change Books

I got it in time, and hopefully it helped me get a decent grade in my course. The description of this book was similar to the condition.

French and Bell did an excellent job of compiling the materials for Organizational Development. The book a great resource that provides an excellent description of the discipline, a succinct history of organization development, and an extensive overview of the field and how the various theories interrelate and can be leveraged together, when necessary, for specific initiatives. It is dense with ideas, tools, and tips for interventions and will be indispensible as you work on change or improvement initiatives. I wish I had had a copy of the book during the course of my career.

The book, written in a scholarly manner, covers the spectrum of organizational development and can lead the reader to more research on the topic. The numerous references to articles that appear at the end of each chapter is an invaluable resources to the reader. Another important aspect of the book, is how it lays out the history of the profession, so one can identify specific articles and track down the information threat to the original research by the people who invented the discipline. As apposed to jumping on a tool that looks useful.

As I read the book, I realized that many of the contemporary authors are just repackaging these concepts for a new generation, who have never read these original pieces of research. While some may consider this body of knowledge to be old, because most of it occurred in the 1940s and 50s adn the book was originally writen in the 70s. These are classics!! Fortunately it did not take two thousand years to recognize their value.

The examples and illustrations the authors provide throughout the book are useful, because they tell a story and explain the sequence and steps that were necessary for specific scenarios and demonstrate the complexity that is involved with organization development. These are excellent examples that demonstrate the nuance that is necessary to bring about a significant change initiative, which most people do not fully appreciate and take for granted. It is important to understand the complexity and magnitude of this from the start, so people aren't diluted to thing this will be done over a weeken workshop or in a couple of weeks or months.

Organization Development, like many of the researchers who contributed to the disciple, presents a practical action oriented approach to apply the knowledge. The concepts discussed in Organization Development are all about change and execution, which is what everyone describes as their biggest problem.

If you don't like change... You are really going to hate being irrelevant. The concepts in this book will make your efforts very relevant.

This book is a great resource that provides the history of Organization Development and an extensive overview of the field. There are tools and tips for interventions that will be very helpful in many change/improvement initiatives.

I received the book I ordered; however, I received the "low cost" edition which basically means the paper is thinner making it more difficult to read because the print from the other side shows through. This was not clear in the description.

I'm a little disappointed at those who were horrified at its age--the French and Bell book is a classic and it was updated in 1999. Anyone who is interested in learning OD should read the book and you will get a great foundation. Go from there to learn more about individual OD interventions or theories. Yes, Kotter's book is great, too, but Kotter speaks about leading change (only one topic in OD) or about leadership (another goodie but only one topic). If you don't know anything about OD, read this book. Because it was originally written in the 70s doesn't invalidate it; in fact, it shows how good it is.

Bishop Spong has undertaken an almost impossible task: he seeks to remain Christian while systematically dismantling the entire foundation of Christianity. He finds historical precedence for this enormous conceptual shift in the Exile of the Jews to Babylon. The foundations of Jewish faith were destroyed by the Exile and the Jews had to give up the core of their beliefs or else lose their faith entirely. And so Bishop Spong calls himself, and others who no longer hold to the Christian Creed, "Believers in Exile".

The Christian Creed is examined phrase by phrase and nearly each one is demolished by our modern scientific knowledge, and by simple logic. Is God "the Father"? Is God "Almighty"? This man who has spent his adult life in service to the Episcopal Church rejects these ideas as sexist, paternal, and observably wrong. The age-old Problem of Evil refutes the assertion that God is Almighty. I cannot possibly do justice to Spong's careful and powerful arguments, so I recommend to all those interested to simply read what he has to say. It's quite well written and approachable.

This book is not written for sincere believers, comfortable in their faith. Instead it is written for every thoughtful person who is having trouble reconciling the detailed knowledge mankind now has of the natural world with Christian faith as practiced in the modern world. Bishop Spong has found a Christianity that is beyond theism, as strange as that may sound. Yet his beautifully organized and detailed arguments make this choice quite reasonable, at least as reasonable as any other belief based on faith.

Whether or not you agree with Spong's views on religion, every Christian should at least read this book for an enlightening perspective on their faith. It's very well written and easy to read.

Bishop Spong is a retired Episcopal bishop with a simple point of view. Christianity, to him, is defined by the most aggressively illiterate and anti-modern types of Fundamentalist Protestantism. It is anti-science. It is anti-evolution. It takes a rigidly literalist view of the Bible. Christianity, in short, is against reason and it is against the modern world. Thus, it is dying. The only way to fix it is to radically change it, to make it into a religion of love, instead of one of judgment.

With all due respect, Bishop Spong is simply wrong, about every single aspect of this.

