Book Description
Is it really possible to change the structure and function of the brain, and in so doing alter how we think and feel? The answer is a resounding yes. In late 2004, leading Western scientists joined the Dalai Lama at his home in Dharamsala, India, to address this very question–and in the process brought about a revolution in our understanding of the human mind. In this fascinating and far-reaching book, Wall Street Journal science writer Sharon Begley reports on how cutting-edge science and the ancient wisdom of Buddhism have come together to show how we all have the power to literally change our brains by changing our minds. These findings hold exciting implications for personal transformation.
For decades, the conventional wisdom of neuroscience held that the hardware of the brain is fixed and immutable–that we are stuck with what we were born with. As Begley shows, however, recent pioneering experiments in neuroplasticity, a new science that investigates whether and how the brain can undergo wholesale change, reveal that the brain is capable not only of altering its structure but also of generating new neurons, even into old age. The brain can adapt, heal, renew itself after trauma, and compensate for disability.
Begley documents how this fundamental paradigm shift is transforming both our understanding of the human mind and our approach to deep-seated emotional, cognitive, and behavioral problems. These breakthroughs show that it is possible to reset our happiness meter, regain the use of limbs disabled by stroke, train the mind to break cycles of depression and OCD, and reverse age-related changes in the brain. They also suggest that it is possible to teach and learn compassion, a key step in the Dalai Lama’s quest for a more peaceful world. But as we learn from studies performed on Buddhist monks, an important component in changing the brain is to tap the power of mind and, in particular, focused attention. This is the classic Buddhist practice of mindfulness, a technique that has become popular in the West and that is immediately available to everyone.
With her extraordinary gift for making science accessible, meaningful, and compelling, Sharon Begley illuminates a profound shift in our understanding of how the brain and the mind interact. This tremendously hopeful book takes us to the leading edge of a revolution in what it means to be human.
Customer Reviews:
Reference book.......2007-10-14
Read what I was interested in and then passed the book on to a friend. It really was not what I was looking for.
believe you can change.......2007-10-11
I think most of us believe we can acquire new knowledge and skills throughout life. The hard part is believing we can change habits and emotional responses. That the mind can actually cause physical changes in the brain. This book does a good job of showing that the evidence is accumulating that change can and does happen. However, it is not enough to simply have an insight. The book also relates the actual process of change to the meditative (mindfulness) techniques of Buddhism. I use this information and techniques in my work as a school counselor. It really works! It can make changes in your life as well!
'Focus & Attention.".......2007-09-29
This book is based in part on an Oct.2004 meeting bewtween the Dalai Lama & a group of western neurologists & psychologists to discuss the mutability of the human brain. The main positives of this book are that it is meticulously researched, & yet concise. But, despite the title it is not a self-help book. One should not expect any life altering experiences. This is a history of neuro-plasticity, a cerebral trait discovered by neuro-scientific experiments some twenty years ago. The books central message is that the brain/mind can change when we want it to. The techniques of mental discipline can be learned, & our negative traits reduced. Here eastern philosophy & meditation meets western neuro-science. When the reader is interested in the latest developments for treating dysfunction & depression, or in the mental deterioration brought by aging this is a good place to start. Basically, the adult brain retains much of the plasticity of the developing brain, to change the circuitry that weaves neurons into the networks that allow us to think, feel, dream, remember, & suffer. Some findings show that changes can occur by certain mental activities: like learning a language, or playing a musical instrument. To a degree, the neuro-science does blend with the buddhist belief that our reality can be created by our own thoughts & projections. I have learned that meditation can truly help alter ones feelings, especially in dealing with grief & depression. The book explains in detail how various experiments, training methods, & therapies can change the adult brain. It has shown a remarkable ability to cope with unexpected changes, like blindness, recovering from a stroke, etc. The crucial changes in the brain can willfully overcome neural problems like dyslexia, etc by changing its own circuitry. However, the book does not actually answer all of the questions it poses. I was also a bit taken back that the Dalai Lama would condone animal testing? His statment that the larger human community would benefit from the experiments felt expedient to me. Still, this is a four star book for all the data it contains.
Surprising science: new about neuroplasticity. .......2007-09-06
For nearly a century, scientific dogma held that the brain is immutable, fixed by genes and early upbringing. Wall Street Journal science writer Sharon Begley recently visited the frontiers of neuroscience and returned with a news flash: The dogma is wrong. Researchers have discovered that the brain remains plastic, lifelong. This creates new frontiers: Stroke victims can rewire their brains using challenging exercises; deaf people can repurpose dormant auditory cortexes for other tasks; and blind people can begin to "see" patterns of Braille dots using a seemingly dead visual cortex. Suspecting that they were on to a general pattern, researchers soon looked for similar changes in "normal" brains. Working repetitively on your golf swing, playing the piano or learning a language, they found, also change your brain in lasting, important ways, as does practicing compassion toward others. Begley arrives with heavyweight friends: a foreword by the Dalai Lama and a preface by Daniel Goleman of Emotional Intelligence. If you want to understand how the brain keeps working, and how to make yours do more of what you want it to, we think you should start here. Your brain will thank you.
Change your Life.......2007-08-23
Reading this book will change your life by providing scientific proof that humans can change their brains through meditation. The book is readily accessible to the non-scientific/technical reader and the sections involving the Dalai Lama are fascinating. Those interested in neuroscience, meditation, improving one's quality of life, or in the mysteries of the brain will enjoy this book. Educators and parents will also will find this book as inspiration because it suggests a radical new approach to educating and developing young minds.
Book Description
So You'd Like to. Become An Amazon Bestseller!
Don't wait. Publishing insider and CEO Brent Sampson reveals revolutionary advice guaranteed to increase your book sales on Amazon. Learn the powerful secrets used by successful Amazon authors every day. This informative and practical "how-to" guide shares new techniques that are proven to work.
Solutions Revealed!
Discover step-by-step methods for improving your exposure on Amazon and increasing your authority.
Secrets Exposed!
Increase your profitability by learning the secrets to
short-discounting Amazon with just twenty percent.
Success Discovered!
Learn top-secret tactics that earn authors tens-of-thousands of dollars in royalties every month.
Amazon Approved
Find, understand, and control every Amazon possibility for maximum book sales.
Hi, I'm Brent Sampson.
Are you holding a manuscript in your hand that you wish Amazon was selling? Or do you already have a book on Amazon that
you wish was selling better? In either case,
Sell Your Book on Amazon will help you.
You will experience what I have seen first-hand as the president of Outskirts Press - that marketing success on Amazon can be the difference between hundreds and tens-of-thousands of dollars a month.
Amazon provides a phenomenal and global platform from which to sell your book. In fact, the opportunities may seem almost too colossal! But now,
Sell Your Book on Amazon unveils it all for the first time. This book provides an easy-to-understand approach to increase your book sales on Amazon by exploring the steps you can take immediately.
Table of Contents
Foreword by Dan Poynter
Introduction
Get Your Book Listed
AuthorConnect & Author Profile Pages
Book Sales Page
Listmania!
So You'd Like to. Guides
Additional Amazon Possibilities
Pricing & Profitability
As Penny C. Sansevieri of Author Marketing Experts says,
"Finally! A book that helps you demystify Amazon. If you have a book to sell, you simply must own
Sell Your Book on Amazon."
