Distillation Design

Book Description

This text provides thorough coverage of design principles for distillation processes. It contains an up-to-date presentation of process and equipment design procedures, highlights limitations of some design methods, and offers guidance on how to overcome them.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Reference.......2001-02-01

This book is must for process engineer esp. engineer in Petroleun and Refinery business. Written in very lucid manner shows the author is not only technically competent but has extensive experience in the industry. His book on " Distillation Operation" is also highly recomended.

The Simplest Path to Personal and Planetary Awakening, Step One: FREE YOUR MIND: 10 Keys for Unlocking Your Personal Potential, Achieving Spiritual Awakening, ... of Humanity's Ultimate Cosmic Destiny

Average customer rating:

Way Beyond "Socrates Revisited"
True, but gimmicky
A Unique and Inspiring Wake-up Call
Challenge Consensus Reality!
A Simple Cure For What's "Eating Us"

The Simplest Path to Personal and Planetary Awakening, Step One: FREE YOUR MIND: 10 Keys for Unlocking Your Personal Potential, Achieving Spiritual Awakening, ... of Humanity's Ultimate Cosmic Destiny
Vincent Casspriano Jr.
Manufacturer: Lulu.com
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Buddha | Buddhism | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 1847285783

Book Description

The Simplest Path, Step One: Free Your Mind delineates, in one slim volume, a complete system for achieving personal spiritual awakening, along with a straightforward, no-nonsense plan individuals and groups so enlightened can follow to awaken Humanity en masse and positively transform the world. This book contains keys to awakening. Awakening from our personal dream shatters the solid "box" of limitation memes have built around our lives, and frees us to fluidly craft our personalities, environments, relationships, careers, etc. as an artist paints a landscape or a sculptor teases form from formless clay. All of us awakening together from the shared dream of the planet will mark the birth of our species out of our current global nightmare of decline into a limitless future literally beyond our present ability to imagine, even in our "wildest dreams," indeed.

Customer Reviews:

Way Beyond "Socrates Revisited".......2007-08-22

After reading the commentary attached to the one star rating given by the young man from Texas, I feel compelled to step forward in defense of this very fine book. With only one exception, every point made in that negative review is simply wrong. Just not factually correct. The reviewer identifies himself as a young man (... "to my young mind"), and since all of his other Amazon reviews are of TV episodes on DVD, video games and rock music CDs I take him at his word. Well, I am an "old man," closing in on my sixty-third birthday, and I came to Mr. Casspriano's book after six decades of life experience, the last three of those decades a zealous practitioner of Zen Buddhism. I say this not to "brag," but simply to qualify myself as a reviewer before beginning.

I'll start where the one star reviewer closed his argument, with his statement that the simplest path reduces to two Socratic concepts: "Admit that you don't know anything" and "know yourself."

The first part is nominally true (the exception). Like Zen Buddhism, a central tenet of the simplest path is working to release the false notion we all hold that we know ourselves, other people, the world around us. But identifying and releasing our attachments to our illusions is a life's work, not some brash "I don't know nothin'!" as the young Texan seems to imply. Under normal circumstances, we go about our daily lives with no idea we are deluded about anything, as Maya (the illusion of the phenomenal world around and even inside us) is so convincing that most of us never even think to question its validity. Casspriano did not invent the notion of human beings being trapped in illusion, as this truth was known to the timeless authors of the Hindu Vedas and is central to all schools of Buddhism (not just Zen). But his scientific/spiritual exploration of the mechanism by which Maya ensnares our minds and can, with effort, be overcome is among the best "plain English" explanations of this process I have read. There is no "inscrutable mystery" in the simplest path (a criticism that has been accurately leveled toward Zen Buddhism, as a lot of Eastern thought truly does come off as "inscrutable" when translated into English and/or the metaphors of Western culture). Casspriano lays out in no-nonsense American English exactly what our brains are doing when they create the illusion we mistake for reality, then shows the reader in the same clear terms how to train his or her brain to break free of illusion and taste reality as-it-is. In just 216 pages, that is no mean feat. After thirty years of Zen practice and numerous kensho experiences (of varying depths and intensities), I can say from personal experience that Casspriano is correct. Enlightenment comes as the fruit of a long, incremental process of retraining the mind to touch reality in a new way, and the process described in the simplest path is the same as that followed in Zen practice, especially Rienzi Zen koan study (I'll have more to say about this in a later paragraph). Casspriano's approach and language is very different from traditional Zen (more "scientific," and no sitting meditation is required), which I think would appeal to Americans and other Westerners seeking to experience "awakening" without necessarily committing themselves to a religion like Buddhism, but the internal mental/spiritual process and final destination are the same.

"Know yourself," on the other hand, is not in this book at all, at least not in the way the young reviewer, or Socrates for that matter, uses the phrase. As in Buddhism, Casspriano takes pains to demonstrate that "self" is as much of an illusion as our misapprehension of the phenomenal world, and is a byproduct of exactly the same mind process that creates outer Maya. A core teaching of Buddhism is that our "self," our personality/ego, is nothing more than an aggregation of outside influences that cluster together in our minds like shiny stones gathered into a pile, and which we mistake not only for something "real," but tragically, for our essential selves. Yet this "pile" has nothing really to do with who we are at all. Buddhism teaches "no-self." Belief in the illusion of a unique and independent "self" is our greatest obstacle to enlightenment. Wasting time and energy getting to "know yourself" in the Western sense is foreign to Eastern thought. Casspriano again does a great job of translating the Buddhist concept of "no-self" into Western scientific/spiritual terminology. He shows the process by which our ego/personality aggregate "piles up," as well as how to take the pile down, stone by stone. Enlightenment is what the pile was covering up, and so it naturally appears as soon as the pile is removed - but oh how we cling to our personal pile of stones! "Self" is what we must trade for enlightenment, what must be surrendered, and Casspriano returns to this truth many times in the simplest path. My point is that the one star reviewer's reduction of the simplest path to "know yourself" has no basis at all in the actual book.

