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- Wonderfully Made is wonderfully made
- Straight to the Heart
- God Thinks You're Wonderful
- Amazing
- God Thinks You're Wonderful
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God Thinks You're Wonderful
Max Lucado
Manufacturer: Thomas Nelson
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0849956501 |
Book Description
Everybody needs to know that God thinks they're special. A warm-hearted gift appropriate for almost anyone at any occasion, God Thinks You're Wonderful is the perfect way to say, "You Are Special." Who wouldn't enjoy 96 pages of smile-producing affirmations such as:
"If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it"
"He can live anywhere in the universe, and he chose your heart?"
"Our hearts are not large enough to contain the blessings that God wants to give"
Each brief thought is accompanied by an irresistible drawing to remind readers of God's love and care. Chris Shea's delightful illustrations pair perfectly with Max Lucado's warm words in this unique, full-color gift book.
Customer Reviews:
Wonderfully Made is wonderfully made.......2007-08-23
I read this book to my son, JW and to his brother - I've gotten each a book and personalized it with their name in appropriate places. I tear up almost every time that I read it because it is so very touching. I would recommend this book for anyone. It makes a wonderful baby gift.
Straight to the Heart.......2007-07-03
This book is simple, but touching. I have given it to all of my friends. We all need a reminder of how much God loves us, and this really gets the point across in a short, sweet way. It is especially helpful when I am feeling ungrateful or down & makes me look at all that I have in my life. The best book I have ever read. Just awesome!
God Thinks You're Wonderful.......2007-05-27
This is a wonderful book for kids. It's out of print, however, but I was able to find it through Amazon.com. It's simple, fun, and a quick read that clearly illustrates how special each child is to God. The author, Max Lucado, never disappoints. I bought a copy for each of my grandchildren for Easter and one for a First Communion Gift and they all loved it.
Amazing.......2007-05-12
This book is so beautiful. Its just an incredible love story but written for a child! I used it for my youth group, to bring home the fact that we are all children of God and no we are not adults BUT CHILDREN!
God Thinks You're Wonderful .......2007-04-11
This is something "wonderful" we can read ourselves, have our kids read and then read to our grandchildren. This will help build their self esteem and make them realize they really are special, not only to us but God, too.
Book Description
What is it about four-year-olds that makes them so lovable? What problems do four-year-olds have? What can they do now that they couldn't do at three? Drs. Ames and Ilg, recognized authorities on child behavior and development, discuss these and scores of other questions unique to four-year-old girls and boys, and they offer parents practical advice and enlightening psychological insights.
Customer Reviews:
Out of date advice, but 'bang on' observations.......2007-06-21
I remembered this series from its assitance in raising my "first litter" of kids, who are now in their mid and late twenties. I have just finished re-reading this title in honour of my four year old youngest.
I gave the book four stars rather than five because, as other reviewers have noted, the book is 30 years old and in some places it's obvious that it hasn't been updated since then. I was occasionally really surprised at the flashbacks I got in reading what was once the "gold standard" in child development advice and realizing how odd it soudns today. There are places, especially in the second half of the book, where observation gives way to opinion and advice that is a relic of its time. (TV is good, kids 'need' to be ghettoized in schools 'for their own developmental good', and a goodly dose of "girls behave this way and boys behave that way, and you can predict behavior based on body type [whaaa?!?!].)
But kids themselves don't change that much -- kids develop today much the same way they developed 30 years ago and 300 years ago. (Oh, their interests and our expectations have changed a lot, but kids and their development patterns haven't.)
So if you're a reader who can sort observation from the opinions based on those observations, I would still recommend this book as a really good primer on what to expect from your child's physical, emotional, and intellectual development over the course of the fourth year. She pegs the changes in the developing child very accurately -- even if her ideas about what that means are sometimes a little wierd.
Helped me understand our daughter!.......2006-07-06
I was looking for a short, easy to read overview about 4 year olds. I felt like I had a pretty good grasp on 1-3, but when our daughter hit 4, all control and understanding was lost! Ames' book really put the age in perspective -- she does a great job describing what's normal for 4. As a result, my husband and I felt a bit less isolated, more secure, and confident as parents.
Definitely helpful, definitely dated.......2006-04-01
My own four-year-old is now five. I read this book around the time he turned 4 so it's been a little while, but after reading the prior review I had to comment.
Swearing and violent stories ARE totally normal for this age -- at least for boys -- even when there are no "horrible experiences" or other negative influences that the child has been exposed to. My son has never been spanked, watches almost no TV or movies, and has limited exposure to "four letter words"; this is also true of almost all of my friends' similar-age children and my son's preschool classmates. But I found the book's description of the child's fascination with violence and exaggeration of his own capabilities to be spot on. And something of a relief, as other reviewers have mentioned, precisely because so many people have the judgmental attitude that any child who likes to talk about "killing bad men" must be in a violent home.
As for the chapter on temperament being determined by body type, I found it completely bizarre. I have to assume this is just another example (along with recommending "rubber pants" for bedwetters and so on) of how dated these books are; perhaps this theory had some currency then? My advice to anyone who reads this book now is to just skip that entire chapter. It makes no sense at all and seriously detracts from the rest of the book. If you want to read about temperament in connection with children's discipline and education, check out Mary Sheedy Kurcinka's books.
