Not only is Imbach an excellent writer, but he gently clasps readers hands as he freely admits his own weaknesses and fears. Imbach challenged me to think and to grow. I loved this book.

A good friend recommended this book to me. I bought it and read it slowly over 4 months. It is an insightful and compassionate description of spiritual formation rooted in the character of the Triune God. It has profound applications to how we relate to God and to one another.

There are several significant themes and messages woven throughout the book, which could not be expressed sufficiently in a short review, except to give a short description of a few of them. The theological foundation which Jeff Imbach continues to build on throughout the book is that the passion which is expressed among the persons of the Trinity is the source of our own passion. This becomes the thematic center for the rest of the book as Imbach tries to 'rescue' passion from the chopping block of traditional discipleship. Passion is not all bad, argues Imbach. In fact, passion is an essential element in our spiritual formation as we seek to be connected to and formed by a Passionate God.

Imbach describes the "Union and Uniqueness" of the Persons of the Trinity and effectively argues that this characteristic of the Godhead expresses itself deeply in our own hearts and lives. For example, as people we have a longing for "Union"; we desire to be connected to a larger whole, to belong to a body of intimately relating friends. However, we also have the sometimes competing desire for "Uniqueness"; we long to be recognized as valuable individuals. For myself, this was the most significant theme of "The River Within". I connected well with his description of God here and with his many examples from real life experiences (both his own and others').

The image of the "River Within" becomes an important one in the book as Imbach describes the flowing of godly passion in our lives as a river with its source in God. The "river banks", then become an important symbol of the necessary boundaries of passion which, if distorted or completely unhindered, can become dissipated or destructive to our spirital lives. Imbach explains that it is up to us to carefully discern the banks for passion on our own lives.

Sometimes the examples and stories became slightly repetitive, which made the book drag a little. This is especially true while Imbach is pounding on the point that our passions are God-given and God can redeem them as an integral part of our spiritual formation.

When I first began to read chapter 12, which describes the role of Creation in our spiritual lives, I was a little uneasy about such an emphasis on nature and our role as stewards, etc. After finishing the chapter I was still not completely at home with all of the ideas, but I was able to truly appreciate some of his observations about the intimacy and presence of God which are made evident in Creation, and also about our connectedness to the earth. In fact as my wife and I were celebrating our first anniversary in rural New Hampshire, I took the book along with us during an outdoor hike and we read a section of this chapter together.

Imbach brilliantly concludes the book with chapters describing what it looks like to live passionately in community, in relationships, and with God. It is in these chapters that his wisdom and experience in listening to people becomes most evident.

There were times when this book became somewhat of a chore to persevere in, but it was worth the effort. "The River Within" was definitely good for my soul and I don't doubt that many lives would be transformed and many personal burdens lightened if believers could spend time with Imbach's ideas in this book.

After reading "The Sacred Romance" and other books describing the role of passion and "the heart" in Christian Spirituality, this book fit well into this "conversation" (as my friend would call it). Thanks Rob.

I've read many books on this topic and this is one of the best I've ever read. Mr. Imbach is theologically sound and intimate with the deeper things of God. The book is well written, balanced and thoughtfully comprehensive. A must for anyone pressing in to the heart of God.

Jeff Brodsky has brought forth out of his inmost being the very essence and heart of a father. Stepping Into Adulthood explores the fragile, yet incalculably vital connection between fathers and their children. This link, this bond between generations, is staggering in its effect on each one of us, and when it is absent or severed, the damage to our entire personhood is profound.

Jeff has called us back to some very ancient and foundational roots which speak to the very core of our perception of self-worth, and value. Without the affirmation and connection to our fathers, we suffer immeasurably, and every one of our relationships suffer. I cannot too highly recommend this book and the message it carries!

Through my friendship with Jeff over the years, I have seen the effect of this teaching in my own family. Jeff presided over the "Stepping Into Adulthood" ceremonies that we provided for my own teenage son and daughter. Their lives have never wavered from the paths of righteousness, and we have not had to endure the all-too-typical rebellion that so many parents have suffered through. My children know that they are part of a continuum of relationship that goes back centuries, and have taken their place as responsible members of our family and community.

I cannot help but think about how this book, had it found it's way into the homes of the two now-devastated families of the Columbine killers, might have changed the course of these young men's lives, and saved us all from the horror and suffering we have endured here in Littleton. As the presiding pastor at the funeral of slain martyr Rachel Joy Scott, who was murdered at Columbine last year, my heart breaks for this generation of youth. BUY THIS BOOK, and purchase copies to give away to everyone you know who have teens or pre-teens. It will change your family, and is without question the most potent "Vaccination" against future Columbine catastrophes available in print today!

