American Phoenix

This is a fascinating work on the American Revolution. It is told as a tale of English leaders--political (George III, Lord North, Lord Germain, the Earl of Sandwich), army (Generals Howe, Burgoyne, Clinton, and Cornwallis), and navy (Admirals Howe and Rodney) One narrative of the success of the Revolutionary War is poor leadership by the British. This book, though, contends that many of the leaders were actually very good. Leadership was not, in fact the reason for the American victory.

George III? He is described as a king whose (Page 19) "accession seemed like the dawn of a new age with unbounded promise." And, later in his reign--before medical problems began to cripple him--he was still viewed positively by his people. Hardly the image of the tyrant. Given the increase in the role of Parliament that had been ongoing, his reign is the more intriguing.

Military leaders? The Howe brothers were part of a team that routed the Americans in Long Island and Manhattan. Generals Clinton and Cornwallis, as chief lieutenants, were key players in the humiliating defeats of General George Washington's forces. Gentleman Johnny Burgoyne was another of the key army leaders. He, too, had been under the command of General Howe. He convinced the British leaders that he could take a force down the Hudson and cut the republic in two. It did not work out, as he was defeated at the Battle of Saratoga and then surrendered to the American army under General Gates.

The narrative continues. Including General Cornwallis' string of victories in the South--which amounted to nothing as he ended up surrendering to George Washington's French-American army.

In the end, the author concludes, the military commanders--for the most part--did their jobs quite well. There was political turmoil that ended up undermining the military forces--budget problems, the questions about the war by many powerful figures, the involvement of France and Spain in the conflict.

In the end, the author concludes that the war was not readily winnable. There were too few military resources committed to the continent. There was not a full political consensus for continuing the war. There were budgetary constraints. Military resources were adequate for victory in battles--but not for occupation to maintain some degree of tranquility. Incompetent leaders? The author notes that many of the team (Page 361) "who lost America were also the men who saved Canada, India, Gibraltar, and the British Caribbean." A thought provoking work, with lessons going beyond the American Revolution.

4/5!

What will a college campus be like ten - or even five - years from now? What is right - and what is very wrong - with college curricula these days? Will a traditional college degree go by the wayside, now that there are online classes available in so many fields? Is a traditional college education the right choice for every young person? How can families choose the best post-secondary school for their young person? How should a young person go about choosing a major? Is a gap year a good idea? How do prospective students and their parents get an honest view of a school they're considering? Why do many students, whether in traditional face-to-face classes or online classes, leave school? Which colleges are the most innovative?

These are a sampling of the many questions William J. Bennet , editor at large of The Chronicle of Higher Education, answers in College (Un)Bound, and he answers them very thoughtfully. Readers won't agree with everything he says, and some things he says seem counterintuitive and contradictory ("get into the most selective college you can - BLAST the cost!" -- but then he discusses how appalled he is with high student loan debt these days). However, he does make some excellent points.

Bennet also points out all the non-academic features colleges have these days simply to attract students. I can understand offering nice residence halls and good food service, but why offer climbing walls?

I say four stars for this book because I would've liked to see more about what to do about the things that are going wrong. How do we put a stop to grade inflation and get the rigor back into college education? Also, as a college instructor myself, I would've liked to see more about one more important topic: What do we do with the students who come to campus underprepared? These underprepared students are both non-traditional students whose skills simply need a little extra time to come back to them, but also the eighteen-year-olds who somehow managed to slip through the cracks in high school.

Quick verdict: Very good, hits many problems right on the nose, but needs more!

Domination Book #3 in the C.H.A.O.S trilogy

I am seriously in love with this book. It has everything I need to find a book great. Interesting storyline, amazing characters, it is unpredictable and unique, full of fascinating mythology, with amazing writing and a believeable and heartwarmig romance. It also has a lot of blood, tears, pain and betrayal and death so it is frustrating until the end but I think that this book is a great start to what I am sure will be a wonderful series. I must compliment Hashway on the world she has built and also on the creativity with which she writes and the way she made this book amazing with her vision. I love all that I have learned in this book about Medusa and I hope to learn even more in the future books about mythology because that is one of the many reasons this book is now one of my top favorites of the year. I anxiously wait for the sequel, Stalked by death, that comes out in the summer of 2013.