I wouldn't call this book a must-have but if you, like myself, are a voracious reader of parenting books, it's worth adding to your library at the appropriate time. Most other books for this age group focus on some particular aspect or issue -- nutrition, discipline, whatever -- and this is one of the few that give a good overall developmental picture. Just translate some of the dated ideas (substitute pull-up style overnight diapers for rubber pants) and skip the wacko body-type chapter, and it's a handy, quickly-read introduction to the next year of your child's life.
An Oldie But Goodie!.......2006-03-22
I am a stay at home mom of three older children and a four year old boy and I loved this book. I had a lot of worries about my lovable and intelligent son and this book was just a sigh of relief. Almost everything I read in this book described my son perfectly. He has a lot of positive qualites, but also his share of negative qualities (all of which were covered in this book) and it was refreshing to read that he is normal and will grow out of most of these things by the time he is five.
Although this book was written in a European style, and many years ago in 1976, I still feel it is relevant to today. Kids change some, but not too much. Although I in no way advocate severe child rearing practices, I think today's child rearing recommendations are way too lax and touchy feely and haven't even worked for me. This book gave me good, positive ideas for caring for my son (that I may actually be able to do!) and also gave me the confidence to realize that most of what he does and says is normal.
Very sensible and enlightening account of a 4 year old.......2006-03-16
I really enjoyed this book. It offered so many insights to my 4 year old's behavior and gave very sensible and practicle advice about how to deal with specific situations. The authors truly understand what it's like to parent a 4 year old!
Book Description
Susan Page’s bestselling relationship book has been translated into 18 languages, is being read in more than 25 countries, and its mass-market edition has sold more than 158,000 copies. At the heart of this book are Page’s famed 10 strategies for readers to better self-understanding and ultimately a fulfilling relationship. Filled with revealing anecdotes, case studies, and quizzes, the book’s down-to- earth guidance will appeal to everyone who devoured books like Mars and Venus on a Date and Getting the Love You Want, and anyone who wants a fulfilling intimate relationship.
"Behold a wonder–a romantic self-help book that is intelligent, upbeat, practical, useful, winning, and even wise." –Kirkus Reviews
Customer Reviews:
Very interesting and useable helpful hints.......2007-09-27
Very interesting hints and points how to meet people who match with your intrests and needs.
Step one, find a huge group of availble partners .......2007-07-05
If you really don't know how to attract a mate, are subconsciously avoiding finding one, or tend to make poor choices....this book is for you. On the other hand, if you would love to find the perfect life partner but are limited by the number of available people of the same sexual orientation, age, attractiveness or social class, this book will not help you. It depends heavily on your having a reasonably large dating pool. She makes it sound like everyone has enough people in their social circle to create an endless reject list if necessary.
Non-sentimental, good advice.......2007-05-18
It will probably make you want to break up with the person you are dating...which may be why you are reading the book. I thought the first half of the book was the best part and had some very good points and was insightful. The second half of the book--less interesting. But I did buy it for a few girlfriends who needed to read it.
OUTSTANDING!.......2007-01-30
I bought this book in 1990 and still have my copy with multi-layers of highlighting. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. I learned so much and, to this day, I still use the term "psuedo intimacy" in discussions about relationships. (I also refer to "psuedo love" which SP does not use in her book but which is clearly inspired by her and inferred.)
From Chapter 6: "Understanding the distinction between pseudo-intimate games and real intimacy is the best defense against getting deeply involved with a person who cannot open up to you, become vulnerable, and share closely in the way a lifetime of living together demands." "...now, a relationship can move from formal to friendly to sexual in the course of one evening. ... The (Closeness Game) game looks and feels like genuine intimacy but leaves you feeling empty in the end."
From Chapter 10: "...if you are still single because of a lack of self-awareness and self-acceptance, then all the strategies and techniques in the world won't be very useful to you. A good relationship with yourself is a prerequisite for a successful relationship with the person you love. If you don't love yourself, you will place an unfair and impossible burden on your partner: you will try to get him or her to make you feel good about yourself. ...self awareness is an ongoing, ever expanding process."
That and much, much more is contained within the pages of this book. Highly, highly, highly recommended. Life-changing (for the better).
Wonderful.......2006-11-13
I am a Christian, and although this book is not written from a Chrsitian viewpoint, the advice is hopeful and excellent!
I read a lot, and this is a substantial (not fluffy) book. Buy it!
Amazon.com
"Ah, what can ever be more stately and admirable to me than mast-hemm'd Manhattan?" marveled the excitable Walt Whitman in 1865. The skinny island and its four sister boroughs have continued to fascinate writers ever since, and it would be hard to find a better record of that fascination than Wonderful Town: New York Stories from The New Yorker. As David Remnick explains in his foreword, the fledgling magazine paid relatively little heed to the nuts and bolts of metropolitan life, and in his original prospectus, Harold Ross didn't even mention fiction. But in the following decades, Ross and his successors published so many classic New York stories that the real challenge, according to Remnick, was whittling down the selection: "As there is barely enough room in this city to contain all of its busy, funny, angry, joyful, carping, and canny inhabitants, there was barely enough room to contain the wide range of stories we agreed upon."