A generation of young people is looking for purpose and endorsement. A generation of parents stands in confusion as the gap between them and their children widens.

Jeff Brodsky, through personal experience, shows how to develop relationships with our children and prepare them for adulthood. What better way to reinforce and give purpose than to commemorate the fact that your sons and daughters have begun to show signs of maturity - thus reaffirming who they are and commissioning them for the rest of their lives. A handbook for parents.

"Stepping into adulthood" is a blessing and a very helpful instrument for parents who want to provide a different transition to their children from adolescence to adulthood. In our society today, parents have not spent time with their children. This can be dangerous and frustrating for a young person. Reading and performing the lessons contained in this book, parents will be able to have in mind how is important paying attention to their children's lives, and help them in their problems by being a friend and a counselor to them. Teenagers need somebody to look up to and to count on in order to pass this important phase of their lives. This book provides a powerful tool to parents deal with their children by the named "rite of passage" which will be worthwhile for the rest of their lives. Parents: get this book! Your children will be thankful!

For those of us who were fortunate enough to be in Washington on that cold morning in October, 1987 and see the entire AIDS Memorial Quilt unfurled for the first time, we should thank Cleve Jones for both his idea of the quilt as a memorial to those who died of AIDS and this wonderful book he has written. The quilt has almost become a cliche for some of us now-- we have seen it so many times in so many different variations and sizes-- that I did not believe I could be so moved and relive that intensely emotional and poignant day in October. I was wrong. I was taken by Mr. Jones' sincerity and utter lack of egotism. He is remarkably candid about his own life as he takes the reader through his own experiences as a young gay activist in San Francisco, his role in the history of the quilt and his own diagnosis with HIV.

Mr. Jones reminds me of things I had forgotten or repressed: a lot about the heroism of Harvey Milk, for example, the awfulness of Anita Bryant, the indifference of the first President Bush who was too busy to see the quilt, of President Clinton, along with Mrs. Clinton and the Gores, who was not too busy to pay tribute to those who had fallen. We get to see some of our national celebrities in a new light: the gentle Rosa Parks, the beautiful Elizabeth Taylor frightened at making a speech, and finally Jane Fonda who can only be described as totally silly in her adoration of Tom Hayden.

A friend of mine who has seen the quilt in its entirety many times and is active in the Names Project in his hometown in Maine says that he can only read this book a little at a time. Yes, it's very viseral, sometimes painful, and it will make you cry.

In the Epilogue Mr. Jones writes: "My hope is that one day AIDS will be over and we will have to look upon all its different aspects: how it drew a country together from across cultural, ethnic, and religious divisions, and how it was, like the Holocaust, a crucible of definition. I think the Quilt will have a role in this discussion and a place in our history as memory is preserved and recreated imn this symbol of our natural desire for commuity."

And you, Mr. Jones, will have a place in that history. Many Americans cannot thank you enough for that.

Cleve Jones has done many wonderful things for the gay community. Now he adds this wonderful, heartfelt memior. This volume is more than "just" a memoir, it's a rich and rewarding history lesson, an eye witness account. Throught the past twenty-five years Jones has been a witness to murder, a victim of hate crimes, an activist for gay rights, a rioter, a mourner, a survivor and a an ambassador of hope and good will. This is the story of the AIDS Quilt, from its beginnings to its eventual recognition as an international symbol of peace, reconciliation and unity. Cleve Jones takes a refreshingly candid, warts-and-all approach to telling his story. He depicts himself as an ordianry man responding to extraordinary circumstances in the only way he knew how. Past imperfect, but always willing to do whatever was necessary to bring his message to the people, Cleve helped to put a human face on AIDS.

The AIDS Memorial Quilt has been the most humanizing, uplifting and unifying symbol of the battle against the AIDS virus. As an activist, viewer of the Quilt, and twice a volunteer, I read Mr. Jones book greedily. People need to know what he has to say. People need to know the impact their actions can have on world perceptions; that they can make a difference. People need to know the history of the epidemic - reflected in the experiences of a person immersed in the culture impacted first: how the gay community, so brutally attacked, fought back and set up the protocols now being used by all sectors of society all over the world.

The book is a good read, very accessible, as simple as the concept of the Quilt and as insightful. I thank Cleve Jones for giving humanity the Quilt and this telling of how it came to be.