Tough Guys and Drama Queens - How Not to Get Blindsided by Your Child's Teen Years

"Parents of preteens and teens can move from scared to prepared with a new approach to parenting their adolescents.
Parents of preteens intuitively know that no matter how good their kids are, there is turbulence ahead. Many feel lost and unprepared as they watch the damaging effects of culture collide with their child's growing pains and raging hormones.
For the past 35 years Mark Gregston has lived and worked with struggling teens and knows what it takes to reach them. He says, "A parent's success has little to do with either the validity of their words or their intent as messengers, it's more about how they approach their child and engage with them."

This book provides a functional interface between a teen and a professional therapist. I recently bought a copy to review and immediately purchased several for current clients. My adolescent clients identify with the examples and quickly catch on to "go to thoughts." Teens don't usually read straight through a book. They will tend to identify what matters most to them (in spite of what I may suggest as homework) and cut right to the salient features. It works well. Five thumbs (stars) up! Not too academic for them...thanks for your work.

I love the fact that she started off at Eagles on a whim, and then allowed herself to be drawn so deep into these lives, and to weave them together with her own. This is a wonderful document of dawning relationships, and it's wonderfully generous because it describes not only what the author could do for these trans teens, but also what they did for her.

Of course it involves such interesting questions. The issue of class is everywhere here, the fact that she could break out of her own world and accept their world on their terms. And the issue of when she got carried away with that--as when she accept the girls' prostituting themselves, which might be bowing to reality, or might be accepting someone else's life as they present it, or might be losing sight of the horror, or might be a realization that it's not quite so horrible if you actually get up close and look at it. There's something voyeuristically satisfying about reading the narratives of what it is like inside this strange universe. She has managed by and large to look at the questions attached to being poor and abandoned and the questions attached to being trans, and the balance she has achieved there is elegant. I found myself toying with what it would be like to be trans, and not feeling threatened by or uncomfortable with the idea, even the idea of being trans and impoverished and lonely and lost. Beam has brought a kind of solidness to these terrifying experiences, that made it possible to process them without too much trauma. Her courage in all she faced gives the reader a kind of courage to face it too.

The River

The basis of this story was unique, refreshing, involved, and interesting. That said, the execution of how it was laid out was lacking. The author starts out with an unexpected and confusing reunion with a man thought to be dead that plants the seed that her father might be alive. It progresses to an adventure of a River full of myths with native legends mixed in and ends with a trip to the future to show us a hint of how technology can go horribly wrong. It involves thoughts on certain ideals which have circulated for centuries including eternal youth, immortality, genetic manipulation, technological advances, and conspiracies.

While I like the story, the execution is completely rushed involving massive leaps of faith on how conclusions were made to advance the story (Much of it in translating the journal) and hurried endings. There are secrets and depths hinted at that are never followed through. Examples is Hawk alluding to certain native beliefs with them being these silly little tidbits only incorporated to explain the guide's willingness to follow the adventure, Gary suddenly turning into this computer hacker savant when an escape is needed when he is barely alluded to previously in the story (treated as an appendage that just is until suddenly he becomes useful), Hints at Miki's past yet never actually saying what it is.. then hints of other secrets in the group except they are never mentioned again. There is this mysterious time portal that is references yet never really described or even any more depth except "Oh yeah, you can get to the past and future through that. But only one person can go at once. Oh, and apparently crossing does something funky to your DNA", then Del and Jake just stumble into this relationship with no buildup. Then there are a million questions left to answer. Where did the girls in the center come from, who is the director, what happened to Jake, Why was it a big deal that Jake looked up his past, Why even allude to Del having MS except to try to create some complication that never arose, Did the Center Fall? Then the author killed off almost every character with little to no "ceremony". Just oh yeah, goodbye and they're dead.

