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Archive for the ‘book review’ Category

Debra Slover of the Leadership Garden, shares her review for Utopian Frontiers – http://www.leadershipgardenlegacy.com/blog/utopian-frontiers-story-hope-review

For information about Utopian Frontiers, the book, the organization or the music, visit http://www.utopianfrontiers.com. To learn more about the book and to get your copy, visit http://www.amazon.com/Utopian-Frontiers-Story-Drew-Tapley/dp/1927005124/.

Jerry Lopper shares his review for Utopian Frontiers on his blog – http://www.purposefulgrowth.com/2012/03/17/utopian-frontiers-a-glimpse-of-the-future/

For information about Utopian Frontiers, the book, the organization or the music, visit http://www.utopianfrontiers.com. To learn more about the book and to get your copy, visit http://www.amazon.com/Utopian-Frontiers-Story-Drew-Tapley/dp/1927005124/.

Nikki Leigh shares her review for 5 No-Fail Strategies to Get More Clients and Fill Your Practice  by Sue Kasson on the Evan Carmichael entrepreneur website – http://tinyurl.com/6qgauco

If you would like more practical sales and marketing strategies, visit  Zero Stress Selling today. Sue is known for her relaxed and authentic customized client enrollment and sales conversion training. Find Sue Kasson’s books at  www.amazon.com/author/suekasson

Nikki Leigh shares her review for 5 No-Fail Strategies to Get More Clients and Fill Your Practice  by Sue Kasson on the Evan Carmichael entrepreneur website – http://tinyurl.com/6qgauco

If you would like more practical sales and marketing strategies, visit  Zero Stress Selling today. Sue is known for her relaxed and authentic customized client enrollment and sales conversion training. Find Sue Kasson’s books at  www.amazon.com/author/suekasson

Wayne Hurlbert shares his review for 5 No-Fail Strategies to Get More Clients and Fill Your Practice by Sue Kasson on his blog http://blogbusinessworld.blogspot.com/2012/02/zero-stress-selling-by-sue-kasson-book.html

If you would like more practical sales and marketing strategies, visit  Zero Stress Selling today. Sue is known for her relaxed and authentic customized client enrollment and sales conversion training. Find Sue Kasson’s books at  www.amazon.com/author/suekasson

The Digital Diet: The 4-Step Plan to Break Your Tech Addiction and Regain Balance in Your Life by Daniel Sieberg

I just saw the cell phone commercial that says the small business with the best technology rules. While I am a big fan of technology and couldn’t have my business without it – I would tweak that statement a bit. Let’s change that to – the small business (or person) that knows how to utilize the best technology in the best way, rules.

I think the majority of people understand the use of technology can get totally out of control. When I see neighborhood kids walking down the street and texting to the people beside them – it seems the use of technology is out of control. That is just one of many examples we see every day.

If you are one of the many people who has a cell phone, a computer, a laptop, several email accounts, several social media accounts, and iPad and various other technology items – you know what I mean. Just finding enough plug ins to recharge all those things can take a while. So, maybe you need The Digital Diet. I know the word “diet” scares people, but author Daniel Sieberg steps readers through his 4 step plan, one step at a time.

There are a number of quotes from the book that I really enjoyed…

“At the core, the Digital Diet is about common sense and common courtesy, Impress yourself and those around you. Be the master, not the slave.”

“Technology makes life more sterile and makes it too easy to avoid a conversation (services like slydial send you straight to voice mail), face responsibility (sorry, didn’t get your message), or display emotions (those emoticons just don’t cut it). Too often technology allows us to replace meaningful interaction with superficial ones. Many of us have become terrible and ineffective communicators and blog and elfish broadcasters. Lots of telling but very little listening. We’ve come to rely on what I call, in fast food term, “drive through conversations”. Pull up, get what you want and drive away. No fuss, no muss. If only real life were so convenient.”

“… our heads down, all too often we give in to our gadgets and let them be our guide. But when we use our mind and our social graces to overcome a particular dilemma, like catching the right train, there is a sense of pride that we accomplished something, not our device. That’s one key to better management of our digital life. Recognize those occasions when your brain is able to solve the problem and rely on it.”

Let’s face it – keeping up with every new gadget, toy, program or social site is very exhausting. So, using Sieberg’s plan makes sense. These are short summaries of the 4 step plan.

Step 1 – Think – Consider how technology has overwhelmed our society and the effect it’s had on your physical, mental, and emotional health.