SOITENLY I HAVE BEEN A BIG 3 STOOGE FAN FOR 44 YEARS AND I WILL BE A STOOGE FAN UNTIL I DIE.I GIVE BOOK THE THREE STOOGES SCRAPBOOK A TEN STARS IF IT WENT THAT HIGH.

Partially written by Moe's daughter, this is the book the budding stooge fan should buy first. Each of the stooges (Moe, Larry, Curly, Shemp, Joe, and Curly Joe) are given a separate biographical chapter. Their filmmaking history is covered, as well as less well known forays into Television, Comic Books, and yes, singing record albums. The stooges proved to be successful in nearly everything they tried. But the best feature by far is the reference synopses of EVERY stooge short, complete with cast list, director, and trivia. If a gag was used in multiple shorts (many were), they are cross-referenced. A must for any stooge's film festival. Another highlight is photos of the original lobby cards for the shorts. A number of family photographs are included, in which almost all, the boys are shown mugging. A gem for any stooge fan, it has been in print for more than 20 years.

By far the best and most interesting book on the Stooges. Makes the other bios look bad. I am referring to the hardcover edition.

Children's perspective of cancer is presented in this uplifting book through their own words, drawings, and photographs. Despite our natural sadness when confronted with this subject, the reader senses courage and hope when turning the pages of this book. Sadness is there as well, but the faith and fighting spirit of these children remind us of the resilience and strength and unceasing hope within all of us.

As always, Billy shows us the value of each individual. His work focuses on groups of people that we often would prefer not to acknowledge, those with AIDS, those with disabilties, the homeless and, in this case, kids with cancer. But Billy always shows us that we can learn much from each individual and that all can bring joy to our lives. Contrary to being "depressing," this book is full of hope.

Angels & Monsters: A Child's Eye View Of Cancer by art therapist Lisa Murray and professional photographer Billy Howard is the impressive result of an eight year project in which Murray worked with children and had them express their feelings about their cancers through their artwork -- and then talk about their art. Howard took a photographic portrait of each child. The artwork and the portraits where paired and presented in a stunningly beautiful and thought-provoking exhibit under the auspices of the American Cancer Society, and which is memorably presented in the pages of Angels & Monsters. Sensitive, insightful, unique, and thoroughly "kid friendly", Angels & Monsters is highly recommended reading for any child (and their parents) having to cope with cancer, and would make a welcome and valued addition to any school or community library collection.

jeff smith is one geat artist and writer we well iove bon

The Bone series is the greatest group of books that I have! "The Great Cow Race" contains fantasy, adventure, humor, mystery, and more! And it all comes in one book! I really recommend it!

The Bone series by Jeff Smith are the best news to hit the comics world in a number of years. All caracters are cute yet intriguing. For anyone with a fascination of Li'll Abner, classic european farietales and Moby Dick, Bone is a must read

I read a lot of books on marketing and advertising, but none as powerful and to-the-point at Geoff Ayling's "Rapid Response Advertising." If this book had the proper promotion in the U.S., it would most certainly be on the bestseller list. The book had a most positive influence on my life and my business -- and I'm sure it will have the same affect in the lives of other readers.

Amazingly, this book has hardly anything in common with other advertising books because it breaks new ground and illuminates new pathways to the mind of the consumer. It's honest, funny, well-written, teeming with anecdotes, and fraught with revolutionary ideas. I cannot recommend it highly enough, but with this review, I sure want to try. Buy this book! Act on what it teaches you! Then kick back and watch your sales curve rise and rise all the way to the moon.

My first thought after reading this book was to wonder if I could buy all available copies to prevent any future competitors from reading it!

The best reason for having this book on hand is that it makes sense. The authors give practical advice, sprinkled with some good examples, which will be of particular relevance to Australian readers but still useful for everyone else.

Each section reveals valuable informaton about the buying process, and the necessary ingredients for advertising to work. It will help you understand other ads you see every day, and why they do -- and don't -- work.

This is not a 'miracle cure', but a system that is well explained and well defined to bring about better results from your advertising.

I know I'll be putting it to good use for my clients, even to the point of changing my fee structure so that some of it is based purely on results -- that's how confident I am that the book has been in helping fill my needs!

This is truly a breakthrough book, with major implications for marketing and advertising in all its forms.

Ayling lays out in simple, credible, well-documented and well-throught-through narrative a viable explanation of why advertising that works, works -- and why advertising that doesn't work, doesn't.

That may or may not interest you. However, if you have ever lost tons of money using typical ad-agency "get your name in front of the public" techniques -- or if you don't know if you have or you haven't (hint: if you don't know, then, you have!) -- this book will clear the smoke away and give you a simple, workable, step-by-step blueprint to return to profitable advertising.

