change Books

This book is written on a level that is very accessible and easily understandable. Therefore, I would recommend it if you haven't read much on the Kingdom of God and/or Jesus' message before. You may find McLaren's writing to be somewhat less "loaded" or profound than other writing on similar themes (take, for instance, that of N.T. Wright or Donald Miller). However, it still strikes some very relevant chords and makes some inspirationally "radical" observations. The thematic strands are very well laid out and easy to follow. A good read, all around.

Brian McLaren's goal in this book is a part of his journey to better understand Jesus, His message and His Kingdom. McLaren is curious, he is a learner, an explorer, an excavator, an observer, a discoverer, a thinker and a truth seeker. In this book McLaren explores three areas, Jesus and his times, the message of Jesus and our time, our world today and his hope is that our curiosity will not be satisfied in the reading of this book but ignited as we continue to explore its application.

I like McLaren's style of raising and asking questions, digging, searching, looking at the Jewishness of Jesus, the religious backdrop of prophet and priest of that history and context. This will be very helpful for people that consider Jesus a great teacher and or a prophet. He explores the political and social message of Jesus in a land that was occupied by Rome, the superpower of the day. I think that it is sometimes easy for us to read the Bible, consider the life of Jesus and even become followers today without fully grasping what that message meant to the hearers in Jesus' day. It was good to be reminded.

McLaren reflects on Jesus' private and public conversations, his parables, his language, his indirect or hidden approach that eventually becomes visible, that raise questions, that require further engagement not just the sharing of information. "This form of parable helps to shape a heart that is willing to enter an ongoing, interactive, persistent relationship of trust in the teacher." page 46. " It was the most religious who seemed to get the secret message of Jesus the least, and the least religious who seemed to get it the most." page 81.

What does this book say to us today? It raises the significant question, what does the Kingdom of God look like in the 21st century? How do we live out the life of God in every sphere of society today? If the Kingdom of God is in the midst of us today, what does it look like and when it comes, what can we expect? What is our role to play or where do we start? This book gives us some things to think about and to act upon.

McLaren puts the world of Jesus and what that might mean for us in perspective. Thought-provoking, Scriptural and potentially life-altaring. Much different perspective than most of our modern-day churches give us of Jesus.

Mclaren preaches what secular people want to hear, everyone must read the bible to understand the Truth.
I rated this a one because it asked for a rating. Otherwise I would of given it a zero. Read Gods word, don't rely secondhand. Question preachers who say they don't understand the Bible.

Here's the "Secret Message:" One doesn't have to die to go to Heaven!!!

The Kingdom of God, the one Jesus talked about, is here, right now, all around us, if we could (would) but see it.

There is a lot of difference in the Kingdom of God preached by Jesus and the Kingdom of Heaven as preached by Paul. They are not mutually exclusive, but one (Jesus) emphasizes life we live now, how we live it and says the Kingdom of God is at hand. The other (Paul) views Heaven as a destination or realm achieved, reached or obtained only after death.

In understanding this book, one phrase kept coming to mind again and again: "A peace that passeth all (human) understanding...Find that peace and you have heaven, a heaven here on earth, in this life and, perhaps, Paul's heaven in the afterlife.

"Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will Be Done...On Earth as it is in Heaven..." A lot of us say it, but not a lot of us--a whole lot of us--don't really mean it. We really want "our will' on earth, "..Thy will" in Heaven"

Simply put, that's what this book is about. Heaven on earth as Jesus taught it, and as the author beleives it to be, or Heaven in the life to come, as Paul saw it.

Find that peace that passeth understanding and you have, in my opinion, found Heaven.

This is a great book for anyone considering a career change but doesn't quite know where to begin or how to decide what they want to be when they grow up. The book is filled with various self-assessments to help the reader determine particular strengths or interests. It begins by assessing where you are now and looking at where you would like to be. Next, the book moves on to how to get to where you want to be by using the self-assessments and offers the "keys" to success. The self-assessments are a valuable tool to the reader.

The Renaissance Soul: Life Design for People with Too Many Passions to Pick Just One This book, even the title alone!, is a great comfort for those of us who find it easier to say what we don't want to do than to identify the next right position for us. And if you're like me and have lots of different interests, any five of which might sound just fine today as long as we can pick five more tomorrow, the job of identification can be even harder. It's great to have the support of a book like Jansen's to make our daunting task a little easier.

This is a concisely written career book that doesn't waste your time and invites you in even for scary stuff like self-assessment. If you believe that 'real jobs' have not lived up to their promise, you should check out this book. Also, the author, Julie Jansen, is highly responsive to email questions and sincere about helping those of us seeking something more than a paycheck.

A book like this is as good as the reader. In order to find one self one must look inward and that takes a little work, maybe even more than a little. Julie Jansen's book is a great help in helping the reader start that search and she then guides the reader to the direction he or she must take. Does the book guarantee a new career? No, I don't think so but if the reader works at it, it can come.It probably will. Julie Jansen's Guide is as good as a book like this can get. It is then up to the reader to make use of it. That's the work part. I like the book very much. Anyone willing to work to impove their lives will like it too.

This book gets into the "meat and potatoes" of career development. I encourage anyone who is "lost" to read this and start doing what it takes to find a realistic, economically sound, and FUN job! They do exist...I found one.

