5 comments about Zig: The Autobiography of Zig Ziglar.

1. If you ever need an inspirational help of great success in life then I would recommend Zig Ziglar. Ziglar is author of best-seller, 'I'll See You At The Top' and many other motivational books, has helped thousands improve their lives to achieve that success in every aspect of living. As you read his auto-biography you'll learn about his remarkable story how he beat the odds and applied it to the teachings of Jesus Christ. You will learn to take the next step in your plan and keep God's plan at the center of your plans just as Zig did. His approach is a down-home, wholesome manner with the business savvy of a wise, honest salesman. Most of what he learn of being successful and the importance of networking with honest and wise mentors. The first part of the book tells of his early life and the family that shaped his destiny. In his early adult years he was hard-working and used his knowledge to make money and there were times he made financial mistakes as a result of foolish decisions. This was a time God wasn't a part of his life where his life had no meaning or purpose. The last part of the book, is about his change in life when he reflected back on the moral values in his early childhood and his mother. He then gave his life to Christ. He then found his purpose as a public speaker. From then on instead of his self-centered ambition he gave it all to God. And Zig has been successful ever since. Like Norman Vincent Peale, Zig applied biblical principles to the goals he has with the plans God manifest in the center of his life. Zig's secret is never quit, have faith in God and a whole lotta love. He's a mentor you can trust with a solution. Wish there were more like Zig.



2. Zig's life was a great testament to what he teaches. He walks the walk. His life is in balance, and even through tragedy, still reached out to make a difference for all lives he touched through his motivational seminars. His character is outstanding, and his level of integrity speaks for itself.

   This book shows the good, the bad, and the ugly. Life has not always been rosy for Zig, but he is living proof that you can overcome anything. As he always says: "you can have anything you want if you just help enough people get what they want".

   This book shows that Zig has faults just like the rest of us, and he makes that really clear in this book. He is humble and in some cases ashamed of some of his past behavior. No sugar coating in this one. The fact that he is such a strong christian is also satisfying to those of us who are believers. He makes it very clear who gets the credit for all of the blessings in his life.

   This book is a great read, and will be hard to put down if you are a fan. True to form, it's humorous with only a hint sorrow in some parts. He really is an amazing person.




3. I was exposed to Zig's philosophy some years ago and have read See You at the Top more than once. His "Check up from the Neck up" and the need to prevent "Hardening of the Attitudes" and "Stinkin Thinkin" are well ingrained. This was an interesting read and learning about his background and history was very well laid out and informative.



4. Zig is a very humble man. He tells the story of his life in stages that are inspirational in that the mundane things in life are all part of the whole that we experience. The early years in his life are full of mishaps in his opinion, yet lead to a logical place that may not have existed otherwise.
   
   His story of his older daughter's (Suzan's) illness and death, and the reaction of some of his mentors and partners in understanding, is one of the most touching renditons I have ever read and it is beatifully preserved by his younger daughter (Julie - you kind of feel the hominess of the family in the reading of this book) who edits his writing.
   
   Also, "The Wall of Gratitude", and how each person on it influenced him is another unselfish display of how he has become who he is. It is as if these mentors of his should have their pictures hung in many more dens/offices throughout the country because of their influence to him that he has passed to so many others.
   
   I met Zig and felt his sincerety in his conversation with me that I hope to duplicate in all I do - that's how good the meeting was! I can see why God called him to do what he does. In his autobiography he states all of the facts (and faults) of his personal life unashamedly. I do not think I could have shared some of the things he shared; too personal, but, his humility is seemingly endless.
   
   I first saw Zig in a sports motivational video in high school in the seventies. I got a lot of motivation out of it. It has stuck with me for all of these years: yet I was amused and amazed me to read about the experiences he had around that time and to the time at the end of this book.
   
   Obviously this review has come three years after the last one, yet it should show how timeless this story is, and, like Zig's salvation, it truly is "better late than never."



5. This was the first book I've read by Zig Ziglar. This very charming book details his childhood in America's rural South in the midst of the Depression, his early adult years, and adulthood. I'll write about the book in reverse chronological order.
   
