Outstanding overview of what it takes not only to build a worship service for 1999, but how to build the team that builds the worship service. This book will give you the why's and how's of building a quality worship service, including the use of drama, multi-media, visual arts, sound, as well as music. It would be a fantastic resource to read through with your worship team, especially the Bible studies at the end. Excellent sections for vocalists and instrumentalists (guitarists, drummers, percussionists, bassists, etc.) who lead worship. Get it!

This is an excellent resource for teaching the elements of elaboration and poetry. Simile, metaphor, imagery, personification, alliteration, onomatopoeia, repitition, rhyme, meter, tone, etc. are presented in simple explanation and practice excercises.

Wyatt Water's collection of watercolors are vibrant representations of nostalgic city scapes in Jackson. His rainbow pallete is painted on location, giving each work a caught-in-time feel. A breif history of the subject is given for each picture. This book is a pleasure to open over and over again.

This book should be on every students school supply list. When our daughter came home from school with lice I was as horrified as she was. This book explains these naughty little creatures at a level we all can understand. Makes for enlightening reading on such an unenlightening subject.

I am a teenager with arthritis and found this book to be very informative.

Yes, this book is excellent journalism, well written, and a haunting look at life on Death Row and the "death industry" of lawyers, appeals, prisons, and so on. However, I do have one serious problem with Tucker's narrative: Why, at no point, was he even willing to consider the possibility that Coleman might have been guilty? While the evidence didn't damn Coleman, it certainly didn't exclude him either. By Tucker's own account, Coleman refused to take a blood test that could have exonerated him for quite awhile (he apparently feared that authorities would "frame" him); once performed, the test could not rule Coleman out; and he did not take a lie-detector test until the day of his execution, which he failed. Tucker also shrugs off Coleman's earlier conviction on a sex crime as a case of mistaken identity. but offers no real proof.

In his attempt to portray Coleman innocent, Tucker missed the opportunity to create a truly balanced portrait of crime and punishment in America. Much better is "Dead Run," the story of Dennis Stockton and the mass Death Row escape.

It is hard for me to imagine anyone reading John C. Tucker's "May God Have Mercy" without being profoundly affected by the topic, which is the trial and execution of Roger Coleman for the brutal rape and murder of Wanda McCoy. While a book dealing mostly with the appeals process could be dull and confusing, Tucker does an astonishing job of presenting complex legal concepts and rules in clear, simple language. In so doing, Tucker allows the personal stories of Coleman and those in his life to take center stage, and those stories are powerful and moving.

One of the more common defenses of the death penalty is that the entire system is set up to cater to the defendants and that it's almost impossible for an innocent person to slip through the cracks. Sure, the cacophony of "I'm innocent" on death row might be overwhelming, but there's an obvious lack of credibility there. But the case of Roger Coleman stands as an exception. It's not that Tucker proves beyond a reasonable doubt that Coleman was innocent (nor should he have to). But there is substantial evidence to suggest that Coleman was innocent, from the prosecution's almost-impossible theory to the identification of a thoroughly plausible suspect.

Tucker takes the reader through the entire case, from the initial investigation to the final, tragic resolution. In the process, we meet attorney Kitty Behan, who handled most of Coleman's appeals. Behan worked tremendous hours at a thankless job that she had to know was an uphill battle. Her biggest task was to get a court actually to listen to the evidence suggesting her client's innocence. Before she assumed the case, one of her predecessors had filed a paper a single day late (and even that was debatable). The rest of the case seemed to be a battle to convince reluctant courts that an innocent man's life was more important than a postmark. Though Tucker exhibits restraint in describing the case, the picture of Behan that emerges is one of a true hero, an attorney whose work should be appreciated even by those in favor of speedier executions. At the expense of her own health, she did everything she could for her client, and she did so not only competently (an understatement) but ethically.

In the end, though, the story is Coleman's, and it is a painful story to read--but an eminently important one. Maybe Coleman was guilty, and maybe he was innocent. (The facts seem all but conclusive that he was innocent.) But if the ultimate crime deserves the ultimate punishment, surely the evidence raised that indicated his innocence should have been heard. Even the most ardent proponent of capital punishment should be uncomfortable reading about the case of Roger Coleman.