So what made the grade? There are treasures from John Cheever ("The Five-Forty-Eight"), James Thurber ("The Catbird Seat"), Maeve Brennan ("I See You, Bianca"), Isaac Bashevis Singer ("The Cafeteria"), Jamaica Kincaid ("Poor Visitor"), and many others. The uptown neighborhoods appear to be more generously represented--a token, perhaps, of the magazine's well-heeled, fur-bearing readership--but from early Updike to middle-period Tama Janowitz, there are plenty of excursions south of Fourteenth Street. It's not, however, a simple matter of geography, but a kind of urban metaphysics at work. There are numerous and overlapping New Yorks represented in this collection: you'll find John Cheever's postwar paradise cheek-by-jowl with Ann Beattie's yuppie stomping ground. Then there's James Stevenson's vision of a flooded Gotham:
We are on the roof now. I have no idea what time it is, but it is daylight. The lower buildings have been submerged, the tall office buildings stand like tombstones above the heaving waves. There are whitecaps toward Central Park. An ocean liner stood by the Pan Am building for a while, then moved out to sea.... The water is swirling around the skylights now. The wind shifts. The waves are coming straight in from the Atlantic.
Even in this postapocalyptic setting, New York stubbornly remains itself. A wonderful town indeed--and a wonderful collection to celebrate it. --Anita Urquhart
Book Description
New York City is not only The New Yorker magazine's place of origin and its sensibility's lifeblood, it is the heart of American literary culture.
Wonderful Town, an anthology of superb short fiction by many of the magazine's most accomplished contributors, celebrates the seventy-five-year marriage between a preeminent publication and its preeminent context with this collection of forty-four of its best stories from (so to speak) home.
East Side? Philip Roth's chronically tormented alter ego Nathan Zuckerman has just moved there, in "Smart Money." West Side? Isaac Bashevis Singer's narrator mingles with the customers in "The Cafeteria" (who debate politics and culture in four or five different languages) and becomes embroiled in an obsessional romance. And downtown, John Updike's Maples have begun their courtship of marital disaster, in "Snowing in Greenwich Village." John Cheever, John O'Hara, Lorrie Moore, Irwin Shaw, Woody Allen, Laurie Colwin, Saul Bellow, J. D. Salinger, Jean Stafford, Vladimir Nabokov--they and many other stellar literary guides to the city will be found in these pages.
Wonderful Town touches on some of the city's famous places and stops at some of its more obscure corners, but the real guidebook in and between its lines is to the hearts and the minds of those who populate the metropolis built by its pages. Like all good fiction, these stories take particular places, particular people, and particular events and turn them into dramas of universal enlightenment and emotional impact. The five boroughs are the five continents. New York is every great and ordinary place. Each life in it, and each life in Wonderful Town, is the life of us all.
Customer Reviews:
I'm not a book critic, just a college student...........2005-10-18
I'm not a book critic, just a college student and had to read some stories from this book for class. As I said, I haven't ready everything in the world, and don't want to be seen ignorant. But I really didn't enjoy a lot of things here, thought I haven't read all the stories. Some where enjoyable "6" on a 1-10 scale, 10 being the best. Some stories seem very gloomy, and all the stories that I read are loosely related to New York. But "Good For You" to the people who enjoyed this book. And don't just take my word for it.
Wonderful collection.......2004-03-31
The opening author is John Cheever. A corporate man and a corporate secretary meet at her place for a drink. He is estranged from his wife, the father of a friend of his son, and, finally, the woman, who manages to humiliate him.
There is a story by Roth about a fictitious quiz show contestant. Tales by John O'Hara, Laurie Colwin, Jonathan Franzen, and Frank Conroy appear. The Franzen entry was used as a chapter or at least an incident in CORRECTIONS.
A character in a Nabokov story has referential mania. Jamaica Kincaid in her account of an overseas visitor speaks of day old food stored in a refrigerator. John McNulty writes of a bar, of course, and Hortense Calisher of Greenwich Village.
J.D. Salinger's contribution is a story featuring Holden Caulfield and Pencey Prep. Renata Adler writes in stylish fashion using a fictional "I" of life in a brownstone. Isaac Bashevis Singer comes along with yiddish-speaking cafeteria goers. Veronica Geng has a take on conspicuous consumption.
Susan Sontag provides a surprisingly buoyant account of chronic illness. The narrator of Julie Hecht's story believes that buildings in New York should be built to the specifications of Prince Charles. "Mentocrats" by Edward Newhouse concerns schoolboys promoting the idea of a mental aristocracy. Daniel Menaker has a character say that the banality of evil is outstripped by the banality of anxiety neurosis. The psychiatrist in the story tells the first character he doesn't have the courage of his own contempt.