   I especially enjoyed the part about his early adulthood, where he writes honestly about the uncertainty he went through. His adulthood part was interesting as well, although he tended to compress the 40+ years a little too much. After chronicling his childhood so meticulously, the later parts of the book seem a bit lacking in detail.
   
   His writing about his early childhood was very entertaining, a little sentimental, and excessively moralizing. Zig had a lot of mentors and learned valuable lessons, but he tends to stretch them too thin and draw almost too many morals to them. That he learned a lot about character and whatnot is unsurprising (he is a motivational speaker, after all), but it gets somewhat boring, a contrast to his humorous and vivacious "See You at the Top!
   
   For this, I give Zig an "excellent rating", which corresponds to 4 out of 5 stars in my humble book.

5 comments about I'm the Teacher, You're the Student: A Semester in the University Classroom.

1. I'm the Teacher--the story of one semester's U.S. History survey course at Emory--is worth reading by any college teacher, rookie or veteran. Rookies may here find classroom techniques worth implementing, and veterans will enjoy making comparisons with their own classrooms.
   
   Allitt is a lively writer, and his unwillingness to embrace easy, politically correct interpretations of American history increases the reader's confidence in his classroom judgment. (But what does it say about the current state of the historical profession when a first-rate teacher refuses to assign a textbook even though many of his students are so obviously ignorant of basics?)
   
   Clearly Professor Allitt is a good teacher, one who does much more than "turn the crank" on the survey course. Nevertheless, he also makes plain the wearying aspects of his position, especially what he perceives to be necessary accommodation to the rudeness and irresponsibility of his overprivileged undergraduates. For despite the truculent-sounding title, this book exudes a genial acquiescence to the trimming of academic sails.



2. After spending 20+ years in a classroom, I always wondered if other professors felt the same way I did. Allitt's book confirms that they do.
   
   Allitt's book describes the progression of one class through a semester, session by session. We watch him prepare for class, lecture and answer questions. We learn how he writes exams and handles office hours, including some humorous encounters with "weepy" students. I love his "excuse file," which resembles my own, right up to the student's injunction to "reply as soon as possible." At times students unwittingly sound more like bosses!
   
   I'm the Teacher should be read in the context of the author's specific circumstances. He's a male in a liberal arts faculty. I doubt that a female professor could get away with some elements of Allitt's style. He wears the same old jacket, year after year. He's demanding. At one point he "towers over" a student who dares to open a fashion magazine: "Put that away at once!" And he refuses to get involved with students' personal lives.
   
   Female professors are expected to be nurturing and empathetic. For a contrast, read Gail Griffin's book, Seasons of a Witch, a vastly underrated book based on the author's experience as a professor of English and women's studies.
   
   And in the business schools where I taught, students often scoffed at learning ("It's who you know that counts"), but we were much better paid.
   
   To anyone seeking to understand academic life, Allitt's book offers a glimpse of reality on one dimension: teaching and dealing with students. But a professor in a university also faces endless committee meetings and political interactions. Allitt's life seems peaceful, almost idyllic. We don't see the challenge of finding time for research along with teaching and the ever-increasing service.
   
   Still I enjoyed this book thoroughly. Allitt has a gift for storytelling and his enthusiasm for his subject is contagious. Readers not only get a taste of academic life. We gain a fascinating taste of Allitt's perspective on some much-discussed events of American history.



3. I liked the accounts of what Allitt admits is a topic rarely covered by academics: the day-to-day progression of one course taught over a semester. I envy his position at prestigious Emory; if he had taught, as I have and still alas do, at far less distinguished institutions, I reckon his report would have been far more discouraging about the lack of preparation and the dismal study habits of his students. Compared to the majority of American students and instructors, those at Emory enjoy a charmed life. He does acknowledge the limits of previous preparation among his students, of course, but he seems to forget that many students and faculty, not enjoying the privileges of being supported at an expensive and well-endowed private university, labor under far more cumbersome and challenging circumstances than he describes.
   
   There was a disconnect throughout this book, as a result. Atlanta's ivory tower seemed to have cocooned him and his charges too snugly. I wanted to know about his research, his other courses, the load of work (he did have an FA) that he had to balance against his own family and personal committments, and how much of his day was spent on this one history course vs. his other duties. I had no real idea of his own specialty in history beyond a few passing remarks; while this was an introductory class in which generalities predominate, I still wished to find out about the more specific encounters he had, by contrast, with history in his other courses and research.
   
