Ford Reviews

This book is nothing short of captivating. The author provides brief explanatory narratives to connect entries from Edwards' diaries, beginning with flight training, then combat in North Africa, and the early post-war years in America.

Just ferrying his airplane from the States to North Africa was a big adventure, considering the rather primitive nature of navigation aids and weather forecasts in that era.

Combat in Africa and Italy is described in detail, some of it surprising. For example, a military advance had a down side. Moving forward to a newly captured air field meant that the American aviators were subjected to more ground attacks by German aircraft.

The second half of the book covers the early post-war years, when American factories were building new airplanes almost faster than the Air Force could flight test them. Many exotic, one-of-a-kind vehicles are described here.

To some extent, the reader has a sense of foreboding at this point, knowing that this story is destined to end as unhappily as the maiden voyage of the Titanic. Yet this knowledge serves to accentuate the daily events described here.

There are many memorable tidbits in this book, such as tales of a man who actually intimidated Chuck Yeager!

Glen Edwards is portrayed in these pages as so heroic, embodying so many virtues, yet so modest and unassuming. This is someone you would want to know and to spend time with. Through this book, you can.

A superb book about Glen Edwards. I thoroughly enjoyed and empathized with his career. The pace was like reading a literary version of Ravel's "Bolero" with the crescendo building to the final flight. The description of the crash was wrenching, superb.

A pilot's read! Bravo Zulu!

Paul M. (USN Ret.)

"The amount of reseach Ford wove into Glen Edwards: The Diary of a Bomber Pilot" is remarkable. The result is a wonderfully readable tale of one man's contribution to freedom and flight. Nice to 'know" such a man as Edwards and to have Ford, a historian/author who brought him back to life."

I always new that I was successful when I sat down to think about it, but this book allows me to experience success each and every day!!!! It is a must have for "everyone". We are all successful and should feel that way!! What a wonderful world Susan opened for me. You need to read this as a gift for yourself!!!!!

After reading this book I realized I'd missed something... 45 years of leading a HEALTHY successful life! After 25 years climbing the corporate ladder on Wall Street I had lost my health, my family and career. And I consider myself lucky... I saw co-workers lose their lives.

I was so inspired by this book that I donated $1,000 worth of copies to my alma mater so future graduates will have a head start. This book should be in every public school curriculum and on every college Freshman Reading List!

I wish my parents and teachers had taught me what I learned from Susan Ford Collins in one week!

I've never written a review before, but this is one of THE MOST USEFUL books I've ever read. Very INSPIRING........ Very PRACTICAL....... And easy to read. Like hanging out with a wise friend, she explains the success skills through stories I could relate to and use immediately PERSONALLY & PROFESSIONALLY. I found myself looking at life differently from the first chapter on. Order several copies -- you won't want to part with yours, and this is A BOOK YOU'LL WANT TO SHARE !!!

This is an excellent book for anyone who is interested in orca whales. It has mass amounts of great information, it's easy to read, there are great photographs, and the ID catalogue of orcas is nothing but the best. This book is a must have for any whale-lover, researcher, or someone with just a general interest.

May I first say I have never encountered a better identification book then Killer Whales and Transients. Both books are written by THE wild orca authority in the Pacific Northwest. Catalouged pictures and organized information of each individual in every pod along the coast from WA to northern BC along with accurate info on feeding, behavioral and other habits of the pods in Puget Sound and British Columbia. Truly a great book, and as I plan on researching these animals in my adulthood, it has been a great boost to my knowledge on them.

I just returned from a kayaking trip in the Johnston Straight just East of North Vancouver Island known as the inside passage. We had first hand views of the Orcas. This book was used as a reference manual to identify some of the whales. It has wonderful reference pictures of the known pods (families) in the area. It goes into great detail on their eating habits, language, and family history. It also explains their social behavior, and the differences between the pods. It is a wonderful book full of pictures, and details.

