First Hired, Last Fired: How to Make Yourself Indispensable in an Age of Downsizing, Mergers, and Restructuring

Customer Reviews:

Are You Indispensable?.......2004-09-20

"First Hired, Last Fired" is a book designed to help one make him or herself indispensable in today's professional environment, where layoffs due to mergers or downswings in the economy are far too common, and the idea of lifetime employment is the thing of the past. The first section of the book contains useful information on the qualities of mind and personal characteristics that people who are considered indispensable in the workplace appear to possess. The second section helps your measure yourself against those characteristics and plan your own program for becoming indispensable. The third section deals with helping you develop those characteristics and qualities that you feel are missing from your repertoire.

I picked up this book just as I started a new job, figuring that I might as well use all the help I can get in setting off on the right foot in my new career. A natural quesiton might arise: why not just work hard, do the job you're supposed to do, meet all the deadlines, etc.? The author argues (and I agree with him) that simple hard work and dedication are no longer enough to make you indispensable. They are just the pre-requisites. After all, how many such hard-working and dedicated people do you know that are either not treated well by their employers or are let go while somebody seemingly much less deserving gets promoted? This is where this book comes in handy, as it spells out exactly which qualities will make you indispensable (and they may not be what you think!).

What I also like about this book is that it's interactive. For example, it provides an opportunity to evaluate yourself on the 18 dimensions of indispensability. Having done that, you get a much clearer picture where you need to do the most work. The book also helps you prioritize your efforts, so that you do not spread yourself too thin by working on too many things at once. Then, it guides you through a series of targeted exercises and recommendations, aimed at ehnancing specific indispensability attributes.

Overall, I found this book to be extremely practical and useful. Although I got my copy at the library, I've already renewed it twice and am now thinking of actually purchasing one for myself - so that I would have it handy for easy reference!

I liked this book.......2000-02-10

Successful books usually confirm what we know to be true. I felt that about this book. The authors have over twenty-five years of consulting to companies and observing people in the workplace. They know what they are talking about and it shows clearly. For this book they interviewed more than sixty bosses and coworkers of "indispensable" employees. These "first hired, last fired" people each have at least two but usually more of these six characteristics.

·They see the whole system behind the problem. They don't oversimplify complex issues.

·They don't stick narrowly to their own job but take responsibility for success of the whole enterprise. They act like "owners".

·They are ready to interact with and help others but only in limited ways and only when needed.

·They are cooperative, not competitive with others inside the company. They are relatively free from company politics, tensions and conflicts.

·They have a can-do attitude.

·They are adaptable to change.

In the books first section-"What indispensable People Are Like"-the authors quote liberally from their interviews, painting vivid pictures of the six qualities and how individuals showed them in their daily work. The rest of the book, and its main part, guides readers in "Becoming an Indispensable Person" with many suggestions, exercises and questionnaires to help you become the kind of person others need and like to work with.

But for me the book is a guide enjoying any job. Trying just a few of the suggestions should increase anyone's satisfaction with their work life. The book is down to earth and makes sense. I enjoyed it.

Book Description

Every year, investment firms spend billions to exploit the latest development in information technologies. The Handbook of Investment Technology provides a practical blueprint for making the most of today's cutting-edge technologies. The book explains all of today's information technologies, including telecommunications; groupware; imaging and document processing; artificial intelligence; and object-oriented analysis and design.

Average customer rating:

A good primer for how technology is changing banking.

Banking Technology Handbook

Manufacturer: CRC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0849399920

Book Description

This desk reference for IT professionals in the banking industry provides information about the latest technologies to improve efficiency and security. Topics include o imaging o electronic exchange o Internet-based technologies o other automating systems o issues affecting all financial service sectors, such as the year 2000 problem Banking Technology Handbook is geared toward all levels of technology management and financial services management responsible for developing and implementing cutting-edge technology.

Customer Reviews:

A good primer for how technology is changing banking........1999-07-08

Keyes describes the impact technology is having on banking and the tools banks are using to become faster and more efficient. E-commerce, bill pay/present,imaging, internet banking -- all are clearly detailed and made easy to understand. A good book for both those who've worked in the industry and for those who are starting out.