First, as Spong should know, there are many kinds of Christianity. Yes, there are churches which arguably fit his description, particularly if viewed in an uncharitable way. However, as an Episcopalian he should have at least basic familiarity with Catholic teaching. The Catholic Church is not, and never has been, anti-reason, anti-evolution or anti-science. It has never taken a literal view of the Bible. The Episcopal Church once upon a time considered itself very close to Rome, in theological terms. While the Episcopal Church has recently had a long series of very public fights with the Catholic Church, and with the world Anglican Church, over, first, the ordination of women, and, second, the ordination of gay priests and bishops, most Episcopal priests and congregations still pride themselves on being well-educated. It is, frankly, bewildering to have an Episcopal Bishop say that he can not see any difference between his own Church and the most illiterate form of hardshell fundamentalist. I honestly do not know what he thinks he is talking about. One can criticize the Episcopal Church for many things, but excessive Fundamentalism and overly-strict Biblical literalism are not features that any sane, competent observer thinks characterize the Episcopalians.

Second, as a practical matter, it is the liberal churches which are dying not the fundamentalist ones. Every liberal church has shrunk dramatically in the last genertion. Every staunchly conservative church has grown in members. One can like this or not like this, but it is simply a fact that it is the liberal churches which are dying, not the other way around. It takes willful blindness, a stubborn refusal to face basic facts, to deny this. (One can see this, among other places, in the differing fortunes of the Episcopal and the Catholic Churches in America. The two were quite close, in many ways, fifty years ago. The Episcopal Church, however, has gone from being "the Republican Party at prayer", as it was a century ago, to being perhaps the most liberal Church in America today. The Catholic Church, while it has flirted with liberalism, has basically stood fast to its historic teachings. The Episcopal Church has lost nearly half its members and has far more priests -- gay, straight and female -- then can possibly find pulpits. The Catholic Church has grown steadily and faces a severe priest shortage, so pressing is the call for them.)

Third, when Spong says that the Church must be transformed, he advocates nothing new. He wants a Church based on reason and love. Here is an idea for you, Bishop. Go read St. Augustine. Read St. Thomas Aquinas. Read Luther. For that matter, go read Cardinal Ratzinger's Introduction to Christianity. Read John Paul II's Theology of the Body. Read some Edith Stein. Acquaint yourself with the classics of the literate Church, both historically and in the our era. You will find tht the "new" church you want is not new. You will find that all of the values you advocate have always been in the Church. What we need is not radical newness, but leaders who actually read and understand the tradition.

Is Bishop Spong truly ignorant of the Theology 101 reading list which I just ticked off? It is possible, in which case it is truly appalling that the Episcopal Church made such an illiterate a priest, never mind a bishop. But I do not think so. Something tells me that Spong has heard of Augustine and Aquinas. I think he ignores the classics of the literate Church, deliberately, because he has a different agenda. He basically wants to turn his back on the Bible, and make Jesus Christ into a pitchman for the extreme left wing of the Democratic Party instead. It is certainly his right to believe as he wishes. LIke so many other Episcopal leaders, however, he is not unable to draw any firm line between where religion ends and politics begins. As a result, what he teaches is basically a muddled form of left-wing political ideology. The voice of the Gospels, the voice of the Apostle Paul, the voice of Moses, these are voices that Bishop Spong is not listening to any more.

Having jettisoned the need for a bodily resurrection of Jesus in Resurrection: Myth or Reality? : A Bishop's Search for the Origins of Christianity, Spong is now ready to jettison the theistic conception of God. Why the Christianity he want to leave behind must die he is not clear about: he may underestimate the desperation of those whose reactionary beliefs mask hysteria. What Christianity will change into he seems to be still struggling with ... and it is not up to him alone, of course, to determine what the new Christianity will be, as he is aware. It is to "believers in exile", those who have similarly rejected supernaturalism, that he turns to enlist the help of.

As earlier in Resurrection: Myth or Reality? : A Bishop's Search for the Origins of Christianity and later in A New Christianity for a New World: Why Traditional Faith is Dying & How a New Faith is Being Born, Spong continues to hold tightly to his image of Jesus. Although he appeals to Paul, his image of Christ also derives closely from his reading of the Gospels, such that he does not in this book dive deeply into Paul's theology. Indeed, in Resurrection: Myth or Reality? : A Bishop's Search for the Origins of Christianity most of his discussion related to Paul's letters is confined to one ten page chapter and in this book the two chapters with "Christ" in their titles mostly cover Christ as implied by the Jesus found in the Gospels. Although Spong points out that Paul "wrote that he was not concerned to know Christ from a human point of view (2 Cor 5:16)", it seems quite important to Spong to speculate, using the Gospels and his assumptions about the impact Jesus had on those who knew him, just who that personal Jesus was.

