Book Review: Building the Successful Theater Company 3rd Edition By Lisa Mulcahy

Building the Successful Theater Company 3rd Edition

By Lisa Mulcahy

If one were looking to start a theatre company, Building the Successful Theater Company 3rd Edition would provide a great deal of background information and be a place to start.

This book provides information learned from interviews with people who have actually started successful theatre companies and lived to tell about it.

The author gives a little background along the way of the different theatre companies she interviewed.  There are stories of what went right and what went wrong.

Building the Successful Theater Company 3rd Edition provides tips to help the aspiring theatre company.

We were sent a complimentary copy of this book.  We are under no obligation to write any review, positive or negative.

We are disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255.

Notice: This post contains affiliate links. If you click a link and make a purchase, we may financially benefit from your transaction, at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support.

Book Review: Thrive By Design: The Neuroscience That Drives High-Performance Cultures By Don Rheem

Thrive By Design: The Neuroscience That Drives High-Performance Cultures

By Don Rheem

There are many “so called” management books out there that speak to the idea of management as a science.  Many fall short of that and instead reveal another “management du jour” plan.

Thrive By Design: The Neuroscience That Drives High-Performance Cultures by Don Rheem is not like that.  Instead, Rheem discusses why different approaches to management work and why others don’t.

Rheem gives examples of how management should work and why it will work that way.

I promise you there is none of that pass out pins, put up posters, hold hands, ropes course kind of management in Thrive By Design.  This is a well-written book about how things work in the real world of management.  

We were sent a complimentary copy of this book.  We are under no obligation to write any review, positive or negative.

We are disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255.

Notice: This post contains affiliate links. If you click a link and make a purchase, we may financially benefit from your transaction, at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support.

Book Review: Acts of Kindness: 101 Ways to Make Our World a Better Place By Rhonda Sciortino

Acts of Kindness: 101 Ways to Make Our World a Better Place

By Rhonda Sciortino

Acts of Kindness: 101 Ways to Make Our World a Better Place is a little book with big ideas that anyone can do to share a bit of kindness with others.  

Most of the ideas are easily implemented. Some ideas, though, I think may not have the result that is expected. It really depends on the mindset of the person on the other side of the intended act of kindness.  

Some older people struggling to load or unload their groceries do NOT want a young whippersnapper offering to help them. It makes the older person feel like people think they can’t do anything for themselves. This is one that can go either way. Some folks would dearly love an offer of assistance and so often do not get one.

Another suggestion in Acts of Kindness would be a very bad idea if you’re dealing with a very shy person. Some people do nice things and don’t want to make a big show of it. This author suggests publicly praising them for what they did. In my opinion, this is one of the worst things you can do to those of us that would not like being put on display.  You have to know the personality of the person you’re dealing with on something like this or it may be counterproductive. 

There are many great suggestions and several that I had never even thought about, but hope to put into practice very soon.

Acts of Kindness: 101 Ways to Make Our World a Better Place earns all five stars. It is a short book with great ideas for the long run. I think that you will enjoy it, too.

We were sent a complimentary copy of this book.  We are under no obligation to write any review, positive or negative.

We are disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255.

 

Notice: This post contains affiliate links. If you click a link and make a purchase, we may financially benefit from your transaction, at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support.

Book Review: Beautiful Bundts: 100 Recipes for Delicious Cakes and More By Julie Ann Hession

Beautiful Bundts: 100 Recipes for Delicious Cakes and More

By Julie Ann Hession

Review written by David.

A big redneck like me has had no end of fun picking on the ladies who brought bundt cakes to the church dinners. “Hey, Ida Mae, there’s a hole in your cake!” However, Ida Mae will get the last laugh when she brings one of these Beautiful Bundt cakes to the church dinner.

What is not to enjoy when Ida Mae brings a sausage stuffed bundt cake?  And, who is not gonna like a turkey meatloaf bundt cake?

There are step-by-step instructions for each recipe and, just to make sure that “Even a Redneck can do it”, there are step-by-step pictures for many of the techniques involved in making these eye-opening, mouth-watering delights.