Finally, while the story is harrowing, special kudos is due the author. The labyrinth of state and federal appeals is confusing, but Tucker takes the reader through that maze easily, almost making the appeals process seem clear. Tucker's style is easy to read, and he allows the personal stories to come through the legal wrangling. In short, "May God Have Mercy" is important, well-written, and emotionally powerful.

This book might well change even the hardest of hearts. If there is ever a reason to abolish the death penalty, the case of Roger Keith Coleman is it! His lawyers missed a filing deadline by one day -- and since that time his claims of poor assistance of counsel and factual innocence were never heard in a court of law. Instead, he was executed over a technicality for a crime he most probably didn't commit. A must read for anyone interested in the state of our criminal justice system.

The author needs to learn to resist making every "cute" and "smartass" comment that comes to mind. I think the "wit" comes off as too studied. I can forgive it in the title, but not in every paragraph.

More annoying, the protagonist's character is marred by snideness. Now, you can say that an author may surely write a character with flaws deliberately, which is of course true, but IN GENERAL I think we are supposed to like this guy Aaron, and indeed, sometimes we do. But then when he acts like a total head, I for one find it very jarring. Just one example -- he meets a guy who is an English professor, and is trying to interview him. The interviewee is in the middle of gardening. Aaron (to the reader) makes snide comments about the fact that the guy is wearing gardening gloves (as though only a sissy would wear gardening gloves) and the fact that the guy is careful in digging a proper sized hole for the plant. HUH? Aaron has contempt for plants? for gardening? for men who garden? what's the story here? Does he hate everyone? This bugged me a lot.

In fact, it seemed to me that Aaron was contemptuous of every character in the book except his wife, his kids, and his two existing buddies. If this is who the author WANTED Aaron to be, I don't much like him and don't want to know him through more books. On the other hand, this attitude may be an unconscious product of overly cutesy writing.

Jeff Cohen's first book in the Aaron Tucker series is funny, poignant and suspenseful -- sometimes all at once. Anyone familiar with the Central New Jersey setting will enjoy the local references, both veiled and outright. It's a rare accomplishment for a mystery author to propel a story with laugh-out-loud humor the way Jeff does. I'm already looking forward to the next installment, 'A Farewell to Legs.'

In most novels there is some one element that stands out--a brilliant plot, captivating characters, an intriguing setting or theme. In "Minivan" it's the author's voice. Self-deprecating, self-doubting Aaron Tucker is a lot of fun and a most reluctant sleuth. He's a suburban stay-at-home Dad, a freelance writer, in no way a detective.

So he's very surprised when wealthy Gary Beckwirth offers him a thousand dollars to find his wife Madlyn, saying that Aaron is the only person he could think of to do the job. Aaron could think of a lot of people who'd do it better, but still, a thousand dollars...

Aaron takes on the job and he's an entertaining character--wisecracking, irreverant, but also endearing, someone you can imagine living in your neighborhood, next door even.

There's an interesting side story about Aaron's son Ethan who has Asperger's Syndrome, which is described here as a form of high-functioning autism. Aaron's love for this boy comes through every time Ethan appears. He loves his daughter Leah too, and his wife, Abigail. No James Bond, obviously!

All the same, Aaron investigates industriously, managing to infuriate several people, including the police chief and even Gary Beckwirth, along the way. Also along the way are some real surprises, twists, and bizarre incidents, including a phone call from the missing woman, who nonetheless remains missing. (That's not a spoiler, it's right there in the flap copy.)

I did guess the culprit, but not the outcome--that was a big surprise to me.

Vividly written with a great deal of humor and wit, For Whom the Minivan Rolls is a highly entertaining story, the first of a series that holds a lot of promise.