Want proof? How did
you get to this Amazon sales page? Maybe you clicked on it from a competitor's page or received a personalized email. However you got here, here you are!
Sell Your Book on Amazon shows you ALL the ways to increase your book's exposure and make the tactics working for this book work for you, too.
Authors who know how to use Amazon's own system to their advantage simply sell more books. Once a book finds success on Amazon, it appears higher in the search results, leading to MORE exposure and more sales, and so on. It's the Amazon
"virtuous circle" and the key to unlocking that brass ring is in your hands.
Introducing the exclusive TACTIC RANKING SYSTEM!
Marketing tactics are only as valuable as the profits they generate.
Sell Your Book on Amazon ranks every technique so you can quickly and efficiently locate the marketing secrets that will lead to superior results:
***** Highly recommended. Receive the greatest exposure compared to time spent.
**** Very recommended. An acceptable investment is required for a profitable return.
*** Somewhat recommended. Check your profit margin. The expenditure may exceed the benefit.
Do you know how to
beat Amazon at their own game? Do you know how Amazon Marketplace listings can offer "55 used copies" of your book when you haven't even sold that many? Do you know how to remove a 1-star review from your listing and get more 5-star reviews?
This book tells you how to do it all, plus so much more. It's a tremendous value with a wealth of information at your fingertips. Start increasing your book sales instantly by ordering today.
Customer Reviews:
A solid looks at the basics.......2007-10-14
As the author of the recently self-published Hokie Games: Virginia Tech Football Game by Game 1945-2006 I devoured the contents of this book to try to jump-start my Amazon sales. I can't speak to the results just yet as the portion of the suggestions that I have implemented has only been in place for a week or so.
In fact, part of the appeal of the book is that it's not supposed to show results yet. It's not a quick "make you book an instant Amazon bestseller" plan. The book has tips and techniques that grow your presence over the long haul. That's exactly what I was looking for and this book delivers.
The steps were easy to follow and the "why's" were well laid out. Obviously, the author did his homework on the subject of Amazon.
--Rich Tandler, author of Hokie Games: Virginia Tech Football Game by Game 1945-2006
Great asset for POD authors.......2007-09-23
When I purchased this book, I was really quite skeptical. I figured that it was just a promotion of Amazon.com and not really any useful advice.
Then my wife and I published our first children's book, Santa and Sam's Big Secret through Outskirts Press. Although OP did a wonderful job of publishing the book, the major portion of publicity for the book was left up to us. We have been following some of the advice offered by Brent Sampson and we do believe that it is helping with the promotion of our book.
Sell Your Book on Amazon is an easy read. You can easily skip over chapters that you do not feel interest you, and still come up with many ideas that will help you to promote your book.
I would recommend this book to any authors who are using a Publish On Demand publisher. It will surely enhance the sales of your book.
Selling a book? Then BUY "How to Sell Your Book on Amazon,".......2007-09-15
Buy this book!
"How to Sell Your Book on Amazon," by Brent Sampson has invaluable information for anyone who wants to sell books. If you are trying to sell your book, buy "How to Sell Your Book on Amazon," by Brent Sampson.
If you are writing or wish to write a book, buy this book, "How to Sell Your Book on Amazon," by Brent Sampson. Brent Sampson's book is the guide every new author should have.
Buy this book if you want to sell books too!.......2007-09-12
I wrote a book called, "Letters to My Friends: A No Guarantees Guide to Awakening." It took three years to write. I spent another year sending it to publishers before I finally found a small publisher willing to work with me.
The Great Day came. I held my baby in my hands. I knew the world would proclaim her beauty. I was wrong, very wrong. A few friends and friends of friends bought the book. I was stunned and hurt too. But I kept trying to market my book the old fashioned way. I contacted the major book chains. To them I did not exist. I sent over 100 books to bookstores, and I never got a single order. I sent about 100 books to major newspapers, and I never got a single review.
One local bookstore, New Renaissance Bookshop in Portland, Oregon was very helpful. But the support of one local bookstore was not enough. I was almost ready to give up, but instead I went to Amazon and joined the Amazon Advantage program. I sold perhaps 20 books. Victory at last! Amazon loved me and I loved Amazon! And then I did not sell another book on Amazon for about a month.
I was ready to give up. But I knew my book could help readers feel better about themselves. I had received dozens of touching letters that left me feeling happy that something I had done made a difference in the world. Besides, I needed the money. Family illnesses had depleted my bank account and my debt was mounting. So, instead of quitting, I did an Amazon search for books on marketing books, and I found, "How to Sell Your Book on Amazon," by Brent Sampson.
I wish I had found this book a year ago. If you have a book you are trying to sell, or if you want to write a book, buy this book. Unless you are that rare writer who pens a bestseller, you will find yourself alone in a big jungle. Amazon gives you a path out of the jungle, and Brent Sampson's book is the guide.
Honestly, I have just started implementing his suggestions. So I have lots of work to do. After I finish this review, I will ask him to be my Amazon friend. I might ask him to review "Letters to My Friends: A No Guarantees Guide to Awakening." He said to mention my book as often as possible without being obnoxious. And finally, he said Amazon friends are important. You see, if you become my friend, whenever anyone goes to your Amazon profile and clicks on my picture in your Friends section, there's a chance I will sell a book. And if someone clicks on your picture in my Friends section, you might sell a book. So, do you want to be my friend? Good heavens, I feel like a little kid again.
I will make a deal with you. In a year, I will write another review of "Sell Your Book on Amazon" and let you know how I am doing. Thank you, John C. Conley, author of "Letters to My Friends: A No Guarantees Guide to Awakening."
Every author's dream book about Amazon.......2007-09-09
Reviewed by Tyler R. Tichelaar for Reader Views (9/07)
Brent Sampson's "Sell Your Book on Amazon" is the book I have been waiting for so I can understand how Amazon ranks my books and how I can better promote my books on Amazon. As an author myself, my books have been listed on Amazon, but I had no idea I had any control over how popular they could become.
While I had already been doing a couple things Brent Sampson suggests, primarily writing book reviews, I learned there is a great deal more I can and should do. Brent Sampson takes us step-by-step through the jungle of Amazon. He explains to us about creating an Amazon-Connect account, which includes a profile to show up on your book-detail pages. He explains in detail all the aspects of the Book-Detail page for a book. And he provides instructions for all those features on Amazon such as writing book reviews, participating in listmania, creating tags, and "So You'd Like To" guides. Throughout the book, he gives excellent advice. Not being the most computer-savvy individual, I never would have figured out on my own the many features he discusses. I guarantee "How to Sell Your Book on Amazon" will sit by my computer for a long time and be frequently referred to as I learn to use Amazon to my advantage.
My greatest revelation from reading "Sell Your Book on Amazon" is that Amazon is not only a bookstore but a networking site for authors. I have already been promoting my book at other sites like Myspace, Facebook and Shelfari, but I now realize Amazon is a fantastic networking site to meet readers, and to group and associate my book with other similar and more popular books in my subject area. I am guessing it is far more effective and lucrative than those other sites as well.
