purpose/Vision, Evangelism, Discipleship, Ministry, Worship, Leadership Structure, and Community seem to me to be timeless questions. The value of answering these questions honestly and applying the answers thoroughly cannot be overstated.

When reading this book, the discerning reader will understand the style of worship used in White's church. The beauty of it all is that White does not try to force the worship style of his church upon the reader's church. However, he does stress the importance of using a worship style that is relevant to the lost people in your community.

I would recommend this book to everyone in church leadership. It will help you to understand the context in which you minister, and, hopefully, how to minister better in that context.

Dr. James Emery White has written a special book for the church, church planters, and church strategists. White is no mere theorist, but a man of action. The principles espoused in this have been put into practice in the real world at Mecklenburg Community Church. In 7 years, he has moved from the dream of a seeker-targeted church to seeing over 3000 in attendance each weekend. Dr. White does not play around the fringes of easy believism, but challenges his members to go deep in their commitment and their faith. Having personally experienced a Mecklenburg Community Church worship service, I have been challenged to implement this philosophical foundation coupled with practical use of state of the art technologies to grow our church. With countless Mecklenburg members committed to going deep in their faith, James White has turned a vision into a reality and a book into a manual for church growth success.

In 1965, Black residents of public housing filed a civil rights suit alleging that public housing in Chicago was segregated. they won in 1969. This book tells (part of) the story of the 30 year struggle for relief which followed that victory.

Initially, the court ordered more (non-segregated) public housing built. That did not happen (at least for many years). This book focuses on the secodn remedy tried: the Section 8 mobility program, in which public housing residents were offered Section 8 housing subsidies (not otherwise available) in exchange for their agreement to relocate to white, middle class suburbs.

Admitting that the people who accepted this offer were both self-selected and carefully screened, the authors detail the generally positive effect these moves had on the participants, including much safer neighborhoods, generally better schools, and less racism than would be expected. Given this limited goal, the book covers its subject superbly.

The question which this book avoids is whether this experiment actually benefited the class of plaintiffs who brought the case--or whether it benefitted them more than other possible remedies. For example, what if each member of the class had simply been given cash--in an amount equal to whatever the government spent on the mobility and scattered site programs? What if all of the money had been spent on aggressive enforcement of housing discrimination laws? Similarly, the authors make no attempt to determine why most of the plaintiffs did not want to participate.

All in all, the book teaches some very valuable lessons about the positive effects of integration--proving the experts (Clark, et al) right who opined as long ago as Brown vs. Board of Education that segregation really does inflict harm on children.

Excellent read for anyone concerned about the issues of poverty and race.

This book is a good primer on the Chicago public housing desegregation lawsuit known as Gautreaux, and on the mobility program resulting from that lawsuit. Under the Gautreaux mobility program, thousands of families moved from low-income Chicago neighborhoods into white, middle-class suburbs. This book charts the progress of these suburban pioneers--both the good (e.g., safer communities and better schools), and the bad (e.g., isolation and racial harassment). The authors examine the results of studies conducted in the early and late 1980's, studies that focused on the issues of safety, social contacts, schooling, and jobs. The book shows just how radically the Gautreaux families' lives changed--and, for the most part, improved. In so doing, the authors debunk the "culture of poverty" myth--the notion that low-income African-American families are too dysfunctional to seize opportunities to improve their lives. Instead, argue the authors, low-income families can thrive in any "geography of opportunity"--any place where they find real opportunities to improve their lives. This book is best suited for advocates not already familiar with Gautreaux--to a large extent it repackages studies reported years ago. But it is an important book for the general public, and for policy makers who care about improving the lives of society's most vulnerable citizens.

The effect of environmental influences on individuals has long been debated by social theorists and is also a popular topic for literature (cf. Conrad's "Heart of Darkness"). These debates persist because it is usually impossible to decouple the effect of environment from confounding factors, such as income or educational attainment. Generally, it is not possible to conduct a controlled random experiment in which similar individuals are sent to different environments and their fates compared.

The Gatreaux project is such an experiment: poor black families of similar backgrounds were given the chance to move to either suburban or urban locations, and the results were dramatic. The Gatreaux project has thus captured national attention, having been featured on Oprah, the Today Show and in major publications such as the New York Times and the Economist.

Unlike most social programs, Gatreaux has universal political appeal: the Reagan, Bush, and Clinton administrations lauded the program's dramatic results on the lives of its participants, and used it as a model for housing projects nationwide.

The way that the program works is simple:
The Chicago Housing Authority designates a day on which Section 8 vouchers are distributed to the first N callers. On this day, the phone lines are jammed as tens of thousands of public housing residents scramble for a way out of the projects. Applicants are screened by very minimal standards --- basic apartment maintenance and lack of a serious criminal record --- and two-thirds of the applicants are accepted.

Successful applicants are offered a placement in either a city or suburban apartment unit. While candidates can turn down the offer, they know that they were already lucky to be given this opportunity and almost all accept the placement. The program is intentionally very low-profile: only a few participants are moved into each suburb in order to prevent "white flight" and residents move into private market apartment units and have no external markers of being on welfare.

The suburban and urban participants are initially identical: all were selected from the same pool of callers, and were randomly placed into private apartments in either suburban or urban locations. However, the suburban participants find their lives changed drastically by their moves.

While the urban participants mostly remain on the welfare rolls, their suburban counterparts are very likely to find employment and leave welfare. While the urban participants' children are likely to drop out of high school, their suburban counterparts are likely to graduate from high school and even college. In fact, Prof Rosenbaum relates that he met the daughter of a Gatreaux participant attending Northwestern University, where he teaches.

Rising from the desolation of the Chicago housing projects, Gatreaux has emerged as perhaps the single most successful American social program of the past fifty years.

This book is essential reading for people of all political views who dream of helping all citizens fulfill their dreams and the American Dream.

I look forward to a new Clive Cussler (& Paul Kemprecos) adventure every year or so, but this one, though it has all the suspense and twists I expected I feel like I've read it before. Perhaps Kurt Austin is too much of a clone of Dirk Pitt and well as their sidekicks, and the formula has run its course. Cussler's non-fiction adventures are even better, and I can see where he brings his knowledge of sea and the history of seafaring to each plot, but unfortunately there is nothing new here to make it as exceptional as I've come to expect.

Cussler is a great story teller and I honestly don't read him for the great writing, but for the escape so perhaps next time he will bring one of his heroes(or create a new one)onto land for a bigger caper and break new ground.

After reading 20+ Cussler books I pretty much have the formula down we meet girl, girl gets in trouble, hero saves girl, girl and hero go seperate ways, hero has three more close shaves with death, hero meets super vilian, hero and girl cross paths again both trying to foil super vilian, hero and girl win, the end. This of course over 400+ pages. Even knowing this I buy this book the day after it is released and read page after page unable to set it down until I am at the end. Maybe it is just an easier read since I do have the formula down and I know what is coming I can get more relaxed when I go read. Whatever the reason I will keep buying Cussler as long as he keeps writing.

As always Cussler has brought to life someone everyone would like to be. Top grade!