As to the book being "gimmicky": Yes, the words "The Simplest Path" recur frequently throughout the book, but not in reference to the book itself (at least that's not how I took it), but rather to the system of understanding the mind and working toward "awakening" Casspriano is describing - and it is a complete system that deserves to be considered as a whole, on its own. At times the repetition does have a feel of "branding" in the commercial sense, so I understand where the reviewer may have taken his impression. But the simplest path, while resonant with Zen Buddhism (and apparently, according to Casspriano, with the Toltec philosophy espoused by Carlos Castaneda, of which I have no personal knowledge, so I'll have to take the author's word for that) is far enough different that it needs its own "name" to set it apart from other schools of similar but not identical thought. The reviewer's criticism is like saying that every use of the term "Zen" in a book called "Zen Buddhism" should be taken as a reference to the book, and not to the larger practice of Zen Buddhism as a spiritual discipline that the book is describing. Casspriano's point in repeatedly linking The Simplest Path, Zen Buddhism and Toltec Shamanism throughout the book, at least as I understood it, is to highlight these three spiritual practices as related reliable paths through a dark forest of illusion, a forest in which many apparent (and more popular) paths, including most (all?) religious beliefs, actively vie to mislead travelers toward deeper ensnarement in the dream, rather than leading them toward "awakening."

I want to say a word about koan study in Rienzi Zen and how it relates to the simplest path. Koans are those quirky Zen sayings and stories like "what is the sound of one hand clapping?" or "what was your original face before you (or your parents) were born?" that have no rational answer, and which Zen students turn and turn in their minds like the tumblers of a combination lock until their imprisoned psyches "explode" in a "super-rational" experience of reality beyond the illusion ("irrational" would be the wrong term, as that implies "nonsense"). That "super-rational" vision of reality is called "kensho." I have experienced it myself, more than once in my lifetime. I have come to think of Casspriano's "Key Questions" in the second half of the simplest path, especially the later seven of the ten, as "cultural koans" designed to trigger "collective kensho" for the whole human race at once. Like "what is the sound of one hand clapping?", unflinching consideration of the value of human life, of how our beliefs about the future shape the present, of the true origin and destiny of life on Earth, etc., especially as seen through the lens of Casspriano's "Key Question Technique," reveals that none of these questions have rational answers, yet all require our active and immediate response. Successful resolution of these larger riddles that impact everyone will require us all to eventually "explode" into reality, together, in a "super-rational" way. We'll have to break through the illusion and wake up together, as one (which has been the goal of Mahayana Buddhism, of which Zen is a sect, since around 200 BCE). That is the "Planetary Awakening" addressed in this book, and I believe Casspriano's "Key Questions" are a concrete step in that direction. I'm glad I spent my fifteen dollars.

This is my "old man" take on the simplest path, having encountered it after 30 years of Zen Buddhist practice (I'm not veering off my chosen path here, just bowing respectfully in passing toward Casspriano's). From a Buddhist perspective, the simplest path is true Dharma, though I do not get the impression from reading his book that Vincent Casspriano is himself a Buddhist or a follower of any religion. That to my mind makes his book all the more interesting.

True, but gimmicky.......2007-08-09

Casspriano's book is scientifically and philosophically sound as best as my young mind can tell, but I don't recommend this book. Its scattered with numerous pages of advertising about how his "program" works and how it compares to other religions and spiritual movements. Why must this author physically write out "The Simplest Path" in reference to his book every other page, and talk about his second volume? Perhaps because he's not out for pure truth, but for our money.

All this book comes down to after you strip away the nonsense is two things. First, admit that you don't truly know anything. Second, know yourself. Do those two things (they essentially both mean to question EVERYTHING), and you'll have Casspriano's "Planetary Awakening," with 15 bucks still in your pocket. And you'll be following the fundamental truths already said by Socrates.. so do yourself a favor and pick up Plato's "Apology" and read up on the Socratic dialogue on how to live a good life. And don't stop there, because you can't be sure he's right.

And I have 10 bucks that says these other couple of reviews were written by the book publisher. In any case, ignore the hype.

A Unique and Inspiring Wake-up Call.......2007-05-15

This is one of the most clear-headed books I've read in years on the subject of real, nitty gritty, get your hands dirty spiritual development (as opposed to the fru fru New Age variety). So much of what passes for "spirituality" in our time amounts to some author, celebrity, priest, philosopher or self-appointed guru telling us what to "believe," sight unseen, if we want to reach heaven, attain enlightenment, achieve "ascension," etc. Casspriano takes an at times startling opposite approach. For Casspriano, such unquestioned/unquestionable beliefs are not only NOT the path to spiritual awakening, they represent the chief obstacle blocking our realization of higher consciousness. And it's not just religious beliefs ("faith") he's talking about, but all our beliefs about reality, especially those that enclose our thinking in "boxes" that limit our freedom to find solutions to real-world threats like Peak Oil, overpopulation, Global Warming, etc. Though much of the book focuses on individual enlightenment, for Casspriano, these larger planetary issues are "spiritual," as well. Whether the issue is our personal inability to find happiness or Humanity's collective rush toward physical extinction, the cause is the same - our wrong-headed beliefs about what's real. The solution is the same, as well - continuous, deep questioning. Using Richard Dawkins' concept of "memes" as a central metaphor, Casspriano first breaks down the basic process of belief, showing the mechanism in our brains by which beliefs misdirect and control our psyches, then he walks the reader through an exploration of a series of ten "anti-meme questions" aimed at breaking down the walls of our mental "boxes" and setting our minds free. With each question, he supplies an exercise designed to allow the reader to attain a personal taste of reality "beyond the box," especially as flavored by that chapter's "Key Question." For the most part, this formula works very well (with a few rare moments of over-exuberance on the author's part, as already described in other reviews, though as a card carrying vegan environmentalist, I can't say I particularly minded), delivering a cumulative series of death-blows to some of the most basic "pillars" of our present human consensus reality. Beyond the walls those pillars supported lies real reality, where we are all interconnected and interdependent, and, in Casspriano's view, mutually destined for greatness, if we can just wake up and grab the reins of our runaway culture in time. This is not a book for spiritual "feel gooders" seeking soft assurances that they're perfect just they way they are and everything's going to be all right, no matter what. This is a wake up call, a tool kit and a concrete action plan for becoming individually enlightened and collectively saving the world, all rolled up into one. That, I think, is a cause well-worthy of exuberance.