So anchored in the Jesus he believes he has met, Spong is ready to let go of the bodily resurrection and now the theistic conception of God and of the supernatural heaven and hell, requiring a new understanding of prayer, the basis of ethics and what eternal life might mean.

Spong is searching and inviting you to join his search so that what seems sacred can remain alive. He seems to be struggling but it seems a worthwhile struggle and one that his long role within the church, his long love of Christianity and his integrity equips him well to be a guide for.

I've seen detailed reviews by Frank Mobbs and Brent Hardaway and looked over many here, so I realize no further opinions need to be expressed except from a bona fide atheist.

The author does a great job in the first half of the book making the case that atheists will see as brilliant and obviously true. And, unlike atheists, the author is polite and respectful of religion while doing it. Too many atheistic works are disrespectful of the believers at best and filthy-language rages at worst. Here then is an excellent work.

But then he spends the second half talking mumbo-jumbo nonsense, trying to set himself up as a messiah of sorts, bringing in a new view of Jesus and God.

I am certain that deep down, his logical self believes the first half but his superstitious half refuses to accept the logical end-conclusion: life on earth (or anywhere) is a process which occurs naturally and has no meaning or significance. Period. There is no purpose and there is no afterlife.

As a result, he tries to make a weird version of Jesus so he can still say he still worships Him and is thus still a Christian.

Poor deluded sole. I feel more sorry for him than I do for the people who find fault with the first half of the book.

I would give the book 5 stars for the first half (good reading for beginner atheists) and zero stars for the second (not good even for mystics). He should have published a smaller book entitled "Why Judeo/Christian Religions are False".

And his final conclusion: If you don't do things his way, Christianity will die, is completely wrong. Ignorant and superstitious people will exist forever and thus no religion will ever die unless replaced by one with even more fanatic zealots who kill all those who disagree. That's why we don't worship Zeus.

My main beef with this book is how quickly it goes... For example, in the first week you perform Paschimottanasana (seated forward bend), which is crazy! In Iyengar's Light on Yoga, this is not presented until week 14; the reason is that it requires A LOT of preparation, or else (and I write this from experience) you can really mess up your lower back if you do it improperly. Secondly, all the pranayama is done while doing the asanas instead of separately; I'm sure Patanjali is rolling in his urn. Thirdly, it mentions (forgive me if I'm wrong, I've shelved this book a long time ago) nothing of the Yamas and Niyamas, which is a prerequisite for asanas. And last but not least, the meditation portion of this book is just all wrong, and I'll leave it at that... Leave this book, go with Iyengar's Light on Yoga. It's more difficult and moves at a snail's pace, but it's as authentic as you can get without a guru.
I hated the book but I put two stars... If you go to Baron Baptiste's website, and email one of his employees a quesion, they answer it, gratis. Don't get me wrong, from what I've seen, Baptiste seems a little money hungry, but the world is not yet perfect. Namaste.

I have to admit I have an ambiguous relationship to this book. I admire the author's credentials and experience and the contents are organized around a 40 day plan which is a great idea. However, I think there are some important gaps if this is your only reference.

First, the best part about this book is progressing and deepening your commitment a day at a time. This is a great way to change your life and the ideas presented are useful and cover physical, mental and spiritual practices. The book is also well-illustrated and provides basic instruction on the most important asanas.

What I feel is missing here is more depth on the appropriate and safe ways to practice the asanas. If one is attending regular yoga classes or has a teacher, then I think the instructions are adequate. However, I think it's particulary important for beginners to focus on the details and if you purchase this book I would get something to supplement it such as Judith Lasater's "The 30 Essential Yoga Poses" and/or "Dancing the Body of Light" by Dona Holleman. If you have a bad back or neck, then it might also be worth purchasing "Back Care Basics" by Mary Pullig Schatz. (The Pilates back book might also be helpful, but it is not as comprehensive and it's not a yoga book per se.)

Some other aspects of this book that I like is the broad scope that covers philosophy, diet, meditation and routines that build up over time. It also talks about dealing with resistance and has a very motivational tone. While this approach may be a bit aggressive for non-athletes or people who are casually acquainted with yoga, the challenge will appeal to more serious students and atheletes who want to move forward quickly and are already in relatively good shape. These people are also less likely to get injured along the way.

In truth, I would rate the book a 3.5. However, there is no 3.5 category. While there are many things I like here, I don't see it as a standalone book. The most interesting thing about it for me was the attempt to integrate lots of elements into a way of life. However, I think there wasn't enough space to completely tackle this task. The effort to do this is admirable and there is certainly a lot one can learn, but please pick up one or more of the other books above before you starting combining bending and twisting or other physical moves that put high strain on fragile joints as well as the back.