In his book, 'An Inconvenient Truth', Al Gore writes about a
"hockey-stick" graph, with "global average temperature" on
one axis, and time on the other axis. "GLOBAL WARMING" IS
SCIENCE FICTION. Temperature varies from point to point.
What people call temperature, is what mathematical
physicists refer to as a value assigned to a point in a
temperature field. There are potentially an infinite number
of readings one may obtain in a given region of space. But
to assign a single temperature reading to a given region of
space is misleading. For example, putting a thermometer
under a bed, beside a window, or on top of a radiator in a
given room may give you a different reading, with or without
you in it. A temperature reading should only be assigned to
a single point, and not a space. For to assign a single
temperature reading to a region of space, such as a room, or
a city, is misleading. The earth is a very big place. For
example, on a hot day in India, it may be a cold night in
Canada. A global average temperature reading is essentially
meaningless since there appear to be a countless number of
places, or points, upon the earth, or slightly above the
earth, where a temperature reading might be taken. If your
population size is infinite, or vast, how large should your
sample size be in order to obtain a meaningful statistic,
such as an average? If you cannot determine what the global
average temperature is today, or was yesterday, why would
you claim global warming is taking place? Why would
academics, or politicians, lie? ("Fifty thou a year, buys a
lot of beer." - Timbuk 3).


The 'Kyoto Accord' will help establish the creation of a
global economic planning agency. Have you noticed that the
manufacturing sector in North America has been disappearing
has factories are closed "here", only to open up "there"?
The Wealth of a Nation is determined by what that nation can
produce. The Living Standard of a Nation is determined by
what that nation can consume. Don't confuse WORK with INCOME.
They who advocate "enviro-mentalism" are not really concerned
with weather patterns, but are interested in economics. If
they really cared about helping the global poor, would they
not open up factories overseas without closing them
domestically? Instead, they are behaving as if transportation
costs are negligible. Do not most Americans live within 30km
of their jobs?


Consider, as another example, the irrational belief that
enviro-mentalists (such as Al Gore) are advocating, that it
is possible to save electricity by not using it. A magnet
rotating inside a coil of wire will generate an electrical
current in that wire: engineers call this INDUCTION.
A TURBINE is essentially a giant magnet placed inside a giant
coil of wire: In order to generate electricity, the giant
magnet must be rotated, according to scientists. (Where
these giant magnets come from, is another story.) In theory,
the pressure of steam, water, or air against the vanes of a
wheel turn the magnet inside the turbine, generating
electricity; In nuclear power plants, nuclear energy is used
to heat water, converting the water into steam, and the
resulting steam pressure is used to operate the turbines which
provide households with available electricity. The turbines
are not going to stop producing electricity, just because you
stop using it. By definition, the only way you can SAVE
ELECTRICITY is BY STORING IT, as in a rechargeable battery.
If you are a customer of a hydroelectric company, you can save
money by not using electricity. However, if you choose not to
use the electricity which the turbines generate, that
electricity will be wasted, like an untappped natural gas leak.
Gasoline is made from oil: Conserving gasoline makes more
sense than conserving electricity, so why don't "they" ban
landscaping (lawn mowers)?


In the name of "enviro-mentalism" a philosophy of "act local,
think global" is emerging, which in practise means the creation
of a local "slave labour" population and a "no-fly list",
restricting travel for some. An elite "work" force of "symbol
analysts" is emerging, university-educated "citizens" who will
manage the "locals". Imagine a dog with a leash around his
neck, which leash is attached to a stick in the ground. The
owner/manager tells the dog, "You are free to roam. as you are
able (allowed) to". That is the future that enviro-mentalists
are advocating: The new economy is about serving females, and
offering males (the boyim) opportunities to serve females. The
future looks a lot like the past, only without the black oil
and the gasoline-powered lawnmowers. The future is FEMDOM.
Fight the future. Resistance is not futile. Ever read the
play, Lysistrata?

This book is badly written and poorly reasoned, a shallow, tendentious screed that promotes environmental apocalypticism at the expense of common sense and sound policy. Gore seems to think that until recently, the Earth's climate was stable and that CO2 emissions are driving temperatures to unprecedented levels. In fact, the world is still quite a bit cooler than it was during the Middle Ages, when greenhouse gas emissions were neglible. When people realize how much Gore's absurd proposals would cost, and that they would accomplish little more than to drive American industry into the arms of the Chinese, even those who are conned by his reasons will have second thoughts.

I am horrified to hear a reviewer, in this day and age and with the united voices out thousands of the world's preeminent scientists shouting it to the rafters, that he/she doubts the existence of a global climate crisis. What more evidence does one need? When our children are dying from starvation and flooding and our grandchildren from disease, people such as these will standing on the last dry hill denying to the end and perhaps saying "It's God's Will" when in fact it was OUR will. The same people praise George Bush when he slowly tries to strip the US of its liberties and freedoms; in the face of his criminal, heinous, dictatorial behavior and outright lies.
Please, dear readers, PLEASE buy this book. Buy a used copy of the paperback for a few bucks if the cost is too high. It may not be perfect but the warning is real and the threat is real. Don't listen to those who have thrown away their reason because they've been brainwashed by Rush Limbaugh or from their facist fathers in the pulpit. Reason is what lifted us from the Dark Ages, is what gave birth to democracy around the globe. It is what will save us.

I gave this 5 stars because it is a gorgeous book, well written, with convincing research. However, I caution parents that the data is a bit alarming and may give sensitive children nightmares. Ice is melting in mountains and near the poles, and ocean levels will rise and whole cultures will have water shortages.

