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Written by Our Reviewer
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Thursday, 04 December 2008 |
Trail Thoughts; A Daily Companion for Your Journey of Faith  Trail Thoughts
When Eric Kampmann was a young man, he embarked on his journey in the professional world. In this journey he worked toward one goal: reaching the top of the ladder. Then one day his life completely changed in what he defines as his “Jonah moment.” A moment when the bottom fell out of his plans, his dreams, his life. The moment when he turned his life over to God instead of chasing his own ideas and dreams. He has authored three books (Trail Thoughts being the third one) and is also a teacher, speaker, hiker, entrepreneur, husband, and a father of four.
Eric Kampmann is an avid hiker and has section hiked 1500 miles of The Appalachian Trail. It is through these experiences that he brings to the readers the beauty of nature and what can be learned from his hikes in those breathtaking mountains. Like someone leading us down a winding trail, the author, in Trail Thoughts, takes us on January first to the very beginning of time. He then leads us every day through Scripture to the last day of the year with Jesus describing Himself as the Alpha and Omega; the beginning and the end of time as we know it. Mr. Kampmann has a way of not only describing different passages of Scripture, but he also links those passages with different ones. For instance, he connects the Psalms to other stories or passages in the Bible (i.e. Joseph, Job, John the Baptist, etc.) It’s a beautiful way of weaving together verses that share a common interest.
Take the time to enjoy this wonderful book and you will discover that it was time well spent.
Our reviewer, Jennifer Barker writes from North Carolina. |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 04 December 2008 )
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Reviewed By Stuart Nachbar A Guide to Evolution and SpiritualityWritten by a physician and scientist, David Coming’s Did Man Create God? is a highly detailed book that substantiates theories of evolution while also discussing how spirituality is important to evolution. That’s a challenging task for any physician or scientist, but Comings, who is a neuroscientist, behavioral and molecular geneticist, appears more than up to it. Comings work is the perfect read for people who share some of his expertise, or those who serve an academic or policy organization committed to evolution. But it’s too demanding and too detailed to be more than a reference book for the rest of us.
 Did Man Create God
Comings takes his science beyond evolution to prove that man created religion. As one example, he discusses the centers of the brain—temporal lobes—that cause man to have religious experiences, for instance hearing spiritual voices. He states, with scientific proof, that Temporal lobe epilepsy and its spiritual manifestations may have played a major role in the religious conversions of many historical figures and in the origin of several religions.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 13 September 2008 )
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Written by Editor
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Wednesday, 30 April 2008 |
Reviewed By Stuart Nachbar
Catherine Johnson’s Shades of Darkness, Shades of Grace is a story of a close Minnesota family thrown in turmoil over a poor marital decision; its consequences place them in a chain of financial, legal and moral struggles that go on for five long years. Johnson wrote Shades based on true events in her own family and reports they were toned down to make the story more believable to her readers. But Shades had more than enough compelling twists to keep me interested. I don’t want to know the true stories.
 Shades of Darkenss, Shades of Grace
Johnson, a former journalist and corporate communications professional narrates Shades from the viewpoint of Kay, loving, but frustrated by Paul’s alcohol addiction and lapses in character. She also becomes a surrogate mother to Kaitlin, Paul and Pamela’s only offspring from their ill-fated marriage. Kay is married to a minister, Tim, who is the only one in the story who sees any good in Pamela, and this frustrates Kay even more. Kay’s parents try to hold their composure throughout the story, as does Jack, but Kay is the only one who brings the necessary fight to expose Pamela for the crooked gold digger she is.
I come from a blended family, though thankfully not one broken by marriage like the Piersons, and it’s mentally challenging to welcome new blood into a lifestyle that’s become settled. It can take several years to put the differences between two families aside and become one. From personal experience, you learn to forgive, but you never forget your differences. And you can even find common ground. |
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Written by Editor
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Wednesday, 30 April 2008 |
The Virtual Book Review Network is pleased to interview Steven Vannoy and Craig Ross, authors of Stomp the Elephant in the Office
If the atmosphere in your office is so toxic it feels like a 1,000 pound elephant has taken up residence, know this: you can evict that elephant, get more accomplished and be excited about your job once more. All the steps and strategies to permanently banish the elephant in the workplace – the poor behaviors, attitudes and dysfunctional actions that stop people from getting things done – are outlined in Stomp the Elephant in the Office.
 Stomp the Elephant in the Office
Craig Ross is President of Pathways to Leadership, Inc. and leads the development of Pathways programs and facilitates internationally. His background in education and coaching lends itself to his responsibilities in program development and facilitator training.
LAUREN SMITH: What inspired you to take what you do at Pathways to Leadership and turn it into a book?
The inspiration for the title came from our client-partners. There’s a myth, Lauren, that work has to be a drag; that we have to continuously search for methods to motivate uninspired employees; that results can only improve incrementally. It doesn’t have to be that way! Yet people, leaders at every level, have accepted it as the norm. That’s the elephant: toxic attitudes, poor behaviors – in other words, culture – that everyone is aware of but no one is doing anything about.
Proof that few people are doing anything about it: 66% of corporate strategies are never executed (Ernst and Young); 72% of the work force is disengaged (Gallup). In nearly 85 percent of companies, employees’ morale sharply declines after their first six months, and continues to deteriorate in the years that follow (Sirota, Mischkind and Meltzer). We could go on. There’s a growing band of leaders who are not buying into the myth anymore. They’re using the tools we talk about in the book to stomp the elephant and change how work is getting done. And in the process, they’re changing the lives of those around them.
LAUREN SMITH: Are dysfunctional workplace cultures a bigger problem now as compared to past decades? If so, why?
You could say they are a bigger problem now – and it’s primarily because we as a society are so much more “aware” than we used to be. One person shared, “My father said he used to go to work and he had to ‘hang up his human-ness’ as he went into the office. And then he’d put his ‘human-ness’ back on when he left.”
Many people weren’t even aware that they should, could – and were entitled to – enjoy their job.
So dysfunctional workplaces are a bigger problem now because people want more. They want better. And the few organizations that figure out how to stomp the elephant and deliver that are winning. |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 30 April 2008 )
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