Financial Services Information Systems (Best Practices Series (Boca Raton, Fla.).)

Average customer rating:

Great ideas to implement

Financial Services Information Systems (Best Practices Series (Boca Raton, Fla.).)

Manufacturer: AUERBACH
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0849398347

Book Description

The calculus of IT support for the banking, securities, and insurance industries has changed dramatically and rapidly over the past few years. Consolidation and deregulation are creating opportunities and challenges never before seen. Unheard of just a few years ago, e-commerce has given birth to new infrastructures and departments needed to support them. And the Internet/Intranet/Extranet triple-whammy is the most critical component of most financial IT shops. At the same time, new intelligent agents stand ready to take on such diverse functions as customer profiling and data mining. Get a handle on all these new and newer ripples with Financial Services Information Systems. Here, in this exhaustive new guide and reference book, industry guru Jessica Keyes gives you the no-nonsense scoop on not just the tried and true IT tools of today, but also the up-and-coming "hot" technologies of tomorrow, and how to plan for them. Financial Services Information Systems addresses challenges and solutions associated with: · supporting the self-service revolution by servicing kiosks and ATMs efficiently and economically, · straight-through processing for the securities industry, · outsourcing business communications in the insurance industry, · distributed integration as a cost-effective alternative to data warehousing, and · putting inbound fax automation to work in financial organizations.

Customer Reviews:

Great ideas to implement.......2002-10-27

We recently started a full-service brokerage firm in Canada. Starting "carte-blanche" meant that we could apply many of the ideas in this book cheaply and quickly. We have had amazing growth that we can directly attribute to the technology that we implemented.

Book Description

The calculus of IT support for the banking, securities and insurance industries has changed dramatically and rapidly over the past few years. Unheard of just a few years ago, corporate intranets are now used for everything from job postings to enhanced team communications. Whole new departments are being created to support e-commerce. And the Internet/Intranet/Extranet triple-whammy is the most critical component of most financial IT shops. At the same time, new intelligent agents stand ready to take on such diverse functions as customer profiling and data mining.Get a handle on all these new and newer ripples with Handbook of Technology in Financial Services. Here, in this exhaustive new guide and reference book, industry guru Jessica Keyes gives you the no-nonsense scoop on not just the tried and true IT tools of today, but also the up-and-coming "hot" technologies of tomorrow, and how to plan for them. Keyes gives you extensive, example-driven explanations of such topicsas:odigital check imaging and Internet-based billingoe-commerce and Internet bankingoportfolio management systems for the 21st centuryoGIS technology in financial servicesoand much more.Focusing on problems from both a technology perspective and a business perspective, the Handbook also addresses challenges and solutions associated with:osupporting the self-service revolution by servicing kiosks and ATMs efficiently and economicallyostraight-through processing for the securities industryooutsourcing business communications in the insurance industryodistributed integration as a cost-effective alternative to data warehousingoand putting inbound fax automation to work in financial organizations.Packed with real-world case-studies and practical solutions to problems confronting financial services IT managers every day of the week, Handbook of Technology in Financial Services covers everything from system security to IT support for the Web marketing of financial services. In short, it is a compendium of essential information no professional can afford to be without.

Customer Reviews:

I finally found a worthwhile book on FS tech.......1999-04-15

I was quite amazed at the depth of this book. There's about 40 different contributors - each of whom is a real industry expert. Taken together this book is a real goldmine.

I've collected several of Jessica Keyes' books. She's written, I think, about ten or so. Each of them is meticuously done. Her contributed books are the best, however. She somehow has the knack of getting a bunch of experts all in one place and then picking their brains.

I'd recommend getting a copy of this book if

you're a serious technican in the financial services industry.

Great review of how technology is used in financial services.......1999-03-03

As a long-time veteran of the financial services industry I'm always on the lookout for books that help me to do my job better.

Given the profusion of technologies on the market today I also wanted help in understanding what these technologies are and how to implement them.