Many adults find Gore's data distasteful. They do not want to think about climate trends that may doom our descendants, maybe even ourselves or our children. They want to live in the happy world that they remember from childhood. And they hate the idea that our greatest enemy may be our selves.

I suspect that many of the folks who gave negative reviews did not really read the book carefully, perhaps not at all. It does not take long to read though - very understandable, lots of photos and other graphics.

This book is suitable for many adults - those who struggle with small print, for instance, and those with limited time who want to read something that is important but not too complex. Young people will also benefit from it as long as they do not feel helpless to change things.

The distresses with Gore's propaganda book for global warming are manifold. The first and worst sin Gore commits is he's NOT FAIR AND BALANCED in his struggling argument that global warming is real, caused by man, and the single-biggest threat facing the world. If Gore was FAIR AND BALANCED in his presentation, he could persuade more readers to give him the benefit of the doubt. Gravely for him, his presumptuous, one-sided and absolutist/elitist argument for global warming--where he brainwashes the reader to believe that global warming is 100% fact through arrogant declaration but no foundations--actually sours the reader and makes Gore appear as a fanatical, ideological DEMAGOGUE with an agenda and shabby credibility.

The most flagrant trespass in Gore's book is it's constructed to indoctrinate grade school/high school kids in the Religion of Global Warming. This is indisputable if we look at the layout of Gore's propaganda: it's short on text, full of colorful graphs, size 30 fonts on some pages, and full of pictures. With this shortcoming of substance, it's clear Gore's slideshow-turned-book was NEVER designed to make an intelligent argument about global warming's allegedly looming threat. It was designed to proselytize impressionable kids at the K-12 levels to believe in the Religion of Global Warming.

The predicament of failure of substance is found everywhere in Gore's propaganda book. He never has many sources to credibly validate the legitimacy of graphs and projections he cites!!!! Even gloomier for Gore's trustworthiness is that his sources come from biased, agenda-driven organizations whose "statistics" you cannot trust--if you're being intellectually honest, which the majority of sycophant-reviewers here refuse.

For instance, a purportedly "authoritative" chart claiming to show 2005 was the hottest year EVER in the history of humankind was conducted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, an ideological group sponsored by the UN!!!! Their whole mission statement is to prove that global warming is to be blamed on human activities, so any statistics emerging from their partisan group must be discounted. However, unfair and unbalanced Gore has the insolence to cite this statistic as "authoritative."

Another misconstruction in Gore's argument of ideology is to blame man and global warming for Africa's abysmal problems with genocide and civil wars!!!! Despite the insanity of this supposition, Gore shamelessly alleges that this is so, yet if we analyze his thinking, it can easily be discreditable. Gore's accusatory misconstruction is we (read: US and the West) are single-handedly to blame for the murderous genocide and afflictions in Africa because of our alleged contribution to global warming!!!!

Gore charges the US "helped manufacture the suffering in Africa," as he bases this antagonistic accusation on the supposition that US greenhouse gas emission caused the drying up of Lake Chad--which he then misuses to account for the genocide in Darfur!!!! To any intellectually honest person, of course, the ethnic cleansing and civil war in Darfur are mainly caused by Muslim Janjaweed fighting the non-Arab rebels who are in turn fighting the Sudanese government. With self-hating, anti-American allegations like these, Gore's credibility itself suffers.

Yet another, equally heavy reprimand Gore deserves is for the irrational conclusions and methodology he continually abuses to arrive at his presumption that the scientific community has a consensus that global warming's manmade. In example, Gore mendaciously cites a Science magazine study of every massive, peer-reviewed article on global warming from scientific journals and magazines. He cites this utterly dissolute study to pretend to prove that there's consensus among EACH AND EVERY SCIENTIST ON THE PLANET that global warming is manmade. However, killing Gore's believability is the mortifying fact that said Science magazine study only reviewed TEN PERCENT of every available article on global warming. With this contemptible restriction on what a proper population sample of articles would be, Gore assumingly and pitifully declares that there is basically complete, 100% consensus on the fiction that every single scientist on earth is in unison about global warming.

If this is reliably the case, as Gore forges it to be, then why in the hell are there so many scientists who outright dispute Gore's BS allegations?!?! Some prominent critics of global warming are French geophysicist Claude Allegre; director of the Office of Climatology at Arizona State University Robert Balling Jr.; Associate Professor of Geology and Environmental Science at University of Auckland Chris de Freitas; and so on and so forth. These scientists only scratch the surface; for a more comprehensive list of authorities discrediting global warming, simply do a Google search or check Wikipedia.

Gore's book stumbles in its ineffective struggle to convince the reader of the conclusiveness of global warming. Instead, Gore and his fellow, global-warming co-conspirators simply incriminate themselves as ideologues menacingly dismissing the REAL, BIGGEST threat to the world: Islamic terrorism. Gore often speaks of his kids' kids hating our current generation for not addressing global warming, but they'll likely hate our generation more if we succumb to Gore's advice and pursue the unreliability of global warming while ignoring terrorism!!!!

I thought this was a really great book. It was very encouraging. I usually thought of myself as scattered and thought each unfinished project was just another failure. I always have too many interests and too many projects, and reading this book gave me great ideas about how to organize my priorities and interests effectively. If nothing else, it helped me feel better about my varied interests. I no longer think of myself as just a flake with too many unfinished projects.