From classic pound cakes, s’mores cakes, all the way up to red velvet bundts, you will love these cakes.  There is even a two potato bundt cake in here. Since this fat redneck is allergic to sweet potatoes, we will have to substitute some other potato.  But it sounds and looks delicious. A mac and cheese bundt?  Really?

Ida Mae will be the one laughing while Jimmy Joe asks for seconds or even thirds of these wonderful, easy to make, bundt cakes.

We were sent a complimentary copy of Beautiful Bundts.  We are under no obligation to write any review, positive or negative.

We are disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255.

Notice: This post contains affiliate links. If you click a link and make a purchase, we may financially benefit from your transaction, at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support.

Book Review: Naked Sales: How Design Thinking Reveals Customer Motives and Drives Revenue By Ashley Welch and Justin Jones

Naked Sales: How Design Thinking Reveals Customer Motives and Drives Revenue

By Ashley Welch and Justin Jones

Normally, we like books on how to sell more stuff.  Having studied at the feet of three top salesmen, we have observed what it takes.

Naked Sales works hard to teach readers what it takes to excel in sales.  However, it is a lot like playing skeeball.  Naked Sales by Ashley Welch and Justin Jones hits the 40 point skeeball hole but never makes it to the 50 hole.

What we mean is that they really come close to teaching what it takes to make great sales, but then they undo it.

Why do we say this?  If you are in sales, no one is going to say, “I would buy from that person if only they would use a little more street language in their conversation.”

We aren’t saying that the book contains vulgar language.  What we are saying is that one must avoid using words that one would expect from an uneducated person.

Also, in one graphic, the caption says “Client Could Care Less”. Probably what they meant to say is “Client Couldn’t Care Less.”  Are we nitpicking? Maybe.  But, if one is trying to improve his sales, he must put his best foot forward.

If you are trying to convince someone that you know your product will fill their need, you diminish your credibility when you don’t speak professionally.

Naked Sales is a good book and is deserving of three out of five stars. If one is looking to improve his sales, he will want to fill in the gaps that Naked Sales leaves by reading Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People. He may also wish to pick up a copy of All In by Bill Green. Polish this up with How I Raised Myself From Failure to Success In Selling by Frank Bettger.

These four books together will give the prospective salesperson everything needed to be a super success in selling.  

We were sent a complimentary copy of this book.  We are under no obligation to write any review, positive or negative.

We are disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255.

Notice: This post contains affiliate links. If you click a link and make a purchase, we may financially benefit from your transaction, at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support.

Product Review: Flip-Pal Mobile Scanner with 4GB SD card and USB Adapter with EasyStitch and StoryScans Talking Images Software

 

Product Review: Flip-Pal Mobile Scanner with 4GB SD card and USB 

Adapter with EasyStitch and StoryScans Talking Images Software

Have you ever gone to visit your grandmother and noticed that one-of-a-kind picture of Aunt Eula Mae hanging on her wall?  You would love to have a copy of that picture.

The problem is that picture is one-of-a-kind.  It has been in that frame, pressed up to the glass, for over half a century.  

You could beg Grandma to let you take that picture with you to get a copy made.  If she did relent, she would worry the whole time the picture is off the wall. And, what if something were to happen to it while it was out of Grandma’s sight?  

If you try to take the picture out of the frame so that you could get a clear shot of it, chances are very good that you will ruin the picture. Grandma would be devastated.

You could whip out the cellphone and make a bad, grainy snapshot of it. We’ve all seen those. They usually come out with all sorts of glare and you really can’t tell what the image is when you copy a picture that way.

Or, you could break out your handy Flip-Pal mobile scanner and scan it while it is still hanging on the wall. How great is that?

All you have to do is take a series of overlapping scans and the software does the rest. It stitches the pictures using a program called EasyStitch.

It stores it on an SD card.  You can then take the SD card to a local photo outlet, pop it in their automated photo kiosk and out comes a near perfect copy of Aunt Eula Mae.

