Having loved Roz Bailey's first novel, Party Girls, I picked up Girls' Night Out with utmost anticipation. However, to say that this novel is a poor imitation of every chick lit released since Bridget Jones's Diary is putting it mildly. I like it when authors of the aforementioned genre add pizzazz and originality to an otherwise run-of-the-mill genre - and Bailey fails to deliver just that. The novel reads like a women's interest magazine, the dialogue is boring, the situations have a "been there, done that" feel to them, and Maggie's sexual exploits are unrealistic and just plain silly. And the Reality TV bit is thrown in to add something different to the rather recycled plot - however, it fails to illustrate said originality. It's a shame, for Bailey is a talented writer, as proven in Party Girls; she just has to find a more creative angle with her stories.

A so-so book. Good for a light read on the beach, but if you're looking for something to actually stimulate your brain, you'd be better off with a different book. I personally didn't like it much.

Don't by this book for saltwater fish. The pictures on the cover are saltwater but only one chapter is dedicated to them. It may be a good book for tropical freshwater fish but I'm not interested in freshwater fish.

Good effort, but ultimately disappointing. It's same ol', same ol', but in a new vernacular. The authors are rehashing psychotherapeutic wisdom, only this time it is coached in the "scientific" language of evolutionary psychology. And so empathy, positive regard and respect for a client become functions of the "kinship" approach (Bailey), and males are uncommunicative and lousy partners because, well... Because such is their nature, created over the evolutionary eons.
OK, it is not worthless if you are looking for the evolutionary language to reframe human problems. It is not helpful if you are looking for new insights to those problems and new ways of alleviating them. (You'll learn that unconditional support and regard are of primary importance to clients in psychotherapy. But you already knew that, didn't you.)

And I wondered why the chapter on male "psychology," full of stereotypes on male and female behavior, was not followed by a chapter on females, but instead by one on "gender differences." Is it because evolutionary psychologists are pretty much in the dark when it comes to female psychology (if we don't count the old stereotypes, especially about female sexuality)?

This book will find its admirers among the (self-adoring) EP crowd - but if this is not your cuppa tea, you do well looking elsewhere for psychotherapeutic insights.

This book is the intellectual cornerstone of most generalist model social work education in the United States. In that respect it exemplifies much of what wrong (and there is a great deal wrong) with the generalist model. This is a book that social work educators seem to like. However, when you ask most students or practitioners, the response is less enthusiastic.

Where I went to school it was considered heresy to criticize the life model, because it is a "major" theory that belongs uniquely to social work. That's too bad, because if this is a high point of social work theory, then it speaks poorly for our intellectual base.

The life model, like the social work profession, seems organized around being as inclusive as possible in the service unity. This harkens back to the social work profession arising out of the unification of several diverse, often fractious social welfare movements. Inclusiveness is important to social work as a defining value of the profession. But in the attempt to be as inclusive as possible, the life model dilutes itself as a usefull basis for intervention.

The life model rests on the astonishingly obvious premise that aspects of the persons biopsychosocial ecology interact; and that intervening in the that ecology may have a salutary effect on the client. What's worse, the theory treats this understanding as if it were some kind of end point, rather than a basic underpinning of understanding human behavior. I have yet to hear anyone tell me how this theory informs what you do with a live human being sitting with you in a clinical setting. What good do we do our trainees to be educating them with model? What good do we do our clients?

If social workers are to join our professional cousins in the modern world it needs to move beyond simplistic and obvious theories like the life model. Intellectual inclusiveness does not have to mean being general to the point of irrelevance. The continued promulgation of this theory in social work education dilutes our strength. We live in a time when, more than ever, our society and our clients need us to be thoughtful as well as compassionate. We need to do better than this.

Ordinarily I am a big fan of Bailey White, but I found this book to be very disappointing. Maybe because I listened to the audiotape it "lost something" that comes with reading the written word. However, I won't give up on Ms. White! I am anxious to read her new novel.

I really don't think prophecy is on trial. In fact, while Alice Bailey's and Benjamin Creme's work has extraordinary merit and certainly helps in preparing the world for what is coming, at this point I find another announcement being made in another (recently published) book much more credible -- that the Christ will not come this time, but has instead sent a messenger.

You see, as Jesus said, "there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, who shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that they shall deceive and seduce the very elect." (Matthew 24:24 and Mark 13:22) That was not merely to warn us of imposters and pretenders. It was also to confirm that the person who would actually fulfill Judeo-Christian prophecy would not be the Christ, but His messenger.