This is a nice piece of work. The book does spend far more time than I wanted justifying the multitude-of-interests person. But it was quick reading at the beginning so not much of a burden.

There are some exceptional insights here, and some wonderful tactics for dealing with your range of interests.

The introductory exercises (Five from Fifty = prioritizing, Many Circles = weighting, Birthday Party = accomplishments) can help clarify things for those caught in the mire of doing. Clarifying your interest, no matter how many there are, is an important aspect of this work.

I particularly like the idea of Focal Points - temporary assignments you give yourself in order to have the freedom to learn or accomplish.

Reverse flowcharts are great in that they force you to see what you are doing that gets in your way. Basically think of how you can ensure something will not happen - there you go, many times that's what you're doing.

I think the concept of Four Frames - which is applied to volunteering - can be used in a far greater sense as well. Not simply limited to convincing a potential volunteering opportunity, but if you look at your larger goals, and your place in your journey - this approach can be used to convince your spiritual self what it is you want to contribute, and why that would be a good thing for all.

The crux of the entire message of the book is "I'd love to help you feel fulfilled rather than overwhelmed."

The author states "Renaissance Souls work best when we can match our activities to our energy flow." I think this is true for everyone, but it isn't something we value in the US all that much (instead we're told to bang our heads for 14 hours and meet that deadline, many times producing a lower quality result). So, without having a specific prescription for each moment of your day, the approach here allows you flexiblity in choice based on your motivations at that time. Yes, balanced planning - I've been waiting for someone else to say it.

My favorite story in the entire book is the one on Mozart, and his pursuing his purpose, becoming what he could be in the midst of all else going on. The author weaves an intricate connection about how this benefited so many others than if he were to try and be something he were not. Very nice... "One of the best things you can do for other Renaissance Souls is to keep growing." And I would add, the best thing we can do for all beings.

Toward the end of the book I felt the work there was less inspired. It focused on examples, whereas I think a book works much better if at the end it brings us back up to that higher-purpose and leaves us with lofty placement. We end on a real high then.

I could not be happier that I ordered this book! I'm 26 years old, and so far the only thing I've partially identified with is the "Twenty-Something" feeling, kind of lost, but full of potential. When I got this book, I read the first hundred or so pages right away, I was just hooked immediately. I really loved the tests and used them and now I do feel much more clear about my (current) focus. I'm definitely a Renaissance Soul (18 out of 20 on the Quiz in the book). I have done everything from Retail to Real Estate to Banking to Social Work to starting businesses, etc. I just got married, so that took up a lot of time and energy for a while, but now I have new goals and clarity. I really loved her example of the ice cream shop, likening the choice of ice cream, etc. to the choices of things we're interested in. She says it would be just as hard and paralyzing to try and choose one for the rest of your life as it would be to try and choose them all, that's why you need a "sampler", which is free to change, but that will give you focus. So, my current sampler is: Studying for and taking the GRE and applying to Grad School, writing a business plan for the business I want to start, spending time with my new husband, learning how to make soup (I just want to learn how to make soup!), and making healthier choices regarding food and activity. So, Thank You, Margaret! I think you are right on with your idea of a Renaissance Soul, and I'm so happy you wrote this book. It was my pleasure to read it! =)

It was the subtitle that drew me in...urged me to pick up the book... begged me to take more than a glance at it. Life Design for People with Too Many Passions to Pick Just One. Hmmmm, someone must be writing about ME! I discovered this book while browsing at the local library on a day that had me grappling with a way to explain to my husband that which is almost inexplainable to me: I have so many creative interests, and I am so passionate about them, that I allow them to absorb me (his words, not mine). I don't know why that is. I don't know how that is. I don't know when that started. And I don't know how to change that, or if I even want to change that. Why should I have to? To a person who isn't so inclined, I guess it seems more than a little odd that I can't "pick one thing and be the best at it."

And so it was that Lobenstine happened into my life with important information and answers to unspoken questions at just the right time. As she so wisely points out, our society tends to foster the idea of becoming an expert in one area and sticking to it. Society tends to look negatively on the concept of the "Jack of all trades and master of none" life. But Lobenstine contends that line of thinking is exactly the reason it is hard to undertand some creative souls and their passions for so many different avenues.

In an easily readable, most enjoyable format, Lobenstine offers hope to the creative souls who hope to be able to "have it all." She contends that it is possible to incorporate those passions and a paying job and be happy. Simple quizzes allow readers to identify what their individual values are and where those values can lead. Case studies of actual creatives offer guideposts and encouragement to those of us who struggle with the expectations of others vs the expectations we hold for ourselves.

The Renaissance Soul is divided into four very interesting, practical and engaging sections. Part I, Claiming Your Renaissance Soul, provides readers with characteristics of the renaissance soul personality: defining success by mastered challenges rather than how far up the ladder a person has climbed, casting aside single-minded focus in favor of variety. Lobenstine also includes a section that dispells myths about what a creative soul is and is not... Renaissance souls are not superior to others, nor do they fall into that diagnosis of Attention Deficit Disorder personalities. While some may be, not all renaissance souls are geniuses. They do not use their many and varied interests to avoid the realities of life, and they are NOT job-hoppers!

To substantiate her theories, Lobenstine offers examples of well-known individuals who fit her definitions for a renaissance soul--Ben Franklin, Leonardo da Vinci, Sir Thomas More and Maya Angelou, to name a few.