There aren't too many books that combine technology and financial services so when I found Keyes' Handbook of Technology in Financial Services I grabbed it immediately. I wasn't disappointed.

Keyes has gathered together some of the smartest people in the field who have gone out of the way to share their expertise with us.

I was particularly impressed on the wealth of information on Internet technologies. Given that this is an area that I'm just getting into, the Handbook offered some solid advice.

Jessica Keyes should read the articles she is editing ..........1999-02-21

In 92, during my MBA, I read "Infrotrends" of Mrs Keyes and thought it was a brilliant book. I just finished this one, as a IT banking consultant and I can assure it is very disapointing.

First, An unorganized collection of article is not a handbook, specially not this one with articles of 5 to 15 pages that cannot dig in the various subjects they develop.

Second, the articles quality is poor to average (except 2 or 3 - Regarding the "security industry of 6 articles, I skipped but the previous review might apply)

Third, Mrs Keyes contribution is minimal, with an intriductory chapter about TQM in IT, which does not provide anything new about the subject. If she is the editor for "fishing customers" (it worked for me) it's a bad mistake for her long term reputation ... Four, if you expect to learn anithing specific about IT in Financial services, you will be disapointed : its mainly, five years old IT ideas, with a few FS cases. Let remind that, we are speaking about the most IT intensive industry and a lot could have been written about the core subjects (new Front and Back office packages emergence, IT Alignement with strategy, BI and KM implementation, ...). Some of these subjects are evoked but the analysis is (almost always) too limited ...

Unless you want to decorate your library, don't buy this book, it will save you a fortune ($175!)

A complete compendium of financial services technologies.......1999-01-02

I searched high and low for a book about the technologies specific to the industry I work in. There are alot of books out there about technologies but almost none about how to apply those technologies to specific industries. This handbook has proven invaluable in assisting me make good decisions in the securities industry.

Insurance Technology Handbook: The New Partnership

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Insurance Technology Handbook: The New Partnership
Jessica Keyes
Manufacturer: CRC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0849399939

Book Description

This desk reference for IT professionals in the insurance industry provides information about the latest technologies to improve efficiency and prediction. Topics include: o imaging o modeling o management systems o customer systems o Internet commerce o Issues affecting all financial service sectors, such as the year 2000 problem The Insurance Technology Handbook is geared toward all levels of technology management and financial services management responsible for developing and implementing cutting-edge technology.

Average customer rating:

Securities Technology Handbook
Jessica Keyes
Manufacturer: CRC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0849399912

Book Description

This desk reference provides IT professionals in the securities industry with information about the latest technologies for improving efficiency and prediction. Topics include: o modeling o management systems o research o Internet commerce o issues affecting all financial services sectors, such as the year 2000 problem Securities Technology Handbook is geared toward all levels of technology management and financial services management responsible for developing and implementing cutting-edge technology.

Book Description

`The present collection of papers in Elgar's Companion series provides a very useful overview of research on the functions and implications of property rights.'
- Wolfgang Grassl, Journal of Markets and Morality

`In 22 well-written chapters, this volume illuminates the major accomplishments of the economics of property rights. While they differ in the scope and extent of their coverage, contributions to this book are focused, carefully researched, well argued, and quite readable. In my judgment, the book takes us to the frontier of the growing stock of knowledge on the origins and consequences of alternative property rights.'
- From the foreword by Steve Pejovich

Economics is a matter of choice and growth, of interaction and exchange among individuals. Because property rights define the rules of these interactions and the objects of exchange, it is vital to fully understand the institutions and implications of the various property-rights regimes. With over 20 original and specially commissioned chapters, this book takes the reader from the historical and moral foundations of the discipline to the frontiers of scholarly research in the field.

This Companion is both an introduction to the economics of property rights and a guide to help understand and analyse policy issues by making use of the powerful conceptual tools offered by this increasingly popular branch of economics. Following a comprehensive introduction by the editor, the book is divided in to three broad sections which examine the birth and evolution of property rights, investigate the relationship between property rights and the law, and explore contemporary economic issues from a property rights perspective. Together, the chapters in the book do not claim to offer a standard solution to the institutional questions raised by the property-rights issue. Instead, they present the theoretical tools and real-world examples needed to allow the reader to develop new ideas and evaluate existing problems.