If you found "Journey Into Power" (Baron's first book), to be a life changing book (I also have it on CD and listen to it all the time for inspiration), Baron has produced another excellent guide along the path of his approach to yoga.

While I must admit that I haven't followed the plan on a week by week basis, I have already been doing yoga daily for 8 years and have a very well established practice which I vary daily (I have over 70 videos of every imaginable style of yoga).

A big part of the reason that I purchased this book is because I was curious to see how he broke the sequences down for the various weeks. I like the way he lays out the routines in the series of photographs in the back section of the book, very useful!

The excavation questions in the meditation sections are useful as well as the principles he outlines in the first part of the book. The last section is also very useful in terms of applying yoga to one's whole life and not just what happens on the mat.

I did find Baron's nutritional principles ("The Cleansing Diet" and "The Detoxifying Cleanse") a bit easier to follow in "Journey Into Power", but there was still much interesting "food for thought" in this new book :) Baron's approach to eating is not a "diet" in the way the word is typically used, it's just really an approach to eating vital, living and unprocessed foods along with the psychology behind your relationship to food.

As far as practicing Yoga, in general I feel it's much easier to work with his Video/DVD programs than any book, even those as excellent as Baron's. His video/dvd programs are the best I've seen if you want a real "physical" yet sensible practice. For me the information on the poses in the books are excellent for getting detailed information on the specific elements of the poses which can be hard to get and absorb in the flow of a class (be it live or recorded).

In particular I'd recommend his "Live" programs, such as "Core Power" and "Unlocking Athletic Power" which are shorter practices. Plus "Soul Of Strength" which is a longer program (and it follows the "Journey Into Power" sequence almost exactly, just a few differences.

His PBS special which you can buy called "Transform Your Life" is a documentary of sorts which shows 40 students on one of Baron's weeklong "Bootcamps" and it is very inspirational, it also has a fabulous 20 minute Power Yoga Basics routine which is worth the price of the tape alone, I use it all the time for a short but effective practice.


Also, you may want to check out Baron's "Bootcamp Box" which has two CD's (not DVD's, but the CD's are VERY easy to follow) and flash cards which contain three 20 minute practices (Vinayas Flow/Hip Flow/Core Flow) and a long 75 minute practice. It also has a small booklet that helps you structure a home "Bootcamp" weekend practice.

Since writing this review I have purchased and used his "Journey Into Power" Video/DVD programs and they are excellent. The level one is a wonderful introduction to Baron's approach, it certainly seems that it would be challenging for someone new to vinyasa flow, and even for an experienced person it is a nice shorter and less intense practice than the level 2 which is considerably more intense. The level 2 program follows the sequence of Baron's book "Journey Into Power" quite closely (though it is very close to "Soul Of Strength" so if you have that you may not need "Journey Into Power" Level 2)
Namaste

Baron Baptiste is the son of two of America's yoga pioneers, and he trained in all of the major traditions before selecting the best from all of them to create Baptiste Power Yoga. In this book he explains that within 40 days, following a specific program readers can shift to a whole new way of living and being.

For the forty day time period, there are specific instructions covering exercises, diet, and meditations. Each week within the forty days has a specific theme within the overall goal of changing your life. Of course you have to put yourself into the program, and what you get out will depend on your input. The rudiments of a new lifestyle are here. It is now up to you.

This book is very well written and I've not been able to put it down since I got it. I'm in the middle of my fourth week of the 40 day program and things have been unbelievably smooth. The practices have awesome flow from one to the next. The progressions are so natural. When I saw "40 days to transformation," I conjured up some grueling process, something I'd force myself to get through and then move on. But around the end of the first week I realized these 40 days are transforming my life. The physical changes have been powerful, I've dropped weight, stress and a lot of tension. The lessons I've learned about myself are permanent. They'll be with me always!

In my work as a teacher educator, I recommend this book constantly. Filled with songs, stories, and examples, it is practical and filled with ideas to use on Monday morning. The thing I like best about it is that it does more than recommend that teachers build community - it provides activities that can be used daily in inclusive classrooms.

I really enjoyed the way Mara Sapon-Shevin writes -- everything flows, everything is connected, and her choice of words is apt and evocative. It's also very well organized. Her ideas are elegant and yet simple, clear, and concise. She names the problems that exist and ways to address them, and illustrates them well with clear examples.

I found her discussions of competition, cooperation, children's feelings, etc., most interesting. I can see why she's sought after as a speaker across the country and world. She expresses ideas that our world needs, and expresses them fluently, passionately, honestly (sharing her own experiences), and convincingly.