You could even load it into your computer via an SD card port or the USB adapter that is included. That way you can share it online with your family and friends.  

You could also send it off to one of those discount printing services that makes your digital image into great enlargements, mouse pads, or whatever.

One really great feature is the StoryScans software.  Using this, you can record Grandma’s story of Aunt Eula Mae, in Grandma’s own voice. This is a treasure that cannot have a price put on it.

The Flip-Pal mobile scanner is so easy to use even this old redneck can do it.  If I can do it, you can do it. You don’t have to be the next Bill Gates or Steve Jobs to use this thing. Just click, scan, and enjoy. It is that simple.

You can save photos, your grand-kids’ artwork off their mama and daddy’s refrigerator, or even off the wall at their school when you go for open house. All the other grandparents will want to know where you got your Flip-Pal mobile scanner and how easy it is to use.

The Flip-Pal mobile scanner is a must have for any genealogist. With it, you can scan documents you find at the library or at a relative’s house (with permission, of course).

You may even find yourself scanning pictures you have laying around your own house so you can archive them and back them up on your computer.

You will find the Flip-Pal mobile scanner to be the go to tool at the library when doing genealogy research. You find an interesting picture, use the Flip-Pal mobile scanner.  You locate an old military record, the Flip-Pal mobile scanner can scan it.  You don’t have to worry about damaging the original document.  It can stay in its frame or in the scrapbook, etc.

Do you remember those magnetic photo albums from back in the 70s?  You can scan pictures from one of those without having to take the picture out of the album.  This works great when dealing with newspaper articles (like obituaries) that have been saved in an old photo album.

We did a test to check for color fidelity, comparing the iPhone 5s and the Flip-Pal mobile scanner. The Flip-Pal mobile scanner won. The color was truer to the color in the photograph on the scan than on the picture taken with the iPhone. The iPhone made the photo more warm-toned than it actually is. The baby is yellower and the carrier cover has pinkish tones in the iPhone photo. Here are the test images.

Flip-Pal Mobile Scanner scan of picture in album (600 dpi):

iPhone 5s picture of picture in album (72 dpi):

We love our Flip-Pal mobile scanner.  It is worth many times the suggested retail price.  You will love yours and you will find it so easy to use that you will tell all your friends.

It is lightweight too, so easy to carry.  You can get optional tote bags or just pop it in a large purse.

You will want to always have your Flip-Pal mobile scanner with you wherever you go because you will find all sorts of opportunities to use yours once you have it.

You can read more about the Flip-Pal Mobile Scanner and other fine products here.



Notice: This post contains affiliate links. If you click a link and make a purchase, we may financially benefit from your transaction, at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support.

Book Review: A Bridge Named Susan by Sharon Chase Hoseley

A Bridge Named Susan

By Sharon Chase Hoseley

Wow! I really don’t know what to say about such a wonderful book! A Bridge Named Susan is about the life of the author’s mother, who was named Susan.

Susan started out life with things against her, namely her own mother. She was a girl. They had a farm and farms needed boys, not girls, at least in Minnie’s opinion. Susan’s daddy, John, loved his little girl very much.

This book takes us from Susan’s early childhood through adulthood. Along the way, she faced many challenges and much heartache. There were some extremely tense and terrifying moments that got my heart racing as I read them.

Susan found strength in faith in our Heavenly Father and daily turned the struggles of her life over to Him. Things happened along the way to make her question her faith and if He had forsaken her, but in the end, her faith was rewarded.  

A Bridge Named Susan earns all five stars. It was a book that was hard to put down. I had to see how it ended!

Warning: Parts of this book may be a trigger for those who have suffered emotional or sexual abuse.

We were sent a complimentary copy of this book.  We are under no obligation to write any review, positive or negative.

We are disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255.

 




Notice: This post contains affiliate links. If you click a link and make a purchase, we may financially benefit from your transaction, at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support.

