Without a doubt, this is the best book I've ever read on the subject of screenwriting, and perhaps it's the best I've read on the entire subject of writing fiction. It's the 13th book I've read on screenwriting. Before that, I devoured 8 or 10 on the craft of novel writing (and I won a national award for my first novel). If you want to hone your screenwriting skills, there's no better way than giving your attention to this extraordinary book.

We've all suspected it, but Walker reveals definitively how and why movies spring from and reflect our wildest dreams and aspirations, as well as our deepest fears and nightmares. It may seem obvious to many, but somehow with the insights and invaluable techniques he offers and explains in detail, he makes the film writer feel the weight of the world's problems squarely on their shoulders-- and that the ability to remedy them lies within the wordsmith's mind and craft, as well.

When I bought the book after a personal book signing appearance and lecture I thought was merely adding to my already extensive collection of screenwriting guides. I've noticed every time I hit a wall in my thought and development process I would buy another book. What I found with Power Screenwriting was much, much more. Here was the exact process of 'worrying' a story into completion before me. I didn't have to stop and turn to a thousand different manuals or discarded workbooks. I felt I could do my thing and then when I was stuck I could turn to this brilliantly laid out 12 stage approach and find the exact answer I was looking for. Plus,Power Screenwriting encourages and shows you how to write stories from a deep psychological and archetypal level, so that your stories have the greatest impact on the mind of the moviegoer possible. Walker places the onus of social evolution and conscious thought on the screenwriters, mythmakers and storytellers of today, and that writing for film is not just some casual extracurricular past time, but a noble 'calling' for the greatest creative engineers of each generation. I wholly concure and with this book believe I can really achieve so lofty a goal.

Also recommended: The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell The Art of Dramatic Writing by Lajos Egri The Courage to Create by Rollo May

Professional screenwriter Michael Chase Walker (The Last Unicorn; Earthman's Burden; The Arrow and the Lamp; Seven Years in Tibet; Siddhartha; Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; Love and Anarchy; The Poet and the Tsar) draws upon his many years of experience and success to write Power Screenwriting: The 12 Stages Of Story Development, a structural, methodical, step-by-step, "how to" guide to . Breaking down the process in simple yet essential steps, screenwriting professor and author Michael Walker demonstrates his craft for aspiring screenwriters of all experience levels. A superbly practical, down-to-earth guide to basic screenwriting traditions, Power Screenwriting is not only recommended reading for aspiring or practicing screenwriters for television or film, but would be of profound interest to storytellers in any for of literary or artistic expression.

"Wonderful resource for parents" L. Struthers, MD

Once in a very great while you discover a book that truly changes your worldview. Raising Respectful Kids in a Rude World by Drs. Gary and Joyce McKay, Eckstern, and Maybell, is such a book.
If you've ever wondered how to raise thoughtful, respectful, honest and peer-resistant kids in a breaking-down society this is the book for you. The doctors McKay and co-authors offer practical, user-friendly, easy-to-apply tips for any parent who seeks a better way to sanely and safely nurture children to adulthood. You'll enjoy their real-to-life scenarios and step-by-step approach to successful parenthood.
A must buy for every parent who cares.

W.F. Peate, MD, MPH
Associate Professor of Clinical Family and Community Medicine
Associate Professor of Public Health
University of Arizona, Arizona Health Sciences Center
Co-Director, Tucson Health Promotion Initiative
Director, Southwest Public Health Leadership Institute

This is a compendium of help: All the parenting books rolled into one that's plain-spoken, loaded wtih examples, and organized for easy access so you can get the guidance you need now. Highly recommended.

As a mother of four children in todays world I applaud the authors of "Raising Respectful Kids in a Rude World." I found the examples and techniques offered to be practical and empowering in developing mutual respect between both parent/child and peers. I highly recommend this book to anyone who lives with, teaches, or loves a child and is looking for a way to strengthen and improve their relationship through mutual respect.

I attended Jefferson High School in Portland, Oregon, where Linda taught. I arrived there in 1989 with six years of dance training, ready to dive into the progressive magnet arts dance program of the school. It was in Linda Christensen's English class that I discovered my real love: writing. Linda Christensen was the first teacher to tell me that I had talent as a writer. And she also helped me, and many other students, with countless self-esteem issues. She was a teacher unlike any I had ever seen. She even made her phone number available to students and invited us to call her at her home with any questions we had regarding her class, and even life in general. And I, as well as many other students, often took advantage of that offer. I always wondered where she found the time to pay attention to so many students.