Part II, Thriving on Many Interests Without Feeling Scattered, was perhaps one of the most valuable sections for me personally. Digging into the heart of what drives creatives, Lobenstine challenges us to take a good hard look at ourselves and to clearly identify our personal value systems. She offers several revealing quizzes for her readers, including choosing five out of a list of fifty values and identifying the five values that are most important at the particular moment, or writing not the well-known self obituary but writing toasts to one's self by four individuals who know the creative person best. Scrutinizing personal values even more closely, Lobenstine asks her readers to consider how their own life meshes (or not) with the lives of those other individuals who are part of the creative's inner circle. She stresses the importance of identifying whether an individual's activities are reflecting personal values or the values of others. She offers practical ways to not only evaluate this but to move closer to a place where personal values take precedence over the values of others.

Part III, Practical Realities: Career Design for Pursuing You Passions, is the nitty-gritty for those creatives who want to give up their day jobs but just can't. The author points out that, while it is not always possible to give up the day job, it sometimes is easier than one may think to secure a day job that will help the creative soul move closer to realizing their passions and dreams. How would you like to get "paid for your passion?" How would you like to be able to focus on your passions, sell yourself, find non-traditional ways to indulge your creative side without compromising self? All of these areas are presented in a revealing way that caused this reader to experience several ah-ha moments along the way.

Part IV, Successful Life Design for Renaissance Souls, takes the creative spirit one step closer to realizing goals and dreams by helping readers make a commitment. Lobenstine offers a unique and comfortable way to put desires into action--the PRISM test. As she explains, "The PRISM test puts your current set of Focal Points through a rigorous evaluation. Just as light bursts into color as it passes through a prism, this test allows you to examine your Focal Points from new angles, therby clarifying and confirming your eventual selections." PRISM is an anacronym for Price (How much will it cost you to get to your Focal Point?), Reality (What will the day-to-day, nitty-gritty of engaging in this Focal Point really involve?), Integrity (Why does this particular Focal Point seem particularly worthwhile to you?), Specificity (When you are specific about constitutes success, you can articulate your desires to yourself and others), and Measurability (Setting specific dates for attainment of your goals allows you to map out a plan and take specific steps toward passionate productivity).

Margaret Lobenstine is the perfect person to walk creative Renaissance Souls through the process because she, too, is a Renaissance Soul. Not only is she a motivational speaker, writer and life-coach, she has been a successful bed-and-breakfast owner, a family business consultant, and a literary specialist. She encourages renaissance souls to be role models to others. To learn more about the author and her work, visit her website.

by Lee Ambrose
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women

I consider myself the very model of a Renaissance Soul: I love to read about lots of subjects; I used to garden quite fanatically; I'm in a knitting/crocheting phase right now; music is a big part of my life; and I've been doing agility and other training with our dog. Oh, and I have a day job, too! My answer to "what do you want to be when you grow up" changed so often when I was younger that it made my head spin! So I was hoping this book would help me sort out how to feel fulfilled and yet not too diluted pursuing my many interests.

And indeed it did. Here are just a few helpful tidbits I took from the book: You do have to choose a few interests at any given time, based on the things you value most, but those choices don't have to be forever. You should quit doing things that don't fit with the values you hold most dear. You can combine interests (for example, I like to write and cook -- maybe I should write about food?). You need to block time for your interests, but not be inflexible about which interest you pursue at a given time. There are lots of creative ways to get where you want to go, even if you pursue many different careers over time, without starting at Square One each time.

And so much of what the author said validated the way I approach life, even toward the end helping me understand why I sometimes feel unmotivated to do anything at all.

My only complaint is that the book starts to sound branded or jargony, with its Renaissance Soul Way and Focus Points Notebook -- kind of like the Chicken Soup series or the Finish Rich series. This Renaissance Soul finds that stuff kind of annoying. But the content was so rich and sensible that the annoyance was minor. This book has really gotten me thinking about what I need to do to more fully enjoy my many interests.

Praying for Purpose for Women: A Prayer Experience That Will Change Your Life Forever (Pathway to Purpose) I ordered the English version of this book as well as a companion book by the same author. I was sent the Spanish version of this book & I'm still waiting to receive the English verson.

In Praying on Purpose, you are asked for insights, prayers and action steps. As I read the stories, struggles and sucesses of other women I was amazed at how many insights were there for me.... This book was very inspiriational and a great devotional tool that I will read and re-read..

Ever read one of those books that it seems like..."Man, how did she know that about me?"...or...."Good grief, if I highlight one more sentance the whole book will be highlighted!"
Well, that is what it is like when you read Katie's books on finding your purpose in Christ and life.
You will love the way she asks questions, shares examples, and stories of real life woman that have walked that path and are moving towards God's purpose.
The days are simple and yet challenging enough to stretch and grow you. You will love the insightful questions that teach you to reach deep inside and apply action to the daily truth!
Coolest thing is at the end, you can get an overall look of what you have learned, and need to see in regards to God's direction in your life!
Enjoy and Experience this fresh book!

This devotional is excellent! I have enjoyed the layout which offers biblical examples, as well as everyday life examples and questions for personal contemplation. Dr. Katie Brazelton writes in a way that relates to women in all seasons of life. This devotional can help you press through the distractions and clear out the clutter to see where you've been and where you are at. As you work through each day of the devotional, and seek the Lord, you will discover where you are going, and the purpose He has for you.