   By concentrating on the microcosmic world of the one course, he does explore well the dynamics that ebb and flow over the weeks among students and between them and himself; his preparation of visuals and supplemental material speaks well to his diligence. His frank explanation of grading and evaluation also shows the pressures that any faculty member--even more for those of us untenured--must face when balancing a stated determination to enforce rigor against the end-of-term tendency to play mercy against justice! Not forgetting that the students expect, as "customers," a good grade as return for their hefty investment, of money if not necessarily effort and achievement.
   
   All in all, this is an honest and entertaining study. I'm sure that he is a respected and popular teacher, not condescending to trying to be trendy or hip or snobbish. He knows his abilities, uses his talents, yet remains a bit distant from his students--which is as it should be, in his explanation. I would have wished for a wider look at where this one course fits into the larger career that Prof. Allitt has pursued within a very contentious job market and gained despite a brutal pecking order. This shortcoming aside, it would be a well-chosen book for college students to-be, faculty members, and those who pay for both: parents of the students, unprepared or otherwise, who enable and demand, if grudgingly for such unremunerative majors, such courses to continue.



4. Patrick Allitt's "I'm the teacher," has received strong reviews for its candor in addressing the challenges of teaching at the university level. Prof. Allitt combines a journal of his offering of one introductory course, together with his summary of a broad view of American history. He also includes the administrative duties that come with the position.
   
   Allitt makes a good case for the social function of teaching a discipline and, as the title suggests, he has no sympathy for any approach to education that would diminishes the power relationships in the classroom that he carefully describes.
   
   However, he does seem to miss one point: Why is it that US tertiary education is considered the best in the world? Allitt require his students to read vast amounts of material in original sources, although his course is supposed to be an introductory survey. If all the available texts in his field are as bad as he says, why doesn't he write his own (for exam like Gregory Mankiw, Economics, Harvard)? Allitt is Oxford-trained and seems to try to run his Emory class as if it were a nice little seminar at All Souls. Does he miss completely that Emory ain't Oxford and what students seek in a survey course may be a bit different that what he is force-feeding them?



5. Prof. Allitt's book recalling a semester of teaching a survey level US History course is the most entertaining and enjoyable thing I've read this year. I had some previous familiarity with his thoughts on academic subjects from several Teaching Company courses which he presented or in which he participated. All were quite good, but I found them generally orthodox, if accurate, approaches to the subject matter. In "I'm the Teacher" he shows a sharper critical edge, not to mention an abundance of dry British wit, each of which makes for entertaining reading while not descending to the "all my students are incomprehensible dullards" level. Nonetheless, Allitt implicitly delivers a powerful critique of American secondary education.
   
   Although I've spent 7 years in undergraduate and post-graduate education, I must admit that I've had no idea of the professor's viewpoint, apart from that of a friend or two in law schools, given long after I graduated. In fact, as I read Allitt's book, I experienced a fair amount of guilt over my undergraduate attitudes, work habits and efforts, all of which were largely of the mediocre level of which he complains. Something, however, probably the efforts of the 4 or 5 excellent professors I had, motivated me to attempt continued learning and that pursuit is exceptionally rewarding in middle age. And that heightens the sense of what I missed by not being a better student years ago.
   
   More significantly, "I'm the Teacher" led me to realize facts about the educational process nearly 35 years after I ended my undergraduate career. In particular, I feel embarassed about my lousy attitude and the frustration which that may have caused my most able professors and I can understand how a journeyman level of writing skills can compensate for all but the most deficient motivation. If Allitt's concerns were reduced to a single level of complaint, student writing would take the cake distantly followed perhaps by geographical ignorance. All in all, I wish that I either knew then what I now know (much better so, in fact, after reading this text) or at least had the maturity to intuit it. I'm not certain that this would be extremely helpful for a late adolescent about to enter college, but if I had a mature close relative in that position I would give it a try. As a matter of thoughtful reading for pleasure for adults though, I have no question about giving the highest recommendation.

1 comments about Teaching from the Heart and Soul: The Robert F. Panara Story (Deaf Lives Series, Vol. 6).