I've been searching for this out of print book for decades and have found a few over the years but with it being a highly sought after title and out of print for so long I couldn't justify the cost of an original copy. Now I don't have to since this reprint and new edition with more information added is available. This is a great book on a great group done like no other on the AVG-Flying Tigers. An inside point of view from Olga Greenlaw, the only female (a timeless beauty I might add)of the group that defended Rangoon, the Burma Road and China in the very early days of WWII. This book gets into details and personalities that most of the other books on the Tigers only touch upon. The author herself is a mystery in most of the other books on the AVG but she's fully revealed in this one. The one photo of her on the waterfront, slit skirt and all may be worth the cover price alone.
No fan of the Flying Tigers should be without this book.

Highly recommend! Not only is Olga Greenlaw a handsome lady (check out the legs in that photo on the waterfront in Shanghai!) but she writes a rollicking good yarn. If you're new to the Flying Tigers this is a great way to get an overvue of the group that saved China and almost saved Burma from the Japanese. She was there, unlike most of the people who wrote the histories of the Tigers, and she was writing with her diary in front of her. If she makes a mistake, Mr. Ford quietly corrects it [like this]. The editing is helpful but never annoying.

Plus Olga Greenlaw is a fascinating woman in her own right. Many are the stories written about her and flying tiger pilots like Pappy Boyington. Mr. Ford sets us straight on this matter also. Olga, he says, didn't sleep around nearly as much as people like to believe. There's a very convincing history of Olga's early years and how she came to be with the Flying Tigers, and also an account of what became of her afterward.

Something for every WWII aviation buff to have on his shelf!

I don't think I ever enjoyed creating a book as much as this one. Olga Greenlaw wrote it in 1943 and promptly vanished from sight. Whatever happened to her? I was able to find out, and to garner some great photos from her earlier life in Mexico and China. So here's her book again, edited from the perspective of 60 years, and with a foreword and afterword to explain where the Greenlaws came from and what happened to them after their tumultuous year with the AVG. -- Dan Ford

I wasn't a 'new mom' when i read this book, but found it helpful when doing research for a birthing ritual for a friend...it reveals so many views of impending motherhood from many different cultures...very informative and very touching. I wish i'd had it when i first found out i was pregnant!

This book is a rare gem. It compiles many famous writers' comments concerning pregnancy and birth. It portrays pregnancy and birth as beautiful and spiritual.

It also includes different spiritual perscpectives on the different phases of pregnancy and birth. It incudes Native American, Celtic, Polynesian,...poems that describe pregancy and birth.

I used this book to find a poem for my sons birth announcement.

When I saw this book I knew that this was the perfect life-long gift for my daughter-in-law, Amy, who is well on her way to becoming a midwife. Along with her already inspirational and spiritual self, she will surely treasure this book, it is so Amy!! When I saw the Zuni prayers and poems I was even more excited as this is where she and my son are living!

This is the best book (by far) on cross selling that I've found. The books principles can be summarized by Mr. Harding's acronym "BEST."

(1) Buyers. Identify the key buyers in the client organization and strive to create relationships with as many -- if not all -- of these buyers as possible.
(2) Events. Create "events" such as kick-off meetings, progress meetings, and fact-finding/exporatory meetings that put you in a position to build these relationships and mine for signals (number #3 which follows) of additional needs or concerns.
(3) Signals. Listen for signals that the client may need additional services. These signals may be obvious (such as the announcement of a merger or acquisition) or may be simple comments.
(4) Techniques. Professionals should equip themselves with listening, relationship-building, and sales skills in addition to professional skills and expertise.

The book provides extensive case studies to show each principle in detail and also provides a representative list of the types of events and signals to consider. Again, this book is by far the best available on cross selling. I highly recommend it.

At my company we have been struggling to solve the cross-selling issue for some time. Our sales organization has not been able to commit to a viable cross-selling strategy and to implement it over time. The result: money left on the table and poor customer satisfaction (or simply customer annoyance).