Challenge Consensus Reality!.......2007-05-10

This is a thoughtful book that addresses how we may go about developing a process to question our everyday consensus reality. I suppose if I have learned anything in 49 years of life, it is that all personal and social problems stem from our fundamental views on the nature of reality itself. Vincent Casspriano uses the concept of a "meme" as a fundamental unit of ideas, assumptions, etc. that often block our understanding of reality itself. One such meme, for example, may be that we have to "fight for our freedom" or the world's a "fearful" place and hence, we have to be ready to kill to protect ourselves. I suppose you could also use the word "paradigm" here as well, but the essential point of this book is that we "unconsciously" function in our life with many limited points of view that block our ability to solve problems on both a personal and a social basis.

While Vince Casspriano is to be congradulated for producing a book that presents both a methodology and a motivation for personal transformation, there are a few pitfalls here that the potential reader should be aware of before tackling this material. The author has some rather strong views on fossil fuel consumption, meet consumption, and the role of humans in the cycle of procreation. While I generally agree with his analysis on fossil fuel consumtion and meat consumption (as I have viewed large tracks of deforrested grazing land in developing countries), these viewpoints can distract the reader from the essential point here which is to rigourously question consensus reality. Since I am single, and have no motivation to have children, I definitely disagree with his views on the necessity of human procreation on this planet, but here again, it is important to extract the essential meaning rather than get caught in the specific political/social debates that these issues may spawn.

If you are serious about personal transformation with the potential for changing our global consciousness, than this book can be an invaluable tool. I do agree with the Author that a world population of "high functioning" people can resolve every planetary problem we face today. As we systematically question our consensus reality, we will see our problems in new ways, and with this new perspective, problems can often be quickly resolved or transcended.

A Simple Cure For What's "Eating Us".......2006-11-13

I considered titling this review, "Stop Whining, Wake Up and Get Busy Saving the World," but decided "Eating Us" would be more attention-grabbing - which matters because I believe Vincent Casspriano, Jr.'s "The Simplest Path, Step One: FREE YOUR MIND" is an important book, and I want to do whatever I can to draw your attention to it. Pick the title you like best. Both very fittingly describe what you will find within the pages of this remarkable new release from New Paradigm Press.

I have selected three short quotations to explore in this review that I think best summarize Casspriano's overall message:

From Chapter One, "The Boxes We Dream In":

"Right now, this very moment, you are asleep... Even if you are reading these words in broad daylight - sitting at your desk or beside the kitchen table, your feet firmly planted on the floor, eyes open, senses alert, feeling the weight of this book in your hands as sounds of life rise and fall rhythmically around you - you are deeply asleep, and dreaming furiously"

Now, the idea that Humans are sleeping, and must therefore "awaken," is by no means unique to Casspriano's "Simplest Path" spiritual system, being the root observation underlying pretty much all Eastern religion, and a lot of Western Occultism and New Age metaphysics, as well. In fairness, Casspriano makes no claim to this as an original insight, openly supporting his assessment of the human predicament with quotations taken from Animism, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Islam. He then flows seamlessly into a list of complementary illustrations from the secular realms of Quantum Physics, brain/consciousness research, and most to-the-point, the study of memes and memetics, ala Evolutionary Biologist and world's best-known cheerleader for scientific atheism, Richard Dawkins.

If you've never heard of memes or memetics, a quick Google of those terms will reveal hundreds of serious, information-rich websites devoted to this now thirty-year old science. In a nutshell, a "meme" is a sort of contagious thought-form that spreads between people by way of imitation. Obvious memes in our environment include advertising jingles, fads and fashions, etc. Casspriano somewhat radically extends the concept to include just about everything that makes up the contents of our individual brains and shared human culture. While he resists redefining the word "meme" wholesale, he decidedly expands its definition to make memes and "memeplexes" (what you get when a number of memes band together into an organic, relational unit, like a religion or cultural or political movement) the basic, fundamental building blocks of everything we habitually label "real..."

And then he demonstrates, in at times excruciating detail, the complete emptiness of the "apparent-reality" that is a byproduct of memetic activity in our brains. What we call "real" is not real at all. It's an illusion spun up by our memes. And our memes are not original to us. They are "viral invaders" assailing our minds from without. Worse - and, while even this thought is not wholly unique to Casspriano, he certainly gives it his own very effective spin - memes are by no means mere passive beliefs or simple "harmless ideas." They are, Casspriano believes, actively predatory psychic parasites whose survival depends on our buying into the illusions they create in our minds. Think of illusion (Samsara, Maya, etc.) as a web we're caught in. Memes are the spider. We are the fly. Gotcha.

One thing I like very much about Casspriano's book is that he never asks us to take anything on faith, least of all this rather ugly depiction of the human psychic/spiritual condition. He not only challenges readers to test his hypothesis firsthand in order to experience what is real and true for ourselves, he spends a large chunk of the book outlining specific exercises anyone can do to escape memetic interference and personally experience reality as-it-is. The exercises in Part II of the book are powerful medicine... But this is a digression, so let me return to the point.