Step 2 – Boot - Take stock of your digital intake using Sieberg’s Virtual Weight Index and step back from the device.

Step 3 – Connect - Focus on restoring the relationship that have been harmed by the technology in your life.

Step 4 – Vitalize - Learn how to live with technology – the healthy way, by optimizing your time spent e-mailing, texting, on Facebook and web surfing.

As with any diet plan, you should review all the steps and then find the best way to utilize the plan to improve your life. But having read this book and shared the information with friends, I really think you will be pleasantly surprised by the things you will learn about yourself by reading this book and working through parts of the plan. Imagine the difference it could make when you’re able to take back control of your life…

For much more on each of the 4 step, you can get your own copy at http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Diet-4-step-addiction-balance/dp/0307887383 (print) and http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Diet-addiction-balance-ebook/dp/B004J4WM3G (Kindle)

Losing Your Only by Dr Debi Yohn

Just about everyone I know has had a number of losses in their life in the last couple of years. My family has had our share and so have friends. Each person has to deal with their losses in their own way – but many people have no idea how to even begin to handle the loss of a loved one.

Dr Debi Yohn has written a book that is a blueprint of the things she learned during her journey after the unexpected and sudden death of her only child, Levi. She shares information that will help any parent and person facing a loss – but she also deals with the unique situations a parent faces when they lose their only child. As more and more people choose to have smaller families and some countries limiting the number of children a couple can have – the information she shares is more and more important for us.

Dr Debi begins this journey by going back to the time before Levi was born and the time when she realized that she wanted to be a mom. She shares pieces of her life with her son and their love and joy together is clear. Then we read about the day of the accident that took her Only.

She shares the tools she used to deal with his death and to find out what that loss meant for her life. Helping us see how to handle the variety of things that happen in our everyday lives and those special occasions that are important in our families.

There is a section with those common things people say, “life goes on”, “you will get through this” and on and on. At this point, she shows the ways she learned to handle this and to start building the foundation and beginnings of her new reality. These steps on the journey are very valuable when you go back to work, run into friends who don’t know what happened, and move ahead with your life.

This is the table of contents, to show you the scope of topics that are included:

Chapter One: The REAL Journey Begins
Always Parents, Life with Levi, Rethinking the Future & The REAL Journey

Chapter Two: A Word on Spirituality
A Higher Power, Helping Hands and Hearts, The First Signs, A Perfect Day & The Ultimate Test

Chapter Three: The Reality of the Loss
“This isn’t happening”, Funerals, Vigils, and Celebrations & The Importance of Ritual

Chapter Four: Experiencing the Grief
“Life goes on” Syndrome. “You will get through this.”, Healing steps &
The Foundations for a New Reality

Chapter Five: Adjusting
Parents of the Heart. Dealing with Other People, The Business of Dying. Parting with the Past, Other Memorials, Loss is Part of Living. One Day at a Time

Chapter Six: Living in Your New Reality
Finding Your Purpose, Only Human, Moving On, Back to Work, The Right Connections. “Do you have children?”. Traditions and Celebrations. Find a Place for Your Only in Your Life

Chapter Seven: The Parental Partnership
Fathers, Mothers, Give It Time

Chapter Eight: Filling the Void
Another Child, Extended Family, Friends, Spirituality & Moving Forward

Chapter Nine: Life Lessons
Be Grateful, Get Closure, Stop and Smell the Roses, You Are Not Alone, Grieve Well, Parting Words & Life Is Different but Life Is Good

A Generation of Only Children—a Global Perspective

This is one of my favorite excerpts –

Finding Your Purpose

This is the most difficult part of the grieving process to complete. However, as you do so, you slowly find the ability to emotionally invest in life once more. You don’t forget your child, but you do gradually find joy in life again. You figure out how to start moving forward while keeping your Only in your emotional life. In a way, you give yourself permission to resume living in this world.

It is easy to stall at this stage and choose to hold on to the past rather than going forward. The loss may cause you so much pain that you feel you can never give life another chance. Professional counseling can help here, as can getting involved in an activity in memory of your child.

Your Only will remain in your heart forever, every day, every waking hour. But although your life will never be the same again, you can find happiness. With time and appropriate grieving, the pain diminishes and you find a new purpose.