If you have looked around at the sales books out there, you know that there is not a lot of really good practical advice on cross-selling strategies. Harding does a great job offering suggestions which are effective and reasonable. We have used some of the strategies in his previous two books with great success and we are looking forward to implementing the cross-selling strategies as well. Another great book!

After more than 15 years experience in business and in companies large and small, I've seen plenty of cross-selling initiatives fall short of expectations. When I saw this book, I was hopeful though somewhat skeptical. But this book really delivers. It's a great practical guide to actually getting things done. The author uses real-life examples and stories to help illustrate points and this takes things from the realm of theory and makes them understandable and actionable. I don't usually write reviews but it is not often that you find a business book that actually deals with a topic in a clear and effective way. Good stuff.

As a counsellor and teacher who has studied human behaviour, one of the topics covered in my program is stress management; stress and anger often go hand-in- hand. Anger can be an emotion used to protect one from the challenges and obstacles in life he or she prefers not to deal with. Uncontrolled anger can be negative and damaging to ourselves and others, often steming from an action causing fear or hurt.

Judy Ford has written an excellent book on how to deal with negative emotion in a constructive manner. Left unleashed, or supressed, anger can cause a lifetime of pain and suffering for the recipient, particularly so when the recipient is a child. Anger can also contribute to a vast array of emotional and physical problems for the individual who cannot manage his or her own anger is a positive way.

"Getting Over Getting Mad" is like any other self-help book; in order for the message contained to produce results, the reader must be fully committed to improving and making long-term changes. Recognizing and accepting that one has an anger management problem is the first step, making a serious commitment to dealing with the problem is the next. Ford writes in a straight-forward, no-nonsense manner. The book provides excellent resource material and is well worth reading.

"From losing our tempers easily to feeling a slow burn to hiding how irritated we really feel, all of us experience anger as a troubling emotion." In Getting Over Getting Mad: Positive Ways to Manage Anger in Your Most Important Relationships," Judy Ford, M.S.W., explains why we feel anger and what to do about it.

A psychotherapist, consultant, and best-selling author, Ford has worked for over thirty years with children and families in a wide variety of settings. This is her eighth book.

She presents her information in four major sections: dealing with anger at personal setbacks, at significant others, at children, and at colleagues. Underlying everything is the concept that we all feel anger at one time or another. It's how that anger is expressed, not the anger itself, that can create problems. Ford says that "while I know that we all have reasons to be angry, I can't think of one good reason to stay mad for very long." She distinguishes between "distorted anger, which tears families apart, and healthy anger, which keeps relationships thriving."

Ford emphasizes using anger to help in personal growth and offers myriad suggestions on how to make anger work for us. She includes examples of how real people have learned to manage their anger. The key is to recognize and deal with the anger as soon as it develops, before it grows into a major disturbance. And contrary to what many people have been taught, repressing anger doesn't solve anything.

Ford's suggestions and tips are practical and simple. Most involve learning to recognize exactly what you're feeling, and then delving into what created that feeling. After that, the underlying cause of the anger can be resolved. Often, just recognizing what's happening frees us from negative reactions.

She says that "sarcasm, manipulation, passive-aggressive acts, physical illness, depression, rebellion, and violence all result from the ability to express anger and resolve disputes." If any of these symptoms are a part of your life, then Getting Over Getting Mad will provide the information and tools you need to turn your anger from destructive emotion to healthy growth.

P>A new book, GETTING OVER GETTING MAD, covers four areas of life in which anger is often a problem: our relationships with ourselves, our partners, our kids and those we work with.

Anger is often a problem for ourselves. Few of us like ourselves after we've blown up. Yet, we are responsible for our anger. We can't blame it on someone else. Even if someone else acts foolish, that is no excuse for us becoming angry and blowing up. By learning how to handle anger within ourselves, we can deal with both ourselves, and others, much better.