If you are a teacher or a person who cares about children this is the book for you. As a teacher I have used this book and have had fantastic results. Creating an environment for students that is positve and inclusive is the only way teachers can end violence and negativity in their classrooms. This book is pack full of activities that will help build a caring community of students in the classroom. The activities also transcend the school environment. It is perfect for companies who want to build employee relationships that are positive and productive. If I could only describe the author in one word it would be Amazing. I have met her and she is as caring in person as she in the book. This woman has dedicated her life to making a difference and it shows. Buy the book it will be the best thing you ever did!

This book is the perfect balance of inclusive philosophy and practical classroom how-tos. It rejuvinates the reader, reminding them of the need and possibility of teaching effectively, caringly and inclusively. Teachers and others will come away from this book with a wealth of useful tools, new ideas and practical ways to create caring classrooms where all teachers and students belong and progress together. This book leaves you feeling you truely can "Change the world" and gives you the tools and motivation you need to do it!

This is simply the best all round book on building community in schools available. The author wonderfully integrates practical strategies on the education of very diverse learners together -- in terms of ability, race, culture, language. It is a book filled with gentleness and grace yet solidly based on research and practical information. This book should be read and daily used by every elementary teacher!

I have mixed feelings about this book and this author. I'm sure that the information is very useful - an important education for all and therefore worth every cent. However, I do think the author was quite brave to publish an entire book around those snippets of information. Even though it's a slim volume it's still mostly 'filler'. However, don't necessarily let that detract from the value of the core information.

What does detract, though, is the way it comes across as quite a thinly disguised marketing exercise. Not that there's anything wrong with marketing per se - good on him for getting out there and getting wealthy - but it does grate.

(It must have worked though, because he's bold enough to ask for US$600/hr for consultations by phone!! In that sense buying the book is a very sensible compromise, because really, who of sound mind would pay that?!)

I was looking for a book that helped me to improve my voice, and I found one. It is easy to read book, and it give you informations how to make your voice better.

It make you think about how importand your voice is, and that you should take better care of it, after all, there is so much about your voice, that reflects your personality. Your voice, is the identidy of your personality. I think people should think more about how they speak.

We are always using the voice image, instead of speaking the way we where born to speak, which by the way is the way we spoke after learning it from your closest people(parenst, teachers, friends) This book has exercises to find and use your natural voice, and the exercises are so simple..

The problem for me was, that in the beginning of the book, it was alot about exercises and information about the voice, which was great, but in the second half, it was to much about people who had some voice problems, and decided to use these simple exercises, to fix the problem. And it worked, even though many had tried very expensive ones, and complicated ones, these worked, and they are very simple, and not many.

Overall, Great book!

after the first few chapters, its all pretty much the same thing, so I don't know why its so long.

Alchemy of Voice
Dr. Morton as a speech therapist, writes in a layman's style approaching developing an interestint voice. His advice on finding your 'natural voice" as opposed to the 'habitual' voice compliments Stuart Pearson's book "The Alchemy of Voice."

It helps the voice teacher to show students how to find the best pitch for each individual. Although seriously treated in both books, students will have fun finding their own level of pitch.

Not quite enough. Not enough pages. Not enough exercises. Not enough real models of good voices (The book does not include a CD as is truly necessary for this sort of thing) Not enough visual illustration. Not enough good science (What does it really mean to say 'the voice should emerge from the upper two-thirds of the air passageway leading to your mouth?")

On the other hand, too much. Too much motivational schlock. Too much celebrity name dropping. Too much evidence of the hurriedness with which this book was put together.

I hope the author will remake the book, include a CD, explain the science better, and get rid of the pages devoted to hyping voice training. The fact the reader has spent money makes that superfluous. Let's try again!

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 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.

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 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! =)

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.

This is a great overview of concepts that are, by definition, very fractured. Harvey clarifies and pulls together a number of seemingly disparate elements in a masterful manner. Though this book could work as a good introduction to these concepts, I think readers with some background in the major writers of modernism and postmodernism will get more out of it. Dogmatic postmodernists may be put off that Harvey has the "temerity" to suggest that postmodernism might be an extension of modernism or that he finds some good in modernism and some excesses in postmodern approaches but, they should get over themselves and realize that their insistence that "all meta-narratives are bad" is their own meta-narrative. Overall, Harvey manages to convincingly express his ideas while maintaining a remarkably evenhanded approach. I especially enjoy the fact that he avoids the postmodernist tendency to ignore the complexities of modernism and, thus create a postmodern meta-narrative about the modernist project.