Other evidence of this is that the prophesied messenger is the "bridegroom-lamb," our "brother and fellow servant who has the testimony of Jesus" (Revelations 19:10). He is also the messenger for the "Spirit of Truth" that Jesus said would come, to "guide us unto all truth, show us things to come, and glorify me (Jesus)." (John 16:13-14) What's more, he is the "son of man who (unlike Jesus) first suffered many things and was rejected by his generation," as prophesied by Jesus. (Luke 17:24-25 and Isaiah 49:4) He is also the son of man who was first "stricken and afflicted." (Isaiah 53:4 and 57:15-17) All those biblical facts, along with others, indicate the truth about today's messenger of God, who is not a superman, and not holier than thou, but a prodigal son of man who delivers the true message for the Spirit of Truth.

The messenger has no personal agenda and will play no other role. In fact, he prefers to remain anonymous and writes under a pen name. He fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah in that "the servant and witness of God will not make his voice heard in the street" (or in public), but sends "his work before him." (Isaiah 42:1-2 and 62:11) He says the world does not need another would-be savior to scorn and crucify, or to exalt and put on a pedestal, and no man should be tempted with such great worldly power or bear its responsibility. He says the world needs truth, and nothing but the truth, and submits that the new covenant of God frees us from sovereign authority or sovereign leadership of any kind. He says there is no hierarchy in Christ, and he repeats what Isaiah wrote, that "besides God there is no savior." (Isaiah 43:10-11)

The book is titled Real Prophecy Unveiled, by Joseph J. Adamson. It's really about our total liberation and the fulfillment of prophecy, and it includes a comprehensive critique of what and who causes our main problems. It turns the tables on the Religious Right, establishing that Jesus (like all other enlightened ones) was really a "bleeding heart liberal," and it exposes the error and hypocrisy of right-wing religious leaders who claim otherwise. This, the messenger submits, is absolutely necessary because in order for the humble and meek to inherit the earth, the proud and militant must be exposed and rebuked to fulfill the prophecies of Isaiah and Jesus. And he is not "lukewarm and neither hot or cold" about it, knowing the Christ's desire that the judgment from the son of man be strong and firm.

The messenger also establishes the value and need for secular government, separation of church and state, equality of religions, and an end to misguided patriarchal traditions. He also dispels myths and false beliefs and explains the value of esoteric teachings. He even gives us a way to abolish partisan politics and be rid of the "pretender to the throne" so we can share the throne of God's "new kingdom" as the equal joint heirs that we really are according to the Bible, creating government that is finally of, for, and by the people. It is an overall view of prophecy we can enthusiastically live with and even celebrate!

That is why, unless Bailey's and Creme's Maitreya actually reveals himself and demonstrates that he is not merely a false christ who shows great signs and wonders, I will accept Joseph's work as the message from the Spirit of Truth. While there are many claims being made about the existence or the coming of the Christ (AKA the Saoshyant/Avatar/Buddha/Imam Mahdi), Joseph evidently is the person who really serves the Holy One according to prophecy.

Hmmm. I was looking for a worthwhile book offering tips, jigs, and general routing knowledge. Not here. First, the book is British. Not a bad thing if you're British, but I was hoping to read about American products and practices. Second, what's here is just flat out weak. I'm being generous by giving it 2 stars.

THIS IS THE PLAY. It is not a book about the play. I didn't know that when I ordered and, frankly, was disappointed. Many plays doesn't read very well and this is one of them. Without the music, the interaction among the characters and between the actors and audience, it doesn't work at all.

However, if you ever get the chance to see a good production of "Smoke on the Mountain", do so. This wonderful show is about the reunited (Sanctified) Sanders Family Singers doing a one-night performance in a Carolina Baptist church on a Saturday night in 1938. You will not understand what all the fuss is about by reading the play, however. I would read a novelization about the play with insight into the characters if the authors ever write one.

The fact that I seem to be statistically challenged may be the cause of a clouded review; however, I feel that this book leaves out a great deal of information pertinent to finding your way from point A to B. The layout also leaves much to be desired. Examples frequently correspond to other examples in previous pages so that you are constantly flipping pages and trying to sort out what's what. I am now halfway through this book (and still clueless) and between all members of my class, we have found multiple typo errors. The errors are not just simple misspellings- most of them have been major errors in formulas. I had hoped to learn and understand much more of what's in the book- granted part of that is the instructor's responsibility, but the book truly seems lacking.

F. G. Bailey's 'Stratagems and Spoils' is a useful book for those who are interested in anthropology and/or politics. The book covers many aspects of political leadership in different societies and cultures. He is successful in making his readers convinced by drawing examples from his fieldwork in Orissa and from Fredrick Barth's study among the Pathans of the Swat valley. His 'hypothesis' that political leadership and its relation to the society is the same in all cultures is very well supported by his arguments. His writing style also deserves appreciation.
However, the book would be more noteworthy if the writer had avoided repition and unnecessary elaboration of some cases and points.