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Abraham Lincoln, The Illustrated Edition: The Prairie Years and The War Years

This magnificently produced and illustrated edition of Carl Sandburg’s masterpiece is the compilation of Sandburg’s original six volumes, which sold more than one million copioes.

This illustrated edition, with an introduction by Alan Axelrod, gives readers a glimpse into Lincoln’s world as he journeys from country lawyer to the Presidency.

The photographs, many in color, depict several of Lincoln’s personal effects, including his personal copy of the Gettysburg address. Of course, among the most interesting images are those of Lincoln himself–most notably the two showing 1860 President-elect Lincoln, and the 1865 image taken one week after Lee’s surrender. We all know the presidency ages a man, but the change in Lincoln Continue reading »

The Illustrated Timeline of Religion: A Crash Course in Words & Pictures is visually stunning, as well as factually comprehensive. This “crash course in words and pictures” provides readers thumbnail sketches of the major religious events from the beginning of recorded time.

I found it fascinating (as I do with all timelines) to quickly check what events were happening at roughly the same time in history. For example, within 30 years of Gutenberg’s bible, Pope Sixtus IV authorized the Spanish inquisition as a tool to suppress “heretics”.

Or, the same year that Chris Columbus was sailing the ocean blue, Ferdinand II and Isabella ordered the expulsion of Jews following Continue reading »

Grady Harp is an Amazon Top 10 Reviewer

While the name ‘Allan Rich’ may not jump into consciousness of the general public immediately, the face and persona of the man who adopted the name years ago are doubtless known to all who love the stage and film, whether in the form of motion picture or television.

Rich is a character actor par excellence who is so immersed in his roles that in becoming the character he loses his ’star identity’. Some would say that is a negative statement, but after reading this excellent book, A LEAP FROM THE METHOD, and learning from every page how Rich practices and teaches acting, then there could be no higher compliment.

Rich’s book is so warmly user friendly that after the first fifty pages of biographical information and photographs the manual feels like a conversation with an old friend - and a wise one at that.

While many actors have the ability to ’show’ students ‘how to act’ by proximity in a shared production, very few have the ability to put those instructions into words. Rich uses the first pages of the book to give his personal history and the reason for that seems to serve as a personal journey that quietly illustrates his points. Continue reading »

The Illustrated Timeline of Inventions: A Crash Course in Words & Pictures, by Craig Sandler, is one of those handy reference books that info-junkies will want to keep close at hand.

Richly illustrated, the Timeline covers man’s inventions, beginning with the spear and ending with Wikipedia—with just about everything else you could think of in between. Prozac, electricity, cash register, Mason jars, linoleum, plow, submarine, bayonets, telescope, globe, anchor, abacus, fishing hook.

The illustrations are beautifull rendered, and the sidebars Continue reading »

This little book is a big reminder of a tough time in world history - the years between 1939 and 1945: World War II. Originally published in 1940, and reissued in 2007, the book is a treasure of how practicality and ingenuity triumphed over Britain’s darkest (and most shining) hour.

101 Things to Do in Wartime 1940 contains dozens of made-up and make-do games, with illustrations showing how to make many items, including how to craft a croquet game for the floor, or structure a wire puzzle for the kids.

The book also includes tips on more practical matters - like how to ventilate a blackout curtain, how to stay safe from flying glass in case of an explosion, and how to use every inch of the yard to grow food in the garden.

Although this book provides a charming glimpse into another time, the reader is always reminded of the fact that it was written because the people in Britain were undergoing terrible deprivation. Learning how to cook without water, preserve eggs, or make a case for your gas mask may seem quaint in today’s world - - but this little book must surely have been a practical guidebook for a country that would see five more years of war.

Highly recommended.

Grady Harp is an Amazon Top 10 Reviewer

Jeff Alt has a mission: reacquaint the world with the beauties and the challenges of Nature and find inner peace and the source of human kindness. And if that sounds like a hopelessly impossible task for these times in which we live, then his A Walk For Sunshine: a 2,160 mile expedition for charity on the Appalachian Trail, 2nd just may change that.

It is difficult, if not impossible, to read this entertaining and meaningful book and not rearrange mindsets as to priorities and the significance of living in the moment.

Jeff Alt may not be an academically trained writer, or a student of philosophy, or a prophet sent among us to alert our attention to environmental issues and the importance of family, but in Alt’s case, those ‘restrictions’ allow him to relate in more simple honest terms a life altering experience and stimulate each of us to find our own dream journey - and follow it!

The story is well summarized in all the reviews of this revised version of A WALK FOR SUNSHINE (and Epilogue has been added to make the events of the book more accessible to the novice hiker/reader).