Ask ten academics about what to call our present fin-de-siecle epoch and you'll get ten different labels, but "postmodernism" seems always the default term. Although it's twelve years old, Harvey's book is the best I've read about the pluralistic fabric we daily inhabit. It's edifyingly reader-friendly (especially compared to some of the Franco-drunk rhetoricians out there trying to get a handle on our current world). In precise prose Harvey outlines the shift to our information-as-capital paradigm since the mid-sixties, and the causes of the growth of the temp sector and "just-in-time" production capabilities. Harvey traces the arrival of "flexible accumulation" to the collapse of Fordist production practices in the 1966-73 waves of recession, but covers far more than just economic factors--architecture, art, literature, cinema--without any self-conscious Neo-Marxist whistling-in-the-dark. In his project to articulate a new (meta?)narrative, Harvey's book will probably give post-structuralists a new constellation of ideas to obfuscate with hip terminology and dense prose...
Manuel Castell's "The Rise of the Network Society" is another good book along these lines.

David Harvey's "Condition of Post-Modernity" provides excellent representational cases to show the differences between modernity and post-modernity. Although sometimes difficult to follow (I had problems with the chapter pertaining to architecture), Harvey uses enough examples (i.e., economics, art, cinema, etc.) to make sure one understands the differences between post-modernism and modernism. The economic chapter, "Fordism and Flexible Accumulation" is particulary good and shows the gradual transformation from a moderninst to a post-modernist economy and society. I was disappointed, however, that Harvey didn't have a complete section focused towards the differences between modernist and post-modernist lit.

David Harvey's "Condition of Post-Modernity" provides excellent representational cases to show the differences between modernity and post-modernity. Although sometimes difficult to follow (I had problems with the chapter pertaining to architecture), Harvey uses enough examples (i.e., economics, art, cinema, etc.) to make sure one understands the differences between post-modernism and modernism. The economic chapter, "Fordism and Flexible Accumulation" is particulary good and shows the gradual transformation from a modernist to a post-modernist economy and society. I was disappointed, however, that Harvey didn't have a complete section focused towards the differences between modernist and post-modernist lit.

Wow, this book is about as dense as the crust of the earth. It takes at least a few reads over to understand what the arguments are. While the arguments in this book are very well articulated, I found myself wanting to shoot myself in the face sometimes while reading this book. It can be really boring, but brings up some very interesting ideas of 80's culture and society.

Kevin Sheehan has simplified the great qualities of important leaders and placed them in an entertaining text. A gift which I have passed on to my dearest friends, this book is both inspirational and educational. My highest recommendation.

Poignant, powerful stories. Beautifully written with a distinctive and important design. This book's not to be missed--by you, your friends, your business colleagues. Bravo!

Within his book A Leader Becomes A Leader, Kevin Sheehan delightfully illustrates the essence of true leadership. He poignantly definies a diverse group of past and present leaders; while exploring their life events and characteristics of greatness. Encourage your friends, family and coworkers to read this motivational book!

The author does a phenomenal job of breaking the topic down into small manageable and inspiring readings; also covers a great cross-section of leaders and the characteristics that made them successful. I ordered a dozen copies as executive and motivational gifts.

J. Kevin Sheehan presents a celebration of what's possible in his biographical snapshots of great leaders. By focusing on the unique character traits of outstanding leaders the author transforms the mysteries of leadership into something very real. He answers the question "what made them great?" in an extremely concise and inspirational style. Great as a corporate gift or graduation present. My children have used it for school projects and I have found inspiration for my own business. No home or school library should be without this most valuable tool.

I couldn't put this book down once I started reading it. The author takes a wrecking-ball to establishment views about homework, revealing the shoddy and sometimes deliberately deceptive "research" used to justify massive quantities of homework. Hence it is also a good case study in how ideological partisans fudge the facts in order to sell an idea to the public, and a lesson in revealing false claims. Always go to the primary source!

Homework as it is portrayed in this book is child abuse. It is part of a larger scheme to program children so that they will function more efficiently in the "New Economy" - the low-wage, service sector economy, where the most highly valued employee asset is the ability to obey orders without question and submit to mind-numbing and repetitive tasks on a daily basis. The schools want children to "get used to it now", since it is what most of them will end up doing anyway.

Why is endless work and toil glorified? Why is it deemed good to turn human beings in to "good workers"? We have technology now that requires far less labor to create the basic goods and luxuries of life in much shorter periods of time! We're at work creating wealth and profit so that a few people can amass billions in personal fortunes. We don't need this system. This system does however need us, and we can break it by withdrawing our support. Burning homework assignments would be a good place to start.