1. Harry Lang has done an extremely beautiful job writing such an inspiring biography of Bob Panara! I doubt there could have been a better book written - for this is not only about a legend who teaches from the Heart and Soul, but is written by a man who, too, does things from the Heart and Soul.
   
   Fascinating to read of Bob's life and especially touching to read about the incredible bond he has with his late wife, Shirley. It becomes so apparent that Shirley and Bob were truly best friends, partners, and the love of each other's lives.
   
   I loved how Harry skillfully decided which information to include without diminishing the amazing impact of Bob Panara on countless people's lives. This easily could have been four times its original length!
   
   This book should be a required reading for all who are studying to become Teachers of the Deaf. It also should be on the bookshelves of those who love baseball, theater, and literature. Kudos, Harry!

5 comments about Eros, Magic and the Murder of Professor Culianu.

1. Culiano taught religious studies at the Divinity School of the University of Chicago--the hand-picked successor to the great Mircea Eliade. Culiano specialized in magic, dualistic heresies and mystical experiences. He practiced what he studied as well, entertaining students and aggravating colleagues. But he also wrote political articles and fiction for a Romanian journal. These got him in trouble with the Romanian secret police; his murder has never been solved.

   Blending religious studies, occult phenomena, political analysis, and true crime journalism, this book is also an entertaining and intriguing look at Culiano, academics in America, Romanian intellectual traditions. I hope many people read and enjoy it.




2. The shot that killed professor Ioan Culianu while he was sitting in a stall in the men's room came from a small Beretta: a .25 caliber gun, fired at leat 18 inches away from his head, for there were no gunpowder traces around the entry wound. It was the work of an expert, a person who stood on the toilet seat of the adjoining stall, and fired downward and into the back of his head; probably the shot of a left hander. Why only one shot? Why such a small caliber gun? Professionals are more heavy handed, more redundant, more brutal. This was exquisitely done, with minimal fuss and no traceable clues.

   It was May, 1991, a little after one in the afternoon, at the University of Chicago Divinity School. Prof Culianu, a handsome man in his 40's had three books in press, was about to get married, was loved and respected by students and faculty, and was at the peak of his profession as a historian of religion. His work was recognized internationally, and he could look forward to the honors and comforts of a successful academic career.

   Ted Anton presents the true tale of Prof. Culianu with deftness and care. It is a story that to this day continues to reverberate in academia and law enforcement because it has never been solved. Far more exciting than fiction, the story of this professor takes turns and dips that keep the reader on edge and breathless.Culianu was an expert not only on the traditional aspects of religions, but had an interest in the occult arts that formed part of the ancient rituals and practices. He was an expert in divination through geomancy, and was about to teach a course in this practice. He gravitated towards the occult. He knew about near death experiences and about the transmigration of souls; and at the same time he maintained his status as a legitimate scholar and teacher in one of America's prestigious universities.

   Fictional stories about crimes and police work are very enjoyable, but reading a book like this renders the others insignificant by comparison. Of course truth is stranger than fiction, but it is also more exciting, more interesting, and finally...more scary.




3. If you enjoyed Umberto Eco's _Foucault's Pendulum_, you will undoubtedly enjoy this true life tale of magic, European politics, and murder. The book gives an accounting of the life of Ioan Culianu, a professor of comparative religion at the University of Chicago, from his birth in Romania to his untimely murder. Professor Culianu provided astounding insights into the world of magic and attempted to explain its occurrences through complexity. He published many books on magic, comparative religion, shamanism, and gnosticism. Like Mircea Eliade, a fellow Romanian and his mentor before him, Culianu contributed a great deal to our understanding of religion and magic. He also wrote several novels along with his fiancee Hillary Wiesner. This book provides a look into not only the worlds of Eliade and Culianu, but also a disturbing examination of far-right politics in Romania. Culianu's murder remains unsolved despite its obvious link to his outspoken views on the Romanian revolution which occurred just prior to his murder. However, many disturbing coincidences abound regarding this event.



4. 
   I first heard of the murder of Professor Culianu when I was an undergrad at the University of Chicago. I was immediately drawn to find more about the man who allegedly believed in the magic he studied. After reading "Eros and Magic" and "Out of this World", I thought that this biography might shed some additional light on the man, his scholarship, and his occult dabblings.
   