I would say "Sell Your Book on Amazon" is 95% user-friendly. I actually sat at my computer and followed the steps on Amazon as I read the book, so although the book is only 164-pages long, it took me a good week to read through it, spending a few hours each night working on my author profile and creating tags and lists on Amazon. I did get a bit confused at times, but I think that's because Amazon may have changed the placement of a few things on its website. I hope Mr. Sampson is diligent about keeping the book updated because I think it is already a bit out-of-date in one or two places because of Amazon's website changes. The only addition I wish the book had was a chart listing all the different addresses for Amazon programs--Amazon-connect, a seller-account (part of Amazon-connect), an associates account, and the different email addresses to contact Amazon depending on the section you need help with. My head rather swam as I grew to realize you don't just have one Amazon account, but probably several different ones depending on whether you're selling or directing traffic from your website to Amazon, or simply purchasing from Amazon. I did greatly appreciate the several pages in the back of the book designated for notes. I now have several pages of notes for quick reference when I need to perform a task on Amazon.
Brent Sampson also recommends authors tell people to go to Amazon and write 5 star reviews for their books. He even asks the reader to write a five star review for "Sell Your Book on Amazon." I am happy to comply with his request, and at the same time, follow his advice that I sign my review with a plug for my own book.
- Tyler R. Tichelaar, author of "Iron Pioneers" available on Amazon.
Amazon.com
Richard Dawkins is not a shy man. Edward Larson's research shows that most scientists today are not formally religious, but Dawkins is an in-your-face atheist in the witty British style:
I want to persuade the reader, not just that the Darwinian world-view happens to be true, but that it is the only known theory that could, in principle, solve the mystery of our existence.
The title of this 1986 work, Dawkins's second book, refers to the Rev. William Paley's 1802 work, Natural Theology, which argued that just as finding a watch would lead you to conclude that a watchmaker must exist, the complexity of living organisms proves that a Creator exists. Not so, says Dawkins: "All appearances to the contrary, the only watchmaker in nature is the blind forces of physics, albeit deployed in a very special way... it is the blind watchmaker."
Dawkins is a hard-core scientist: he doesn't just tell you what is so, he shows you how to find out for yourself. For this book, he wrote Biomorph, one of the first artificial life programs. You can check Dawkins's results on your own Mac or PC.
Book Description
"The best general account of evolution I have read in recent years."—E. O. Wilson. With a new introduction.
Twenty years after its original publication, The Blind Watchmaker, framed with a new introduction by the author, is as prescient and timely a book as ever. The watchmaker belongs to the eighteenth-century theologian William Paley, who argued that just as a watch is too complicated and functional to have sprung into existence by accident, so too must all living things, with their far greater complexity, be purposefully designed. Charles Darwin's brilliant discovery challenged the creationist arguments; but only Richard Dawkins could have written this elegant riposte. Natural selection—the unconscious, automatic, blind, yet essentially nonrandom process Darwin discovered—is the blind watchmaker in nature.
Customer Reviews:
Makes evolution understandable.......2007-10-02
It is some years since I read this excellent book on evolution. But I still remember it as the book that really laid out the nuts and bolts of the process and made it easy to understand at the "Ah now I see" level. I know of no better layman's guide to evolution.
"Passionate advocacy" and storytelling: 2 stars?.......2007-10-02
". . . there are wonderful stories to be told, and I love storytelling." Dawkins, tBW, chapter 2.
It must be admitted that Dawkins is an entertaining expositor, at least when he avoids repetition and a bad habit of prolonged hammering away at very simple concepts, often for pages on end, as if his assertions and arguments were more difficult to grasp than they actually are. In some instances he explains rather well, in comfortably pedestrian language, certain specific biological details, but when he tries to generalize and extend his views to larger scale philosophical perspectives, his assertions quickly disintegrate under critical scrutiny. All things considered, TBW isn't very impressive.
Dawkins states early on that he is writing from the perspective of a "passionate advocate" rather than that of a scientist proceeding along lines of argument that might be recognized as being scientific. He says that he does this because the reader can't grasp the science involved, therefore he is to invoke "wonderful stories." He frets that some will not believe him because they do not "want to believe." Dawkins wants to believe.
I find it curiously disingenuous, perhaps even insulting and intellectually evasive on Dawkins' part, that he suggests he must deal in metaphors and stories because his readers are too stupid (no, he doesn't use the word `stupid', but this is what he repeatedly describes) to understand his deep, scientific understanding of the Darwinian story. His lengthy insistence that evolution has hard-wired us to be unable to understand and appreciate echolocation in bats, is obviously wrong. In Dawkins' hands, this kind of suggestion is supposed to, in its own merit, buttress some of his arguments (see the following paragraph). A thinking person begs to differ. Many of the most brilliant and penetrating minds of modern theoretical science and mathematics, including Werner Heisenberg, Niels Bohr, John von Neumann, and Kurt Gödel, among others, have found the Darwinian story to be non-compelling at best, and on some points glaringly wrong. Dawkins may want to dismiss them as `not wanting to believe' or as being somehow stupid, but . . .
Dawkins: "Our minds can't cope with [large numbers] . . . Our minds can't imagine a time span [greater or less than `routine' human experience]," because "it offends the economically minded human." Dawkins says "there was no need for our ancestors to cope with sizes and times outside the narrow range of everyday practicality, so our brains never evolved the capacity to imagine them." Dawkins loves this mythic defense and ducks behind it frequently, but it is a hapless argument. It is "a slander against humanity," as one philosopher of science has stated, and it is self evidently wrong. The human mind certainly CAN imagine numbers both much larger and smaller than can be encountered in "routine experience," and can do more than 'imagine' them! Consider for a mere moment the insights of a Gauss, Cantor, or Riemann; consider that even a modestly competent math student CAN not only imagine very large and very small numbers [including quantities of distance and time units], but CAN engage and manipulate these numbers accurately, often rather easily when abstracted with decipherable notations like exponents!
It is not a matter of this _kind_ of observation being inherently untrue; many physicists, including Paul Dirac, have spoken this way about quantum mechanics, for example. Indeed it is difficult to understand quantum mechanics because neither Bohr's complimentarity principle nor Heisenberg's uncertainty principle have any obvious analogs within normal human experience, let alone the way in which these two surprising qualities are entangled. But this observation is fundamentally different than Dawkins' argument that humans cannot understand imaging with non-visible frequencies or what to make of big numbers! Any curious person who has ever considered a sonogram or x-ray image, or seen a movie featuring submariners watching sonar screens, grasps non-visual spectrum images, and any modestly competent high school student well understands what large numbers are!
Dawkins' sluggardly argument "whistles past the graveyard" that is home to a real problem for the great Darwinian thesis: why should our abilities to examine non-commutative algebras or higher dimensional topologies or even advanced number theory [or any of the more esoteric fields of mathematics] exist at all in a Darwinian world? Certainly not for any of the rationales that Dawkins appeals to. They provide no survival or reproductive advantage within evolutionary `routine experience,' or in any other sense whatsoever. They avail "the selfish gene" nothing. They exist as a non-Darwinian/ anti-Dawkins reality.