In eliminating some regrets you create others according to Jeffrey Eugenides. Dorothy Parker, E.B. White, Elizabeth Hardwick, Bernard Malamud, and Saul Bellow are all present in this collection of stories. Bellow's story gives rise to the thought that everyone has burdens. Remnick's selections are a joy.
Terrific!.......2002-08-03
John Cheever, Woody Allen, and Bernard Malamud wrote my favorite stories in this wonderful collection about life in New York City. Three quick thoughts: (1) While the dynamic captured by some authors seems a little dated (Dorothy Parker), most of the stories resonate with characters, experiences, and social groups that are common today in New York. (2) The collection offers 44 stories and 44 authors. This helps a reader see how these authors are great in different ways. (3) This collection ends, once and for all, the impression that all stories in The New Yorker are the same. Buy this book!
A brilliant collection.......2001-01-03
This collection of New York stories shows both why writers have been fascinated with the Big Apple for so long and also why The New Yorker has been the hallmark of short fiction. The collection begins with Cheever and ends with Perlman, which pretty much sums up the golden years of the magazine. The pleasures here range from a story of lingering urban dread by William Maxwell to a hilarious tale of an intellectual loser by Jonathan Franzen. Updike's story both paints a true picture of New York in the snow and returns to his favorite theme -- infidelity. Philip Roth has a hilarious entry about a famous writer hounded by a game show contestant -- even funnier if you've seen "Quiz Show." The collection made me homesick for New York. It's one of the best books I read in 2000.
A must-read for literary fiction fans.......2000-10-10
This is not only a good anthology to read for entertainment, but also a necessity for anyone who wants to write literary fiction. The New Yorker is the cornerstone of American contemporary literature, and this book captures a good sampling of the stories which have appeared in its pages the last 50 years or so. I particularly liked DEisenberg's story, and the fact that JCheever's story appears first. I think the book should have had a few more lighter pieces, and wonder why McInerney was skipped over.
Amazon.com
The Burgess Shale of British Columbia "is the most precious and important of all fossil localities," writes Stephen Jay Gould. These 600-million-year-old rocks preserve the soft parts of a collection of animals unlike any other. Just how unlike is the subject of Gould's book.
Gould describes how the Burgess Shale fauna was discovered, reassembled, and analyzed in detail so clear that the reader actually gets some feeling for what paleobiologists do, in the field and in the lab. The many line drawings are unusually beautiful, and now can be compared to a wonderful collection of photographs in Fossils of the Burgess Shale by Derek Briggs, one of Gould's students.
Burgess Shale animals have been called a "paleontological Rorschach test," and not every geologist by any means agrees with Gould's thesis that they represent a "road not taken" in the history of life. Simon Conway Morris, one of the subjects of Wonderful Life, has expressed his disagreement in Crucible of Creation. Wonderful Life was published in 1989, and there has been an explosion of scientific interest in the pre-Cambrian and Cambrian periods, with radical new ideas fighting for dominance. But even though many scientists disagree with Gould about the radical oddity of the Burgess Shale animals, his argument that the history of life is profoundly contingent--as in the movie It's a Wonderful Life, from which this book takes its title--has become more accepted, in theories such as Ward and Brownlee's Rare Earth hypothesis. And Gould's loving, detailed exposition of the labor it took to understand the Burgess Shale remains one of the best explanations of scientific work around. --Mary Ellen Curtin
Book Description
"Gould has brought to light one of the least known but most spectacular paleontological discoveries of all time….a brilliant tapestry."—Martin Gardner
The Burgess Shale is a small limestone quarry formed 530 million years ago. In it are the remains of an ancient sea that nurtured more varieties of life than can be found in all of our modern oceans. Stephen Jay Gould explores what the Burgess Shale reveals about evolution and the nature of history. 116 illustrations.
Customer Reviews:
Not Good.......2007-07-15
This book is quoted so often in the literature that I thought I was going to read something profound. It isn't. Conway Morris and others were right to criticize it. Not sure what all the fuss is about. As a well reasoned argument Gould missed the mark.
LIFE 101.......2007-03-19
I READ THIS BOOK WHEN CAME OUT YEARS AGO. NOW YOU CAN GET IT AT AMAZON AS A BARGAIN BOOK. THIS WONDERFUL STORY TELLS ABOUT AN ALTERNATE EARTH THAT NEVER MADE IT. SOMETHING DESTROYED IT UTTERLY. AND WONDERFUL LIFE FOUGHT BACK AND WITH TIME BECAME GIANT ANIMALS ROAMING THE LANDS OF THE EARTH. THE K-T EVENT. WACKED AGAIN! BUT LIFE ENDURED AND BECAME US...
READING THIS BEATS WATCHING THE FLUFF ON SATELLITE AND CABLE. AND IT MAKES YOU THINK. IT HELPS YOU PUT TWO AND TWO TOGETHER TO ARRIVE AT YOU!
Revolution in thinking about evolution.......2007-02-25
Burgess Shale is the most important find ever of remains of early animal life on earth. Stephen Jay Gould explains why, and also why it took almost seventy years before the true significance of this treasure trove began to dawn upon the scientific world. In Gould's view, the 1970's reappraisal of the Burgess Shale fossils represents no less than a Copernical revolution in thinking about the way life on earth has evolved. While this may be, or may not be the case, the tale of how this reappraisal came about is thrillingly and competently told.