I am very thankful that this book has been published. Linda Christensen teaches such important lessons, and helps students to look at all sides of issues in their lives in and out of class. She presents an awesome, and somehow often overlooked, idea: that school should be focused on the students, and that students should even enjoy and be actively involved in learning. Schools exist for children, not the other way around. Particularly helpful are Linda's thoughts on "The Politics of Language," this is where Christensen helps students look at and realize the importance of language and the power and politics involved in the way things are written. And it is wonderful to read this book and see that it includes the works of some of my fellow classmates.

I was very sad when my class with Linda Christensen ended. I have so many wonderful memories of my time with Linda Christensen and her class: poetry reading, working on essays, critiquing movies based on social content (to see if they contained any underlying racist or sexist themes), and even that beautiful trip we took to see the Indian Petroglyphs (rock drawings) in south Washington State. It would be no exaggeration to say that my fondest high school memories took place in the class of Linda Christensen. This is a teacher who really cares about her students. Now, thanks to this book, my class with Ms. Christensen doesn't have to end.

Thank you for helping to shape me, Ms. Christensen. I don't know where I'd be without you. You didn't just shape my school experience, you shaped my life - and perhaps even saved it.

I'm so glad Ms. Christensen has collected many of her articles from the popular social justice journal, Rethinking Schools. I've known Linda for several years and I've find her to be a teacher who goes the extra mile to bring relevant, culturally conscious teaching to her classroom. She strives to use writing, poetry, reading, literature, activism, and reflective thinking as tools for her students to empower their own lives, their community, and the world at large.

Teachers seeking to bring social justice and cultural awareness to their classroom can do no better than having Linda's book as part of their reference. Her writing is both personal, reflective, and seriously enganging. She shows how to use varied writing, reading, and group activities that encourage students to do their best work. In fact, social justice teaching and quality work go hand and hand in Linda's teaching and writing.

Some of my favorite articles include "Where I'm From: Inviting Students' Lives Into the Classroom," "Unlearning the Myths that Bind Us: Critiquing Cartoons and Society," "Essay With An Attitude," and "Teaching Stanard English: Whose Standard?" All the articles in her book call for students be the center of teaching. Her approach is to pull on the experiences and thoughts of her students. She uses the backround of her students to help them think about issues of race, class, gender, injustice, and justice.

This book will be useful for teacher education programs, staff developers, and new and experienced teachers seeking fresh ideas, lessons, and critical approaches to their teaching.

Even if you as a teacher can't apply many of the ideas that Linda writes about, reading her book will be a good read for how to be a good teacher.

This is an excellent resource for teachers who truly hope to inspire their students both academically and politically. It offers concrete lesson plans, outstanding student work, and lots of inspiration. It is a book for people who are able to think outside of the box, for teachers who passionately care about their students' success not only on standardized tests, but also in life.

I love it! I found Secrets of Personal Marketing Power to be timeless in content and extremely valuable to my dental practice. The 26 secrets are powerful and useful in any business. This is a must read for anyone wanting to have an effective marketing advantage.

I have used Don's techniques in both my personal and professional life, and it works. Don's easy approach takes the work out of marketing by making it not only beneficial but fun. The resutls I garnered from his advice has helped me increase my profitability by more than 30% in the first quarter of implementation. Thanks Don for writing such a valuable tool.

Don Price's book is an upbeat, step-by-step, guide to achieving your business goals! I particularly liked it because it was so positive, easy to read, and contained lots of suggestions in a step-by-step manner for marketing yourself. It seemed pretty comprehensive, filled with both practical and innovative ideas. He concludes the book with especially good (step-by-step) questions to help you develop your own marketing action plan. In addition to that, the Appendix includes lots of sources of support for your marketing efforts - business cards, directories, publishers, audio/videotape producers, etc. I think this book would be a really great gift item, too, particularly for those friends starting their own businesses!

Great practical aspects for every marketer.Be fresh or a pro.After the knowledge about diferent theoritical aspects of marketing and even if you have some experience in practical field ,this book is a great help to fine tune you.This book gives you a wholesome idea how a marketer should be.