Dawkins says that "5 per cent of an eye" would probably provide "5 per cent vision." Skepticism seems reasonable here, except perhaps for those who "want to believe." He presents many such dubious assertions, like: "living organisms exist for the benefit of DNA rather than the other way around" (ultimately--in DNA--teleology and `purpose' are alive and well!) and, "DNA molecules themselves, as physical entities, are like dewdrops" (true in a very limited and caricatured sense perhaps, but grossly misleading, to put it mildly). Presumably Dawkins would deflect criticism of some such colorful assertions by claiming them mere metaphors. Okay, but what then are the actual `truths' he is trying to demonstrate? Can they be stated precisely or directly and seem less cartoonish? Or are his readers merely too stupid for the `scientific' explanations that he is protecting them from? (With apologies to Dawkins' fans who might consider the last question a cheap shot [I do not].)
There are so many aspects of Dawkins' book that beg critical analysis, that, in the desire to keep this review short, I will have to simply point some of them out briefly before moving forward: (1.) His programmed stick figure "bio-morphs" obviously have been brought into `existence' by design, in an intelligently designed `world,' and for a specific purpose, how does this support his "without purpose" and "without design" doctrine? (2.) His `typing monkeys' story, borrowed from one of his heroes, TH Huxley, is hopelessly burdened with design, purpose and intelligent contrivance--who builds the typewriters, who made the language and symbols thereof that the builder of the typewriters clearly needed as a starting point, who makes the paper (cuts and mills the trees, etc), who keeps those 99.999. . . percent of monkeys that would simply smash the typewriters away from them and keeps that rare typing monkey on task?--again, how could any of this support his "without purpose" and "without design" doctrine? He eventually (chapt 6) admits that it does not. (3.) His computer program designed to derive a sentence from Hamlet, if given the necessary letters to work with, and if specifically designed to achieve a specific result, will do so--well folks, are you beginning to see a pattern here? Design is supposed to equal no design! Dawkins' core thesis in TBW, as presented in the book's subtitle, "the evidence of evolution reveals a universe without design," fails utterly in all of his memorable and now famous arguments, no matter what points concerning natural selection one may believe he has made cleanly.
"It could happen:" Dawkins' most fundamental and foundational arguments and speculations are also his most flawed, and are appropriately employed in the center of the book, chapter six, "Origins and miracles." Here Dawkins quickly demands that an extra-cosmic designer (God) must be an "organized complexity" that evolves naturally within an infinite regress of causes. This is certainly a convenient construction, as it makes "god" quite expendable by definition, but the definition is poor quality straw. The god whose fire he steals is not the "simple unity" or the "first cause of causes" that one finds in either Abrahamic or neo-Platonic theology. His wrong argument simply defeats a wrong god. He next sketches a somewhat accurate picture of the profound difficulties of `abiogenesis'/ `autogenesis'/ `spontaneous generation' of life theories. He says that to effectively put these problems aside, we only need to imagine that these difficulties were somehow overcome--"it must have happened." The "pathway" model he chooses to champion as being plausible is due to Graham Cairns-Smith, and goes something very like this:
Carbon macromolecules, proteins and nucleic acids, necessary to all carbon-based life, that is all life that we know of, are so complex that it is hopelessly difficult to imagine them arising spontaneously in any non-living substratum. That Stanley Miller and others have synthesized amino acids is of no real help here, the gap between mere amino acids and the highly complex carbon macromolecules is too great. So let's imagine something simpler, that silicon-base lattices are "life-like" in that they are "organized" and rudimentarily "complex." Now imagine that non-directed geological and meteorological forces in some sense "select" certain silicon dust crystals such that they accumulate and form larger "organizations." Now imagine that these silicon "organizations" become something that might be described as "RNA-like" mud. Now imagine that actual RNA begins to "take over" the "RNA-like" mud. Carbon macromolecules somehow have arisen and now somehow replace silicon structures. Viola! "Life-like" "organizations" of "RNA-like" mud are now organizations of RNA and RNA organizations eventually become DNA organizations and "life-like" organizations become life. Inorganic structures somehow `commute' to carbon molecules. Mineral (silicon being the best candidate) crystal `genes' commute to carbon-based genes, RNA "takes over" "RNA-like", DNA eventually takes over. I suppose this is plausible for a `true believer' for whom the proper kind of `imagination' is sufficient, but it's not plausible in any scientific sense. The entire heart of the original problem remains intact. Where did the carbon macromolecules come from? How did RNA "appear"?
Dawkins defense of this problem is interestingly empty and invokes "a marble statue of the Virgin Mary suddenly" waving its hand at us. Here it is: "In the case of the marble statue, molecules in solid marble are continuously jostling against one another in random directions. The jostlings of the different molecules cancel one another out, so the whole hand of the statue stays still. But if, by sheer coincidence, all the molecules just happened to move in the same direction at the same moment, the hand would move. If they then all reversed direction at the same moment the hand would move back. In this way it is possible for a marble statue to wave at us. It could happen. The odds against such a coincidence are unimaginably great but they are not incalculably great. A physicist colleague has kindly calculated them for me. The number is so large that the entire age of the universe so far is too short a time to write out all the noughts! It is theoretically possible for a cow to jump over the moon with something like the same improbability. The conclusion to this part of the argument is that we can calculate our way into regions of miraculous improbability far greater than we can imagine as plausible."
All that is left to Dawkins is to again regale our inability to imagine numbers "so large that the entire age of the universe so far is too short a time to write out all the noughts!" It's the final sum of his argument--we don't have good enough imaginations! It is interesting that Dawkins doesn't recognize that this same specie of argument can more easily be employed to defend belief in a First Cause of causes (here Dawkins seems to have a contentedly parochial imagination). And of course, neither a cow jumping over the moon nor a marble statue waving at us either establishes or quantifies the plausibility of life spontaneously arising from non-life.
Although his deepest philosophical assertions fail grandly, although he is repetitive and wordy, and although he is given to belittling his readers' intelligence even while trying to educate and entertain them, the book has its moments; Dawkins certainly doesn't get EVERYTHING wrong, he IS at times entertaining, and this book isn't as bad as The Selfish Gene.
Please Read (Especially if You're Religious)!.......2007-09-29
I have a degree in English and American Literature and my minor was in History. In other words, I'm not great at science or math. But I've always been interested in some aspects of science and biology and evolution happen to be subjects I like. I'm not a complete moron when it comes to scientific subjects but I'm sure any 8th grade science geek could probably run rings around me.
Consequently, this book by Richard Dawkins is made for me. The way I understood it it was written with a general reader in mind. The book is well written and plausibly argued. And as long as you pay attention and follow the logic of the author's arguments it's not that hard to follow.
The basic premise of the book is to show how life could appear in the universe without a creator or any pre-conceived notion of design (the whole "Intelligent Design" argument now being debated across the U.S.). Dawkins obviously loves Darwin and bases his argument on cumulative evolution over billions of years (the age of the Earth [and please shut-up you stupid creationists trying to argue that the Earth is only 6,000 years old!]). Dawkins patiently explains how such a slow and random process like natural selection could evolve our life-forms over vast amounts of time. Like I said, I'm no great scientist, but the argument makes perfect sense and I still fail to see why anyone tries to argue otherwise (except, of course, for religious reasons, but those are very silly reasons).