As a complete layman in the field of paleontology, I found the insets, explaining the basics and the terminology of the science very helpful. The beautiful drawings by Marianne Collins also helped me a lot to get a feel of what the amazing creatures of Burgess Shale must have been like while living.
The tale of how three British paleontologists, through their work on the fossils, arrived, much to their own surprise, upon conclusions very different from Walcott's (who first discovered Burgess Shale) is a captivating one. Gould's analysis of why Walcott in his time could not possibly have seen his find in it's true light, is something I could have done without.
But then, even if this part holds less interest for me than the main story, were it not for social obligations, I would have finished this book in one sitting!
Heartily recommended for all interested in the history of life on earth.
Elegant prose, science made accessible.......2007-01-10
I feel remiss for not writing a lengthy review of the book, but I hardly have time to do it justice as I go about my work. Instead, I will summarize the major points.
Gould is an exceptional writer who makes science accesible for all readers. I know that this book has drawn new paleontologists into the field, and it definitely encouraged me. It also inspired research programs, numerous books by detractors (e.g., Conway-Morris's "The Crucible of Creation"), which are unfortunately not nearly as well written, and helped popularize the importance of the Cambrian explosion and the lack of understanding of this crucially important time in the history of life. While some of Gould's ideas have since been proved wrong (e.g., he felt that there were more body plans, phyla, represented by Burgess Shale animals than at present but these animals have since been seen to fit into existing phyla), other ideas (e.g., that nearly all phyla arose in the same geological instant) have stood the test of time.
As with all science, the book should be approached critically. Unfortunately, there are few scientists who are able or willing to make their work accessible to the lay person so that all can have an opportunity to understand, enjoy, and contemplate.
Gould's take on the creatures of the Burgess Shale........2006-01-31
Stephen Jay Gould (1941-2002) was a very popular (and controversial) scientist/professor. He wrote several books and many articles in Natural Science magazine. In Wonderful Life, he focuses on the Pre-Cambrian fossils of the Burgess Shale in western Canada.
In doing so, he creates a book with three divisions: the biography of Charles Dolittle Walcott, a description of the creatures from that find, and his own interpretation of what they mean in evolutionary theory.
I found the narrative about Walcott interesting as he was surely a man of powerful intellect, standards and drive. But Gould does go out of his way to not just point out that Walcott never performed a serious study of the fossils, but to explain ~why~ and why his early analysis was wrong.
There is a one-hundred-plus section in which each of the specimens is described in great detail. He uses this as a means to discuss the advances in techniques and approaches to studying these fossils, how our understanding of them changed over time, replacing Walcott's ideas. The discussion of scientific approach was fine, but frankly, I was a bit overloaded with the detailed descriptions of the Burgess creatures. A set of good drawings would have gone a long way - a picture being worth a thousand words and what. This section became tedious to read.
The third section, Gould's interpretation of the data, is also a bit confusing and has turned out to be controversial and even wrong. Gould presents his thoughts on the diversity of life in the Cambrian vs modern times, and why there is such a difference. Simon Conway Morris, one of the young scientists he lauds, would later criticize him in his own book about the Burgess Shale fossils, The Crucible Of Creation (1998).
When published, Wonderful Life was a best seller and won awards. I am honestly not sure why. While it is fairly interesting, it is not a 5-star book.
Book Description
Tells the entire story of the film's production and presents us with an extraordinary wealth of original material. More than 200 photos.
Customer Reviews:
A must-have for any "Lifer".......2000-09-26
Jeanine Basinger has put together the definitive collection of primary source information available about "It's a Wonderful Life."
Anybody who considers him or herself a "Lifer" (a fan of the movie, usually an extreme fan such as myself) needs to purchase this book.
Almost everything you want to know is in here, from the original story the film was based on to interviews with Stewart, an introduction by Capra, pictures galore, the final script, script revisions, notes about suggested censorship, and much, much more.
There is even information in here you wouldn't even think about asking. An example is the name of the "stars in charge." One is named Joseph. What is the name of the other galxy (Hint: The answer isn't God).
I often get e-mails asking me questions about the film. If I don't have the answer, this is the first book I pick up. Of the many times I've been asked questions, I have always found the answer in this book.
This is the ultimate IAWL reference.
Wonderful in every way; just like the movie!.......1999-01-21
Could it be possible that a book written about the most inspirational American film of all time do justice to it? The answer is a resounding "YES!". Jeanine Basinger's "The It's a Wonderful Life Book" is the ultimate tribute to the film that Jimmy Stewart, Frank Capra and millions of people all over the world call their favorite of all time.
Diving into the archives of Frank Capra to tell the evolution of the movie from cradle to grave (though it will never die!), Ms. Basinger manages to tell the story with such sincerety, fascination and charm that you get the feeling that everything surrounding the movie was just as wonderful as the final product! Best of all, the details of the making of the movie are so vivid that you almost start to feel that YOU WERE THERE!