This is one those books that can be hard to swallow because the message doesn't just question accepted thinking on the importance of homework, it shows that the use of homework does not increase achievement. The use of homework is amazingly a negative in the lower grades - some measures of achievement in the presence of homework were actually worse than not having any homework.

I loved this book, because I want to be right and do the best for my students.

For the most part, all of us have grown up doing homework while going to school. However, has doing hours of homework made any of us better students or more knowledgeable in the subjects we are learning? That, in essence, is the question being posed by the author of this book. And, his answer is a resounding no, especially when dealing with children who are younger than high school age.

I have watched my daughter do homework from the time she was in kindergarten and wondered at the point of it all. Most of the time it was worksheets that seemed to be little more than an attempt to pound information through her head. However, as a gifted student, she already understood the material and only ended up frustrated at having to spend more and more of her spare time doing work she already knew. She went from being a student who loved to go to school to one who cringes at the thought and I suspect homework is one main reason.

The studies presented in the book by the author that show homework is of little value validate what I have been saying for years. I found it very interesting that there is no correlation between increased homework and better grades or improved test scores on standardized tests. However, as we move to a more "test" driven world, class time becomes much more valuable and increases in homework become the norm, to the point where many students end up having no life left after school and homework.

My daughter, although still in high school, is taking a college course at a local community college. It was fascinating to read the policies of the college. One states that to get an A in a three credit course, the student is expected to do 7 ½ hours of homework a week. When multiplied by 6 courses, which is what my daughter takes at high school, the amount of homework expected for a top grade is 45 hours. When class time is included, that makes a total of about 60 hours a week. Yet at the high school, she is in class for 35 hours a week and has about 30 hours of homework assigned each week. So, she is doing more work in high school than would be expected in college. Something is very wrong with this picture.

All parents should read this book and understand the contents. If you don't read it and complain now, your child will lose more and more of their free time as they get older. It won't make them better students; just bitter at the experience.

Alfie Kohn is a nationally known educator and author of several books about the learning experience. Many things about the homework puzzle seem to frustrate Kohn and others like him: The fact that there is no study that shows a positive link between homework and achievement; that society seems to accept homework as a given, without question and without criticism, even though there is no proof that it works; and that homework isn't more readily challenged. These issues are addressed in this book, along with possible alternatives to the conventional wisdom that homework is necessary and essential for learning.

I have been involved in the education field myself, but my involvement has been strictly on an adult level. Still, I read this book with an active interest because I was curious to see if Kohn would offer any research or general advice on giving out homework to people of different ages. While this book is intended as an examination of homework for grade school age children and high school age, there is one small correlation that Kohn has found, through his and others' research, about homework: It seems to slightly improve the performance of older kids (high school age), while having no positive effect at all on younger children. The older people get, the more valuable homework seems to be. However, the correlation between homework and learning is still very slight- even for high school age students- and Kohn believes that the entire system of giving out homework needs to be revamped.

Besides just talk directly about homework, I like the fact that Kohn discusses some of the human psychology behind homework and the tendency of people and society in general to accept things the way they are instead of demanding change, or at least insisting on a consideration of change. In regards to homework (and other facts of life), most people seem to believe that homework is good because, well, everyone in the past has done homework so today's young people should be expected to do the same. "I had to suffer when I was young, so you should suffer too" seems to be the attitude of many parents. What is also interesting is the homework relationship to declining school performance and the reaction by most educators and parents. Because it is assumed that homework is good and necessary for learning, when schools fail to make the grade, the reaction is usually met by- what else- more homework! In other words, very few people step back and consider that maybe excessive homework is the cause of school failure. The assumption is that homework is good, and therefore the reaction is to increase the homework load still further.

Alfie Kohn presents an intelligent discussion of homework in this book and among the many things I like about his writing is the fact that he is not only respectful of dissenters, he is also completely open to considering future research that confirms the effectiveness of homework. But until someone can show him a study that confirms the effectiveness of homework, Kohn is going to stick with his position that homework isn't the cure- all that people think it is, especially for grade school- age children.

Overall, The Homework Myth is an effective book by a renowned educator and writer. It is full of statistics and facts to back its case, and it offers some good, sensible discussion on why people think the way they do about homework and how parents, educators, and students can work together to lessen the homework load, improve the learning process through other means, and enhance both education and family life. It is a good book to read for anyone who is involved in the teaching or general education fields.