In 1998 Alt make the trek from Georgia to Maine, the Appalachian Trail of 2160 miles, on foot, surviving in the ‘wilderness’ to prove that he 1) could accomplish his dream of thru-hiking the treacherous trail and 2) to raise money for the Sunshine Home for the Disabled, a home that cares for his brother Aaron, a young lad with Cerebral Palsy.

Like any fine journal the author writes of the agonies, the physical challenges, the struggles with sustenance among the wildlife and the extremes of Nature’s seasonal changes while at the same time offering anecdotes both hilarious and heartwarming, moments when he bonded with trail partners and moments when Nature seemed determined to squelch his drive to complete his journey.

But complete it he did and now ten years later he gives us all of those moments day by day during his four-month long trek. His writing style is conversational: this is not the sophisticated poetic collection of entries of a Thoreau but rather the humanistic need to communicate the splendor of nature. As one would expect, along the way he does communicate with the Higher Being but in a way that is never preachy but rather wholly credible, given the near death challenges he faced. And in the end this journey, upon completion, gained much needed fundraising for Sunshine Home as well as fostering a changed man who sees the universe more clearly and shares his drive to protect our little globe.

A WALK FOR SUNSHINE makes a great bedside inspiration book, a thoughtful gift for friends and family who are struggling with apparent insurmountable odds, and an excellent reference for ‘youths’ of all ages.

Grady Harp is an Amazon Top 10 Reviewer

Too often self-help books stimulate the reader while the pages turn, but after the back cover closes the session is over and on we go.

David M. Traversi avoids that route in publishing The Source of Leadership: Eight Drivers of the High-impact Leader , the result of his years as a motivational speaker and writer and coach, that on the surface is a primer for executive search teams to determine who among the hundreds of applicants for CEO jobs deserve to be termed ‘leaders’, but for the average leader, Traversi has written an extremely user friendly manual that allows the reader to open the potential of personal lives to be everything each of us can be. It is stimulating reading and an enormously helpful guide for self-improvement.

Traversi talks about the ‘persona’ and the ’shadow’ aspects of our personalities: the ‘persona’ is Continue reading »

In Rosie’s Daughters: The “First Woman To” Generation Tells Its Story, Matilda Butler and Kendra Bonnett have written an inspiring collective memoir of the generation of women who excelled at “firsts.” These women, born during World War II, were shaped by and then helped to shape the American historic, economic, political and socio-cultural landscape.

They were the pioneers who charted the paths for the Boomer generation. From the vantage point of their sixties, they share their experiences and insights with their own and younger generations.

The figurative mother of this generation, Rosie the Riveter, is a mythic figure in our culture, with good reason—she built ships, flew bombers and filled thousands of other essential wartime jobs, upending traditional views of “women’s work.” When the war was over, however, American industry thanked Rosie and sent her home.

Rosie, who had known the economic dislocations of The Depression and the employment and service opportunities of the war period, Continue reading »

Buzzoodle Buzz Marketing, 57 Word of Mouth Marketing Challenges for the Entire Workforce, by Ron McDaniel

I had the pleasure of reading Buzzoodle on a long, bumpy flight from Houston to Tallahassee. I’m not a great one for reading on flights (preferring instead to catch up on my marketing podcasts) but I looked forward to digging into Buzzoodle because of Ron’s innovative approach to the topic.

The premise of Buzzoodle is that every member of an organization can do something everyday to create buzz, without spending big bucks on a pricey marketing campaign. Many of the 57 ideas take less than 5 minutes to complete, and pack a powerful punch.

My favorite feature of Buzzoodle is the way each Buzz Challenge is displayed, making it easy for the reader to tell at a glance if a challenge is difficult, time consuming, has any associated cost, or technology requirement. In addition, the facing page has space for notes, comments, and suggestions for implementing the Buzz.

For example, Buzz Challenge #24: Trivia is rated Simple, Quick, Minimal Cost, Simple Technology. For this Challenge members are asked to create interesting trivia points about their company, then use the trivia to create more interest about the organization.

McDaniel’s own example was the trivia that Buzzoodle was created because of his own frustration that members of the team weren’t willing to create buzz because it wasn’t their job! Continue reading »

The Myth America Pageant by Robert V. Wickes

Ordinary Joes don’t need another dreary book on government or, far worse, more biased partisan ranting. So in The Myth America Pageant, Rob explores a brand new perspective on politics and takes an often-amusing look at often-confusing issues. The result is a friendly conversation with the readers, easy to read and simple to comprehend.

Here’s his recipe:

Take the lessons of history
Blend in ample common sense
Sprinkle liberally with controversial speculation
Turn up the heat until you’ve cooked the goose of all manner of ambitious politicians.
The result is a thought-provoking, passion-evoking analysis of today’s problems along with some radical, but rational ideas for tomorrow.

Serves: Everyone (politicians not included).

Comprehensive and comprehensible, The Myth America Pageant is a great read for Ordinary Joes of any political party. Continue reading »