Overall, this is a good way to try to understand evolution in more depth than the few words hopefully given to you in high school and college. There are a few parts which I found to be boring (like the taxonomy debates and different schools of thought in taxonomy) but I think this book is an important read--especially now that religious nuts are trying to dumb people down.
468 pages of evasive reasoning.......2007-09-15
Dawkins' thesis in this book is to prove that the universe is a non-sentient thing which merely exists. There is no God who creates. What order there is (e.g. life) has been produced by mutation and cumulative selection (i.e. evolution).
But one could ask, who designed evolution? How did the universe come to be? Dawkins' sidesteps these questions for 468 pages (in my edition of the book).
As an engineer, I find his whole approach disturbing because he asks us to have faith in evolution rather than in God. I write this because evolution seems to be an untestable theory. If I propose to do an experiment to evolve bacteria into human beings a Darwinist will tell me that it is impossible to do because the time required would be much, much longer than that of a single human lifespan. And Dawkins seems to be saying that even if one could do that, the result would not be a human being but maybe something resembling a human being. What is there left to do but have faith in the priests of evolution? It's not as though I can test their theory. Given this, Dawkins' obvious contempt for those who believe in God is hard to take.
Great explanation of evolution.......2007-09-13
This book is an excellent explanation of evolution. It's a little on the dry side, and people who already know quite a bit about evolution will find it slow in the beginning. It picks up, though. Dawkins starts off with simple concepts and gradually builds into the more complex understandings of evolution. He explains everything very clearly, using analogies to help visualize some of the more difficult concepts. This book does a great job of clearing up a lot of the misunderstandings of what evolution is really about and putting a beautiful concept in science into terms any lay person can understand. Dawkins makes evolution impossible to dispute once you have read his book. I think most people who try to argue with evolution could only possibly be doing so because they do not fully understand it.
Book Description
For the first time ever, over five dozen top-secret military,government, intelligence and corporate witnesses to secret projects tell their true stories which disclose the greatest covert program in world history. This explosive testimony by actual government insiders proves that UFOs are real, that some are of extraterrestrial origin and that super-secret programs have energy and propulsion technologies that will enable humanity to begin a new civilization - a civilization without pollution, without poverty - a civilization capable of traveling among the stars. This is not just a story about UFOs, ETs and secret projects: It is the story of how 50 years of human evolution have been deferred and how these secret projects contain the real solution to the world energy crisis, the environmental crisis and world poverty.
Customer Reviews:
Points a way forward in an utterly compelling and unexpected way........2007-10-16
If the book doesn't do it for you, then watch the movie, but be warned: Greer will not attempt to convince you a la Michael Moore. This is not a practice in spin, but bare raw testimony.
As person after person (mainly government, military and intelligence officials) steps forward and testifies about what he or she has seen and heard (personally or second-hand), you, the reader, become the judge sifting through first-, second- and third-hand accounts about extra-terrestrial phenomena, advanced (supposedly non-human-created) technology, and about what the American government knows about it and what it has allegedly been doing about it for over five decades -- deferring 50 years of human evolution, and possibly the solution to the current global energy crisis, as they decide how to best capitalize on these covered-up findings.
If anyone dismisses the insights brought forth by the Disclosure Project, it is because he or she has not accepted the fact that the universe may be greater than what we think we already know. The Disclosure Project is not just a bunch of speculations on aliens from outer space and what they want from us. More importantly, it points the way to helping us to decide for ourselves, as a human race, what we ought to do to move forward, not as a country or a continent, but as citizens of a global community.
It presents to us several advanced technological options that the government has allegedly been trying to hide, but with disclosure, that we may be able to use to solve the world's current most pressing issues.
It also presents us with the more challenging idea that, if indeed we are not alone, how it might be wise for us to be prudent in, not just our international relations, but our interplanetary relations, particularly since we might find these relations to be much more complex and delicate than anything we have ever dealt with before.
If anything, the Disclosure Project is an exercise in openness and fairness. How open is your mind? How important is disclosure to you? As a citizen, should we have the right to demand to know more? To know what our technological options are for the current environmental and humanitarian crises? To know how we might be able to move forward? And to choose how we should function as a global commmunity, particularly if we will need to represent ourselves in relations beyond our little blue planet?
These are no small questions. Fortunately, thanks to the Disclosure Project, an increasing number of concerned citizens will not allow them to be ignored.
On an interesting side-note, disclosure of this kind is not just an American issue, but also an international one. Australia held its own disclosure conference on June 14, 2003, and in March 2007, France became the first country to declassify its files on UFO phenomena, publishing on the web (www.cnes.fr) the national space agency's archives which document more than five decades worth of research.
"It could be well beyond our imagination".......2007-10-07
I am just finishing up reading this book. By the way, the little quote I used as my review title is found on p. 525, and was said by Dr. Hal Putoff, a theoretical and experimental physicist. I thought it said alot about this book in a nutshell: this stuff is well beyond imagination!
I wound up here because I wanted to see what others thought of the book. It is that kind of book. You want to know what someone else thinks about it. Why? Because it is just such a monumental study of something that we still do not believe in, namely extraterrestrial life, right here on Earth. And Dr. Greer did a very simple thing, and I think that was his special gift to this whole area of inquiry. What Dr. Greer did was to completely avoid all the sources for info on "UFOs", like citizens' obvservations, abductees, and sensationalists. Instead he went to the military.
Almost all of the source material in this book is from ex-military types. As a result the kind of evidence presented has alot of credibility, because most of these guys are not doing themselves a favor in talking about their experiences. Many of the military guys had top secret clearances and were under law prohibited from revealing any of these experiences of ETs. They are coming forth anyway. Many are now older folks and don't have a lot to lose if the Government decides to "disappear" them.
This book raises as many questions in my mind as it answers and that is why I was reading the comments of other reviewers, hoping that they might have coincidentally answered a few of them. Many times during my reading I have marked passages to come back to. The accounts are sometimes rather sloppy and jump from here to there without any transitional explanations. It is aggravating to someone who is taking this seriously and trying to "process" stuff carefully. I think that I am going to have to write a letter to Dr. Greer and ask these questions of him. It's that kind of book.
There is alot of "UFO" books out there in print. 95% of them are kind of kooky and rely upon witnesses that have not got alot of credibility. Here is where Disclosure really shines. There is simply nothing like it for those who want to learn more about the whole ET phenomenon.
In addition, it seems that everywhere I turn these days, I wind up running into our old friends the rogue elements from the military-industrial complex! The NSA, CIA, Nat'l. Recon Agency, and the like. Conspiracy indeed! This book was written in May 2001 BEFORE that little demonstration of the rogue government on 9/11/01. So the book is a bit dated. Nonetheless by May of 2001 already one had lots of evidence of these evil people, so this book also fills in a few wholes in my understanding of the secret government.
So, Disclosure. Yes you should read it but be warned, it will really flip you out! And that is probably good. We all need to wake up a bit more fully.
a lot we're not being told about!!.......2007-09-09
This book is for anyone interested in ufo phenomena!!In creates tremendous insight for people with an open mind,people that have seen unusual things(myself included)will love this book.I found particularly interesting testimony by a USAF officer(Salas) at an ICBM silo and what went on there!Also the case of the F4 Phantom(Iran) aircraft and the ufo presence...it's awesome!!