Non-technical in nature and including a distinguished list of authors from across the spectrum of economic thinking, The Elgar Companion to the Economics of Property Rights makes an invaluable contribution to the literature on economics, law, political science and public choice. For any serious scholar or student of these disciplines, this book will prove to be the ultimate reference companion.

Contents: Foreword by Steve Pejovich Introduction Part I: The Birth and Evolution of Property Rights Part II: Property Rights and the Law Part III: Current Issues from a Property Rights Perspective Index

Book Description

This thoroughly updated and revised edition of a popular and authoritative reference work introduces the reader to the major concepts and leading contributors in the field of law and economics. The Companion features accessible, informative and provocative entries on all the significant issues, and breaks new ground by bringing together widely dispersed yet theoretically congruent ideas. Following a comprehensive introduction by the editor, the renowned contributors look in detail at several critical areas including: • fundamentals of the law and economics approach • private law and economics • public law and economics • labor law and economics • regulation, taxation and public enterprise • dispute resolution • different sources of the law • economic analysis of a legal problem • classical authors in law and economics.

Customer Reviews:

Another Great Read.......2007-05-22

I recently moved to Old Louisville and knowing nothing about the area, read the first book by David Domine, Ghosts of Old Louisville. I was sorry when the book ended and started immediately on the second book, Phantoms of Old Louisville. I also took the Ghost Tour of Old Louisville, which was hosted by David Domine himself, last Friday night. I am so glad that he did write about these old homes and the area, otherwise I would not have known any history or folklore to accompany me here, on my move from Los Angeles to Old Louisville this last January. He allowed those of us on his tour into his wonderful home, which was magnificent. I could see the actual place where one of the purported hauntings happened and it was decorated and restored beautifully which made it an extra bonus. These books have given me a perspective on this area that I really would not have had if they weren't available. I am so waiting for October and the "haunting" season to begin. Another aside, I still don't know if I really believe in "ghosts", however, when reading these books late at night, I found myself having to put them down, and listening very closely to the sounds of my own Old Louisville home, and sometimes, I couldn't start reading again until the next day.....just too many chills and possibly a wild imagination at work. I found these books to be wonderful reads, never dragging, held my attention, and I now use them for reference when looking at the places and events described.

Phantoms of Old Louisvile is a great read!.......2007-04-08

Phantoms of Old Louisville is the second in David Domine's fascinating collection of authentic ghost stories from the largest Victorian neighborhood in the country. You can read this one first or you can read Ghosts of Old Louisville first, it doesn't matter because each book reads well by itself. This one, like the first, is a great collection of stories dealing with reportedly haunted locations in the area known as Old Louisville. But, don't worry if you're not from Kentucky. These stories are fascinating no matter where you come from. If you love ghost stories, as I do, you will love this book. Each chapter combines equal parts supernatural events with local history and wonderful architecture. The author makes the neighborhood come to life and draws the reader in on a fascinating journey to the past. The level of writing is excellent, and the only thing that surpasses it is the unbelievable degree of storytelling involved. Although it is a work of creative non-fiction, it has a novelist's flare about it. This, like the first, is a book that will keep you up all night till you have finished it early the next morning. I cannot wait for volume III! Thanks to the author for an entertaining and informative read!

THIS IS A WORTHY FOLLOW UP TO GHOSTS OF OLD LOUISVILLE.......2006-11-03

In his latest book, Phantoms of Old Louisville: Ghostly Tales from America's Most Haunted Neighborhood, David Domine does an admirable job following up on the chills and thrills of last year's bestselling Ghosts of Old Louisville: True Stories of Hauntings in America's Largest Victorian Neighborhood. In this sequel, Domine has managed to unearth even more tales of the dearly departed in the grandest Victorian neighborhood in the country, and he presents them to the reader with the same engaging prose and mouth-watering descriptions he employed in his first book. And, as before, he has managed to capture a distinct feel for the neighborhood he loves so much, and he successfully uses it to create a mood piece that transports the reader back to a time when spirits from Beyond looked on as bustled ladies served tea in elegant front parlors, servants gathered for modest meals in the back kitchen and the domestic arts (unlike today) occupied a hallowed spot in American households.