I would love to see this book rewritten and the whole story idea revisited. This book had the opportunity for a huge depth that would of left a lasting impression in our thoughts and it simply, fell short. It was worth the read, but truly lacking by the end. For the price, I guess I should not of expected much and honestly the blurp about the book barely touches what the book is really about. I was pleasantly surprised as the story progressed but left the book wondering where the rest of it is.

Remember. We are told to remember many things. Our parents told us to remember to brush out teeth before bed, remember to clean up our room, remember to finish our lunch at school, etc. God tells Israel to remember the Sabbath and to keep it holy (Ex. 20:8) and to remember the day when they left the land of Egypt (Deut. 5:15). Remember.

Forget. We are told to forget many things as well. If we receive new training on the job we may be told to forget everything we thought we knew about how we did our job previously. While encouraging us in our Christian life Paul tells us, "Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead" (Phil. 3:14). He also encourages us to forget about ourselves. Really?

This is exactly what Tim Keller brings out of Paul's words in 1 Cor. 3:21-4:7 in his new book the Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness. The primary verses in this section are as follows:

"But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me." (1 Cor. 4:3-5)

In addressing the many divisions that were in the church of Corinth "Paul shows that the root cause of the division is pride and boasting" (p. 8). It is pride and boasting that shows we have a high view of self. But lest we think we can just think lowly of ourselves and be getting it right Keller reminds us, "A person who keeps saying they are a nobody is actually a self-obsessed person" (p. 32).

If we are not to think too highly of ourselves or to lowly either, then how are we to think of ourselves? We are to be self-forgetful. How does this work? Keller explains:

"A truly gospel-humble person is not a self-hating person or a self-loving person, but a gospel-humble person. The truly gospel-humble person is a self-forgetful person whose ego is just like his or her toes. It just works. It does not draw attention to itself. The toes just work; the ego just works. Neither draws attention to itself." (p. 33)

So Paul will not be judged by others, but neither will he judge himself. It is only the Lord that judges. And here is where the freedom of self-forgetfulness comes in. "But Paul is saying that in Christianity, the verdict leads to performance. It is not the performance that leads to the verdict" (p. 39). The deal is that before we can even perform any of the good works we were created for (Eph. 2:10), we have been declared righteous in Christ at the moment of our salvation. It is then out of this declaration of being found righteous in Christ that we can and do perform these good and righteous works. This is the freedom of self-forgetfulness!

The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness was truly a joy to read as well as a reality check as it exposed the depths of pride in my heart. I read the whole thing in one sitting which is best but I encourage readers to read it all the way through several days in a row. The further you read the more the point becomes clear. Just when I thought I had an idea of what gospel-humility was I read this book and realized I still had no idea. This is a must read for any Christian living in the self-absorbed culture of our day that has crept its way into the pews of our churches and the seats of our homes.

All Pro Dad

I highly recommend All Pro Dad for any Dad that wants to be a better father, better husband and ultimately a better man. Gregory Slayton advises that fatherhood is really a lifelong journey and that we Dad's should expect good times right alongside rough times. But, in either case the outcome is often in our hands and in our leadership techniques.

The book is formatted as a `tool box' for dads, offering 10 tools for effective fatherhood. While all 10 tools have relevance, I found Tool #5 and Tool #9 to be the most helpful in my circumstance. Tool #5 is about the "All in Marriage"; specifically, that one of the most important gifts we can give our children is to love our wife and to be faithful to her. We really do set our children's expectations about what it means to be a good dad (and mom) and how those expectations will play out for them later in life. A Dad's loving relationship with our kids Mother has long term, even multi-generational, positive impact on our families.

Tool #9 reminded me that even though we may experience conflict and discouragement within our families, only dad's bring the emotional, spiritual and physical leadership every family needs. Our job is to maintain, and to instill, a never-give-up, optimistic attitude regardless of circumstance.

Slayton, a former Ambassador and Professor at Dartmouth College, points out that the research is clear, children whose fathers, grandfathers and even great-grandfathers were men of commitment, competence and character are more likely to succeed.All Pro Dad offers us a unique set of tools that makes our success as a family and our children's success much more likely.