complete and inspiring, but occasionally too brief
928015
i recently borrowed this book from a quilting friend in order to do sewing machine research and was very impressed by this book.  it covers every type of modern quilting method.  the instructions are detailed with many pictures and "try this" hints.  however, i felt the description of channel  applique was confusing--some techniques deserve more than 5 paragraphs of description.  i'm going to order this book; i was about to start buying books describing individual techniques (applique, hawaiian quilting, sashiko, etc) when i realized this book has it all.  -teri fratkin
870272
Small Matters is a well-written book, honest, heart-felt, and full of excellent ideas to help adults with engaging children in meaningful ways to "raise them up" to be more thoughtful and compassionately involved adults. There is no "bad" or lacking information here. On the other hand, I'm not sure that I found anything that really shook me in a revelatory way either. In fairness, I realize I might be in the minority, so I don't want to dismiss Nettle and Mellado's work, as I said, it is good. Honestly though, the vast majority of what is proposed is essentially good parenting and good teaching skills with active listening, constructive involvement, and life-as-a-model mentoring and discipling. The biggest issue, as I see it, is most of these approaches have been misplaced or dismissed over the past 40-50yrs and forgotten as time-tested means of raising children. So, there's nothing new here, but a clarion call to return to the ancient paths. What was old is new again. Worth the read, but don't be surprised if you aren't bowled over.
2369294
The Big Picture is ambitious, and attempts to cover a lot of ground including consciousness, causality, the origins of life and evolution, morality, and the meaning behind it all. The fact that the book is so broad-spectrum seems to weaken it for some reviewers, but given its length of only 470 pages,  I find that the book covers everything respectably. Although I disagreed with the book at times, it was never on a fundamental level, and overall enjoyed the book as both an atheist and a physicist. In the end, the book helped solidify my own worldview and was a great purchase, despite the disagreements and the fact that Carroll seemed to over-reach at times. For those reviewers who give low scores due to individual issues in the book (e.g. the Ten Considerations, which I agree was a little much), I have to say that if you are reading a book on any kind of philosophy and not thinking about what you read and getting what you can out of it, then you're just doing it wrong.

That said, unfortunately the one biggest downside to the book is that no, you are not going to be able to give it to your layperson friend and expect them to get everything out of it that you did.
4973713
The diagrams are beautifully presented and the format is concise and thorough in most regards. A great starting point for the dedicated practitioner or those interested in one day teaching. That said, I feel it falls short in other areas, particularly in that the author doesn't do much to explain the various therapeutic effects or contraindications of each pose. Because I fear his audience may include a fair few absolute beginners, I think it the responsible thing to do to advise which poses are to be avoided in cases of high blood pressure, insomnia, glaucoma, etc. Similarly, providing a short list of conditions each pose can help to alleviate (e.g., menopause, asthma, indigestion). Either would have only taken a few lines of additional space/text and would have added so much value. If you are looking for scientific or medical explanations of the various therapeutic effects of hatha yoga, I highly recommend Coulter's Antaomy of Hatha Yoga. It's a hefty read, perhaps more tailored to yoga teachers than the casual practitioner.
2304055
I truly admire the author's courageous battle against the postmodernist obscurantists and that's what brought me to his book.  This work is surely interesting, scientifically informed, breathtaking in scope, full of valuable ideas, honesty and depth. However, the author sometimes gets carried away and becomes repetitive.  In certain parts he  sounds more  like a preacher/evangelist than as a free-thinker in search of insight and truth.
4949287
This is a very promising, enlightening and inspiring book. Very well rounded. The book is very easy to read at only 190 pages, but is chocked full of wonderful information that is easily absorbed. Most of the information is commonplace to most leadership books.

However, Dr. Fuda breaks the book down into 7 metaphorical positions...

"Fire"
"Snowball"
"Master Chef"
"Coach"
"Mask"
"Movie"
"Russian Dolls."

...which is new and gives the information a different and refreshing outlook. Initiated? Well that is left to the potential leadership role.