Memes are the spider, and we are the fly. A better metaphor might be that memes are the farmer, and we are the cow. Domesticated and docile, we allow memes to milk us daily, to extract from our minds the potent human psychic energy which, if reclaimed by us and put to proper human use, would quickly and positively transform our lives and our world. This transformation is awakening, ascension, enlightenment, metanoia, the Buddha-like change of consciousness most religions and spiritual systems on Earth hint at, but few ever actually deliver to followers. In this analysis, Casspriano's "Simplest Path" is very much in line with Gurdjieff's "Fourth Way," Carlos Castaneda's Toltec sorcery, and a few other well known spiritual practices inhabiting a somewhat darker, though perhaps more realistic corner of the New Age. But unlike most of those other systems, Casspriano's prescription for escaping illusion and awakening to reality is remarkably, well... simple.

From Chapter Three, "Waking Up":

"The simple truth is that we are sleeping because we lack sufficient energy to wake up."

And later in the same chapter:

"The real work that brings about awakening, rather than merely granting the external appearance of "being spiritual," while actually embroiling us ever more deeply in the dream, is a rigorous, daily commitment to the identification and elimination of every self-serving belief from which our personal dream-lives are constructed."

For "belief" in the quotation above, read "meme/memeplex." Casspriano certainly does, treating the terms as largely interchangeable. In the end, this genuinely simple - at least in the sense of being uncomplicated and pragmatic - spiritual practice amounts to discovering reality as-it-actually-is less by searching for a glimpse beyond the illusion, than by systematically withdrawing our participation in, and identification with, the dream. When we disentangle our psyches from memetic illusion, only reality remains. We don't have to chase it; to a meme-free mind, reality just appears. This is "Satori" in Zen Buddhism. This is "stopping the world" in the Toltec sorcery of Castaneda and others. Casspriano's genius lies in his talent for exposing the core mechanism behind such complex and often inscrutable spiritual systems, and for putting into plain language clear instructions for unraveling the dream and achieving personal awakening. The virus-like process by which memes take over and control our human minds, as described by Casspriano is, to my mind, very complicated (but well worth struggling through). What is genuinely simple about "The Simplest Path," however, is Casspriano's prescription for breaking those bonds, once you've made the effort to understand how they are created and maintained. For Casspriano, remaining a victim of spiritual sleep and energetic exploitation by memes is a complex activity in which we unconsciously invest enormous amounts of psychic energy every day of our lives. Awakening is the product of a simple act of withdrawing that investment, which automatically re-energizes of our minds and lives. Or as Casspriano cleverly phrases it when closing Chapter Three, "Waking Up":

"Unweave the tapestry of the dream, and awakening happens."

Anyone can do this. Spiritual awakening, in Casspriano's view, may be hard work, but it is not complicated work. The path to enlightenment is really rather shockingly simple. Fall out of love with the dream. Reclaim your psychic energy. Wake up to reality.

The ten "Key Questions" Casspriano explores in the second section of the book are designed to put the theory laid out in Part I to practical and immediate use. Essentially, I think Casspriano sees these ten issues - why we treat enlightenment as an "airy-fairy" ideal instead of a measurable transformation of brain functioning, the excuses we make for avoiding personal responsibility and integrity along the lines of Castaneda's "impeccability," the fallacy of belief in a "separate self," etc. - as pillars of both our personal and collective human dreams. They are by no means an exhaustive listing of the memes twisting our minds. But they are primary keystones on which layers upon layers of the grand illusion are built. Topple these ten baseline pillars and the larger structure crumbles.

Casspriano explores some "Keys" more successfully than others. One downside to the book is that, especially in the "Keys," Casspriano's own memetic prejudices shine at times rather glaringly through, as when, in his discussion of the American "What Would Jesus Do?" religious fad, he characterizes the Evangelical Christian purveyors of WWJD as, "ultra-conservative, right wing ideologues." Even should the reader personally agree with such pronouncements, its hard to resist thinking, "Hey Vince! Your memes are showing!" But where he nails his point, Casspriano's prose can be downright inspiring, as with the "Key" cosmological study "Is Earth the Center of the Universe?," which explores the gap between what we know, scientifically, about the Universe and what our daily choices and behavior says we really believe, about the cosmos and about ourselves. His closing "Key" "Are We Alone?" so poetically frames the true stakes of our global human predicament - species survival VS extinction - that its hard to imagine anyone keeping their gaze glued squarely to their own self-involved navel in the wake of reading it. Of course we are not alone. There are six and a half billion of us on Planet Earth, and whether we awaken to what's best in us or follow our darkest drives over History's cliff into oblivion, we do so as one. One planet, one fate.

This notion of "oneness" and of a common, intertwined human spiritual and biological destiny is a core theme in The Simplest Path, Step One: FREE YOUR MIND that sets it apart from any spiritual book in recent memory. My final quotation from the book returns us to the opening lines of Chapter One, "The Boxes We Dream In":

"We are all aware of the challenges facing us as we enter together into the 21st Century:

· World oil supplies are running out.

· Global warming is transforming the Earth into a steamy greenhouse.

· Even as our technology connects the world, ideological extremism, terrorism and militarism divide us as never before.

· Headlines bombard us with news of war, famine, pestilence and death until we feel overwhelmed and unable to respond.

· Time is running out..."

Vincent Casspriano, Jr.'s "The Simplest Path to Personal and Planetary Transformation, Step One: FREE YOUR MIND" does not offer easy escape from these very pressing real-world human ills, but rather, a down to Earth, workable prescription for their cure. Yes, we must awaken as individuals, and, rest assured, "The Simplest Path" shows spiritual seekers exactly how to do that. But a prime message of "The Simplest Path" is that, for personal awakening to have meaning, it must occur within the context of a complete re-visioning of global culture, and a mass wrenching away of the wheel of History from the control of viral memes, that we might create a common cosmic human destiny worthy of our highest potential as a species.

Now that's a meme worth feeding.

Generation NeXt Parenting: A Savvy Parent's Guide to Getting it Right

Average customer rating:

Chadron MOPS loves Tricia Goyer!!!!
Boomers: great gift for your daughter
Wise, Yet Never Pompous
Thoughts from an Old GenXer
Generation Next Parenting, by Tricia Goyer

Generation NeXt Parenting: A Savvy Parent's Guide to Getting it Right
Tricia Goyer
Manufacturer: Multnomah
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Parenting | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books

General | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 1590527488
Release Date: 2006-09-15

Book Description

Get Real, Become Focused, Begin Thriving!