We live in an achievement driven culture that is so obsessed with success we often don't question the value of those things we do to reach them. Alife Kohn's book The Homework Myth takes us down the rabbit hole showing us the flawed assumptions and conlcusions of numberous studies and how they shape school policy teaaching children not to love learning but to hate it. We categorize, grade and put our children into slots using homework, "standardized testing" and other devices that often are meaningless measures of true intelligence or success. As Kohn quotes one writer, grades are "an inadquate report of an inaccurate judgment by a biased and variable judge of the extent to which a student has attained an undefined mastery of anunknown proportion of an indefinite amount of material". Got that? In other words, grades are as subjective and uninformative as can be. The same can be said for homework and how it adds to our children's understanding of the material. Kohn takes apart multiple studies that have been done to support the concept of homework and discovers that these flawed studies were designed to prove their point rather than find out the true meaning and understanding of homework in our children's ability to learn.

Kohn suggests that a placebo like effect is seen in studies designed to evaluate the effectiveness of homework and he has a valid point. He points out the flawed thinking of teachers and school districts believing that homework correlates to academic benefit. There's no clear cut evidence of this. He also looks at the detrimental effect that homework has on family life, social interaction and questions the nonacademic benefits of the homework "system". He shows why homework persists based on miconceptions about how people learn, competitiveness and an essential distrust of children and how they spent their time (something you'll also find in the business world which is why "busy work" is assgined as well despite the fact that it burns out employees and makes them not enjoy the work they do. In a sense, I suppose you could argue that homework prepares children for the pointlessness of the work world--i.e., "better get used to it" as Kohn refers to the pointless tasks we'll be asked to do later in life).

Kohn also takes on the myths of testing (since homework often is preparation for testing particularly to make sure that children do well on standardized testing).

We find out nothing about whether a child's learning has improved or deepened but instead how well a child can memorize by rote. Every hour spent making sure that children do well on standardized testing is time taken away from true learning (you're teaching them to take the test well not to develop critical thinking skills).

For example, he looks at standarized testing and discovers that
1) Timed tests put a premuium not on thoughtfulness but on speed.
2) Tests that focus on "basic skills" are geared towards cramming facts that are useless without the connection to comprehension and ideas.
3) Most children under the ages of eight or nine are tripped up by the format because they don't understand its purpose and, as a result, don't do well.
4) "norm-referenced" studies are designed not to measure knowledge but, instead, to artifically rank students focusing on the competition not on comprehension. In other words, some children are better at taking these tests than others but it doesn't give us a sense of their depth or understanding of the materials and is useless.

This book should be required reading for school administrators, teachers and**yes**parents. It's a thoughtful look at how we are destroying the desire to learn with often untested or assumptions that we make about human behavior. I highly recommend this book for any school age parent simply because it will help you understand the system and its flaws.

The title is apt: there are powerful ideas in this book. I recommend it to anyone doing consulting or who wants to take their organization to new heights.

The book, written by Appreciative Inquiry (AI) pioneers and current thought leaders who continue to fine-tune this approach, provides an excellent overview of the AI philosophy and is accompanied by concrete examples that show its value and application.

I was disappointed to find what I felt was a marketing treatise consisting of little other than relentless cheerleading. I could not find any details that would help really understand AI (Appreciative Inquiry), let alone allay the qualms of a potential skeptic. After reading about half of the book before giving up, I could not find the how-to's that would, for me, define a path to AI success nor any cautions that would yield clues as to when AI would not be likely to succeed. The book seems to me to be written to sell consulting, not explain the topic. I am now motivated to find a better book rather than to try to use AI.

Appreciative Inquiry is a process that I feel is one of the most powerful there is for - as the subtitle of this book says - offering a practical tool to create positive change. It's easy to talk in abstract terms about change and improving the world, but it isn't often we come across a way to actually make it happen in concrete terms. AI is one of those tools. This book offers a very thorough guide to the history, mindset, methodology and diverse potential use of this powerful process. In addition, it was instrumental in the startup and methods that I now use in my own coaching, consulting and training firm. It was both an inspiration and a way of approaching the world that has helped me grow tremendously.

For all the power of Appreciative Inquiry, I'm still waiting for a book or an article that presents the topic in a direct manner. While I did learn a great deal from this book, it was only after wandering around the subject in the discursive way that seems to be the ingrained habit of the AI authors I've encountered. Although the book begins with a chapter titled: What is appreciative inquiry, at the end of the chapter, I'm still not sure precisely what it is. It starts to feel like a zen koan, a little too elusive for my western mind. The second chapter launches into a menu of approaches to presenting AI in your company, yet I still don't clearly understand the concept we're giving approaches to. By the end of the book, a lot more was clear, but if you don't start with a pretty good understanding of AI when you pick up the book, you'll probably find it as frustrating as I did. If you are already an devotee, the book is likely very clear to you. Oh, and btw, I am conscious of the fact that by criticizing the book, I'm probably failing to practice AI. I'm not sure what to do about that. If the book was clearer to me, maybe I'd have an answer.