You can read my interview with Dr Debi here – http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/211704

About Losing Your Only – Thank you for your interest in Losing Your Only, by Dr Debi Yohn. This is a very personal story which helped Dr Yohn discover her purpose – to motivate and support parents and others to live life to their highest potential. The digit version of the book is currently available at http://losingyouronly.com/get-the-book/. If you would like to be notified about the upcoming print and audio release, please visit this page and send Dr Debi your name and email address. For full tour details, visit http://bookpromotionservices.com/2010/12/02/losing-your-only-by-dr-debi-yohn-virtual-blog-tour/

No matter how open minded any of us may be about sex – I am concerned about teens and the things they are bombarded with every day. I may sound old – but I remember when kids, could be kids. They weren’t flooded with sexual messages everywhere they looked.

Sure there was sex in the music, the movies etc – but not like it is now. And, we had to get creative to send sexy and suggestive messages. As an example, when I was a teenager,  our parents insisted that my boyfriend and I were “forbidden” to see each other and to even talk most of the time. So, we worked out a system where a friend of his brought me messages. It worked beautifully.

These days teens have email, chatrooms, instant messaging, cell phones, text messages, social networks and so many other options. But we have all heard of the things that can happen with these technological advances. It seems to me that few teens have the chance to be teens -  they are pushed into adult situations by the media, their peers and many other things.

So – how do young people handle this “hyper” sexual culture? I think parents, other teens and anyone else who cares about teens need to read this book. It contains personal experiences from a wide variety of teens in their own words.  This book contains the good, the bad and the ugly about this “easy access culture”.

Shannon T Boodram – accepted pieces written by a variety of young people about their experiences with sex in their teens. Some are narratives and some are poems  – but they all tell very personal stories to share their experiences.

Chapter 1 – Hookups That Fell Down (about hookups)

Chapter 2 – And Then I Saw Stars (about positive sexual experiences)

Chapter 3 – Haven’t Been Quite Right Since That Night…. (about physical consequences)

Chapter 4 – When No! Loses All Meaning (about date rape)

Chapter 5 – Save Your Cherry… or Banana (about abstinence)

Each of these chapters is broken up into several different sections. There is an introduction, a list of possible questions and answers about the chapter content, and a list of questions to ask yourself about the information in the chapters.

This book needed to be written. In case anyone has any doubts – times have changed for everyone, but times have changed much more for teens and we need to understand what they are facing and what they are doing to help teens that we care about.

I highly recommend this book – the insights are very revealing and often disturbing. I’ll also warn you that reading this book will bring back memories for each of us – that first kiss, that first sexual experience, yearning for someone when we weren’t sure if we were ready for sex, having sex and then realizing it wasn’t right for us, learning from our mistakes and our triumphs and much more.

In these tough economic times we should all be on the lookout for ways to make ourselves stand out in business – in a good way. Being able to step up on the job and to create and do an effective presentation is a great way to make ourselves stand out. Are you an entrepreneur who does presentations for your business? Are you a sales person who does presentations for clients? Are you a speaker who speaks in front of crowds on a regular basis and you want to stay at the top of your game? Are you in a business and you want to advance and impress your boss? All of these people can use the information in this book.

This is one of the smallest books I’ve read lately – but its packed with great information. One the very first page it says:

Greatest Fears Among Americans

1. Speaking before a group
2. Heights
3. Insects and bugs
4. Financial problems
5. Deep water
6. Sickness
7. Death

— from The Book of Lists

Okay – I’m in agreement with most of that list. Although I’ve been speaking in front of groups since I was young. However, I realize that most people don’t have that background and even with all that experience, I’m still nervous before I start to speak. So,  I was intrigued with this book. I was also curious to see how much they could squeeze into about 45 pages.

First – the full title is

136 Effective Presentation Tips: Inspire, Inform & Influence Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime

The table of contents gives us a glimpse inside –

Tips on Getting Started

– Moving From Nervous to Natural

– Getting Your Act Together

Tips on Getting Attention

– Beginning Strong

– Setting the Tone

Tips on Keeping Attention

– Involving the Audience

– Maximizing Visual Aids

—– Powerpoint

—– Flip Charts

—–Presentation readiness

—– Handouts

Tips on Gaining Buy In

– Earning the Right to Call for Action

– The Summary and Closing

A Closing Thought

All the important elements are here – so does the book deliver. I think it does. Under each heading, there are a series of tips and an explanation to implement the tip. Near the very beginning they tell us not to apologize for being nervous. How many times have you or someone you heard started a presentation like that? First point, don’t apologize.

There is a great chart that is called the 3-D outline. It very simply and clearly outlines what, why and how to execute each part of the presentation AND how long each segment should be. Its very simple and very powerful. That chart is worth buying this book.