First of all, I love this book. I don't own it because I borrow all my fearless books from my friend who owns the entire series. Since last year I have been totally addicted. I am now on book #23, and can't wait another whole month for the next one to come out. These books get better and better, even if they are a little hard to believe. It's like a soap opera, except interesting and well written. I guess it's not like a soap opera... Oh well. Anywayz, it's a really good book to start off a really good series. And don't worry if you get confused, it becomes more clear as you read more, then more confusing until you read "before gaia", but I wouldn't reccomend that until you're at about book 20 or you won't have any idea what's going on. Wow, I'm advertizing lots of books here, aren't I? I can't help it, I'm hooked on Fearless!!!!! It's weird, when a new Fearless book comes out, it's like a rotation. One always buys them cause she wants to read them over and over, so the rest of us just borrow them. I'm 3rd in line out of 4. I should be second (let the person who bought it go first) cause I can read one in a single day. Anywayz, this review doesn't have much to do with book number one, it's just me going on and on about how the entire series rocks. Maybe I should review one that I read more recently... Well anywayz, read this book. You won't be sorry you did (unless you're really weird). Warning: these books are extremely addictive and should not be taken internally. :)

Attention: if you're a Francine Pascal fan, you're in for a big surprise. If you thought F. Pascal was only for love stories, you're totally wrong! In this new book, F. Pascal gives us a new picture of herself. Instead of the old "I love you" thing, Fearless is about Gaia, a girl born without fear (I mean literally). She has the most weirdest life anyone could have ranging from a CIA agent Dad (who weirdly dissappears), to an even weirder stepmother who's thirty something but thinks she's seventeen. Gaia was trained in martial arts, judo, kung fu, whatever sorts of self-defense out there. Because of her lack of fear, she doesn't panic in times of emergency. Fearless introduces us to Gaia, tells us about her first day in New York, about her meeting Ed, a handicapped person, and how she faces her new life in NY. All in all, this was a good book because not only does it changes our view of F. Pascal, it also gives us a rush of "adrenaline" going with Gaia through all her "adventures" in the book.

When I plucked this book off the shelf, and paid for it my mother said to me "why on earth would you read that?". I don't know what she was talking about. THIS BOOK WAS INCREDIBLE!!! It has it's only little twist of wittiness (is that a word?), action, and even a little romance. My favorite... :) This has been the first of the series, and I think i will be getting a ton more of the books.

Gaia (guy - uh) is a not-so-normal girl in NY. The reason she is not so normal is because she has literally no fear. She was born without the fear gene...strange, huh? Her father made her train in kung-fu, tai-chi, tae kwon do, karate, and any other kind of defence-attack thing. Then her father *being in the CIA or something* leaves her, and her mother dies, and she is put in a foster home with George *who likes her* and Ella *who is 30 something and acts like she is 17*. Gaia goes to a new school, and all that stuff. She meets Ed, a handycapped person, and they become sort of friends. Gaia loves to play chess, and she plays all the time with this old man named Zolov. She meets Sam playing chess too...you never know, there might be some kind of thing behind it all *as the second book is called 'Sam'... READ TO FIND OUT!!!

*another note* I thought that this book was ok for the first half of the book, but when all the action happened in the middle, I couldn't put it down! I encourage anyone who is looking for something different, but with a little action and romance. ^.^

Every Sunday the strains of the Radetsky March are heard outside the residence of Baron von Trotta, son of the lieutenant who saved Emperor Franz Joseph's life at Solferino and father of Lieutenant Carl Joseph who saves the Emperor's portrait from a whorehouse. (Thus have times changed!) As this book narrates the saga of four generations of the von Trotta family and the parallel decline of Franz Joseph's Austro-Hungarian Empire, the strains of this march dwindle until it, too, is finally obliterated.

Roth's masterpiece touches us as he deftly depicts the disillusionment that inevitably replaces the once-elevated code of honor of an outdated Empire. The book's style, that of an omniscient author reminiscent of nineteenth-century aesthetics, complements its subject. Here is a glimpse of a world where military and social rank dictate behavior, where women are seductresses regardless of social pretenses, where servants are endowed with unquestioning loyalty, where Jews live on the fringes of society yet must also subscribe to its rigorous decorum. Yet, as the exploits of the youngest von Trotta illustrate, this world has become decadent in its rigidity.

For the von Trottas, as for the Hapsburgs themselves, this discovery comes at a time when one cannot escape its consequences. For it is the rhythms of the Radetsky March, along with the portrait of the Hero of Solferino (whose heroism is not all that it was made out to be) that shaped even the youngest von Trotta and remain forever in the background, preventing a return to the family's peasant heritage and the romanticism of a more idyllic existence.