Katie's God-given giftedness and creative communication shines brightly in this incredible sixty day prayer experience. In a world filled with confusion and distraction, Katie has created a guide to assist women in developing or enriching their prayer communication with our beloved Pappa God (heavenly Father).


The brief daily readings incorporate stories of ordinary women that God has used to fulfill His purposes in each individual life. Each character has experienced a "divine appointment" with their heavenly Father that has given definite purpose for their life. Once the purpose is discovered God is truly honored and glorified.


Each day recalls a biblical story filled with practical application and insights for each situation be it fear, confusion, crisis, success, road blocks, weakness or strength. We find that God's Word is ageless and always constant.


One will find oneself rushing to the next prayer experience with anticipation and excitement to read the experiences that God has allowed in many different lives. Each experience has definite purpose that the reader can relate to in her individual life.

What an exciting beginning to a discovery process of one's life purpose revealed in prayer with Pappa God.


Linda Graber(sdg)

Director of Ministry Development/Pastor's Wife (34 years)
The Church At Parker (Parker, Colorado)

great read about taking chances, following your heart and making a difference. if this story doesn't inspire you to reach out and help your community, you probably are too self absorbed. better written than three cups of tea.

after having read this book, i decided to change my life and leave my job at one of the world's largest hotel companies, where i had a nice job, making a lot $, but no satisfaction in life. a career? I wanted a Calling, which is what I now have.
not a day goes by that I am not thankful for having jumped at the chance to change my life, for the better.

The true account of a man who gave up a dream job and the business fast track, security, a personal life, and his dream of owning a house to build libraries and schools in the poorest countries and stock them with books. A caring and brilliant businessman. An inspiring and brave story. I love the way he thinks and writes. I had one question throughout the book. Mr. Wood thought he had enough money saved to support himself for about five years. More than five years went by, but he didn't mention how he continued to have the money to feed, house, and clothe himself. He never mentioned collecting a pay check or receiving personal donations.

Very inspiring. If you liked this book you will love Three Cups of Tea which is a similar story, but written by a man who started with nothing at all and hadn't the faintest idea how to proceed with building schools.

Like a 2-out single that sparks a multirun bottom-of-the-ninth comeback, John Wood's story is most exciting due to the couldn't-have-seen-that-coming factor. What started as a vacation turned into a small idea, which exploded into one of the coolest charities I've read about. In fact, I was so inspired by this story that I wrote to John Wood immediately after I was finished (requesting a job because we know where Sp... ah.. my company.. is headed).

But what is the story?
In Leaving Microsoft to Change the World, John Wood is on a small sabbatical (in Nepal) from blossoming Microsoft. There, he discovers the country's intense need of books, libraries, and schools and its childrens' more intense desire to learn. He promises to return with books (on top of the pictured yak). What follows is an absolute eruption of giving from John's friends and family. Funding and providing books for one library soon turns into John leaving his killer position at Microsoft to work on his charity full time. Now, Room to Read (the charity) is present in seven countries in Asia and Africa building libraries, schools, and funding education.

Not just a success story...
Perhaps the part I enjoyed most about the book is that it does not only talk about how his charity started, but it discusses entrepreneurship, management theories, and other business ideas. It seems that business lessons learned by John apply strongly to successful for-profit organizations as well. Perhaps what stands out the most is how lean, focused, and passionate his company is.

Anyone can do it
As long as you've, you know, worked at a skyrocketing tech company, have millions of dollars of stock options, and the ability to quit receiving a salary for years at a time and still travel to third world countries. Admittedly, the author talks about how anyone can get involved, but it sure makes following your dreams easier when you've got the money to do so.

"It will make you want to quit your job."
Well, I was warned (Jeff) before I started to read that it would make me want to quit my job. It's true, a social improvement job is a lot more appealing than SQL. Leaving Microsoft starts out interesting and only improves. It is not a particularly difficult read, either, so that, coupled with how much fun it is to see Room to Read succeed makes this a rather quick read. At best, you'll be inspired to "dive in" (the author's words); at worst, you'll be entertained for a couple hours' worth of reading.

Leaving Microsoft to Change the World Rating: 84 / 100
Writing Style: 7 / 10
Finish-the-chapter-before-bed Factor: 8.5 / 10

Very well written book. Enjoyed reading it, and finished it in two days. John Wood has done a tremendous service to Nepal and Cambodia (two countries in which I used to live and work). Amazing work that needed to be done. Great reading also in the book about some of the inner workings of Microsoft as well. Read this book!

Knowledge is simplification of information. The book is very well written. It distills years of work into a persuasive style for readers. Go through the "deep-dive" and feel refreshed. Strikes a chord deep down - all those examples.

This is probably the 50th self help book I've read and it is by far the best one yet. Parts of it remind me of the book "Feel the Fear and do it anyway", another highly recommended book for anyone feeling stuck. I have felt stuck, particularly in my career, for well over 4 years now. However, this book gives me a lot of hope, something I've been missing for a while.

The book makes several great points about not over analyzing everything, the danger of your ego/superego and how they holds you back, and fear. One of the most important points the book makes is that right before we are about to take a step forward, the superego comes in and criticizes what we are trying to accomplish, thus holding us back.

Lastly, the book helps you tap into and figure out what your passion in life is (career). So if you're feeling stuck in your career or life in general, I highly recommend this book. It beats all the career books I've read, as it delves deeper into your personality and what is holding you back to help you get to the bottom of it. There is a section on personal values and how often times we work for a company that isn't in alignment with our core values, which causes major problems.