Anger is often a destructive force in marriages and relationships. It may result in the death of loving feelings, or in abuse. We need to understand how to respond to this anger, both ours, and theirs, in safe and caring ways.

Anger can be destructive in parenting. Inappropriate anger is harmful and abusive to children. Explosive anger may hurt children physically, and may drive them away from us emotionally.

Finally, anger can affect us at work. It can turn jobs into hell. It can also destroy friendships and relationships.

"Getting Over Getting Mad" is the best book on anger I have read in years. It is written in the style of the Chicken Soup books, about a page per topic. I can't cover this book fairly in one column. So, for the next four weeks, I will share a few of the ideas, which are so excellently covered in this book.

Recognizing and understanding anger in the presence of yourself, is the only way to be in charge of anger, instead of having anger in charge of you. Getting Over Getting Mad, by Judy Ford has some excellent direction on this task, presented in a series of short, and very readable one to two page articles. Here is my understanding of a few of her ideas.

1.Uncover the hurt behind your anger. Anger is a shield hiding things, that you don't want to deal with. But if you face this fear, which is one of the emotions that hides under anger, you will find the courage to deal with what you really don't want to deal with. Dealing with these hurts and anxieties is the first step in understanding how to handle anger.

2.Frown Freely. You can express disappointment and unhappiness without losing control of anger. But if you don't deal with those things, they will eventually build up and catch up with you. There is no rule that says that you have to be or pretend to be happy all the time.

3. Let yourself be human and imperfect. Nobody else in the world is perfect, so why do you have to be?

4. See anger as a blessing. Anger can be useful and helpful is you recognize it and handle it appropriately. Using anger constructively helps clear the air and improve your relationships with others.

5. Get to know the little devil within. Once you accept you don't have to be perfect, then you can recognize the little devil in us all, that wants to settle a score with someone we think did us wrong. If you can learn not to take your little devil too seriously, or even laugh at it, you can be in charge of you, instead of that little devil controlling your life.

6. Walk the high road. Before you respond to some aggravation, ask yourself "What's going on here? What can I learn? What can I do positively to deal with it?" Once you purposely look for a positive way to respond, your mind is distracted from automatically acting in a negative way.

7. Take grudges to the dump. When you write something down, on and feelings outside of you for a moment. Then they are easier to see and deal with. Remember, the more often you clean out a garbage can, the less it starts to stink and bother you, and others.

8. Beat a drum, play a piano, dance. Ford suggests finding something safe to take out your physical energy on. Pounding a drum is a safe way to express anger to yourself. If you don't have a drum, an empty box, or a plastic wastebasket, placed upside down, becomes a good way to express your energy. Drum with a regular beat. You and your body will get in tune with that rhythm, and you will find yourself relaxing. Some years ago, while at a men's gathering, the leader had me lie on my back on a couple of mattresses and pound my hands into them. I felt foolish at first, but after 5 - 10 minutes of expressing physical energy, I found myself relaxed, both physically and emotionally.

9. Shout outside, scream in the shower. This idea is based on the question, "If a tree falls in a forest with nobody around, is there any noise?" We all need places to make noises and express emotions, in situations where we will not hurt or upset other people. It may seem funny. But, it's a safe way to discharge energy that you need to get rid of. You can't hurt a tree by shouting at it, and it doesn't shout back.

Anger is often a problem for ourselves. Few of us like ourselves after we've blown up. Yet, we are responsible for our anger. We can't blame it on someone else. Even if someone else acts foolish, that is no excuse for us becoming angry and blowing up. By learning how to handle anger within ourselves, we can deal with both ourselves, and others, much better.

Anger is often a destructive force in marriages and relationships. It may result in the death of loving feelings, or in abuse. We need to understand how to respond to this anger, both ours, and theirs, in safe and caring ways.