The first thing you realize as you read the story of IAWL is that is was a really big movie from the gitgo. That is, Mr. Capra had high aspirations for it and did EVERYTHING in his power to make it his greatest and lasting achievement (little argument here) and that Hollywood was watching.
Fans may know that the story started as a Christmas card called "The Greatest Gift" which finally found its way into Mr. Capra's hands where, after many writes and re-writes into a script, got the Capra touch transforming it into his baby. Then casting began with each actor painstakingly chosen to be the perfect person for each particular character.
Anecdotes abound, starting with Capra's embarrassingly jumbled explanation of the storyline while recruiting Stewart. (Fortunately, all Jimmy needed to hear was that Frank wanted him.) Then we hear the one about Stewart's shattered confidence in acting which is restored when Lionel Barrymore pulls him aside for a peptalk. Finally, We're told that the famous phone scene where George kisses Mary was done in a single take AND THAT TWO PAGES OF DIALOGUE WERE SKIPPED! (Capra saw the magic and said "Print it!").
We also learn some fascinating facts about the production such as the 300-yard long set which made Bedford Falls' Main Street and how a record-breaking heat wave took place during the shooting of the snow scenes (in which a new technology was developed for making more realistic-looking snow which won the crew an honorable mention at the Oscars!). Other incredible details are too vast to mention - you've gotta read it for yourself!
The book is worth it if just to learn all of these amazing facts. Most amazing, though, is the LOVE that the two driving forces put into this film culminating in a "Capraesque" out-of-this-world PICNIC for the cast and crew.
The picnic's panoramic photo, which manages to miraculously include these guys on either end of the crowd (they ran behind as the cameraman slowly panned from left to right) typifies not only the ubiquitousness which Capra had to have to make IAWL a reality, but also how we can never seem to get enough of our lifetime friend, George Bailey.
Book Description
Life abundant--Jesus promised it and we long for it, yet few Christians seem to have it. Blending lively anecdotes, commentary, and teachings from the Bible, Stanley introduces you to the Holy Spirit. He is not an oversized electrical current you just plug into when you need additional help, or a theological concept, but just as real and active as Christ. He has personality as well as a specific job description and a definite desire to be an active part of our lives.
Customer Reviews:
Good book.......2007-06-29
Really gives a greater understanding of the Holy Spirit. I love how Mr. Stanley provides verses along with what he is writing about. Reading the book was like a huge epiphany, it really clarified alot of things for me. I think it is a "must read" book.
Written in 1994, but will be a timeless treasure.......2007-05-05
This book is an excellent read! It is both informative and practical as Dr. Stanley walks you through his personal discovery of the Holy Spirit in his own Christian experience. In his trademark conversational style, he helps you to understand why an understanding of the Holy Spirit is perhaps the most important component of your Christian walk, second only to receiving salvation itself. Dr. Stanley provides plenty of scriptural support and uses excellent analogies. He gives many actual, albeit safe, disclosures from from his own life. You almost get the sense that you are having a personal one-on-one conversation with him. One of the things that I really liked is that at the end of the each chapter, he gave a list of resources that a person could go to for additional information, as well as a list of thought provoking "think about it" questions. Those questions make this an excellent book for a small group discussion or personal reflection.
The Only Way to a Fruitful and Fulfilling Christian Life.......2005-07-10
Learning to walk with Christ is the adventure of a lifetime! It is, indeed, the reason we were made, and makes our lives full of purpose! To know Him intimately involved in each day makes even the trials that come have meaning, realizing that good can come from all that is allowed to touch us. It gives us hope and comfort knowing He is with us at ALL times, guiding and making the way for us, even when we cannot see anything except what is right in front of our eyes. Knowing He has all things under His control gives peace and comfort. He sustains and encourages, because He loves us more dearly than we can imagine and wants only good to come from even the adversities. Growing more deeply into Him, becoming completely dependent as children, makes us ripe for His best use of our lives, as others see Him shine through us. There must be more of Him and less of us. This book has changed my life and led to more answered prayer than I ever dreamed possible, even supernatural interventions that only He could have arranged or accomplished. Thus, I now have intimate stories of my Savior, Who leads me beside the still waters, even through the storms of life. That, and I am presently disabled from a series of traumas, but at peace, knowing I am in the center of His will for my life, surrendered to His Plan.
Excellent Guide for Being Transformed by the Holy Spirit.......2004-12-09
Dr. Stanley has written an excellent book encouraging readers to not be content with a self-satisfied life and instead be transformed by God's Holy Spirit and be used for His glory.
The book contains 18 chapters and are almost equally divided into three main areas:
1. Looking Up (A personal journey into the Spirit-filled life)
2. Looking Within (The ministries of the Holy Spirit in the believer)
3. Looking Ahead (The Holy Spirit's role in decision-making)
Stanley's underlying point throughout the book is that the believer can only experience a totally joy-filled life when truly under the leadership and authority of the Holy Spirit.
Read, enjoy, and be challenged!