You’re a generation of parents aspiring to excellence in every way, but you’re also just plain tired. You don’t need another parenting book promising perfection or another formula guaranteeing great kids; you need practical advice that shows how to deal with your and your children’s hearts. If you’re worn out from trying to do too much while giving your child every opportunity under the sun, if you’re striving to excel in every way but suffering from a lack of focus, this book is your solution. It will help you understand how your specific tendencies are common to your generation as a whole. You’ll embrace the positive qualities that enable you to parent for God’s glory. Lay a firm foundation and thrive as you raise up the next generation!

Wanna Do It Right

Without the Expert Advice?

Looking for practical, doable tips and guidance for raising today’s kids? Want to help them love God and be all that they can be (even if they don’t join the Army)?

If 70s and 80s bands (Run DMC), fashion (hot pink anything), and technology (music on cassette) bring back vivid youthful memories, Generation NeXt Parenting is the resource for you. Like secrets exchanged at recess with a trusted friend, this book offers helpful hints for raising your children during this exact time in history. Extensive research, input from hundreds of Gen X moms and dads, and a variety of Scripture references will help you navigate even the toughest parenting dilemmas.

âChock-full of useful quotes from experts and everyday parents, this is a grace-infused handbook for Gen Xers navigating the parenting journey.â

Mary E. DeMuth

Author of Building the Christian Family You Never Had

âAs a young father, I not only relate to Tricia’s message, but I’m very encouraged that there is a fantastic parenting resource for our generation.â

Jordan Rubin

Founder of Garden of Life and author of The Great Physician’s RX for Health and Wellness

PULL OUT QUOTE/STARBURST

This book is designed like a magazine (not because you miss reading Seventeen, but because no parent has time to read a book cover to cover) and includes: Quotes from fellow Gen X parents Stats Quizzes Sidebars Song lyrics Study questions

Story Behind the Book

âAs a Gen Xer who graduated from high school in 1989, the way I parent is different from the generations who’ve gone before me. I want to do it allâfind God’s purpose for my life, impact my community, support my spouse, and provide my children every opportunity available to them. My generation is serious about parentingâjust look at all we expect from our children and ourselves! This book offers solutions to our unique questions and confirms that we can âparent right’âeven if it looks nothing like the way our own parents did it. More importantly, this book focuses on seeking God’s Word and wisdom for answers to growing a new generation of God seekers.â â Tricia Goyer

Customer Reviews:

Chadron MOPS loves Tricia Goyer!!!!.......2007-07-12

If you can name the members of the "Brat Pack", wore leg warmers, or can still recite the lyrics to a Cyndi Lauper song, then this book is for you. Children of the 1980s are fondly referred to as Generation X. Tricia Goyer's book Generation NeXt Parenting explores the parenting styles of this generation. Tricia's insight from her own childhood lead her to change her parenting style to separate her from her baby boomer parents. This book is easy to pick up and start reading from where you left off. She has a style of writing, which incorporates original text, Biblical reference, quotes from other parents, and 156 other cited authors. She is able to bring each chapter together with an 80's song lyric which brought back a lot of my teen memories. In this day and age we are inundated with an overwhelming amount of how-to books. However, this book offers a practical approach to parenting with a study guide to develop your parenting skills. I would recommend it to fellow Gen X'ers.
~Heidi of Chadron MOPS

Boomers: great gift for your daughter.......2007-06-26

Okay, I admit it--I'm not a Generation X mom; I'm a boomer mom, but the mom of several in the next generation and now the grandma of one and one-to-be. However, I found Tricia Goyer's book engaging, immensely helpful, understanding and just plain fun. I'm giving it to my daughter--who often feels the older parenting books just don't "fit." The author has done extensive research on parenting, has lived the ups and downs of being a mom to several kids (one from her teens), and has studied and incorporated the wisdom of scripture. I highly recommend this book.

Wise, Yet Never Pompous.......2007-02-06

For a few years now I've been a fan of Goyer's novels, with their realistic details, believable characters, and fast pacing. "Generation Next Parenting" is my first introduction to her non-fiction skills, and I'm suitably impressed. Here, too, Goyer deals with believable scenarios and honest struggles that Christian parents face.

I am the father of two daughters, ages 12 and 14. My wife and I have parented from the onset with the belief that we want to prepare our kids for life, not just protect them from it. Goyer finds that balance in this easy-to-read book, offering encouragement and philosophical angles to raising children. The pages are rich with spiritual insight, Scriptural foundations, and bits of humor. The quotes from Gen-X bands (Chicago, Gloria Estefan, Talking Heads, etc) add a light touch to these sometimes serious issues.

If you're struggling with your own generational parenting style, if you're wondering how well you are doing in God's eyes, or if you're just interested in a wise, yet never pompous, guide to "getting it right," then Tricia Goyer's book is for you. (And don't forget to check out here great fiction titles!)

Thoughts from an Old GenXer.......2007-01-20

"Generation NeXt" turned out to be an intriguing read for me. I am on the line between Boomers and GenXers. Different sources have placed me in each camp, so if I'm a GenXer, I'm an old one.

My review will be from the perspective of an old GenXer with a teenager and young adult children. At times, as I read "Generation NeXt" I felt exactly that, old, but then I'd turn a few pages and identify with exactly what Tricia had penned.

Had I read this book when my children were younger, I think I would have gained insight leading to freedom from some guilt baggage I lugged around for far too many years.

Tricia's "Generation NeXt Parenting" is an encouraging pat on the back with plenty of spiritual and practical challenges tossed in. She doesn't take traditional problems and toss out advice on how to handle it as much as she covers the holistic issues of parenting and Christlikeness.