Overall, very insightful and helpful for anyone in career crisis.

often fall into psychological ruts that can lead to feelings of fatigue, worthlessness and even guilt. During such periods, falling asleep at night and getting out of bed in the morning both become difficult. Making decisions gets to be almost impossible. If this state persists intensely over a long period, clinicians call it depression. When these feelings are short-lived and intermittent, psychologist and career change expert Timothy Butler calls it an "impasse." Though uncomfortable, an impasse is good because it can act as a much-needed catalyst for a meaningful metamorphosis. Unfortunately, many people do not know how to get "unstuck" from an impasse. That is where Butler's savvy book comes into play. He provides insightful, hands-on advice telling people who feel stuck how to move along and make necessary, valuable changes. For his exercises to work, the reader must spend time on them and be open to letting them take effect. We applaud Butler's life change program and his intelligent psychological guide. Learn how to overthrow that impasse, and go forward new and fresh.

The book's title drew me like a magnet. It was so precise. And I said, "yes, I am stuck and need help in getting unstuck". After starting and succeeding, or not so, at many ventures in life, I have lately been feeling stuck.

Don't want to do the same things again that I have been doing for over thirty years. Is it mid-life crisis? I don't know. What else can I do? I can only do what I know... But is it relevant anymore? Have I become a has been? Self doubt, self pity, and helplessness have begun to creep in.

This book has been very helpful. It provides a systematic approach to analyzing the problem and an opportunity to get to know yourself. Some answers may be disturbing. You may find out that what you have been doing all your life so far is perhaps not what you ever wanted to do. You may not even have begun to do what you really wanted to do in life, are good at, and have a passion for. Perhaps, it is not the end of the road, but just the beginning.

I wish that I had read this book 10 or may be 20 years ago. That would have changed my life. I still have to find courage and discipline to change. But this book certainly provides the nudge that I have needed.

Author does have a tendency of self accolades in places, which really are not needed, as the work speaks for itself. But, nonetheless, the book is a great and very helpful work.

Anil Aggarwal
anil@datagenius.com

Butler's book has one of the best cover images I've see i awhile. A fish leaps into the air, leaving behind other fish swimming peacefully in their glass bowl. At first he seems bent on self-destruction, till we realize another bowl is waiting to receive him. It's mostly hidden at the edge of the page and it's emptier.

The image is appropriate bcause Butler's book ultimately is about finding vision and image. He keeps referring to the Hundred Careers exercise: choose your top 12 from a list of 100. Then (and this is the important part) uncover common themes.

Usually I get nervous when career counselors urge clients to work with specific choices, because most people carry inaccurate stereotypes of careers with them. Accountants can be extraverted and sales people can be shy. But I sense that Butler works with each person's unique perceptions of the careers, although he doesn't say so directly.

Another reviewer suggests that a reader might need a guide to work through the process. I'm more concerned about translating insight into action. If you're an artist trapped in a banking career, how do you carry out the exploration you need? How do you find your new life? OK, a creative decides to become a freelance artist, but things get a little more complicated in real life. Every freelancer I know (including me) has to deal with creating systems to get the work done, marketing, staying motivated, and dealing with dumb things like more ink for the printer and why hasn't the bank transferred over your account forms.

Of course, vision can be compelling. A strong vision can motivate career changers to find solutions, sometimes almost effortlessly.

I can't help comparing this book to Herminia Ibarra's book, Working Identity, also published by Harvard Universiety Press. Ibarra emphasizes the zig zag pattern of actions most people take to find their next careers. Most people I know operate that way. They just take one step at a time till they realize that somehow they've landed where they're supposed to be.

Ibarra also targets midlife career changers -- people who have achieved some success and accomplishment. This book seems directed to younger people who have less at stake. For example, a 35-year-old woman who leaves a high-powered financial career to become a high school teacher, reducing her income from $106K to $34K. Some people make those kinds of moves and never look back. Others realize they miss the lifestyle of the larger salary. Still others get bogged down by conditions of working, like paperwork.

I can't help wondering how this woman will feel when she's in her fifties and sixties. And I hope she likes teaching, because it's going to be hard to make a shift back to the corporate world from just about anything else.

Definitely Getting Unstuck holds value for people at the early stages of their career searches. I would recommend it to anyone who's looking for a new way to think about career change. But I've seen people who need to get unstuck not just from their jobs but from their analysis. Exploring possibilities is fun. Translating them to realities - and living with the aftermath - gets a whole lot more complicated.

David Maister did it again. For any CEO of a small business make sure you read Chapter 18.

Although Maister is writing for and about professional services companies, I think his ideas about strategy apply to almost any type of business. The "Fat Smoker" analogy is memorable, and it means that we don't always do what we know is good for us, even when it comes to running a business. In order to achieve great results, we have to break the old habits that have kept us in the same old ruts. Most of the book concentrates on ways we can develop the right attitude toward our own work, interact more effectively with co-workers, and build inspired, cohesive organizations. For some people, this book will be like preaching to the converted. But for business leaders and professionals who think the individual is more important that the organization, or who lead by intimidation, it will be a challenging read. Although Maister has an easy to read style, there is nothing easy about his ideas. He shares great wisdom obviously the result of long years grappling with organizational problems at a high level.