Informative and Inspirational.......2003-06-10
Dr. Stanley provides insights that help a Christian to tap into the abundant life described by Jesus in the Gospels by showing them how to apply priciples that work. For example, he writes "you will enjoy exercising your gift. You will look forward to the responsibilities you are given that call on you to use your gift" (p. 137). In other words, being all that God intended you to be is an exciting adventure of discovery. It enables a person to discover who they are and the God who made them.
In making a point about God's sovereignty, Dr. Stanley notes "the Holy Spirit decides who gets which gifts" (p. 134). As a result, the person is seeking to discover what God has already put in place in his or her life. The adventure continues as one uses those gifts for the kingdom of God and His purposes.
Average customer rating:
- I wish that I had read it sooner
- It's still a pretty wonderful lie
- Best Book I've Ever Read
- Worth the read, especially if you're currently enduring your twenties
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It's a Wonderful Lie: 26 Truths About Life in Your Twenties
Manufacturer: 5 Spot
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ASIN: 044669777X |
Customer Reviews:
I wish that I had read it sooner.......2007-06-07
I was in Borders when I stumbled along this book and thought " What a clever title and concept." As a twenty something professional in higher education that deals with early twenty something women on a regular basis, I highly recommend this book. It is a quick read but able to be put down and picked back up easily. There were times when I shook my head in agreement and laughed aloud hysterically.
It's still a pretty wonderful lie.......2007-02-19
At 20 years old, I am already plagued by those life altering questions such as: where is my artsy boyfriend/why do I not have a loft downtown decorated solely in Italian furniture/is there some logical explanation why there is not a midnight blue Range Rover in my driveway? Self-absorbed and delusional? Yes. Precisely why this collection of essays is for me. Overall the essays where clever and interesting, although they were all written by successful female "chick-lit" authors, and we know their lives turned out just fine, but what about the other struggling cocktail-waitress twenty-somethings out there that now live in a trailer park and are married to a guy named Bubba?
Best Book I've Ever Read.......2007-02-02
To be honest, your 20's SUCK. Getting out of college sucks. Looking for a career sucks. Making adult friends sucks. And finding your place in the world sucks.
Before I read this book, everyone made me feel like it just sucked for me. But now I know it doesn't. It sucks for everyone. And this book proves it.
This book made me cry and laugh. It's comforting to know that there are other people who have dealt with situations and feelings identical to what I am going through now. It is also comforting to know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
This book is the best therapy a girl (or a guy) could ask for. Anyone going through a quarterlife crisis or even just feeling slightly tormented should read this book cover to cover. I promise it'll talk you back from the ledge and I promise you'll feel better afterwards.
Worth the read, especially if you're currently enduring your twenties .......2007-01-21
This collection is brilliant. I've been experiencing a bit of angst lately and have been beating myself up over it, constantly telling myself, "I'm in my mid-twenties and shouldn't be thinking like this any more; it's time to grow up!" I feel better to know that I'm not alone and that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
The authors in this collection are strong, funny, intelligent women. They're the kind of woman that I believe myself to be (on my better days) and aspire to become (on my slightly-more-discouraged days). There were a couple of stories that slowed the pace a bit for me (I don't have the book at hand and don't recall the titles), but all in all, this book made me feel better about life in general, and this decade particularly.
As the oldest of four, I've not known what it was like to sit down and receive encouragement from an older sister. Now I do!
Book Description
Even now that we're all grown up, we can't help but look back on our childhood holidays and hope to recapture that elusive spirit of joyful anticipation. Celebrating Christmas is so often about nostalgia. With a nod and a wink to the days of Christmas past, It's a Wonderful Christmas presents classic images of the Yuletide icons of mid-20th-century America.
Bubbler lights and glow-in-the-dark icicles. Catalogues crammed with toys. Norad bulletins tracking Rudolph's red nose through the nighttime sky. Along with hundreds of such quintessentially American illustrations, author Susan Waggoner stocking-stuffs her lively text with fascinating bits of information, lore, and lists. Wonder what the all-time most popular Christmas song is? How the tradition of the department store Santa got started? The answers are here. Loaded with images of vintage Christmas cards, wrapping paper, magazine ads, Lionel toy trains, and more, all in full color, this charming book will appeal to anyone who associates Christmas with home movies, "The Chipmunk Song," and Santa relaxing with an ice-cold bottle of Coca-Cola. AUTHOR BIO: SUSAN WAGGONER is the author of several illustrated books, including Vintage Cocktails (STC). A native of Minnesota, she currently lives in New York City.
Customer Reviews:
Lady, ya need to make it longer!.......2007-09-15
I am a Christmas junkie, always have been, so this was a great gift idea for one such as me, and my wife saw this and pounced on it straight off.
I don't think I'm the only one, either -- Christmas is the whole reason for having a calendar, for enduring summer, a reward for keeping our yaps shut during Near-holidays, or Faux holidays, like Labor Day or Valentine's. Christmas is life at its surreal best, the time when we get nostalgic for stuff that didn't really happen. We might be the first group to confuse recollection of television shows with our own lives, and, hey, we REVEL in that.