Roth's book is well worth the read. It is especially endowed with a gentle irony that bespeaks compassion without indulging in sentimentality. For those of us still trying to understand what formed the Western world of the twentieth century, it abounds with all the poignant music, imagery, and people of pre-World War I conditions in Eastern Europe.

This novel is the story of a world that is disappearing fast, and of people desperately clinging to its traditions in an attempt to avoid the chaos fast approaching. The setting is the early 20th century in the last days of the Kaiser's long rule. The destiny of a family of peasants suddenly changes when an ancestor saves the life of the young Kaiser in battle--the legend of the Hero of Solferino follows son and then grandson, making a career in the military almost inevitable despite its being completely wrong from the grandson's point of view. The military in this tale seems a refuge for men much more interested in drinking and gambling than dealing with growing unrest in the Empire. The details of this fast disappearing world are beautifully drawn--the music, the uniforms, the portraits of the Kaiser everywhere, the society of the time--and the reader's knowledge of the devastation of the First World War about to come lends a poignancy to it all that I found almost sad. A terrific historical novel!

1859. At the Battle of Solferino, the young lieutenant Trotta saves the life of Emperor Franz Joseph I. Henceforth he is a colonel and named the Baron von Trotta. The story continues to his son Franz, who becomes a government official as county governor in Bohemia/Galicia - and to his grandson Carl Joseph, who enters military service. It ends with Carl Joseph as a lieutenant in a second-rate chasseur regiment.

During the intervening years, we watch the Austrian-Hungarian Monarchy slowly disintegrate, just as the Trotta family goes from the Hero of Solferino to an officer of little account. Carl Joseph wished back to his grandfather, and the Emperor thinks back to when he was young. There are many characters in this book, drawn in magnificent three-dimensional detail, and all of them just as flawed as the Trotta family. The monarchy is eaten up from the inside by these government servants who have no goal and no drive, either spend their days gambling and drinking, or rapidly moving closer to some form of suicide.

The author gives us magnificent descriptions of the times, the people, and their surroundings. It is a book that will haunt you for some time to come, not least because it is very sad and depressing.

In 1990 Kamenetz, Marc Lieberman (a Jewish Buddhist - JUBU) and a group of distinguished personalities from the spectrum of Jewish religion (Reconstructionist and Orthodox rabbis, rabbis active in Jewish renewal, and professors of religious studies) went to Dharamsala for a four day meeting with the Dalai Lama. The latter had made the invitation in order to better understand the Jewish faith and learn the techniques of survival in Diaspora.

This book must be viewed from three different perspectives. First there is the dialogue among the Jews, which clearly points out the discrepancies between the different denominations. Second, the dialogue between the Jews and Tibetan Lamas and monk with the objective in mind of exchanging information, getting to know each other, pinpointing differences and similarities. And last, but not least, the interaction between the author and the two sets of dialogues, which will open a new perspective in his life: rediscovering his Jewishness through mysticism.

The participants were able to find areas of common interest such as practice of meditation, visualization, the intensive use of debate and study of ancient texts, the Kabalah as a parallel of Buddhist mysticism, the mandala and the sephirot. There are also significant differences: Buddhism does not accept the concept of a Creator, and God is viewed as Trugh, Reality or Emptiness; for Buddhism there is reincarnation, in Judaism it is a one-life-time-experience; Judaism is family-oriented, Buddhism is monastic.

The author comes to the realization that modern Judaism has been drained of its ancient spirituality by means of increasing secularism. Like in any major religion the tension between the "exoteric" (accessible to every practitioner) and the esoteric (restricted to a few members) is taking its toll by depleting the mystical elements embedded in spiritual traditions. Because of this vacuum present in Judaism a signifant number of Jews have gone in search of further "fulfillment," finding in Buddhism the roots of Jewish mysticism.

The Dalai Lama offers his piece of advice: "Open the doors and open them wide!" There is the need to reinforce the importance of revival of Kabalistic mystical teachings and practice of meditation. The lesson of survival in exile applies both to the troubled individual and the troubled nation.

This book is fantastic reading; it makes you wish you had been present at this historical, enlightening meeting.