We learn how to take control of the environment — the tips are very easy to implement, but they work. Tips to reduce your stress – physical and psychological stress. We get the Top Ten Ways to Kill a Presentation. How many times have you wanted to hand that to a presenter when they were finished? These are great tips and I’ve seen people do most of these in past presentations. There are even tips for virtual presentations.

Like I mentioned this is a small book, but I’d highly recommend it to anyone who does presentations or may need to do a presentation in the future. Its a quick read, easy to go back to for reminders and packed with great tips. Do yourself a favor and order a copy of this book and study it from cover to cover before your next or your first presentation.

There is order information in the back of this book – which I’ll share here.

Cornerstone Leadership

P O Box 764087

Dallas, TX 75376

www.cornerstoneleadership.com

This book is called “A Girl’s Guide to the Body and Soul”. I really like that. I think all women remember those tough teenage years when we struggled with the changes of our bodies, dealing with hormones, moods, boys, school and so many other confusing and difficult things. I would’ve loved to have something that helped me think that I wasn’t crazy

Nikki Goldstein has put together a great guide for teens and she has wonderful information on one of her websites for the mothers of teen girls. I have a feeling my mother would’ve appreciated that information when I was a teen. We were both at a loss about how to deal with so many things that happened during those years.

This is the table of contents to give you an idea of what Goldstein covers in this book –

Chapter One – Who Are You?

Chapter Two – Create Your Own GirlForce Body Type Balancing Plan

Chapter Three – Eat Right for Your Body Type

Chapter Four – DIY Body Blast

Chapter Five – Celebrate Your Unique Beauty

Chapter Six – The Lowdown on Stress

Chapter Seven – Get In Touch With Your Inner Self

Chapter Eight – Talking about Relationships

Chapter Nine – Get it Together

Chapter Ten – Your GirlForce Questions Answered

I couldn’t find a topic that isn’t covered in this book. In addition to the invaluable information that helps teen girls – this book is gorgeous. The pages are all colorful, the illustrations are wonderful and you will simply love the appearance. There are various quizzes in the book to help teen girls determine their body type, and much more. Once you find your type — there is a wealth of information to help understand many other elements of your life.

I think any teen girl, any mother of a teen girl, any pre teen and any other family or friend who supports a teen or pre teen needs to read this book.

In June we did a virtual blog tour for GirlForce and we offered all blog hosts a wealth of information to post on their blogs. If you would like to take a peek inside this book, visit this summary page and you can take a look at a big list of ideas – http://virtualblogtour.ning.com/group/girlforce/forum/topics/download-page-for-girlforce-by

This content is by, Nikki Goldstein, author of the GirlForce series. Nikki Goldstein has worked as a beauty editor and writer for Marie Claire, Vogue, Elle, InStyle and Cosmopolitan. She regularly blogs on her two websites – www.mygirlforce.com and www.gettoknowyourdaughter.com which give further information about the power of GirlForce, as well as fun quizzes, activities and forums. You can also visit Nikki at http://www.facebook.com/pages/GirlForce/76740694436 or http://twitter.com/MyGirlForce. Learn more about the book at http://www.amazon.com/GirlForce-Nikki-Goldstein/dp/1599903547.

Testimonials

Testimonials for Nikki Goldstein & GirlForce

Pictures, Images, Posters, & Banners for GirlForce

GirlForce Posters – One Horizontal and One Vertical

Logos and Horizontal Banners for GirlForce

Excerpts/Images from the Book:

Table of Contents

Book Cover, Book Excerpt Images and Author Picture for Girl Force

Chapter 1 – Pages 1-4

Chapter 1 – Pages 5-8

Chapter 1 – Pages 9-12

Chapter 1 — Pages 13-16

Chapter 1 — Pages 17-20

Air, Fire and Earth Girl Pictures

Quizzes Exploring Topics in GirlForce:

Body Type Quiz – Which Body Type Are You

Air, Fire and Earth: The Awesome GirlForce Body Types

Air, Fire and Earth Girl Pictures

Quiz – How’s Your Body-Lurve?

Quiz – Unleash Your Creative Powers

Quiz – Tame Your Dark Side

Quiz – Discover Your Emotional Self

Quiz – Love or Loathe Clothes?

Quiz – Friend or Foe

Quiz – Get To Know Your Mum

Information for Young Women Discussed in Girl Force:

Ayurveda

Meditation and Affirmations

Yoga

Stress Management

Beauty and Style Tips

Romance