One of my favorite qoutes: "Above all in any leadership role is "Integrity". Without it, you are but a shell leading to nowhere." K. Hall

This is a pleasant, quick and engaging read. Highly recommended.

------------------------------

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1485071
This is a short, well-written book that inspires and educates. The idea of starting from the "middle" is intriguing, and I'm going to try it!
2867664
This book really has quite a lot to offer. The author provides many stories, and describes many studies that gives insight about every aspect of courage, from managing fear to developing the willingness to act quickly and effectively in an emergency. He approaches courage from many different angles, and it all makes for interesting and rather light reading. There is so much to learn about what makes human beings tick, and some very good insights are provided in this book

However, for some readers, the above information may not feel like enough. The author's approach may feel a little too cool and objective; what's missing is a deeper understanding or treatment of a certain underlying, ongoing  passion: the passion of Gandhi, the passion of Martin Luther King, the passion of someone who is able to grab hold of him or herself and suffer and sacrifice for a higher purpose, over and over again, perhaps for years.  Passion, accountability, and conviction  based on a rock solid certainty about oneself and the importance of a cause...these and other qualities come to mind.

While this book is very good at what it does, (especially chapters 7 and 8) for some readers this book may seem to talk about courage more than inspiring  it...3.5 stars.
3903612
For anyone interested in getting more information on Grotowski, this is of course a must-read, although occasionally the humility with which Richards infuses his prose borders on making it a must-slog-through. In a way, it's appealing that Richards tends to describe only his own work - only the things that he himself did, but I tend to find the descriptions fuzzy. I often felt the descriptions of exercises or actions were not concrete enough for me to imagine them; this is by no means a practical handbook.

Having said that, it is an excellent read for probably every serious actor, who will recognize in Richards' frank account their own mistakes, frustration over lack of discipline, and impatient desires to be brilliant. Definitely inspiring, occasionally repetitive or unclear.
3301425
This book was a really solid mix of biblical witness, practical models and methods, and inspirational stories. I just wish that each of these sections were a bit more meaty. In each section I found some really solid content, but also some "fluff". I would have liked more in-depth study and detail of biblical apostolic ministries in Acts (with chronologies and maps)...that part was just a bit of a fly-by. I would have also liked more detailed explanations with compare/contrast evaluation of various movement models from the stories he tells from around the world (and throughout history), and would have wanted more pictorial representation of the present scopes and reach of the movements he describes. But still worth the buy for the initial work he does in these areas.
853984
Undoubtedly this is a useful book to introduce people to Jesus who are resistant to the Bible for any reason, but hopefully only a short introduction, as it is not a complete biography of the Lord by any stretch of the imagination! One would hope that this book would inspire people to search out a more complete picture; still, I appreciated the author's sincerity and compassion and realize there are as many ways to evangelize as there are committed ( and spiritually instructed) Christians to do the work.

I really like Mr. Kelby's books on photography; I feel that is where his gift truly lies, and one can sense his absolute commitment and decency there, as well as a great sense of humor.
2252249
This was a pretty decent little book.  As it is a compilation of multiple sources written by Blumhardt, there were spots where it did not flow as well as one would expect had he written it as a book.  However, it flows well enough to make for a pretty quick read (though one may spend more time dwelling on the thoughts Blumhardt shared).  I would also be interested to understand better the theological basis from which he wrote; it would help with understanding the context for his perspective.  I loved the push toward not making people similar to us, but to showing the love our Father to everyone around us.

I received this book as part of the LibraryThing Early Reviewer program in exchange for my honest review.
1784479
In his signature style reminiscent of Faith of the American Soldier, Mansfield has done an excellent job of relating inspiring accounts of courage and heroism integrated, in most cases, with faith. The book, while relatively brief, is an inspiring read. Unfortunately, it focuses entirely on the "new" heroes - the Generation X-er's, Millenials, 20-somethings, etc. - and their involvement in our recent Middle East battles, but fails to mention even a few of the countless acts of heroism from previous generations. This is not unexpected given the limited scope of the book, but a disappointment nonetheless.
2333465
"A Moral Basis for Liberty" is a short treatise on exactly what the title implies.