   I must admit I was somewhat disappointed. The book is very dry and factually oriented. The facts themselves appear to be well-researched, but are simply presented without much else. Mr. Anton tells us where Prof. Culianu was born, where he studied, what books he wrote, but seldom goes deeper than that.
   Ironically, given the themes in Culianu's work and life, Mr. Anton fails to realize the importance of evoking the imagination in telling the story, to bring the facts to life in a meaningful, interesting way.
   
   There are only the slightest hints of the exciting ideas that motivated Prof. Culianu's scholarship and personal life.
   It is said that Prof. Culianu took a personal interest interest in the ideas he was studying, actually practicing divination and teaching a course on it. But rather than exploring in any depth either Prof. Culianu's professional ideas or personal interests, these facts are simply used as "hooks" to carry the reader along.
   
   If you are interested in the ideas of Prof. Culianu and/or his interest in occult scholarship, this book will probably disappoint you. If you are looking for a lot of biographical facts about Prof. Culianu, then this book may be for you.



5. This is an insightful look at the life and work of a brilliant Romanian scholar and exile, and at the frightening overseas activities of the Romanian secret police in the post-communist years. Written in a clear, elegant style, with plenty of references to Culianu's writings and glimpses at his complicated personal interactions, this book is a great read. As the author concludes, Culianu "left a legacy of the dangers of a life of the mind." Without this biography, his undeserved fate may well be forgotten.

5 comments about Risking It All: My Student, My Lover, My Story.

1. I have to say I finished this in 1 day. Could not stay away from it. Story is soooo absorbing,
   the woman its about is weak, and looking to be accepted but no weaker than a NORMAL woman is about a man (In this cause I use this loosely), but again most normal women have relationshiops with MEN age suitable. Great story, heartbeaking in its truth.
   Hat goes off to author for reveiling heartfelt emotoin at the risk os sounding like a fool chasing your own youth. Makes you want them to STILL be together.



2. I think this was an absolutely fantastic book. We, the people, not the accusers finally get an insight of what someone is thinking while commiting a crime over a time period. I loved this book, it was the best one i have read since Lovely Bones.



3. I read this book in two days, found myself drawn to turn each page and it was definitely a good read, but Ms. Ingram is very sad, despite occasional mentions of her mistakes, she seems to have no remorse. I think it would almost have been buyable as a true love outside age had she not gone and slept (one night stand yet) with another student and friend of the original lover ! Agggh. Keep her away from the kids!



4. Heather Ingram is an eloquent writer. She explains how she had an affair with one of her students very well. However, she downplays the seriousness of her choices: "I'm just a girl who wants to dance with her boyfriend". She also makes the reader uncomfortable with the way she sees her student as a grown man who is ready for a relationship with her. "He does not appear to be shamed by his suspension; (for doing drugs)he looks as if he is beyond high school, beyond trivial rules and punishment." Her writing continues in this fashion, putting a Danielle Steel style spin on a damaging, selfish, irresponsible decision. Ingram's sweet spin becomes quite taxed as she sleeps with a friend of Troy's while he is away. Ditto when Troy is arrested for sexual assault, assault and dealing drugs. She writes about her punishment and probation, seeming to indicate that she does not feel she should be punished at all. "I sit in front of Sue (her house arrest supervisor) my emotions raging and raw but my face impassive". In the end, she seems angry at the society that punished her for having a affair with a student. "Part of me is angry. Why would I want to go back into society - a society I now see as created and perpetuated by people who are predominantly unhappy...?" She also cannot say that she would not do it again, "I would like to say that I would not do it all again if I could relive the past, but given my emotional state at the time I cannot be sure." Heather has recently has Troy's baby, Troy has been charged with possession of cocaine. They are not together anymore. Maybe now her Danielle Steel view of the world has finally matured to accepting her mistakes.



5. Heather Ingram has lots of excuses and rationalizations regarding her decision to have sex with a student. A student who by her own admission, had lots of learning and social difficulities. Heather romantizes her relationship with "Troy" and she struck me as a really immature 29 year old, who never emotionally matured past the age of 15. She talked about Troy being the kind of kid who never would have looked twice at her when she was back in high school. So, this kid, Troy, made her feel young, fun, vibrant and sexy, and she could relive this weird adolescent based fantasy with him. I found the book creepy, she Heather Ingram strikes me as a very selfish and childish person.
   