I look forward to his next book and recommend this one to all who enjoy a good ghost story with added architectural tidbits and lots of local flavor.

Domine delivers with "Phantoms".......2006-10-18

David Domine follows up on last year's "Ghosts of Old Louisville" with this year's just-as-delightful "Phantoms of Old Louisville".

Old Louisville has a rich Victorian history, complete with its own haunted past. Domine brings both of these facets together in a wonderful marriage thanks to his detailed descriptions and narrative skill. Skeptics and "ghost hunters" alike can appreciate the ghostly tales Domine has uncovered in his unopinionated style, and decide for themselves how true these accounts seem to be.

In his writing process Domine has obviously worked hard at doing extensive research, conducting interviews, and verifying stories and alleged "facts" of supernatural occurances to make the chapters as in-depth and fleshed-out as they are (for an added touch, the introductory and afterword sections come penned from Halloween night of the previous year).

The stories he presents to readers are greatly interesting, and some induce chills and definite eerieness. The backgrounds of some of the spirits here range from amusing to melancholy, and the types of supernatural activity reported are just as varied. Not only do we learn of the supernatural, though---all along the way Domine knowledgably points out architectural features of various grand Victorian mansions and old public buildings, giving that feeling of actually being taken back to this bygone era for a brief period. He has certainly studied his Louisville history, too, as is evidenced by his sharing of interesting facts from Old Louisville's true heyday.

Sprinkled throughout the book are some black and white photographs of the different locales. They add a little visual flavor to each of the intriguing accounts. Also, in the front of the volume is a map of the general area with a location key for those readers who want to venture to Old Louisville and visit some of these locations for themselves.

For a splendid read---especially with Halloween coming on in autumn---definitely check out Domine's "Phantoms of Old Louisville", and its predecessor, "Ghosts of Old Louisville". They are fascinating examples of Victorian architecture, city history, and, most importantly for such works, tales merging this world with that of the spirits.

Happy reading.

Hard Scrabble: Observations on a Patch of Land

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The Man and His Land
Back to the land, Texas-style

Hard Scrabble: Observations on a Patch of Land
John Graves
Manufacturer: Southern Methodist University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0870744720

Customer Reviews:

The Man and His Land.......2005-08-13

Texan John Graves is not a man to shy away from challenges: he invites them. When he bought his little piece of Texas, he clearly knew he was in for a big one, but I am not sure if he was aware of how his accumulated knowledge of this land would shape the man he was becoming. This book takes you through the process of a bumpy courtship and the resulting marriage between a man and his land.
Already armed with a deep appreciation of Nature, he was able to slowly coax renewed vigor into this misused patch of land through his gentle nurturing of it.

The book is full of his personal adventurers such as stone masonry, animal husbandry, carpentry, and all the hazards inherent in farm life. All presented without regret, with humor and modesty. Inevitably he laments the encroachment of more urban activities as they threaten his bucolic existence. Yet he speaks of the duality of his own urban interactions and compares them to the realities of his rural lifestyle.

This book to me was as much about the man John Graves as it is about his subject, "Hard Scrabble". Tough and complex, like his Patch of Land, he personifies the best Texas has to offer.

Back to the land, Texas-style.......2003-12-14

In 1960, at the age of 40 and after many years wondering the globe, Texas-born writer John Graves bought a worn-out patch of land in the hills south of Fort Worth. It began as something of a retreat and became a life-long attachment. This book, published in 1974, is a humorously thoughtful description of how this new landowner becomes equally owned by the land he has settled on.