Book Review: To Hear the Forest Sing: Some Musings On The Divine By Margaret Dulaney

To Hear the Forest Sing: Some Musings On The Divine

By Margaret Dulaney

To Hear the Forest Sing is a collection of different essays or musings, most of which came to Margaret Dulaney’s mind while walking through the forest with her dogs.

The essays touch on different aspects of the author’s life and most have an upbeat tone.  Many of these are spiritual in nature, but not espousing any one religion over the other.

There are several interesting stories that touch on connections to the hereafter.

If your taste in literature leans towards the more creative side of life, you will love To Hear the Forest Sing.  If you are searching for an answer to some of life’s questions, you just might find it in these pages.

We give To Hear the Forest Sing all five stars.  We think it is well-written and inspired.  It might be a nice gift to that poet inside of you or the one on your Christmas shopping list.

We were sent a complimentary copy of this book.  We are under no obligation to write any review, positive or negative.

We are disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255.

Notice: This post contains affiliate links. If you click a link and make a purchase, we may financially benefit from your transaction, at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support.

Book Review: Softening the Grief By Joan E. Markwell, Janie Fields, Patricia Hollingsworth, and Susie McDonald

Softening the Grief

By Joan E. Markwell, Janie Fields, Patricia Hollingsworth, and Susie McDonald

 

Softening the Grief is a book written by and for women who have lost a child, and for those that love them and want to help them through such a heartbreaking time.

These women know, as I do, that the pain doesn’t stop just because the calendar ticks off two weeks or the friends stop coming by or calling. It is something that is in our hearts, a part of our being, until our own time comes.

This book lists many hurtful comments made by people that have not been there, that do not realize the hurt they are heaping upon an already broken heart. Suggestions for things to say instead of the usual “it happens to everybody” or “you have other children” are given. Most of the suggestions are good ones. A few, from my perspective, are just as hurtful as the original, unthinking comment.

These women and many others are members of a club that none of us wants to be in: The Bereaved Mothers Club. While Softening the Grief may be very helpful to those dealing with the loss of older and adult children, it doesn’t touch on the pain suffered by those who never got to know their children.  Those of us that have experienced miscarriage and stillbirth do not have memories of kindergarten or graduation or the other special moments with this child to lean back on. All we have is what might have been but never got a chance to be.

This book is great for the group that it serves. If you have a loved one in your life that has lost a child and you do not know how to help her deal with her traumatic loss, you will find this a good guide.

Softening the Grief earns 5 stars.  It is available if you need it and I pray you never do.

We were sent a complimentary copy of this book.  We are under no obligation to write any review, positive or negative.

We are disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255.

Notice: This post contains affiliate links. If you click a link and make a purchase, we may financially benefit from your transaction, at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support.

Book Review: Friendship Matters: Memoir, Life Lessons, Laughter By Sanda Neshin Bernstein, PSY.D. and Wendy Satin Rapaport, PSY.D., L.C.S.W.

Friendship Matters: Memoir, Life Lessons, Laughter

By Sanda Neshin Bernstein, PSY.D. and Wendy Satin Rapaport, PSY.D., L.C.S.W.

Friendship Matters is a book about interacting with friends in ways that help to grow and deepen the friendship and the individuals themselves. It is about the decades long friendship between the two authors - Wendy and Sandy - and is written in a conversational style.

Friendship Matters is an interesting book and parts are very entertaining. It was written by two psychologists and they talk like you would expect psychologists to talk. Their suggestions are sound, in my opinion, but I just can’t picture having conversations like theirs with any of my friends!

We are encouraged to slow down and think about things rather than reacting on assumptions. Sandy and Wendy give examples from their own lives together and experiences they’ve had with others.

If you want to learn ways to grow your friendships to a deeper level and improve your relationship all around, I think you will enjoy Friendship Matters and find it to be a useful guide.

Friendship Matters is well-written and mostly easy to follow. It earns 5 stars based on all the thinking it made me do!

We were sent a complimentary copy of this book.  We are under no obligation to write any review, positive or negative.