   It was bad enough that she slept with one of her students, but she ended up having sex with another teenager, Troy's best friend "because she was lonely" ohhh wah. What a disgusting woman.

2 comments about The Diary of an Isle Royale School Teacher.

1. An excellent book giving an insight of how one person experienced the isolated life of Isle Royale during one winter of 1932-33. This is a fast-reading book which is not easy to set down. Anyone who has visited the beautiful island of Isle Royale National Park should find this diary interesting and captivating. Book's epilogue and editorial notes by author's son add special insight.



2. I enjoyed this written journal by a schoolteacher who spent the winter isolated on the island of Isle Royale, because it is the history of my mother and her family. They were commercial fisherman and spent the winters on Isle Royale, with only a ham radio for communication. It gives a very true picture of the hardships they endured, the amusements they created to combat boredome, and the personalities of the Johnson family

No comments about Straddling Worlds: The Jewish-American Journey of Professor Richard W. Leopold.

No comments about Chomsky's Universal Grammar: An Introduction.

2 comments about I Alone Have Escaped to Tell You: My Life And Pastimes.

1. A delightful autobiography -- one can only wish it were longer. The author's life has been full of adventures that most of us can experience only second-hand. Of particular interest may be the chapter on Vatican II and its aftermath, or the chapter delineating the problems of modernist philosophers and the Scholastic antidote. For many readers, especially those of the author's multitudinous mysteries, the chapter titled "Author" will be the best. It refers to several of McInerny's early novels, which though sadly out of print are well worth the trouble of tracking down in libraries.
   
   One would think that Notre Dame could employ a scholarship student to do the proofreading. Apparently only a spell-checker is used, as words occasionally appear under the guise of other words' spellings, but misspellings that coincide with no other word do not. This book deserved better. The upshot is that a few sentences have to be read several times over in order to be degarbled. But there are many more sentences worth rereading for their intrinsic interest -- I think you'll be glad to have read this book.



2. Ralph McInerny has only gained skill as a craftsman as he ages. This account is tightly written and carries the reader along through a remarkable life, but manages to be self-depracating in the process.
   
   As a wordsmith, McInerny is unparelleled and having a dictionary in this journey might be wise. However, his style and grace makes the occasional unfamiliar term non-threatening.
   
   I would recommend this to anyone who loves the academic life or the life of the spirit.
   
   Stephanie Swee

5 comments about Walking on Water: Reading, Writing, and Revolution.

1. A must have for anyone who works with education...It gives you a fresh outlook on teaching & and that there is a refreshing way to teach various subjects...



2. No seriously, this book is phenomenally self-aware, and self-critical, while also making a strong case for totally dismantling institutionalized education. But Jensen doesn't simply condemn a system built to squash the human spirit, he goes far, far beyond that. For every page explaining the horrors of the traditional educational model and his problems working within it, he provides ten pages of real life examples of how he answered the toughest question of all, "what would you do instead?" The fact that he gives us a peek into his fantastic classes is tempered by his constant reminders that there is no one answer. Instead, we all must constantly probe our innermost depths to find our own answers. How will we confront systems of conformity and discover how to be ourselves?



3. This is one of the most moving books I've read in several years. If you are a teacher this book will lead you to re-evaluate and think about what you are doing and how you treat your students. This was the first book that I've read by Derrick Jensen and I look forward to reading the rest of his books in the near future.



4. While evangelicals/creationists strive to retard education Derrick Jensen encourages us to inspire and challenge students. Instill passion and imagination and refute mind-numbing dogma.



5. Jensen's "W.O.W" is part memoir, part polemic on America's industrialized system of education which he has been a part of as a writing teacher in higher ed and the prison system. His arguments for the power of writing as a humanizing force are compelling and inspiring for teachers of writing at any level, and his anecdotes describing his unconventional approach to classroom teaching are thought-provoking for any teacher looking for a fresh perspective on reaching students. And it's a quick and entertaining read!