Not a long book, it reads at a leisurely pace, as Graves traces the history of the land, once fertile and grass-covered. He tells what he knows of the numerous tribes of Native Americans who once lived on it, including the fierce Comanches. Then he characterizes the first settlers, who knew next to nothing about land stewardship and cared less, exhausting it with poor farming techniques, overgrazing, and a single-crop economy--cotton. We learn of the toll taken in depleted soil, diminished flood control, and the spread of cedar and scrub brush across former prairie. And we learn of the descendants of these early settlers, diminished by reduced circumstances, some of them making a living by cutting down cedar brakes into fence posts.

Having established the history of the land, Graves takes us on a tour of his farm, which he calls Hard Scrabble, describing in turn the fields and streams, the plant and animal life, the weather. Then he describes the long, slow process of reclaiming what he can of his 400 acres, clearing the land, building a house, barn, and other outbuildings, learning stone masonry and carpentry as he goes. In connection with this subject, there is a discourse on the industriousness and workmanship of Mexican laborers, all of them illegal, who help him with building, fencing, and fighting back the growth of unwanted brush and cedar. On the subject of animal husbandry, he tells of raising cattle and goats. And in the investment of himself in all of these he ruminates on how they transform him and root this former world-traveler more firmly into a rural frame of mind.

Of the many things I enjoyed in this book, I especially liked his capturing of the way his country neighbors talk. Their points of view and temperaments are captured in quirky turns of phrase and syntax. An episode involving local fox hunters is a joy to read. Graves is in many ways a Texas version of E. B. White, transplanted from city to country and not only seeing this remote environment with fresh eyes but engaging physically with it, befriending the long-time inhabitants, and discovering a way of life only dimly understood by city-dwellers. Although Graves' writing style is more given to verbal flourishes, his wry humor and literary allusions remind one of White's collection of essays on living in Maine, "One Man's Meat."

Book Description

Introduction by Jonathan Montaldo Foreword by Brother Patrick Hart, OCSO

For twenty-seven years, renowned and beloved monk Thomas Merton (1915-1968) belonged to Our Lady of Gethsemani, a Trappist monastery established in 1848 amid the hills and valleys near Bardstown, Kentucky. In Thomas Merton's Gethsemani , dramatic black-and-white photographs by Harry L. Hinkle and artful text by Merton scholar Monica Weis converge in a unique experience for lovers of Merton.

Hinkle was allowed unprecedented access to many areas inside the monastery and on its grounds that are generally restricted. His photographs invite the reader to experience the various knobs, lakes, woods, and hermitages Merton sought out for times of solitude and contemplation and for reading and writing. These unique images, each accompanied by a passage from Merton's writings, evoke personal reflection and a deeper understanding of how and why Merton came to recognize himself as a part of his Kentucky landscape.

Woven throughout the book, Weis's text explores Merton's fascination with nature not only at Gethsemani, but during his early childhood, throughout his spiritual conversion to Roman Catholicism, and while a member of the Trappist community. She examines how Merton's lifelong interaction with nature subtly revealed and informed his profound spiritual experiences and his writing about contemplation.

Thomas Merton's Gethsemani replicates Merton's path on his solitary hikes in the woods and conveys the wonder of the landscapes that inspired him.

Customer Reviews:

Thomas Mertson's Gethsemani.......2005-11-23

Thomas Merton's Gethsemani, Landscapes of Paradise by Monica Weis was, for me, a worthwhile read on a number of levels. Her premise was fascinating namely that Merton expanded his soul and grew progressively in his relationship with God by embracing not only the rules and rigors of monasticism but the mini-universe of the physical monastery, the land of Gethsemani itself. Weis details Merton's apprehension of this "paradise" with deceptive simplicity - the hills, rivers, storms, birds, smells and rhythms not only beckon him to deeper solititude but lead him into expanding realization, prayer and praise. And that for me, was the core accomplishment of the book. Weis never goes over the top. Her writing is clear and definite without strain, puffery or poetry. Rather the poetry of the book is her step by step detailing of the changes occuring within Merton himself as he allows Gethsemani - its physicality and metaphor - into his mind and heart. She traces the contours of a dynamic, poetic soul and the book shares the movement. Haley's black and white pictures of Gethsemani are simultaneously homey and mysterious; each invites a second look, a revaluation of your first response. His photography and Weis's premise go hand in hand. I remember one shot of a night sky - a black expanse spangled with hundreds of stars. It is sweeping and dramatic, far more majestic than those of woods, sheds and farm tools. Yet it locked perfectly with Weis's final chapters on Merton's (mystic) experience of a palpable unity; his sense that the world's religions have a common source and his full embrace of the METAPHOR he lived at Gethsemani. The book was my summer's morning read - a chapter a day with a cup of Starbuck's! A good way to start a day.