Anger can be destructive in parenting. Inappropriate anger is harmful and abusive to children. Explosive anger may hurt children physically, and may drive them away from us emotionally.

Finally, anger can affect us at work. It can turn jobs into hell. It can also destroy friendships and relationships.

"Getting Over Getting Mad" is the best book on anger I have read in years. It is written in the style of the Chicken Soup books, about a page per topic.

These are just a few of the 28 ideas Ford shares on dealing with anger, in one section of her book, called "In the Presence of Yourself." In the next three weeks, I'll share some of her ideas on doing the same with anger towards sweethearts, children and colleagues

Parents are both teachers and models for their children. We teach by how well we listen and explain, at a level appropriate to their development. We teach by how well we direct their choices in their formative years. We teach by our own role models. If we don't handle anger appropriately ourselves, they may follow our behaviour rather than our teachings.The section, "In The Presence of Children" in Judy Ford's book, "Getting Over Getting Mad" has many positive ideas for parents about children's anger, in short, readable one to two page articles.

When children are angry, you must first get their attention by recognizing and acknowledging their anger. You have to be what Ford calls "A Feeling Detective". Young children don'

This is the second book in the Doc Ford stories, and even though the first one was very good, I liked this one even better. The reason for this is that the story focuses on Doc's home in Sanibel Island and really gives us a feel for what it's like to live on the Gulf Shores of Florida. There is excellent character development to the point where these characters come alive and you feel like you're spending some quality time with good friends. The plot is also quite compelling. It takes off right at the first with the discovery of a dead body floating in the gulf (the body of Marvin Rios who everyone hates but who wields quite a bit of money and influence), and then is compounded by the arrest of Doc's friend Jeth (the gentle fishing guide with a stutter who we got to know in Sanibel Island). Doc sets out to prove Jeth's innocence along with his best friend Tomlinson (my personal favorite character in the series). All the while, you have a sub-plot involving Karl Sutter, con-man and brother-in-law of the deceased. His underhanded dealings are worthy of the best of Carl Hiaasen and John D. MacDonald. Add in a beautiful pro-tennis player and her friend, and you have a story that's not only an excellent mystery but a great deal of fun in the process.

This book is a very fast read. I took it with me on a business trip and finished it after only 2 days. As coincidence would have it, the trip was to the Florida coast, and this book set the perfect mood for me while I was there.

If you like mysteries, or Florida fiction in general, you really owe it to yourself to discover Randy Wayne White. I've read all of them. James W. Hall, John D. MacDonald, Carl Hiaasen, and Leonard Shames. Trust me. Randy Wayne White is one of the best.

Having never been involved in a Tarpon Tournament, I found the whole premise of the book a delightful surprise. The whole experience came alive for me when reading the pages of this novel. This is a gifted author who knows how to plot a story and bring the reader along on an adventure. Be careful though in reading any Randy Wayne White book: they are addictive.

The Heat Islands is a great book! I highly recommend it. I also recommend Sanibel Flats, the first Doc Ford novel. Growing up in South Florida, reading a Doc Ford novel is just like reading about old friends. Randy White is so accurate in his descriptions of the islands, fishing, the South Florida coastal towns, and the people that live and work there. Doc and his friends are so "real-life". I can't wait for the next one !

The last paragraph of the book is in my day timer as a reminder of who I am, where I came from and why and how I will always be. Ford's view of the African American story as an epic journey is liberating. He contrasts the intimacy between African diety and the common person with the separation between the western God or Goddess and their subjects. As someone who is struggling to understand the deepening division of black and white in US culture, I find this book very helpful in clarifying our root cultural differences. This also is a wonderful book to give a young person who is away from home or struggling with the questions of identity. As someone who has worked with children in multiracial families (particularly adopted children) who are struggling with a sense of place, I wish I'd had this book a long time ago.