If you are looking for another parenting book that has an index and multiple tips on how to handle potty training, you won't find much in "Generation NeXt." However, if you desire to dig to underlying motivations on your part and your children's behaviors, there is help offered here. Of course, a lot of the advice is what we who call ourselves "Christian" know because it's preached from the pulpit, radio and other books. But it bears repeating until we "get" it. Tricia gives practical ideas for how to get on track or back on track spiritually so that you can be the parent God calls you to be.

I learned far more from "Generation NeXt" than I thought I would. Tricia peppers her thoughts with those from other struggling parents and facts regarding the unique building blocks GenXer's have been given.

I thought of several friends who have younger children who could benefit from this book and intend to get a copy to them.

Generation Next Parenting, by Tricia Goyer.......2006-12-25

In today's generation, Christian parents face more obstacles than in any other point in history, perhaps even more so than those early Christians who hid their churches in their homes. With the advent of cable television, the Internet, cell phones and seemingly omnipresent advertisements telling our children - and let's be honest, us - how to look, act, dress, live, and what to believe in, Christians are engaged in all out warfare for not only for our own souls, but those of our children as well.

It doesn't help that Christianity is more splintered than it's ever been. A line has been drawn down the middle, and sides have been chosen: there are those on one side who deride "cultural sensitivity" and "Contemporary Worship" as "watered-down" and departing from Scriptural truth, and those on the other side who sneer at folks still reading their New King James Bibles, calling them "legalistic" and "not with the times". Popularity of speakers and spiritual self-help books abound, to the point where recently, when a young lady was threatened by a burglar, she pulled out - not the Bible - but rather a popular devotional book instead.

So, there a skirmishes all around, one side pointing the finger at another, but one thing that cannot be denied is the almost overwhelming crop of young parents and even younger children who feel isolated and cut off from God. They are desperately seeking answers in a post-modern age that refutes the sovereignty of answers, and many of them feel desperarely alone in their fight.

Generation Next Parenting, by award winning novelist Tricia Goyer, is an excellent devotional - not self-help book, not sweeping craze built on well-meaning concepts and snazzy catch phrases. It's an excellent tome of guidance for today's young parents. Founded on sound, Biblical principles - using only three or four different translations of the Bible, rather than fifty - Generation Next cuts right to the heart of what it means to be a young parent today; facing challenges and worldly opposition that our parents and grandparents never had to face.

A big selling point of this book is Goyer's frankness concerning her own mistakes and downfalls in life; she's open and honest - sometimes painfully so (but in an empathetic, good way). For me, as a young "Gen X'er" parent myself, this made quite an impact: I can't count how many times I've read a devotional book by some award winning speaker, pastor, or theologian, and thought to myself - "Hmm...must be nice living in your world." However, throughout Generation, I laughed, I winced, I sometimes felt stirred, (no, I didn't cry - because of course, we men never do that....sniff.)

The book's format is unique, as well - filled with relevant cultural quips and anecdotes, (those of us secret Duran Duran admirers will feel right at home), it's laid out more like a study guide or textbook, rather than a...well...really big book with lots of words that'll never get finished in the middle of work, doing the laundry, feeding the kids, changing the diapers, (which this man does do), and running the kids to every practice and event known to man. But don't worry, "busy bees" - simplify is one of this book's loudest hearkening calls.

On a final note, MEN should absolutely, positively read this book as well. Though it's written with a decided slant toward the female reader, for too long Christian men have distanced themselves from the "messier" side of leading the home spiritually (and I do mean "messier" literally; my father always said he changed the required amount of diapers a man was supposed to - one for me, and one for my sister!). This book gives practical, ground floor advice for all parents who desire their homes to be Godly ones, and should be on every Christian "Gen X'er's" shelf.

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Worse than Christian Rock
English Credit
A must read for any old punks or skins
"You Ain't no Punk you punk" Cramps Quote
A great story of transformation.

Dharma Punx: A Memoir
Noah Levine
Manufacturer: HarperOne
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0060008946
Release Date: 2003-05-27

Amazon.com

"Buddhism and punk rock," writes former skate punk, drug addict, and petty thief and current Buddhist meditation instructor Noah Levine in his memoir Dharma Punx, "obviously have some huge differences." No argument there. "But," he continues, "for me they are both part of a single thread that has been stitched through every aspect of my life." Judging by Levine's childhood, it's amazing there's any salvageable material with which to stitch. He was suicidal at age five, smoking pot and drinking beer while crashing headlong into the Bay Area punk scene by the 8th grade, and in and out of jail as a wayward teen who stole VCRs from neighbors to finance a crack habit. After he hit bottom and embraced a Buddhist path similar to that endorsed by his father, author Stephen Levine, the trappings of his previous life were largely rejected. Except for the punk rock, which Levine channeled into a Buddhist worldview. The firs! t section of the book is harrowing as Levine details his descent into addiction and does so with a simple matter-of-fact approach that makes his tale all the more compelling. Levine is a potent central character, always sympathetic even when he's neither likable nor completely forgivable. Later sections lack the same impact and consist largely of travelogues of the author's journeys around the world in search of spiritual satisfaction along with attempts to reconcile the disparate worlds of punk and Buddhism. Nonetheless, it is satisfying to see Levine return to the juvenile halls where he was once incarcerated, this time as a counselor. While there is nothing especially unique about the literary genre of reformed addict memoir, it's a genre that rarely involves punk rockers or Buddhists. Levine's unique and skillfully related journey will appeal to punks, Buddhists, and anyone interested in the idea of redemption. --John Moe

Book Description

Fueled by the music of revolution, anger, fear, and despair, we dyed our hair or shaved our heads ... Eating acid like it was candy and chasing speed with cheap vodka, smoking truckloads of weed, all in a vain attempt to get numb and stay numb.