"thomas merton, the icon".......2005-10-11

Five stars for the stunning photography of Harry L. Hinkle, and the wonderful layout of this volume, with it's telling quotes from Thomas Merton's own nature writings. His nature oeuvre is substantial, and this volume fills a need. Unfortunately, the essay text by Monica Weis is unbalanced. One is left with a very misleading idea of what this man was really about. He was not just a Franciscan icon lost in the rapture of the forests. On one level, we do a disservice to this great man in constantly perpetuating this kind of mythology. Too many reverential, saccharine treatments have been printed already. Merton was so much more; and others, beginning with biographer Michael Mott, have brought real balanced treatment to the life of this extremely complex man.

In the Foreward, Brother Patrick Hart makes mention of pilgrimages to the the places of interest in the physical and spiritual odessey of Thomas Merton. Who are these dear people who feel the need to do precisely what Thomas Merton himself so often railed against? Please desist from attempting to create an Icon of this most complex of human beings.

Thomas Merton--being alive.......2005-10-11

Mr. Hinkles evocative and enduring photographs and Ms. Weis' lyrical
text complement each other in support of Thomas Merton's enormous life. This is a precious text largely because it celebrates the courage to
simply be. One can read about Merton's contemplative life and very nearly be with him--in his light under the trees and sky and birds which
are fundamental and which were so essential to his routine, his daily
habit. Weis' text in particular is a carefully crafted essay--both probing and reverential. The book is an acheivement.

expanding horizons.......2005-09-12

I'll admit. I bought this book because the photographer, Harry Hinkle, is my cousin's husband.BUT.. I found myself drawn past the incredible photography of both Merton Thomas and Harry to the moving and insightful writing. The sheer joy of life reflected in the words AND photographs of this book, make me want to look at everything with new eyes and heart.

Average customer rating:

Home Place and Other Poems
Sheila Bucy Potter
Manufacturer: Broadstone Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Love Poems | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Book Description

"Home Place" has been described by former Kentucky Poet Laureate Richard Taylor as "a fine narrative poem celebrating the rural life in the understated style of Robert Frost, Frost with less irony and more heart." It is a dialogue in verse between a woman who moves to the country to find a new life, and the farmer who in time becomes more than a neighbor, celebrating the redemptive power of nature and the unexpected possibility of love.

Customer Reviews:

Book is a Gift of History.......2000-11-07

Truly "it is important for every person to know who they are and where they came from". This book delivers a love-of-land message in a unique and most engrossing style that grabs the reader and infuses pride of family and respect for home and land; heightened my awareness of heritage; made me want to share the book with my children and others I love. An excellent read for all ages; delightful from start to finish.

A place called home ;: Growing up in Hickman, Kentucky

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A place called home ;: Growing up in Hickman, Kentucky
Hilda Wynne Fowler
Manufacturer: s.n
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B00072PHNG

A place for every thing and every thing in its place (Home books series)

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A place for every thing and every thing in its place (Home books series)
Alice B Haven
Manufacturer: D. Appleton and Company, 443 & 445 Broadway
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Family Saga | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

The story of Helm Place: And the people who have called it home

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The story of Helm Place: And the people who have called it home
Mary Genevieve Townsend Murphy
Manufacturer: Harrodsburg Herald
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0006QD064

There's no place like home: Strengthening Kentucky's families and children by providing in-home services

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There's no place like home: Strengthening Kentucky's families and children by providing in-home services
Arletta Walker
Manufacturer: Kentucky Youth Advocates
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Child Advocacy | Family & Health Law | Law | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B00072AC40

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