Increasingly, happily (albeit painfully)the new question for modern man and woman is "Am I my black brother's (sister's) keeper?" Conversely, "Am I my white brother's (sister's) keeper?" The answer is a resounding "Yes!". This book is a tremendous contribution toward the fulfillment of that Dream, toward a universal Philadelphia (phila = love; delphia = brother): the City of Brotherly Love, genuine agape, Unconditional Agape.

Clyde W. Ford helps us to connect to African mythology on so many levels. It is encouraging and illuminating to finally see African mythology treated in the manner that it deserves: as vital as those of any other culture. He demonstrates the importance of myth for centering our lives and providing focus for living. His discussion of the meaning and role of myth in the preface is worth the price of the book alone.

Once upon a time...the stories from childhood begin. Scholars now think fairy tales and many other stories are derived from more serious fables orally transmitted from generation to generation over thousands of years, until a redactor cast them into literary form. With the exception of the last two tales in Patrick K. Ford's translation of THE MABINOGI AND OTHER WELSH TALES, the stories in this book exist in manuscripts religious monks familiar with the 'original' narratives prepared in the early part of the second millennium. For the most part these recorded versions appear to be relatively faithful to an oral tradition, however confused their narratives may at times seem to modern ears. In addition to recording the tales, the monks appear to have used the tales to transmit Christian notions, just as Christian missionaries to Hawaii explained the triune God using the sacred tripartite banana.

The last two tales in the MABINOGI were set down in the sixteenth century by one Elis Gruffydd, an educated man of Welsh extraction (The Tale of Gwion Bach, and The Tale of Taliesin"). Ford says that although no manuscript dating from an earlier era has turned up, it is apparent from the structure of the stories Gruffyd recorded that the two tales are very old and may have been copied in earlier times and the manuscripts lost. Gruffydd apparently was familiar with the oral versions of the tales which were still being retold in sixteenth century Wales which makes them all the more remarkable. events.

The tales of the Mabinogi set down in Ford's translation are somewhat interlinked, much as a set of short stories might be today, or as the stories of King Arthur and the Knights of the Roundtable were in the 12th Century. Characters in one tale show up in another and King Arthur shows up in The Tale of Taliesin ("shining forehead") the remarkable bard whose poems fill the last few pages of Ford's book. Ford suggests literal truth, moral insights and religious/philosophical/magical elements form the basis of these tales. For example, a good deal of evidence exists to support the notion King Arthur lived sometime in the 5th-6th Centuries and Merlin may have been his counselor. On the other hand, the feats of Cerwidan the shape-shifting mother of Morfan and brewer of the cauldron of inspired wisdom are not as well documented, and may be largely mythical/religious. The feats performed by magicians and witches in these tales are quite amazing, but the creation of Blodeuedd (flower face), the wife of Lleu Llaw Gyffes (Lugh, the fair one with skilled hands), conjured out of flowers by Math and Gwydion, is the best. She was transformed into an owl in punishment for her unfaithfulness to Llew which is why some owls have faces that look like "blowed" flowers.

For those interested in going to some of the sources of the Welsh tradition rather than New Age commentaries, this book is a treasure. Not only do you get Ford's reliable translation of some of the oldest Welsh tales, you also get his highly readable and insightful introduction to the texts of the Mabinogi and the Welsh tradition in general. If you are at all interested in Welsh mythological traditions, start with this book.

There are several translations of the Mabinogion in print, but this is the one I recommend. Not only is the translation a careful balance of scholarly accuracy and readable prose, but it has excellent introductory material as well. As for the text itself... well, as an amateur Celtic scholar and practitioner of neo-Celtic spirituality, I think anyone, of any faith tradition, who wants to cultivate a "Celtic" form of spirituality, owes it to themselves (and to Celtic culture) to become familiar with the primary sources of Celtic myth. The Welsh Mabinogion and the Irish Tain are the two places to start. So... whether your interest in Celtic myth is academic or personal/spiritual, this is an essential text.