Read it to fine tune your marketing and personal skills

This is a gem of a book. It covers alot of material (maybe too much) and yet it is a relatively small book. I liked the book for its comprehensive coverage and links to entrepreneurship as a personal mission... as well as marketing.

The authors are Canadian and I'd like to say that their nationality interfered with the topics or slant of the book... but it didn't. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised that this Swiss-banking immigrant (Bender) and this successful radio broadcaster (Torok) in Canada really had their feet on the ground. They offered lots of practical marketing and strategic advice.

I would suggest that there are two major parts to this book. The first 1/6 of the book describes their concept of delivering value, tieing your products/services to personal values, and your vision/mission statements, etc. I thought this was truly great and apparently some of it flows from Peter Urs Bender's other book: Leadership from Within. I see that it is favorably reviewed here at Amazon and I will order it right away (forthwith in Canadian?).

The remaining 5/6's of the book is an encyclopedic account of marketing techniques that you can (and should) apply for your business. The target market for this book is a firm of 1 to 30 employees... a small firm. This book would also do well for an individual working for a big company, as it tells you how to market yourself to become more valuable.

There's a ton of good ideas here. You won't go wanting of things to implement. There are new ideas that you won't see elsewhere.

For example, they speak about the need to write articles to establish your expertise. They then go on to list many different kinds of articles you can write. Under this section, one sub-topic was Tips Sheets. There they listed about 10 different kinds of tip sheets you could write. I knew about writing articles and tip sheets, but they provided excellent lead ideas to get me going. There were many other such new things in their book that greatly extended the topics I was already familiar with.

Because it was encyclopedic in coverage, I was worried that it would repeat alot of what I already knew. But, instead I learned a lot of new ideas that I can implement. Overall, I highly recommend this book for any small business owner, or marketing chief... or any individual who wants to shine and promote himself within a corporation.

Now if we could just figure out some way to get these good business thinkers out of the cold socialist northern territories! I found the book in a Vancouver bookstore and have never seen it in the U.S.

John Dunbar

This book is an excellent one-stop source for developing your own unique "brand." It covers the obvious and not-so-obvious things to consider as you differentiate yourself in the marketplace.

As a consultant for the past ten years, I found this book to be a wonderful affirmation for the things that I am doing well and a gentle nudge to consider/do specific actions in promoting my business. I read this book right before I began a comprehensive review of our marketing strategies and the timing was absolutely perfect. Just one tip proves itself WELL worth the cost of the book as well as the time invested to read it.

This book is an integral step to moving forward and achieving what it is you want to do, with ease.

I've read and re-read this book at least three times, and each time I gain something new. I keep loaning this book out to my friends, and I don't think a single one of them has returned a copy to me! So beware.

Enjoy!

Have you ever been "in the right place at the right time?" I have on many occasions and I'm sure you have, too. So how did we get there? That, to me, is an important question.

The "Secrets" book will give you a very good idea on how to be in the right place at the right time...consistently! It has answers to many of the questions I've wondered about and it's written in a very easy to understand manner.

I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in improving their game, whatever that may be!

I can only say that reading this book was and continues to be a life changing experience. I have read it several times and each time I get more and more out of it.

Prior to finding this book I had read many self improvement texts and made some progress in my personal development. The only problem is that the improvements were not lasting, things just did not 'stick'. Some time later I would find myself drifting back into the same 'old ways'.

The 'Secrets Book' has changed all that. The improvements I have made are real and lasting. I can only say that Mr Walter has produced a true masterpiece of great value.

If you really want to make lasting and certain improvement to your state of mind and mood level, read this book. Not just once, but many times.

May you never be the same again!

Like Robotech? Like gripping science fiction? Like well-developed characters? Like science fiction writers who actually give decent attention to relationships? Read this book. Read all of the Sentinels books. Fast-paced, fascinating, engaging, page-turning science fiction. And if you're a Robotech fan to any degree, The Sentinels series is a must-read. Jack McKinney takes us on a wild and wooly ride alongside Rick, Lisa, Max, Miriya, Breetai, and all your favorites, along with memorable new characters as well. I can't say enough good things about this series.