One moment is typical -- the window stencils and the spray junk that made the images on one's windows. It came right off, but it still irritated the bee-whosis out of our mom. Here is where things get slightly mystical for me. The photo brought back smells and sounds and body memories -- I can think of no other way to describe them -- in a heady and bittersweet rush. I wanted more -- I want more.
This is the one criticism I had -- don't you think something so crucial to American life and light should be a trifle more exhaustive? Couldn't this have been a coffee-table sized book? Are there sequels planned? Maybe year by year, throwing wide the focus? This felt more like an article that was beefed up a bit, and I think Ms. Waggoner could cast a wider net and make her and her publisher much more money and make us Christmas junkies much happier.
Nevertheless, it is highly recommended, buy yourself a copy and a few for friends -- it would make a great Christmas gift, actually -- and get a few copies of the real MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET while you're at it. How are you coming on memorizing the dialogue in A CHRISTMAS STORY, by the way?
JOURNEY TO THE PAST.......2007-07-16
I absolutely loved this book, "It's A Wonderful Christmas: The Best of the Holidays 1940-1965. It took the reader back to the traditions and simpler times of the era. The book gave the history of Christmas' past.
Great pictures of all the Christmas nostalgia!!! I really reminisced about the toys of the 50's and 60's. I had most of them!!
My parents enjoyed the book also!!! My Mom used to work at Woolworth's and it brought back many memories!!!
An awesome book to purchase and put on your coffee table for the holidays!
Love this book........2007-05-13
I really like this book. It covers all the topics and has plenty of photos. Though I missed most of this time period, I just love this era. Full of nostalgia.
A great look at back at they heyday of Christmas' past.......2007-05-10
I spotted this bok while temping at one of Amazon's fulfillment center and purchased it as from my quick perusal of said book I thiought it looked interesting.
Oh boy, it very much is and I'm glad I bought it even though it took several months before they could send it. It was well worth the wait as I love seeing the items for sale back in the day. Then again, I enjoy estate sales and such so this was right up my alley.
I thoroughly enjoyed the book and wished it went in deeper into the psyche of the times but oh well. It was still a very good read non the less and it's more of a coffee table book than anything else
Definately worth it for that alone.
christmas book.......2007-03-31
I love this book. It has things in it from when i was a kid. The pictures are great too.
Book Description
Wilsnack, a quiet market town in northeastern Germany, is unfamiliar to most English-speakers and even to many modern Germans. Yet in the fifteenth century it was a European pilgrimage site surpassed in importance only by Rome and Santiago de Compostela. The goal of pilgrimage was three miraculous hosts, supposedly discovered in the charred remains of the village church several days after it had been torched by a marauding knight in August 1383. Although the church had been burned and the spot soaked with rain, the hosts were found intact and dry, with a drop of Christ's blood at the center of each.
In Wonderful Blood, Caroline Walker Bynum studies the saving power attributed to Christ's blood at north German cult sites such as Wilsnack, the theological controversy such sites generated, and the hundreds of devotional paintings, poems, and prayers dedicated to Christ's wounds, scourging, and bloody crucifixion. She argues that Christ's blood as both object and symbol was central to late medieval art, literature, pious practice, and theology. As object of veneration, blood provided a focus of intense debate about the nature of matter, body, and God and an occasion for Jewish persecution; as motif, blood became a prominent subject of northern art and a central symbol in the visions of mystics and the prayers of ordinary people.
Bynum contends that the fourteenth- and fifteenth-century concern with the blood of Christ was not a reflection of either superstition or social unrest but, rather, an occasion to explore profound philosophical and religious issues. Wonderful Blood treats the late Middle Ages in northern Europe not as a prelude to the Protestant and Catholic reformations of the sixteenth century but as a period characterized by its own distinctive approach to the question of how humankind gains access to a Christ understood as simultaneously present on earth and gone away into heaven.
Caroline Walker Bynum is Professor of Medieval History at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. A past president of both the American Historical Association and the Medieval Academy of America, she was a MacArthur Fellow from 1986 to 1991. She is the author of several books, including Metamorphosis and Identity, The Resurrection of the Body in Western Christianity, 200-1336, Fragmentation and Redemption: Essays on Gender and the Human Body in Medieval Religion, and Holy Feast and Holy Fast: The Religious Significance of Food to Medieval Women, and is the editor, with Paul Freedman, of Last Things: Eschatology and Apocalypse in the Middle Ages, also published by the University of Pennsylvania Press.
Books:
- Hard Core: Power, Pleasure, and the "Frenzy of the Visible", Expanded edition
- He's Just Not That Into You (The Newly Expanded Edition): The No-Excuses Truth to Understanding Guys
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- Hitchcock (Revised Edition)
- Hollywood Asian: Philip Ahn and the Politics of Cross-Ethnic Performance
- Hollywood Remains to Be Seen: A Guide to the Movie Stars' Final Homes
- I Already Know I Love You
- Illustrated Sourcebook of Mechanical Components
- In the Footsteps of the Quiet Man: The Inside Story of the Cult Film
- Including Students with Special Needs: A Practical Guide for Classroom Teachers (4th Edition)
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