The book also mentions Space Based Laser platforms...which are known to to exist!!!
Great Book...lot's of information and keeps you engaged........2007-09-06
I really enjoyed this book. I read Dr. Greer's newer book Hidden Truth Forbidden Knowledge, and thought that was a good book too. The difference is that this book is more testimony and credible eye witness accounts. This was more entertaining and engaging than the other books by Dr. Greer. I honestly read though this book very quickly. If you had to choose between the two books I would choose this one first...then hit his other books. The reason I gave this 4 stars as opposed to 5 is that I really wish there was a follow-up to this material. The book was written in 2001 and there has been a lot of time since then. If I read this book in 2001, I would of gave it a 5. Although his newer book hits upon some "update" material, Hidden Truth Forbidden Knowledge is much more spiritual as opposed to disclosing real evidence like this book. Since it's 2007, I am left with questions like...so what's happened since then? I tried to check the website and it really isn't updated with new material. So a follow-up book to this would be great...or even an updated version. Overall...a very entertaining read and a must if you are even remotely interested in UFOs.
If you think there is no proof............2007-09-02
Steven Greer's book Disclosure should go a long way to convince most people that the government has ample evidence of UFO activity. This book shows us that we are like ostriches with our heads in the sand if we believe otherwise. It also, through the testimonies of many courageous and competent individuals, indicates why we are being kept in the dark. The fact that even as we pollute ourselves into oblivion that in some strata of government officialdom we have the technology for pollution-free energy, is therefore obscene.
Perhaps if enough people read this book, this situation will change.
Book Description
How the PC agenda on college campuses is endangering millions of students
Radical social agendas have taken over campus health and counseling, and it's making students sick. Dr Anonymous should know: she's treated over 2000 students at a prestigious university, and seen first hand how the anything-goes, women-are-just like- men, “safer-sex” agenda harms our sons and daughters. After years of hesitation, she's speaking up.
In Unprotected you will learn:
* About an Ivy League university's health website that okays risky behaviors including S&M, “swinging”, and bestiality
* How campus health centers hound students to stop smoking, eat right, get enough sleep, and wear sunscreen, but tacitly approve of promiscuity, and whitewash the consequences of sexually transmitted infections
* How HIV education is distorted, causing hysteria among students who are at no risk for infection
* How campus counselors focus on sexual orientation, abuse, molestation, cigarettes and caffeine, but neglect to ask students about abortion
* How ideology-driven health services lead young women to believe they are just like men - and to pay a high price for it.
* How, despite strong evidence of significant health benefits of church attendance and faith in God, psychology remains anti-religion -- an irrational, out-dated prejudice Dr Anonymous calls “theophobia”
Parents, educators, and health providers are all disturbed and mystified by the epidemic of sexually transmitted infections on our college campuses, as well as the rampant depression, suicidal behavior, eating disorders, and cutting. Dr Anonymous has seen it all. The solution, she contends, is not Zoloft or condoms. Instead, she urges her colleagues to stop feeding students platitudes about diet and exercise and misinformation about “protection”. What campus counselors and health providers must do, she argues, is tell uncomfortable, politically-incorrect truths, especially to young patients in their most vulnerable and confusing moments.
Customer Reviews:
A Clarion Call of Common Sense.......2007-08-11
In a scant 151 pages, Dr. Miriam Grossman explodes the "You can have it all with no/minimal costs" propaganda that has permeated our society over the last few decades. In powerful, concise language, Dr. Grossman shows that there are serious emotional and/or physical costs to promiscuous behavior, abortion, and placing career ahead of everything else. Additionally, she makes a very strong case that suppressing discussion of these costs in the name of "political correctness" is as damaging as the behaviors and actions themselves.
Dr. Grossman's meticulous documentation in support of her arguments renders ineffectual any criticism that she is just another right wing nut pushing a faith based agenda (or, to put it another way, I've never heard any clergy at any religious service I've attended cite the American Psychiatric Association or the Journal of the American Medical Association in their sermons). Despite the impressive scholarship, it may be too much to wish that universities will give her arguments the respect they deserve by presenting them along with the other viewpoints on these topics. Thus, it becomes imperative that college students and those students' parents exercise some of the personal responsibility that Dr. Grossman espouses and purchase her book on their own in order to consider her arguments for themselves.
Must reading for high school and college women and their parents..........2007-07-03
This book exposes many of the lies and dangers of the 'politically correct', but gravely disordered liberal concept of sexuality and feminism.
Every parent with a kid going off to college must read this........2007-06-27
I would encourage every parent sending a kid off to university to read this and have there young scholar read it as well. This will open your eyes to the sort of environment you are sending the most valuable thing in your life off too. I found this to be a jaw dropping read, and I could not put it down. I recommend this to everyone I know who has kids who will be thinking of college.
Beyond Words.......2007-06-25
This is graphically disturbing and shockingly realistic on so many levels. She does a great job of describing medical realities in interesting ways that aren't bogged down by confusing technical terms. If you read this, you will ponder over it for weeks after having done so. Warning, this is a very dark and realistic book. Read at your own risk and/or strength.
Much-needed protection for students.......2007-06-15
Since this book has been published, Anonymous, M.D. has revealed herself as Dr. Miriam Grossman, a psychiatrist at UCLA. That the author felt the need to write under such a moniker - out of fear of losing her job - attests to the controversial nature of her message. Yet it is one that should be read by college students everywhere.
Through a series of case studies, Grossman brings to light the harmful PC practices that endanger both the mental and physical health of students across the country. In one chapter, she shares the stories of young women who have fallen into depression as a result of casual sexual relationships. Though they protected themselves in all the ways the campus recommended - with condoms, birth control, and an army of STD pamphlets - their version of "safe sex" wound up harming their emotional health because, as Grossman explains, sex triggers the release of hormones that promote intimacy and bonding, much more so in women than in men. Yet this information is rarely revealed, as it counters the notion upon which radical feminism is based: that women are no different from men. As one young woman put it, "Why do they tell you how to protect your body...but they don't tell you what it does to your heart?"
In subsequent chapters, we hear about a young Catholic man who is alienated by the campus health system because of his strong religious beliefs, as well as several young women who are not taught how to adequately protect their fertility until it is too late. Religion, marriage, and family, Grossman explains, are not the focus of on-campus health care, and students who value these elements are often treated with indifference; meanwhile, clinics focus most of their efforts on distributing prophylactics and normalizing fringe (and often risky) sexual behavior.
The most disturbing chapter is one that focuses on the emotional trauma caused by abortion. While mental health professionals provide extensive resources for victims of trauma incurred by everything from war to hurricanes, car accidents to child abuse (all legitimately traumatic events), there are very few resources available for women who have had abortions. Instead, as Grossman explains, institutions like Planned Parenthood (a mainstay on many college campuses) simply insist that trauma rarely occurs after abortion, as admitting so would jeopardize the highly political pro-choice agenda. Grossman's evidence to the contrary, however, is quite convincing - and quite sad.