This is an excellent book(s) that take you back to the remaining original characters. It was very interesting to see how they arrived in Tirol space only to find that the Robotech Masters had already left for earth...It was great to find out what actually happend to them in the same time period as the Second Robotech War and Books # 4 and 5 in the Sentinels series were some of the best books out of this Saga. You learn a great deal about the protoculture in book #5. But this book set the scene for the liberation of the all the sentinel planets and its final stop to Optera and then onward to Earth...

Great 3-in-1 Robotech book. Contains Rick and Lisa's wedding! Highly recommended !

This is a wonderful book to read for yourself and to give as a gift to your friends. The individual stories range from long-term friendships developed as young adults, to those formed in later years of life that may have only lasted for a "season". The one thing each of these friendships have in common is a deep love and respect for each other, as well as for God. I found the stories to be touching, inspiring and in some instances incredibly humorous, just like friendships are in real life. This book gave me the opportunity to reflect back on my own friendships over the years and to see how God has moved in me to bring some incredible "sheltering trees" into my life. I highly recommend this book.

Friends are not something to be taken for granted and successful people can always testify to the importance of those few special people that motivate, comfort and inspire them to be the best they can be. In Donna Van Liere's Sheltering Trees, interviews from people like Zig Ziglar, Randy Travis and a host of Christian music movers and shakers remind us how meaningful those rare but necessary friendships are. This book is filled with short stories of those special friendships and how God works in our lives to make those connections. Sheltering Trees is also filled with inspirational quotes that help us all reflect on what it means to have a friend and more importantly, how gratifying it is to be a friend.

This is the perfect book to share with those special friends in your life. I truly enjoyed reading the inspiring stories of people ranging from Randy Travis and Arthur Ashe to Rebecca St. James and Zig Ziglar. Included with the book, is a CD of the wonderful song "Sheltering Tree". The lyrics to the song are scattered throughout the chapters which further adds to the stirring and thoughtful tone of the book. I plan to continue to give this as a gift to the "sheltering trees" in my life.

With my attempt at becoming a Sound Designer I've found that there are not many books that pin-point all the aspects as this one does. Mr. Sonnenschein has written my Bible! Beginning to end this book is packed with specific examples from many different types of film and comments from the top people in the bussiness. It also gives you projects that can be done on your own. It covers everything that can be heard on a soundtrack. An absolute MUST for anyone interested in sound design and should be required reading for anyone involved in film.

This is one of the most eye (I mean EAR) opening and fascinating books I have looked at for a long time. I am an animation producer, and admittedly have always taken a hit-and-miss, often formulaic approach to sound as something secondary in importance to the visuals. This book changed my thinking. It provides a clear foundation in the narrative power of sound and music, is written with great insight and passion, and includes thought-provoking and playful exercises that you can't resist trying!

I have been surrounded by and involved with sound production in many different forms since I was a kid, and as relatively easy as it is to get solid technical information on sound, the art of sound, particularly as it relates to visual productions, can be a little harder to come by. Most of the attempts (that I have come in contact with) have been too esoteric or vague to be of much practical value. In depth, intelligent, but accessible, David Sonnenschein's "Sound Design" is a real "ear-opening". Whether you are a sound designer, musician, film or video maker, or enthusiast, this book is highly recommended.

This book explains how oil affects our lives, our nation, the world's economy and political situations. Yergin's writing style is superb, and although the material is somewhat dry, he really brings events to life. This work is rare for non-fiction - it is easy reading and informative. I have just finished the book a few minutes ago, and I really feel that I have learned a great deal. My favorite section was on World War II. I have read hundreds of books on the subject, but the section in "The Prize" dedicated to the War from a petroleum standpoint is superb

This book is one of the best for enlightening those of the the 1970's forwrd of the preferred interests of their mothers and fathers. Ex- President Bush is heavily documented in his actions with those of the Middle Est in his attempts at acquiring a chunk of the oil industry. It highlights South America's Venezuela and its failing oil fields. It shows the world's efforts at unity for one major purpose. It defines OPEC and ARAMCO as they need to be understood. For anyone not current on world issue, this is the book to read.

Yergin's grasp of the broad view of the history of oil and its context in world history is amazing. Scholarly and yet as compelling as the best fiction, this book is a masterful work