We are disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255.

Notice: This post contains affiliate links. If you click a link and make a purchase, we may financially benefit from your transaction, at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support.

Book Review: Called to Stand: How a Small Christian Ministry Courageously Stood Up to Government Tyranny By Patricia Feijo

Called to Stand: How a Small Christian Ministry Courageously Stood Up to Government Tyranny

By Patricia Feijo

From time to time we read a book that makes us slow down to take in all the details.  Called to Stand: How a Small Christian Ministry Courageously Stood Up to Government Tyranny by Patricia Feijo is one of those books.

The author takes us on a journey with her and her husband as they seek God.  They lived the kind of life many would like to, but are afraid to step out in faith.

From traveling to foreign countries at the drop of a hat to taking in total strangers they felt needed God’s help, this family has done it all.

Then, the couple felt led to start a health food business.  This business became the subject of a federal witch hunt.  It appears the federal government thinks we, the American people, are too stupid to think for ourselves.

Most of Called to Stand is spent chronicling the story of that ongoing federal witch hunt.

We give Called to Stand all five stars. This book is extremely well-written. It is the kind of story that draws the reader into it.  The reader can actually feel the desperation of the family as they go through not only governmental persecution, but at times persecution and abandonment by fellow Christians.

If you are a Christian, you simply must read this book.  

If you believe in the freedom to choose your own health plan, you must read this book.

If you believe in the free enterprise system, you must read Called to Stand.  

You should add Called to Stand to the list of gifts you give out this Christmas.  This is the one gift that will work for anyone on your Christmas list that can read.

When you buy your copy, make sure to buy a second copy to give to your church.  You may even want to make this the text for a small group prayer study in your church.

We were sent a complimentary copy of Called to Stand in the PDF version.  We are under no obligation to write any review, positive or negative.

We are disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255.

 


Notice: This post contains affiliate links. If you click a link and make a purchase, we may financially benefit from your transaction, at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support.

Book Review: A License to Heal: Random Memories of an ER Doctor by Steven Bentley M. D.

A License to Heal: Random Memories of an ER Doctor 
By Steven Bentley M. D.

Granny Clampett said the the M. D. after her name stood for “Mountain Doctor”. This could apply to Dr. Steven Bentley as well in his book A License to Heal: Random Memories of an ER Doctor where he tells of his experiences in various ERs, some of which were located in the very rural mountains of North Carolina.

People around you might begin to believe you have become half a bubble off center when they observe you reading A License to Heal.

You will laugh so hard your sides will ache.  Then, just a few paragraphs later, you will want to cry.  As you read further, you will become outraged. This roller coaster of emotions goes on throughout the book.

We give A License to Heal all five stars.  It is very informative and very entertaining. If you didn’t already know that health care isn’t about treating patients these days - it’s all about the money, you will learn that in this book.

There is no money in making people well.  The money is in treating them.  Gone are the days when the kindly, old doctor made house calls.  Now, doctors get disciplined if they take too much time with a patient.  

This is a wonderful book and makes great reading. It is well-written and entertaining.

We were sent a complimentary copy of A License to Heal.  We are under no obligation to write any review, positive or negative.

We are disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255.

Notice: This post contains affiliate links. If you click a link and make a purchase, we may financially benefit from your transaction, at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support.

Book Review: Miss Rosie’s Miraculous Journey By Kim Q

Miss Rosie’s Miraculous Journey

By Kim Q

What a wonderful children’s book.  The story, Miss Rosie’s Miraculous Journey by Kim Q, is just so sweet. It is a true story about a real baby alpaca.  

The story is very interesting. We get to share Rosie’s first year of life. We even get to go to her first birthday party!

We loved Miss Rosie. Your kids will love her, too. We give Miss Rosie’s Miraculous Journey all five stars.

We were sent a complimentary copy of this book.  We are under no obligation to write any review, positive or negative.

We are disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255.

Notice: This post contains affiliate links. If you click a link and make a purchase, we may financially benefit from your transaction, at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support.