This is the story of a young man and a generation of angry youths who rebelled against their parents and the unfulfilled promise of the sixties. As with many self-destructive kids, Noah Levine's search for meaning led him first to punk rock, drugs, drinking, and dissatisfaction. But the search didn't end there. Having clearly seen the uselessness of drugs and violence, Noah looked for positive ways to channel his rebellion against what he saw as the lies of society. Fueled by his anger at so much injustice and suffering, Levine now uses that energy and the practice of Buddhism to awaken his natural wisdom and compassion.

While Levine comes to embrace the same spiritual tradition as his father, bestselling author Stephen Levine, he finds his most authentic expression in connecting the seemingly opposed worlds of punk and Buddhism. As Noah Levine delved deeper into Buddhism, he chose not to reject the punk scene, instead integrating the two worlds as a catalyst for transformation. Ultimately, this is an inspiring story about maturing, and how a hostile and lost generation is finally finding its footing. This provocative report takes us deep inside the punk scene and moves from anger, rebellion, and self-destruction, to health, service to others, and genuine spiritual growth.

Customer Reviews:

Worse than Christian Rock .......2007-06-07

First off, I am an American ex punk-rock "thug" drug addict. The author is not. He gives real ex drug addict thugs a bad name. The book is aimed at middle class liberals filled with "white guilt."
He is just another spoiled suburban white kid who thinks the world revolves around him. He doesn't need spirituality, he needs to do ten years in prison without any help from his daddy.
Don't waste your money on this book. You'll just be enabling a spoiled brat.

English Credit.......2006-07-13

To me, this book came in and out of being inspirational. There were times when the details were trivial and the writing was poor. Although the bulk of the information was crucial to the eventual epiphanies; I felt that a lot of the material was weak 'filler.' Towards the end I had lost almost all interest and faith in the author's sincerity, when the writing made an abrupt improvement. Over all I'm not sure how I feel about the author, but several of his spiritual realizations were inspirational, nonehtless. I took what I could from it and applied however I could to myself.Those who have struggled with drugs and are looking for a new way to address their inner conflicts might appreciate Noah's journey.I would recommend this book to anyone who seeks inspiration fro improvement and who is open-minded about where they draw that inspiration from. I don't, however, recommend the book to anyone who belongs to and who is very defensive about either culture that Noah identifies with, because the integrity of his involvement in the punk movement and the Buddhist religion can seem weak at times.

A must read for any old punks or skins.......2005-08-18

This book was heartwrenching for me to read because it was so raw and so real, it was like I was re-living my youth. This man tells his story matter of fact, not dramatically, but for anyone who wasn't there back then it is an amazing read about what it was really like for street kids on dope in the 80s. He makes an amazing diplay of healing and growth that so many of the people in the same situation never got a chance to do. It seems he truly found enlightenment, which even a lot of "stable" people can't do.

"You Ain't no Punk you punk" Cramps Quote.......2005-04-16

Man did this suck IMHO. Coming from someone who grew up in the shadows of punk I couldn't believe this guy spoke of diving into punk the way he did. He was too young to dive into the middle of things so in that department he is considered a poser. In scholarly works this is nothing and really is a weak perhaps type of Buddhism for dummies type of thing. Man kids were not pissed off because their parents mediated they had real issues to deal with. To borrow from a Dead Kennedy's song; "What you really need is a Holiday Inn Cambodia" But not the travel you describe you need only a bowl of rice per day.

Grasshopper grap these stones

A great story of transformation. .......2004-12-29

Noah Levine is quite an amazing person.

By his 18th birthday he had been an alcoholic, a drug addict, had felonies on his record, and was heading towards disaster. Despite being the son of a Buddhist teacher and author named Stephen Levine, he was raised mostly by his mother who dated men who did drugs and brought drugs around the home which young Noah stole.

Noah's interest in punk rock was more with a lifestyle that included self-destruction. He loved the music but loved the chaos he could cause to himself and others from the music.

Noah's turn around came after a visit to a mental hospital after an attempt at suicide and a phone call from his father telling him to meditate. Noah then realized his life had more meaning than chaos and destruction of himself.

This story is about a rebellious youth that found his way from Buddhism, and learned it's noble lessons while learning to sort out his own karma & problems along the way. Can a tattooed punk rocker find the beauty of Dharma practice? Noah Levine proves it.

What Really Matters: Passing on Your Family Values (Issues in Christian Living)

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Excellent Cultural Critique

What Really Matters: Passing on Your Family Values (Issues in Christian Living)
Clifford E. Bajema
Manufacturer: Faith Alive Christian Resources
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1562120980

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Cultural Critique.......2003-08-28

Cliff Bajema writes with warmth and passion in this brief yet compelling book about ethics and values. I know Cliff well, as I am a member at the church he pastored for 16 years in the center of the University of Wisconsin campus in Madison, having been mentored and discipled by him for the last three years. He is integral, committed to conscience, but above all he loves deeply. For me, recommending this book is no less than a recommendation of the life and thought from which it came. In the first chapter, Cliff discusses wisdom and our "big dreams" in life. As a student, I've found this incredibly helpful as I choose my own career and make plans for the future. And while this book is incredibly practical, you can't help but think that the person behind it writes with wisdom and intellectual depth. My words are inadequate to do this book justice.

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Where y'at?
It's hard to get thru life without a little rose coloring.
Raucous restaurant insights and genuine human interaction
Outside the box
Faye Lewis doesnt have a clue

The Value of X
Poppy Z. Brite
Manufacturer: Subterranean Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1931081670

Customer Reviews:

Where y'at?.......2007-01-30

I live in New Orleans and always appreciate the accuracy in which she describes it. We really do say things like prah-lines instead of pray-lines. She is great with this kind of colloquialism. This is a great book to read if you are a fan of her last three books: Liquor, Prime, and Soul Kitchen. It gives a lot of background on how the personal and professional relationships of Ricky and G-man developed.

It's hard to get thru life without a little rose coloring........2006-07-16

I'm glad I don't pay attention to reviews because I love "The Value of X." I thought it was funny and sad and had a lot to say about ambition and destiny and making your own happy endings and happy beginnings as well.(It also made me finally want to learn to cook.)