Rather than just relying on her own personal experience as a therapist, Grossman also steps outside her clinic in order to more thoroughly research the trends observed on her campus. The result is a well-supported argument that draws upon a balanced combination of experience and fact. Although her voice at times takes on an angry, almost inflammatory tone - something she willingly admits - this rarely detracts from her argument and often adds to its sense of urgency.
My only frustration with Unprotected is that, as a woman with such strong convictions, Grossman offers no solution to the problem she so clearly delineates. Though drawing attention to the problem itself is a crucial first step in solving it, I would have liked to hear Grossman's insider take on what must be done to reform the campus health system. Hopefully, her courage in dropping the Anonymous pen name is a sign that we will be hearing more from her, as her message is highly relevant and much-needed.
Book Description
Beyond talent, what factors have determined and defined the careers of well–known individuals? Timing? Contacts? Strategy? Willpower? Training? Mentor? Dumb luck? In this book, successful people of our day reveal what it took for them to be successful, including:
•How did they nurture basic talent and make it grow?
•How important is a person's view of life––"optimism" or "will to prevail"––in achieving fame and fortune?
•What lessons did they learn from career failures?
•How did they deal with backstabbing and betrayal?
•Why have some prevailed while others with perhaps greater gifts have not?
What are the daily touchstones that have guided well–known people to accomplishment?
This book answers these questions and many more. Emmy winning interviewer Bill Boggs shares success secrets from leaders in their fields, ranging from major names in entertainment and the arts to sports, fashion, and the business world. They speak frankly about their career paths, crucial influences, how they dealt with adversity, bad luck, bad press, and back–stabbing and the choices they made that helped them to prevail in their careers and in life. Interviewees include Renee Zellweger, Daniel Boulud, Sir Richard Branson, Clive Davis, Bobby Flay, Jim Cramer, Preston Bailey, Brooke Shields, Peter Cincotti, Bobbi Brown, Joseph Abboud, Bob Pittman, Bill Bratton, Mark Burnett, Bill O'Reilly, Mario Cuomo, Frederic Fekkai, Joy Behar, among others.
Customer Reviews:
Entertaining AND Instructive.......2007-09-26
One of my hobbies is seeking out and reading excellent books. Not merely good books, but A+ ones. Life is too short for anything less. Bill Boggs' Got What It Takes?: Successful People Reveal How They Made It to the Top makes it onto my list of such best books. It's easy and fun to read, and you end up learning many wonderful life lessons and acquiring priceless nuggets of wisdom from people who've reached the top of the ladder in their professions. These are hard-won insights we're talking about, easily yours for the taking. What I also like about this book is that the author includes himself as one of the subjects, satisfying your natural curiosity to know more about the person taking you on this literary journey.
One of the side benefits is you become acquainted on an intimate, human level with celebrity types normally out of reach. You share in their private thoughts and learn of their ups and downs -- that, in fact, they're on the same journey as everyone else. I was especially impressed by the detailed "roadmap" to success spelled out in the book, as delineated by the chapter headings. If you've never had a wise parent or relative, or mentor, help you in your life, this book is the next best thing. And it's a work you can return to again and again. I recommend it.
perfect graduation present.......2007-05-31
I bought this as a graduation present for some cousins of mine and they LOVED it-- it's really perfect for a high school or college grad, because there's so many different types of careers represented, and so many people that everyone's heard of, everyone can learn from. One cousin has no idea what she wants to major in-- I didn't want to buy her anything in any one field, but give her something that would stay useful to her in years to come.
A Must-Read!.......2007-05-30
This book came as a total surprise. I thought it's only for young upwardly mobile go-getters and not for us "boomers" on the verge of retirement but I was wrong. This is a book for everyone. Inspirational and funny, well organized and insightful. Mr. Boggs gets inside the personalities of the people he interviews and translates their formulas for success into entertaining and life-changing chapters. This is a wonderful book for everyone - whether you want to have a successful career, successful marriage or even just a succesful day. And if you're looking for a great graduation gift to inspire someone just starting out -this it it.
GREAT READ!.......2007-05-10
NOTE: THIS REVIEW CAME TO ME VIA GOOD NEWS BROADCAST
"Got What if Takes? Is a great read! It was packed full of personal beliefs that will make any working or living person evaluate their own lives. I love the way he wove the luminaries into an exciting story about how a person succeeds under all odds. The writing style was fast paced and the selection of people was fascinating. This is truly a Good News Book. Paul Sladkus, Founder of Good News Broadcast
Must Read ---Really.......2007-05-08
Boggs has put together a treasure trove of tips for upping the quality of your play in work and life. It is imposible to take this book to heart and not benefit in extraordinary ways. I'm twisting the arms of all my terrific students (at one of the best communication schools in the world) to read and use this book. They'll thank me after sensation returns to their extremities.
Book Description
Use e-mail to boost your income-today!
The E-Code brings together the combined wisdom of 33 Internet marketing superstars to reveal how they make money online-using nothing but the power of e-mail. Each succinct chapter presents one moneymaking strategy or concept and offers step-by-step guidance on implementing it for maximum profits.
If you have a product or service to sell, the Internet gurus in this book will show you how to sell it-no matter what it is. And even if you don't have your own original product idea, don't worry. Inside you'll find a wealth of quick and effective ideas for creating something that other people will definitely pay for. Using tactics like viral product marketing and online auctions, anyone can make extra money online-and you can too. This is not a get-rich-quick scheme; it's a make-money-quick scheme. It could be a little, or it could be a lot, but you will definitely profit when you learn how to:
* Develop and sell a product online
* Target your customers
* Promote your product
* Market to niche audiences
* Create an e-marketing business plan
Plus, entrepreneurs and small business owners will learn how to improve their sales through simple, proven e-marketing tactics that really work. The Internet is a powerful resource for marketing, selling, and communicating anything. So tap into it! Written by a cast of Internet all-stars and marketing powerhouses, The E-Code is a simple, easy-to-use guide to making money online, right now.
Customer Reviews:
43 ways to SPAM, and ads for Vitales other books........2007-09-29
Save your money. Spaming is self-evident so you don't need this book. And it is mostly just ads for other books and consulting.
nothing but a sales pitch for Vitales other books and services.......2007-09-25
endless sales pitch by Vitale, with some "Here is how to Spam" advice which is not worth the money.
E-book gone paper with numerous gems.......2007-09-06
This is the second book on Internet Marketing that I have read. I am a novice looking and learning about this underground business venture.
The E-code is essentially a collection of topics covered by various experienced marketers. At quick glance, the value of this book does not come forward right away. The overall organization and variation in writing style makes for a choppy reading experience. However, there are many tips throughout that make this book worthwhile. The book it self is any example of how things come together in the electronic world.
The E-code might be better read in moderation instead of full steam ahead- straight-through. I tend to read books cover to cover, marking pages and making notes along the way with sticky tabs. I then go back and review all the gems and great tips that I feel are key. This book, I did not tab and mark up like crazy, but the areas that I did mark are key areas of Internet marketing that I did not know before. There are some key chapters that I founds very helpful in understanding how internet marketing systems are deployed, tactics and methods used.