The valuable foreward (authored  by Reverend Edmund Opitz) is a brief survey of the approach to liberty beginning with the early settlers and later fathers of the United States and moves through a few of the major ideas developed and obstacles overcome by the liberty movement since.

Fr. Sirico's portion of the book includes particular treatments of liberty on the linguistic boarders of the debate, the social context of morality, religion and liberty, and entrepreneurship and the welfare state. All portions add helpful commentary to the discussion, but his explication of the social context of morality is top quality. This portion, taken alone, would merit a five star review and makes for a perfect companion to Bastiat's "The Law."

I feel I'm hitting the book a too hard by only giving the three stars -- especially considering the marvelous portion I've referred to -- but I think that much of the book, though helpful, is not as strong as other treatments of the same subject that I've read. Having said that, this book would be very well used as an introductory text to give to someone either help spark or nourish an initial interest in liberty.
1188474
The book is concise, inspiring, easy read, a collection of short pieces illuminating philosophical concepts simply, contemporarily, authentically. The clear author's voice is refreshing.  Many times I found my views expressed better than I ever took an effort to do; other chapters offered interesting perspectives on the subjects I didn't think of; yet others, such as the one about anger and gratitude, offered possible answers to my questions.  I bookmarked the Leave no Trace, Repentance, and Live and Let Live chapters, because they offer a perspective that is rarely offered with particular beauty and clarity.
4231044
I most enjoyed the first half of the book regarding his observations on life/history in general: his brother's memorial, Churchill, the death of a beloved pet.  He's original, compassionate and his ideas are enriching.

Yikes, I then came to his lecture-series adaptations and found much of it a bit dry.  I've no doubt the lack lay with me; nevertheless, I thought he could be more concise and given a paragraph of simple explanation regarding the state of the world for context.  For example, in Part 3, the essays go from  2010, to 2011, back to 2006, back to 1990, then to 1998, etc.  (I'm currently reading a book on the subject of RNA of viruses, for example, and they've made it easy for us simpletons to understand and a pleasure to read.)

Charles did take me to school and I felt satisfied that I had at least gained a little more understanding about the world so I would recommend the book to many.
4855330
Jim Cymbala draws from personal stories from the Brooklyn Tabernacle, along with a number of his own life experiences, in seeking to demonstrate God's grace in the midst of 9/11.  While this book is far from a comprehensive Christian response to the events of 9/11, it mostly succeeds in painting an inspirational portrait of God and how He has been working throughout New York City and the nation, and also within the halls of Brooklyn Tabernacle in the wake of the tragedy.
Various portions of this book read like a powerful sermon, which makes sense given that Cymbala is a pastor.  In particular, his discourse on persevering in Christ today by drawing upon various Biblical examples such as the life of Paul or the Hebrew enslavement in Egypt are especially moving and inspiring.  Cymbala also takes a bold stance against what he calls 'make believe prophets' who tried to affix earthly and mostly ideologically based reasons and/or judgments to the attacks.
The book is not quite as good as it could have been for at least one reason.  Cymbala could (and should) have gone farther in providing tangible reasons for folks to trust God even in the midst of tragedies that are not entirely understandable.  He does touch on this, and attempts to demonstrate God's faithfulness in working through great tragedy by pointing to a couple of specific things in history, but this section could have been elaborated on in much greater length to show the reader that God has turned tragedy into victory over and over again, and that this gives us very reasonable and tangible reasons to trust God to do the same thing now.  Instead, Cymbala deemphasizes this and stresses more of a 'trust God because we know God is good' approach without really supporting this assertion adequately for those who may not consider this view to be a given.
But with this exception, I think this book is good for conveying a sense of God's grace, how we need to be responding to it, how others have already responded to it, and how we can continue to have joy and hope even in the midst of great sorrow and tragedy by focusing on an eternal perspective.  This book is short and not very deep, but there are many good truths that are conveyed in it, along with powerful personal stories that are very authentic, and that makes it worth reading.