Kamenetz, Rodger. The Jew in the Lotus. HarperSanFracisco, 1994. This wittily titled book resulted from a dialogue between the HH Dalai Lama in Dharmasala and a group of American Jews, mostly rabbis, in the fall of 1990. They had been invited to offer insights on how the Jews have preserved their culture through repeated adversities from the destruction of the Babylonian captivity through the destruction of the second Temple by the Roman and the horror of the Holocaust. By 1945, 2/3 of Jews had been eradicated from the face of the earth and among them, as Kamenetz points out, 3/4ths of the teachers and mystical masters. This fact has left a great hole in the fabric of Judaism so that the person who is in search of Jewish profound teachings has had to go to other traditions in order to satisfy this need.

The first of the members of the group, Nathan Katz, gave a presentation on contacts between the Hindu/ Buddhist and Jewish traditions. On p. 69 we learn of the Sanskrit words found in the (Hebrew) text of the Torah. We hear of the Hebrew manuscripts in Tibetan monasteries in Kucha, Mongolia. He points out that the concept of shunyata appeared in the West in the zero of mathematics. Al-Buruni, the Muslim philosopher of the 9th century had drawn the parallel between shunyata, the unpronounceable Name and also, Aum. He also reminded HH that the Jews were the first refugees (in 70 CE) to find a refuge in India.

It was probably news, when this book came out in 1994, for a great many Jewish Buddhists (aka JUBUs) who in many Dharma centres make up 30% or more of members, to learn that there is a Jewish tradition of visualization, meditation and other such practices. Most had heard of the kabbalah but they also knew that its study was supposed to be limited to adult married men. Rabbi Zalman Schachter's presentation reveals what he perceives to be similarities between its teachings and vipassana meditation. He points to the Name AinSof (without end) as also known as Ayin or Void (p.86). From the mandala of the ten Sephirot through the idea of four worlds; from the angelology inherited by Jews from the Arabs through the symbolism of the two sexes, we see that tantrayana and mystical Judaism have a language and many techniques in common.

A fascinating section of The Jew in the Lotus is derived from talks the author had with such people as Ven.Thubten Chodron, Alex Wayman, Charles Rome who was secretary to Chogyam Trungpa R., Allen Ginsberg, Ram Dass and many other prominent Jewish practitioners. Among non-Jewish Westerners who appear are Robert Thurman and Richard Gere.

The author, a poet, writes of his own voyage of discovery, too; of his relationship to his Jewishness, of his discovery of India and the inclusiveness of its culture despite its current infection by fundamentalism. ( The Ayodhya incident was just about to happen as the group departed). Though the author was introduced mainly to the monastic Gelug lineage, he is aware that, currently the most prominent, it is not the only one. He sees in the plight of the Tibetan people some parallels with the Jewish diaspora and shows us the Dalai Lama's concern over the tendency to assimilation of Tibetans born outside their homeland.

This book will be of great interest, certainly, to all Jews who are Buddhist practitioners and their concerned family members, but also to all readers interested in mystic traditions particularly those who have sympathy for the cause of Tibet.

This book is a welcome addition to the collection of any serious student of religion as well as to anyone wishing to gain a fuller knowledge of Tibetan Buddhism or mystical Judaism. Based on a series of conversations between the Dalai Lama, Jewish Buddhists, Buddhist Jews (this will all become clear...), and various rabbis, this work offers a non-threatening, intelligent examination of the underlying spiritual principles of Judaism and Tibetan Buddhism. Simply being introduced to these concepts through smart, interesting, nonacademic writing is a joy, but especially fascinating are the implications of what the two traditions involved in the book's dialogues can learn from one another. Kamenetz and his colleagues suggest that Judaism, especially in the 20th century, has almost completely lost touch with its underlying spiritual principles and has become a mere social and ethnic comfort. Borrowing from Tibetan Buddhism's vigorous and well-preserved mystical traditions, the author and others about whom he writes suggest a reinvigorated 'hallowing of the everyday', much like Buber's (theoretical) view of Hasidism. In turn, Tibetans can certainly take a few cues from Judaism on how to preserve their culture in exile and how to integrate traditional practices into an encroaching global culture. Informative and easy to read: a great book!