My own field of expertise is direct-response advertising -- the kind that makes people who are ready to buy, or likely to be incited to buy right away, respond -- and buy. Ayling clearly understands that discipline and is probably a master of it himself.

But in this book, he takes it one step further. He shows you HOW TO CREATE AN AUTOMATIC DIRECT-RESPONSE MECHANISM INSIDE THE MIND OF THE CUSTOMER so that when that person finally is ready to buy, the name of your company or your product "pops up" internally, and there's really no other choice for that person but to buy from you.

Don't believe me? I don't blame you. But you can't afford NOT to find out if I'm right or I'm wrong. Everyone I've recommended this book to has gone nuts over it, and that includes one of the world's best known authorities on marketing, and my own personal favorite expert on small service business marketing.

Get this book. It's worth it. You'll be glad you did.

this book shows all of the music videos and each director. it is very detailed and explains the technique of each video too.

The book is great and full of information about almost any director of a music video a person would like to know. It is very colorful and has pictures of familiar music videos. It also inlcudes a biography for each director and mentions their style and techniques.

Beautiful Design by Tolleson out of San Francisco. They do wonderful graphic design work. Check out their book "Wash, Soak, Rinse, Spin: Tolleson Design" for more of their style work. There is nothing better than a book that is designed to match the content. Format, type selection, imagery, is all top notch. I highly recommend just for the design itself.

This is one terrific book. Ken Myers delves deeply into popular culture. He does a great job of grounding his research and findings in a theological framework. He cites everyone from C.S. Lewis to Bob Dylan to G.K. Chesterton to Bo Diddley.

This book is so needed today. So much of pop evangelicalism and even the mainline churches have unwisely and unthinkingly schmaltzed the Church's glorious message into a dumbed-down, styrofoam, homogenized pop culture framework and are submerging the Church's heritage into it. (See Marva Dawn's book "Reaching Out Without Dumbing Down"). I refuse to listen to my local Christian radio station because they've pretty much pancaked their format to just watered-down pop Christian music, pretty much devoid of hymnody or anything with any history to it. What if the World War II generation had demanded that the Church's glorious history and hymnody be replaced by Lawrence Welk-style tunes? That's exactly what's happening today.

Read Myers' book to find out the values of popular culture and how they compare to high and folk cultures. This book will provide you with much great background, and, most importantly, helps you to think Christianly. It's creative, intelligent and a very enjoyable read.

From telling us what culture is and the various levels of it to what it means to be "in the world but not of it," Myers delivers the best to date analysis of culture and Christianity. Of the numerous insights he gives, one of the favorites is: schools do not just give knowledge, they do cultural assimilation. And we wonder why our schools are letting us down! This is a must read for Christians and those into popular culture!

I read this book when it first was published and it has helped me to frame my thinking ever since. I have yet to find the author wrong in his conclusions. Rather, as time goes by, he proves to be more and more on target. It is too bad more people are not aware of this work.

I found this book to be very helpful, and I refer to it frequently when I see a new species at my feeder. I like the way it lists the seed preferences for each bird. It is a very interesting book and has been very helpful to me in attacting backyard birds!

The title doesn't do justice to this book's breadth and depth. "Birds at Your Feeder" consists of ornithologically informed and delightfully written accounts of the feeding habits, behavior, distribution, and abundance of 93 North American species that often visit bird feeders. I bought the book knowing nothing more about it than Dr. Dunn's international prominence as an ornithologist at the Canadian Wildlife Service and a prime developer of Project FeederWatch -- and I wasn't disappointed. She and her co-author based the book solidly on an analysis of the data submitted by thousands of observers since 1987 in the immense network of FeederWatch volunteers across the U.S. and Canada. It seems to me that this important publication has not received the wide attention it deserves. A broad range of readers from professionals in ornithology to people with little more than a casual interest in backyard birds should find it both entertaining and worthwhile.

In addition to very interesting and often unique summary information on different species of birds attracted to feeders, the book includes birdfood ratings and maps that are ideal for people who are trying to determine whether the foods, water, etc. that they offer for birds were found to be as attractive by other birdfeeders, and whether particular birds were attracted to feeders in their local rural, suburban, or urban area, or adjoining state. By examining various graphs, they can also tell: how many of each species typically come at one time; how frequently they may come between different periods watched by other birdfeeders; and whether there is any monthly variation in visits between November and April, when most people are feeding birds.