If you are looking for a step by step guide, this is not the book. However, there is a few chapters that come close to this. The E-code covers a lot about marketing in general and how it applies to the internet. There is certain set of rules that should be followed to insure a lasting presence and trust. This book does a great job in this regard and provides many insightful tips along the way.
One Important thing to note about this business is that it is not fast money answer. It really is about building something up overtime. The big money can come, but overnight success is rare. If you are serious about working on your own online business and willing to put the time in to get it going, Books like this one, The E-code will prove helpful.
Other books and constant learning are required to keep up with what is current. This book is for the new comer.
waste of time and money.......2007-08-13
this is a waste of time and money. Just telling people to SPAM, and some how-to-spam tips is not worth wading thru the extended sales pitches for Vitale's other products.
Some great ideas.......2007-06-23
This is probably the best book I've ever purchased on e-commerce and marketing. I've been interested in and have been working at building online businesses for over a year now and I have yet to find a book with simple, easy-to-use, and practical ideas.
There were quite a lot of ideas that I would have never thought of. Using some of the techniques in this book, I was able to sell over 50 ebooks to my clients within six weeks.
Great ideas, even though simple and easy to apply.
Thank you Mr. Vitale for helping me out with my online businesses.
Amazon.com
Whether you're hoping to achieve personal and spiritual growth or are looking for guidance to help others, you'll find practical and proven wisdom in Drs. Henry Cloud and John Townsend's How People Grow: What the Bible Reveals About Personal Growth. Starting with the premise that all growth is spiritual growth, the authors then expound on the concept. Cloud postulates that we spend too much time focusing on problems, rather than on root issues. "We are not just to help others 'feel better' or relate better or perform better," writes Cloud. Rather, he says, people must get back into a relationship with God. With this in mind, there's a brief lesson in theology ("the 'Big Picture'"), then a look at topics such as acceptance, forgiveness, obedience, and suffering. The authors have impressive credentials: they are cofounders of Cloud-Townsend Clinic, cohosts of the nationally broadcast New Life Live radio program, and Gold Medallion winners for the bestselling Boundaries. Boxed summaries of important concepts for growth facilitators, charts, counseling anecdotes, and lots of bullet-pointed text make the content accessible. Professional and lay readers will both find biblically based tools here for personal growth and guiding others. --Cindy Crosby
Book Description
How People Grow reveals why all growth is spiritual growth and how you can grow in ways you never thought possible. Unpacking the practical and passionate theology that forms the backbone of their counseling, Drs. Henry Cloud and John Townsend shatter popular misconceptions about how God operates to reveal how growth really happens.
Customer Reviews:
Only for the brave.......2007-03-03
Resisting easy fix-its and letting God search the heart is only for the brave. But, if you are willing to face truth no matter what the cost, so that God may change you with it, ask God to use this book to produce the kind of growth that will create a transformed emotional and spiritual legacy in you and your descendants.
Growing Up.......2007-01-04
It has been an excellent study for me. It raises questions I had not thought about and attitudes I didn't realize I could be harboring. It was an excellent study guide for me.
Important reference work.......2005-07-21
How People Grow is an easily accessible, Biblically-centered, psychologically-deep, and thorough overview of the growth process. I have read through this book twice and refer to it sporadically to refresh my memory on various parts of the growth process and, in my work with college students, urge them to read the book. I have found that living out and sharing its insights has helped me in every area of life, from becoming a more effective evangelist to developing stronger work habits. My main challenge in reading it is owning up to how misguided my understanding of the growth process has been, how I have subsequently misled others, repenting of these mistakes, and seeking to think and live differently in the future. It is a book that speaks to deep issues in a grace-filled but challenging way.
Insightful viewpoint, very interesting.......2004-12-28
This book can be summarized as a Biblical based approach to understanding personal growth and how that relates to spiritual growth. Two psychologists, Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend examine the personal growth process and point out how that process is found within the pages of the Bible. With that personal growth process as the starting point they then show how personal growth is in fact spiritual growth. This is one of the best books on personal growth that I have read. How People Grow is highly recommended to anyone seeking to change their life, get out of the rut of stagnation, or move to a happier place in their life. It is also recommended to Christian counselors, Pastoral counselors, and others involved with helping people.
Excellent resource!.......2004-02-15
This book encouraged me and reminded me that God uses all things to work together for good, for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. The authors bring together their many years of psychiatric hospital experience and their theological training. An excellent resource for anyone seeking to understand themselves or those they love.
Book Description
Leadership coaching has become vitally important to todays most successful businesses. The Art and Practice of Leadership Coaching is a landmark resource that presents a variety of perspectives and best practices from todays top executive coaches. It provides valuable guidance on exactly what the best coaches are now doing to get the most out of leaders, for now and into the future. Revealing core philosophies, critical capabilities, and the secrets of coaching success, this one-of-a-kind guide includes essays from fifty top coaches, including Ken Blanchard and Frances Hesselbein. Packed with cutting-edge ideas and proven best practices, this is the definitive source of information for anyone dealing with coaching.
Download Description
Leadership coaching has become vitally important to today's most successful businesses. The Art and Practice of Leadership Coaching is a landmark resource that presents a variety of perspectives and best practices from today's top executive coaches. It provides valuable guidance on exactly what the best coaches are now doing to get the most out of leaders, for now and into the future. Revealing core philosophies, critical capabilities, and the secrets of coaching success, this one-of-a-kind guide includes essays from fifty top coaches, including Ken Blanchard and Frances Hesselbein. Packed with cutting-edge ideas and proven best practices, this is the definitive source of information for anyone dealing with coaching.
Customer Reviews:
Good overall, but a little tedious in the middle.......2005-10-17
This book starts strong, but drags a little in the middle. The book covers coaches from all areas and many of the coaches have similar things to say. The research in the beginning and end are useful and the editors contribute some of the best work in the book. I think it's worth reading but I would skip sections that are not applicable to the area of coaching that you are most interested.
An Incredible Resource.......2005-02-19
Editors Howard Morgan, Phil Harkins, and Marshall Goldsmith have done everyone tremendous service by using their considerable stature and reputation in the Coaching/Leadership field to pull together this amazing list of professionals; as well as sharing their expertise on the topic. The format they've used makes this an immensely useful reference. If you have an interest in executive coaching -- are a senior executive in transition, or are thinking of hiring a coach -- this book belongs on your "must read" list. In fact, make it your next read.
Peter Clayton, Senior producer www.landed.fm
Great book -- very helpful.......2005-01-31
A great survey of the "best of the best." Useful and practical and meets a real need. I particularly liked the format of the book -- mixing the advice of some of the world's best coaches with practical step by step advice.
Insightful, must-read about Executive Coaching.......2005-01-29
If you are a line executive or an HR leader - you will find this book useful. It takes you through the process of selecting the right coach and then allows you the opportunity to hear from the best. This is the best coaching book on the market currently.
Neuropsychology
| Psychology & Counseling
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science (James H. Silberman Books)
The Mind and the Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force
The Intention Experiment: Using Your Thoughts to Change Your Life and the World
Contemplative Science: Where Buddhism and Neuroscience Converge (Columbia Series in Science and Religion)
Social Intelligence: The New Science of Human Relationships