David Maister's newest book, Strategy and the Fat Smoker; Doing What's Obvious But Not Easy, is a good one if not a cohesive one. Written in a very engaging style, packed with stories that illustrate the point, it is both an easy read and a thought-provoking collection. While it is not a seamless, chapter-building-on-chapter "how-to-do-it," it is full of individual sections that independently are brilliant. The first section alone (on strategy in general) has several great takeaways. Particularly if you are building a personal services company, this is a very handy resource.

It's a new year and you want to lose weight. You know what to do. Odds are, however, that you will not do it.

So it goes with professional service firms strategies. Every firm knows what to do but they just don't do it. Why? Because they aren't sick. Once they have that first heart attack things will change.

That is the central point David makes in this great book. He makes the point simply and effectively and this is a must read for every person who lives by the billable hour.

Heads of firms should skip straight to the chapter titled "The Chief Executive's Speech." Take it, put it on some note cards and give it the next beginning of the fiscal year all-hands meeting. This is what you should be saying instead of the things you've been saying before.

I hope to hear that some firm has ditched their current strategy and replaced it with David's. That firm will make more money than their competition.

Maister gets a lot right: appeal to an employee's own needs, not the greater corporate good(more work, less support makes for a bad rallying cry); embrace a relationship mentality in business deverlopment not a transaction on(as he bluntly puts it, go for romance and not a one night stand although many talk the first but do the second); understand that all can be rainmakers if you speak to their needs and intererests first with the money a nice side benefit, a consequence and not a motivator. His chapter on law firms is disheartening.He says that they are so different from other PSFs that they need their own chapter. His analysis:"(law firms are made up of)bands of warlords,each with his or her followers,ruling over a group of cowed citizens and acting in temporary alliance---until a better opportunity comes along." Beacuse of billing pressures, he says many partners hoard the work that needs to be pressed down. A final point, and one I disagree with---he seems to suggest that PSFs must only cater to the elite clients and there is no room for commodity work. Yet it is the commodity work which trains newer employees and, at times, fills in the dry periods between the more margin filled engagements.

Excellent book. A historical summary of what climate has done to the earth over thousands of years. Technical details presented in a very readable way. How we got to where we are today. Options as to what we can do to reverse the situation. We need to work fast !

Broecker and Kunzig have written an excellent work on climate change -what came before and what is likely to come again.

It is a read required by anyone who cares about our planet. He offers fixes that cannot be ignored.

Author of Mr. NewHeart (New Heart): Heart Attack to Transplant and Beyond

Preview my next book, "The Face of War," when you Google "David Hollar's Storefront". It is a memoir of my year in Vietnam as an infantry officer.

Wally Broecker's break-through research on the planet's ocean conveyor belt and its impact on climate is well known in the research community and made palatable here for popular consumption. Read this book for that reason alone if you're unfamiliar with this process and what melting ice sheets can do to it. It also is a decent introduction to the earth's paleoclimates and what they can tell us about potential swings in our current climate history. Broecker knows that we're 'poking the beast' and the wake-up call could result in a return to a completely different regime.

On the fix: While I don't have much faith in engineering carbon sequestration as a method to correct the carbon problem, readers should see Broecker's chapter as an introduction (laugh), and next, take a close look at the serious efforts being undertaken by the Department of Energy's Office of Science.
Your dough down a carbonized rat hole?

Combine one coauthor who is the world's leading expert on climate change with a skilled science journalist and you get a riveting biography of Wallace S. Broecker that reads like a National Book Award novel. The science is a bonus, but, more than that - it is, I think, the definitive book on the subject of climate change.

One of the world's greatest living geoscientists, Wally Broecker, weaves an historical chronicle of earth's natural cycles with the modern history of humans that are, according to the Director of Earth Institute at Columbia University, poking the beast by combining mass use of fossil fuels with massive deforestation on earth. And Broecker warns that global society is at a crossroads where massive instability in climate, sea levels and survival of species threatens future generations.

If the geological past is prologue, Fixing Climate may be presient unless we pay attention to the author's solutions to tame the beast.

This good-hearted book does a decent job in considering the wishes and likes of actual people when presenting its case for climate change and actions recommended. Too many similar works rantishly view humans as Earth's destructive vermin, and "Fixing Climate" takes great pains in stating that people count, that their beliefs and opinions ultimately determine what will be done with our climate. Early on the author concedes that global warming is not humanity's worst problem, rather that human misery is much worse. If only he had used the more specific word "poverty" instead of the mushier "misery."

This well-arranged book presents its information in distinctly defined chapters, covering major areas currently discussed these days. The reader will find the information not only objectively given, but also roughly in agreement with other sources. The conclusions reached in "Fixing Climate," though, often differ even based on the same numbers. This, of course, is the basis of differing points of view.

Unfortunately, most of this book makes conclusions toward the pessimistic. As the end of the book nears, one senses that "Oh, what can we do, what can we do," direction rolling especially through the last chapter. Having said many things, many times about the goodness of science, the risks and hard work persons of science take all the time, and how much science has pulled us all through, one wonders why the author does not extend this same point of view much into the future in "Fixing Climate"? It is as if the scientists of his day were the only ones capable of creative thought. For example, the author spends much time on the topic of carbon sequestration, a technology which may or may not work, but the point is that there are a "semi-infinite" number of other new possible directions to be explored. Let the creative, hard-working technologists loose, and we will almost certainly pull through this situation too. But buy the book; it is well done, and refreshing to read.