Raucous restaurant insights and genuine human interaction.......2006-06-29

This book can be enjoyed by everyone either employed or fired from some eatery anywhere. Suffice to say that Amazon does no one any favors by pigeon-holing this warm portrait of struggling restaurant employees in strictly non-hetero terms. These two characters can be appreciated by all. Poppy Z. Brite is a writer well worth investigating and appreciating on your own. Her prose is precise and never overblown.

Outside the box.......2006-03-28

I loved this book, it was beautiful and unlike any of her other books. It's not horror, which has upset some of her "old fans" but it's nice to see a writer turn a new leaf. To those that doubt Doc Brite's abilities I have to say this, I don't think that they would be teaching Poppy Z. Brite's story "the Ax Man's Jazz" among other New Orleans literature at my university if they didn't think she was a competent writer.

thanks for reading,
Beth Tierney

Faye Lewis doesnt have a clue.......2005-10-22

I certainly hope that no one will heed the advice of the incredibly mean-spirited and bitter woman who seems to think she knows what is best for a writer's career, or for someone to write. Perhaps Poppy Z. Brite, one of America's finest writers, spurned her advice or something. Frankly, I am appalled that amazon allows such things to be posted on these pages.

I thought this book was beautiful in every aspect; the characters, the story, and its breathtaking view of a New Orleans that sadly might now be a thing of the past. But fortunately, Poppy gifted all of us with not only this book, but the ones that follow in this amazing series to always remind us of what this city once was--especially the now gone lower 9th ward.

I am sorry that Ms. Lewis was too busy choking on her own bile to see this book for what it truly is; an inspired new direction for one of our best writers.

I for one applaud her for having the courage to move in a new direction rather than write something she doesn't feel anymore.

Tips from the Top: Advice for a Young Person from 125 of America's Most Successful People

Average customer rating:

useful and informative
Should Be Renamed, "... of America's Successful Male Politicians ..."
Great common themes of personal success

Tips from the Top: Advice for a Young Person from 125 of America's Most Successful People
Bradley N. Gallagher
Manufacturer: Trafford Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 141200151X
Release Date: 2006-07-06

Book Description

At age ten, Bradley Gallagher began writing letters to famous Americans asking them what they believe are the keys to success in life. As the project grew from a few interesting letters to more than 300 responses, each containing tips for success for young people from the perspectives of leaders in politics, law, business, journalism, education, entertainment, and athletics, Bradley made the decision to share these letters with other young people in Tips from the Top: Advice for a Young Person from 125 of America's Most Successful People. He sought each respondent's permission to include his or her letter in this book, with all profits from publication to be used to fund college scholarships for the children of fire fighters, law enforcement officers, and emergency personnel.

Tips from the Top also contains each respondent's biography. The collective scope of these biographies demonstrates that success can be achieved regardless of one's beginning in life. The recommendations contained in these letters could be invaluable for a young person as he contemplates his future path in life.

Customer Reviews:

useful and informative.......2007-04-20

I bought this book as soon as it came out over three years ago, and I still refer to it this day for some sound, quality advice. It's a great resource for ambitious young people eager to learn some simple yet often thoughtful advice. I would recommend this book to parents, children, and young adults everywhere.

Thank you, Mr. Gallagher, for this comprehensive and diverse compilation.

Should Be Renamed, "... of America's Successful Male Politicians ...".......2007-01-05

If you are a young person looking for any female role models, look elsewhere. I was disappointed not only with this gender oversight, but also that the author focuses on men in office (plus a few entertainers, athletes, and coaches). Where are the artists, physicians, and Nobel Laureates? America certainly has its share, but these successful people are not represented here.

Great common themes of personal success.......2003-09-04

This collection of advise from world leaders in government, business and entertainment shows how common sense values are the key to success. There is a consistent theme of hard work, high moral character, and overcoming failure throughout the book.

Product Description

The attack on Pearl Harbor and the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki define for many Americans the momentous twentieth century. The evil Japanese empire attacked innocent Americans and forced us into an unwanted war. As payback we ended the war with the Bomb, and at the same time we prevented the loss of millions of lives that an invasion of Japan would have cost. We believe that we fight only when enemies attack us, and that by imposing overwhelming power we accomplish great good.
Skilled researchers using previously classified documents obtained through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) now tell us that President Franklin D. Roosevelt followed a careful strategy to entice Japan to attack Pearl Harbor to get us into World War II. Soon after the bombs incinerated Hiroshima and Nagasaki, authorities learned that Japan was on the brink of defeat and would have surrendered without the Bomb. Our government concealed the evidence and led us to believe that this terrible weapon made deadly invasion unnecessary, and therefore the Bomb is really good.
Author Taylor describes how this flawed self-image of America as innocent victim accomplishing good by overwhelming power subverted moral and ethical values. We are on course that many people see as imperialistic and threatening to ourselves and to the world. Taylor brings to bear a Christian biblical perspective on this condition and offers suggestions for healing.

American Decisions...cases of General Value and Authority Decided in the Courts of the Several States from the Earliest Issues of the State Reports to the Year 1869 Vol. I, II, III, VI, VII, X,

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American Decisions...cases of General Value and Authority Decided in the Courts of the Several States from the Earliest Issues of the State Reports to the Year 1869 Vol. I, II, III, VI, VII, X,
John Editor Proffatt
Manufacturer: A.L. Bancroft and Co.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Leather Bound
ASIN: B000J30Y22

Cerebral Ischemia: From Pharmacology to Modern Techniques & Clinical Implications. Value of Almitrine-Raubasine: International Symposium, (European Neurology)

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Cerebral Ischemia: From Pharmacology to Modern Techniques & Clinical Implications. Value of Almitrine-Raubasine: International Symposium, (European Neurology)

Manufacturer: S. Karger AG (Switzerland)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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